prepaid dentist, missed appointment been charged for the whole amount

rule

Hi

I prepaid a private dentist around £200 and I missed my appointment thinking that it was schedule for the next day (I put the wrong date on my calendar)
When I turned up after I realized what happened, I sincerely apologized but the dentist said that I lost all my money and I have to book another one and pay again !?
According to their website they might charge if you miss an appointment (might = discretion) and it doesn't say how much .
I didn't agree to these terms when I paid and I haven't been told anything about charges when missing an appointment ...
I find all this outrageous but we didn't get anywhere arguing .. anyway I sent him an email as he requested (following the complaint procedure)
I offered to pay a small amount but not the whole charge .. now I have to wait ..

What do you guys think ?
I was wondering where I stand legally and what further actions shall I take in case that the dentist refuses to give me a refund...

Thanks

visidigi

Website to read terms and conditions?

Without them I would say the dentist is right. Its like booking a flight, not turning up, you don't get your money back. Its entirely depends on terms though

rule

Hi the terms and conditions are not on their website .

visidigi

Ok well, the £200 in that case, what was that itemised as being for? Do you have an appointment card from the dentist or was it all booked over the phone?

You have to understand that dentist wouldn't have been able to rebook the spot on the grounds you didn't call to cancel, you just didn't turn up.

For me, the money is gone, you missed the appointment.

rule

That was itemized for fillings (service that i didn't receive) , I have a card and it was bookend in person.

Bongedone

Surely he should only be able to charge for the lost time. Not the cost of the filling material etc. as he did not use them.

brook2jack

Virtually every dentist has printed on their appointment cards, signs in reception and on websites that missed appointments can be charged for. They cannot charge for missed NHS appointments in England and Wales but can in Scotland and NI. Dentistsin all home countries can charge for missed appointments for private treatment.

Our policy is if you were a regular patient we had seen for many years we may not charge or charge a reduced amount if you had not missed an appointment or there were extenuating circumstances. But for a new patient or a serial offender we charge.

Most dentists charge on the basis of what it costs to run the surgery and how much time was lost. One surgery in a practice costs from £130 to £200 plus an hour to run. So most places would charge accordingly.

The problem is if you don't turn up the practice expenses still have to be met and unfortunately people failing to turn up is an increasing problem not only in dentistry where up to 40% of new nhs patients don't turn up for their appointments but in other areas of medicine where they also threaten the viability of a business and deprive other people of a service.

marywooyeah

If I were you I'd appeal to their better nature - like you say there is room for discretion by their use of the word "might". Explain it was a genuine mistake and that you need the work doing but can't afford another £200 - otherwise I'm afraid the airline analogy another poster used is quite apt.

bris

I would offer to pay again minus the cost of the materials used, won't be a big discount though as you pay mostly for his time.

pimento

My dentist sends a reminder email the day before an appointment. You could suggest they think about instituting something like this.

Toothsmith

The thing is, the 'commodity' that you paid for was mainly the half hour (or whatever) of chair time you booked. And that was the thing that was available to you and I'm pretty sure that during the time that your bottom was booked onto that chair, no other bottom would have been on it! It was your time!

If you go in 'all guns blazing' and 'I know my rights' then you are likely to come out of this all disappointed. As really you have no rights here, just like if you'd missed a flight (as someone else said).

What has your history been like? Are you generally reliable, or have you missed or been late for a few in the past?

Personally, I wouldn't put such a severe punishment on a usually reliable patient the very first time they made a mistake.

I don't think I would ever charge any patient who apologised with a bottle of wine!