I felt the need to help spread the word about Texas Diabetes & Endocrinology, since I was shocked at their truly bad customer service with regard to a penalty that they charged which was related to my late mother-in-law's illness. My wife dealt with them again today, which resulted in the following that she wrote. I think it's more powerful and compelling in her words:
"These guys took $50 from us for a "missed appointment." It was unfair, and they boldly refused to return it, clearly indicating they didn't care about losing our future business or the business of anyone who happens to read this, even after I explained that this would likely appear in many places online. After looking at the current reviews, I guess I can understand that they don't really mind one more bad one floating around out there.
Here's the story: My mother injured herself severely in March of 2007. She stayed in bed quite a bit, barely able to get to dialysis to keep herself alive. Because of a household mishap, she injured herself even worse in August of '07. That's when I took her to the hospital for surgery. She was on a lot of painkillers for her constant, excruciating pain, which made her delirious. By October of '07, she was so delirious, she needed to be hospitalized, because everyone thought she had had a stroke!
Unfortunately, during this time, she missed an appointment at Texas Diabetes & Endocrinology. Nobody knew where her calendar was, or that she had an appointment, so we had no chance of making it to the appointment. They charged us a $50 no-show fee, which my grandmother paid, because she didn't want to fight them. I held on to their letter, however, because I didn't think it was just.
I realize that waiting a long time to ask for a refund is inconvenient for businesses. However, this is a special case, in my opinion. My mother was delirious; she did get better later, but the painkillers had a terrible effect on her. Also, during the time between now and then, I have been occupied taking care of my mom, my three kids, my own illness, and my then-unborn child. Another reason I'm trying to collect this right now is that I'm now the executor of my mom's estate.
My mother was victimized by many people during her final days, and I thought that Texas Diabetes & Endocrinology would see that they had not treated us rightly, and try to rectify the situation. They did not. Their statement was that "It's only fifty dollars," but if it's such a small amount, then why not return it? When doing business with them, please ensure that you do not overpay, and that you watch how much you really need to pay them, or the same thing may happen to you.
They were willing to make life-long enemies of our family over fifty dollars, which is a small sum to them, by their statement. They hung up on me today, (twice). That is how much they value their customers. Do they not understand that, in today's economy, $50 is a significant sum to some families?"
As you can clearly see, this clinic showed no mercy with regard to this situation, which strikes me as particularly ironic considering their line of work. The sites I looked at today are filled with bad reviews for them (particularly the Yellow Pages online), so I guess we'll throw another one on the fire, so to speak.
I don't often use this platform for truly negative content, but if I can prevent them from harming others, it is well worth it. Clearly, we won't extrapolate any further than necessary, as I want to stick to the truth of our own experience.
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that is appalling ! Where is the kindness in this world and common sense! Keep on them.
Jason, you know, lately we have been seeing BAD service across the board... in every field. I am sorry for the your incident that happened with the charge for your mom's missing appointment at such a crucial time. I encourage you to continue the fight though, and not give up.... your persistence can pay off even though you will not be able to erase what you had to endure. I have fought battles that looked impossible with TOP CREDITORS and won! Not only did they lower my finance charges requested, they even gave me a refund for retroactive amounts that i believed they charged unfairly! Don't just give up! I encourage you to ask over the head and FIGHT!...
A little customer service and empathy could have turned this from such a negative to a postive experience. Shame on Texas Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Whatever happened to "do the right thing"?
Like you I don't like to post negative stuff, but someone will find this one day and you will have helped them out.
This just plain isn't right, and I'm glad you posted it, even if it is negative. I hope Google pastes it everywhere and they realize the $50 wasn't worth the headache.
Jason, I'm glad you told this story and I hope many people read it! Texas Diabetes and Endocrinology should hang their heads....it clearly shows they not only don't care about their patients but they also don't care about their reputation.
It's sad to think a place that's supposed to help heal would do more harm then good. I hope sometime in the future to come back to your post and see they've issued a credit---AND an apology!
I would love for someone to underpay them by $50 and tell them... "It's on $50"
Jason, this is a sad story and I'm sorry that you had to deal with this on top of your mom's illness and then her loss. I care about you so I am going to say just one thing. If this is taking a toll on you and is dragging you down emotionally, let it go. You have so much happy stuff to concentrate on. I know it's not the money, I know that, it's the circumstances. They owe you an apology and they owe you $50. Likely they don't care. Staying angry over it is like you taking poison and waiting for someone over there to get sick. They should be ashamed but likely they aren't. It's very sad. If you decide to continue to fight them, I hope you win, you deserve to.
Good for you Jason. We often just let people take advantage of us like that but obviously the person you were talking to didn't really care, it is just a job to them, I wonder what the doctor(s)/owner(s) of Texas Diabetes & Endocrinology would think!
Jason - I'm sure if someone tried to take $50 out of the paycheck of the person you were talking to, they wouldn't see it as "only $50." It's amazing how some people are incapable of putting themselves in others' shoes. Sorry you're having to deal with this.
