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Dealing with a scam
| tdonline | 22 Aug 2006 14:39 |
Very long story somewhat short
My mom went to her dentist to take care of a painful tooth and he determined she needed a crown. She had dental insurance which has since ended. The dentist started work and put in a temp and waited for the crown to be made. Meanwhile there was something wrong with the insurance which took a few months to resolve. The dentist kept pushing my mom to take care of the problem so he could finish the work.
Eventually, the insurance came through and sent the dentist the check to cover the crown work. Meanwhile, the temp my mom had fell out and she spent months in pain and with bad breath. Infection? The dentist wouldn't take care of it until the insurance company came through.
Anyhow, upon receiving the check, the dentist refused to finish the crown. When my mom went down to the office to schedule an appointment to finish the crown, the dental office tried to get her to pay over the remaining $40 she "owed" (she had already paid $290 months earlier). When my mom said she would pay after the crown was put in, the office told her there would be no crown since her teeth had "moved" and too much time had passed. They would give her back the $290 and she would have to scram. All this after receiving payment from the insurance company!
My brother will go down to the office today to have a talk with them. If this doesn't resolve the issue, I'm advising my brother (I'm three thousand miles away) to notify the insurance company, the local and state dental board. Is there anything else we can do? After all this, I sure do not want this dentist to work on my mom's teeth, is there a way to go to another dentist and have it covered?
This dental office services mainly an immigrant clientele and I think this is not the first they've pulled stuff like this. They can get away with it because many of their patients do not have the financial and language wherewithal to fight back.
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