Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Idiot of the Day - Woman from my Doctor’s Office

This morning we got a message on the machine.  The woman was calling from my back surgeon’s office because the surgeon referred me to a urologist because the bladder issues don’t seem to be related to my herniated disc.  Or, at least they weren’t particularly helped by the surgery for it.  So, when I was there two weeks ago, he told me to go to the most renowned urologist in the city.  It’s a doctor I’ve seen before, but not in more than five years, and his office has moved since then.  Anyway, the woman from the doctor’s office was leaving a message for me to call her back with this doctor’s phone number.  Uh hello, they don’t have a phone book where they are?  Because that’s what I’m going to have to do to find his phone number.  It’s not like I have it tattooed on my inner forearm.  Not to mention, my doctor called him “Shelly”, and his full name is “Sheldon”, so I would imagine that they know each other.  If they know each other, wouldn’t it just be possible that his phone number was somewhere in their office???  I can’t even decide if it’s worth calling back.  Surely she’s smart enough to look the number up if I don’t call, right?  Right??? 

It was a special medical day of idiots.  Valley Hospital called me AGAIN about my bill.  I set up payment arrangements in AUGUST.  Since then, I’ve had a variety of phone calls and threatening letters regarding this bill.  When I set up the payment arrangements, my bill was at $960.01.  I immediately paid $160.01, and then they were supposed to debit my bank account $100 a month until the bill was paid.  The threatening letter I received came on the same day as a semi-threatening letter.  One letter said I owed $700, the other said I owed $600.  Any person with a half a brain in their head would figure out that a payment was made between those two letters, even though they came on the same day.  Today, I was told that I owed $500, and could I pay it today? I finally got tired of being nice.  I told them that I was sick of the calls and the letters, and that I set up payment arrangements in August for them to debit my bank account for $100/month.  If the payment wasn’t made today, it had NOTHING to do with ME.  They kept saying that they don’t normally make those arrangements.  I told them to check the damned account.  If payment arrangements hadn’t been made, how was the account being paid off that wacky sum of $100 at a time?  Geez.  ‘effin ridiculous.  So, Valley Hospital in Las Vegas, if you search for what people say about you, I want you to know this - your billing department SUCKS!  They are completely incompetent and if I get one more call or one more threatening letter, I’m going to refuse to pay any more of the bill.  In fact, I’m going to ask that you pay ME for the inconvenience of having to call you and tell your employees how to do their jobs.  The last woman I spoke to said that she’d take care of it, no problem, and that it wouldn’t happen again.  I asked if she was sure.  She said that she was.  Clearly, SHE WAS NOT.  I could tell that the woman today wanted to call me a liar, but considering that the bill was being paid off $100/month, just like I’d said, she had a little trouble doing so.  I’m sure my credit report is going to be a mess at the end of this whole sordid herniated disc situation, but it appears that I can’t do a thing about it, since no one ever believes me, even when I pay the damned bills.

I have a non-idiot-of-the-day comment about my back surgeon’s office.  I was getting a weird bill from them, which I wanted to take care of at my next appointment (which was two weeks ago), so I didn’t call them about it.  When I was paying for that visit, I asked them about the amount due.  The girl said that there wasn’t anything due, because if it was due, she’d have another piece of paper with my checkout stuff.  She asked what it was that I’d gotten in the mail, then she went back to check with the financial person.  She came back and said that it had been written off, because after my co-pays are gone, each time I have to pay them cash, the amount gets lowered.  So, she said to forget about that letter, I didn’t owe anything from my past visits.  And you know what, I haven’t gotten any threatening letters, nor have I gotten a single phone call.  In general, I love them.  Their office has been one of the most cooperative doctors’ offices I’ve been to in Las Vegas.  I’m happy with my surgery.  I was happy with my surgeon’s bill.  I’m happy with their office staff.  If I had any money right now, I’d send a gift to their office for being fabulous.  I might also send a specific person there a phone book though.

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1. Flippy,

   Wow. That’s frustrating. I’m having a similar billing issue with Wards. They kept telling me my credit report would be fine. Blah, blah, blah—meanwhile they kept reporting that I hadn’t paid my bill. The reason I hadn’t paid my bill is that I DIDN’T GET ONE AND THEY KEPT TELLING ME EVERYTHING WAS TAKEN CARE OF.

   It was over a $40 charge.

   So, well, I hope you win. Incompetence rules the world.

   basil  on  12/12  at  08:18 AM

2. Hey - ever seen this site?

   http://www.ratemds.com/index.jsp

   It was on our local (Canadian) news last week.  It might make you feel better.

   

   Kai  on  12/13  at  03:45 AM

3. Basil, how annoying.  Wards was just in the paper here the other day.  Did you know that when they went backrupt, someone just bought their name?  They didn’t buy the company, just the name.  By the way, was my dad the only one who called it Monkey Wards?  Leigh-Ann says her family didn’t call it that.

   
   Kai, I have seen that site.  My surgeon is on the site - one person hated him, one person loved him.  I love him, although I do admit that his office is almost always at least an hour behind.  So, he sucks on punctuality, but I’d give him 5s for Helpfulness and Knowledge.  I’d really like to know the full story behind the disgruntled patient’s problems with their surgery.  I mean, no surgeon is going to be 100% successful - surgery just doesn’t work that way.  Here’s his rating - http://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings.jsp?did=29453  I suppose I should probably add to it, so he gets a happy smiley face.

   And yeah, if you’re snotty, his staff probably *is* curt.  In general, most people mirror back what they get from the patients.

   Flippy  on  12/13  at  04:04 AM

4. Whoo hoo, I got his rating back to a happy face.

   Flippy  on  12/13  at  04:15 AM

5. We called it Monkey Wards, Smears, JC Dimes… Da has a name for everything. The Pink Crab is the other one he overused- Red Lobster.

   Georg  on  12/13  at  01:07 PM

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