Jason, Sorry to hear that you and your family have had to deal with so much, but I admire the way that you are handling it. Someone someday will come across this post and after reading it you will have saved them some pain. So although it's unfathomable that you have to deal with such unjust and inconsiderate organisations, remember that by speaking out and telling it like it is, you are in a position to help someone else.
We should all do the same, maybe then we can make a bigger change.
:)
Thanks for all of your kind comments. Obviously, the $50 is not the issue at this point. The disrespect and lack of regard for our situation is the crux of the problem. In all of our writing on this topic, we opted to stick with the facts, rather than speculating about what those facts might lead one to conclude about their business. I appreciate your support. Please feel free to tell others, re-blog, or link to this post. I hope to demonstrate some of the power of social media here.
Jason, you need to video tape this. I'll help you get it to viral level. I still have enough YouTube connections to do it!
Jason, The comment about "it's only $50" is a real eye-opener. And that says it really is all about the money in a nutshell. Where is the human kindness in this situation? Instead it sounds more like the business of medicine.
Lisa - I like this idea - I would prefer that my wife do the video, since she is the one who dealt directly with the people involved.
Jason, glad you have such good self-control. My wife is diabetic and if this stuff happened to her, I hope I could do the calm and right thing like you have, instead of what my old ex-Marine instict would want to do!!!
Very interesting post Jason and did you receive your print in the mail? When you do just rip the cardboard tube by the spiral line, I hope you like it!
VB ;o)
Bob - I didn't get it yet, but I wasn't in the office today. I'll probably see it Monday. Thanks! Looking forward to it!
Jason
They should suck it up g and go on ...That would be the best 50 they ever never spent. Sorry this happened to you guys.
Jason: This is shameful. Reminds me of the "encounter" charge my husband had when he called his Mom's primary care physician when she had a stroke while visiting us. The doctor charged $250 for that 15 minute phone call. And she charged it to his Mom. When she got back into town there was a bill waiting for her in the mailbox. Is that a crock or what? Seems that too many doctors and medical facilities are all about the quick buck and really have forgotten what caring for a patient is all about.
Jason, this is just wrong. Anyone with a heart and morals would refund the money. This is the kind of greed and amoral outlook that has gotten our country into the shape it is in. If you could actually get through to a doctor, they might give the money back. Sometimes it's the office people who are so unapproachable.
Well, they certainly picked the wroing person to mess with, didn't they! Makes you wonder how many other people out there have been treated this way by them.
I can understand charging $50 for a no show, but under circumstances like this it amazes me that they are heartless enough to try to keep this $50. Would it change anything if someone died and couldn't make it to the appointment.
my stomach is literally turning as I type this. I am so sorry for the unnecessary anguish they have put you and yours through. Hopefully they will go out of business due to the weight of all the negatives out there.
What abysmally bad service. I know many offices charge a no show fee, but they should at least consider the circumstances.
Boo, boo, boo to Texas Diabetes & Endocrinology. So sorry it added to the difficulties for your family, Jason.
Jason, I can so relate to you being irked. We once had to pay for a five minute appointment $110 to say they couldn't refill a prescription. Your story is a classic life is not fair example. I hate it when bureacracy, policy, or rules, trump treating people with respect and common sense. Somewhere, someone at the top of this organization is not thinking. Surely, someone should have some flexibility with the charges and you have every right to push back. In certain instances patients just refuse to pay the bill.
Jason, if your state is like ours, then you should probably prepare a letter with addendum and send it off to the Attorney Generals office. Almost all clinics and doctors receive some type of state funding. If there are complaints of misuse and abuse the state should investigate because this lack of conscience is obviously being repeated many times over. When big brother starts looking into their business it usually results in problems, and then you can send them a note that offers up ''But it was only $50" Good Luck
What they meant is that it's only $50 to you. However, when they do that to 100 customers a month, that's an extra $5,000 in income, enough to pay someone's salary.
Unfortunately, when it comes to health care, facilities are few and far between, so the odds are that even in today's Internet world where bad reviews can circulate like wildfire, the odds of most people continuing to do business there, except being sure to keep their appointments, are high. It's just a numbers game to them.
Hope you and your family had a Thanksgiving Day filled with fun and food with family and friends.
Jason- Late coming in on this one but no one wants to be treated with disrespect or as if they're just a number. Your wife's mother had a special set of circumstances and they should have been taken them into consideration. Companies need to empower their employees to use common sense and courtesy with their patients/clients. But as they say, what goes around, comes around.
How insensitive of them. I hope you will be able to find another service that is more compassionate.
Glad you're publicising this so that other unsuspecting families can avoid this medical practice. No one wants to be treated this way.
I'm not a realtor, but I was doing a search for a new endocrinologist for my daughter after a seriously nasty incident with Texas Diabetes & Endocrinology.
The general rule of thumb with this group is hurry up and wait. They are never on time. Ever. So last Friday my daughter had a 10:30 appointment which was made in haste due to some labs that came back. Of course they won't tell you anything on the phone.
We arrived on time and waited. And waited. And waited. At about 10:30 a pharmaceutical representative came in and breezed through the waiting area into the doctor's office after telling the rude receptionist that she was there to see Dr. Shaw. At 10:45 I asked the receptionist how late the doctor was running. He said he had no idea. Just that she was "a little late". At 11:15 my daughter was finally escorted to an exam room. We never saw the rep leave during the entire 45 minutes we were in the waiting area. At 11:30 we'd had enough. I advised the receptionist at 10:45 that we needed to catch a plane that afternoon and had a lot to do. I don't think it's asking too much to advise patients when a doctor is running more than 15 minutes late to tell them the doctor is running pretty late and give them the opportunity to reschedule.
We ended up leaving at 11:30 having not seen the doctor. My daughter was really upset and angry. I sent them a well thought out (albeit scathing) letter, our time is valuable too and how rude it is to have people waiting indefinitely while you shoot the breeze with a drug rep. We told them to please return our co-pay and we would be leaving their practice.
Today we got a certified letter from them AND 3 separate letters telling us that after "careful consideration" they were terminating our daughter from their practice! I thought it was hysterical. They can't even apologize for being jerks, they just want the last word and they prefer to say "You're Fired" instead of the patient saying "I Quit". I wish I'd found reviews about them elsewhere, but I appreciate the opportunity to post our experience. They did return the $20 co-pay check - I think it was their way of saying "Take this back peasant, we don't want to touch it".
Very arrogant people who can't apologize for being rude and thoughtless. They're not the only game in town and they'll get crowded out in time.
Lisa - I'm not sure if you will come back to see this or not, but I really appreciate you sharing your bad experience with this place. I am still stunned at how badly they treated us.
“Unnecessary risks are being taken by patients seeking the liberation treatment.” says Dr. Avneesh Gupte of the CCSVI Clinic. “It has been our contention since we started doing minimally invasive venous angioplasties nearly 6 years ago that discharging patients who have had neck vein surgery on an outpatient basis is contra-indicated. We have been keeping patients hospitalized for a week to 10 days as a matter of safety and monitoring them for symptoms. Nobody who has the liberation therapy gets discharged earlier than that. During that time we do daily Doppler Ultrasounds, blood work and blood pressure monitoring among other testing. This has been the safe practice standard that we have adopted and this post-procedure monitoring over 10 days is the subject of our recent study as it relates to CCSVI for MS patients.”
Although the venous angioplasty therapy on neck veins has been done for MS patients at CCSVI Clinic only for the last 18 months it has been performed on narrow or occluded neck veins for other reasons for many years. “Where we encounter blocked neck veins resulting in a reflux of blood to the brain, we treat it as a disease,” says Gupte. “It’s not normal pathology and we have seen improved health outcomes for patients where we have relieved the condition with minimal occurrences of re-stenosis long-term. We believe that our record of safety and success is due to our post-procedure protocol because we have had to take patients back to the OR to re-treat them in that 10-day period. Otherwise some people could have run into trouble, no question.”
Calgary MS patient Maralyn Clarke died recently after being treated for CCSVI at Synergy Health Concepts of Newport Beach, California on an outpatient basis. Synergy Health Concepts discharges patients as a rule without in-clinic provisions for follow up and aftercare. Post-procedure, Mrs. Clarke was discharged, checked into a hotel, and suffered a massive bleed in the brain only hours after the procedure. Dr. Joseph Hewett of Synergy Health recently made a cross-Canada tour promoting his clinic for safe, effective treatment of CCSVI for MS patients at public forums in major Canadian cities including Calgary.
“That just couldn’t happen here, but the sooner we develop written standards and best practices for the liberation procedure and observe them in practice, the safer the MS community will be”, says Dr. Gupte. “The way it is now is just madness. Everyone seems to be taking shortcuts. We know that it is expensive to keep patients in a clinical setting over a single night much less 10 days, but it’s quite absurd to release them the same day they have the procedure. We have always believed it to be unsafe and now it has proven to be unsafe. The thing is, are Synergy Health Concepts and other clinics doing the Liberation Treatment going to be changing their aftercare methods even though they know it is unsafe to release a patient on the same day? The answer is no, even after Mrs. Clarke’s unfortunate and unnecessary death. Therefore, they are not focused on patient safety…it’s become about money only and lives are being put at risk as a result.”
Joanne Warkentin of Morden Manitoba, an MS patient who recently had both the liberation therapy and stem cell therapy at CCSVI Clinic agrees with Dr. Gupte. “Discharging patients on the same day as the procedure is ridiculous. I was in the hospital being monitored for 12 days before we flew back. People looking for a place to have the therapy must do their homework to find better options. We found CCSVI Clinic and there’s no place on earth that’s better to go for Liberation Therapy at the moment. I have given my complete medical file from CCSVI Clinic over to my Canadian physician for review.” For more information Log on to http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=866 OR Call on Toll Free: 888-419-6855.