Late dentist cancellation and debt collection

littld

I called the day of an NHS dental appointment in early January to cancel. It was my fault, I apologised and they said I had to send them £20 for cancelling it on the day. I thought that was okay and sent them a cheque.

I got a hygienist appointment around March and attended on time but when I got there they said the hygienist wasn't available so I'd wasted my time going. Given pretty poor service (they could have called to say my appointment wasn't going to happen), I'm switching to another dentist.

Today I've received a letter for £34 from a debt collection company demanding I pay for the missed appointment in January and they will take me to court if I don't pay. They've not sent me any previous request for £34.

While I accept I missed the first appointment I don't feel I should have to pay for it twice. It was an honest mistake and it's not happened before or since. I also want to ensure they don't find a reason for coming up with other demands months down the line.

I haven't given them permission to pass my details to another company and I don't think they have the right to do that if I don't owe them.

Any ideas how best to handle it? I feel ill end up having to pay it but it feels like a scam to me.

Marktheshark

Ask them for "proof of the claim"

DCFC79

Has the cheque been cashed ?

littld

DCFC79 wrote: »

Has the cheque been cashed ?

Yes, cashed in Feb.

DCFC79

littld wrote: »

Yes, cashed in Feb.

No you shouldn't have to pay twice as you have already paid, I'd write back saying you have already paid and it was done in Feb.

hd216

I'd probably even go so far as billing them for your wasted time when the hygienist wasn't available. Its all very well them having a very one sided late cancellation fee they can impose on you, why not the other way round?

pvt

I'm with hd216 on this.

If they don't have a policy on how much they compensate you for wasting your time by cancelling an appointment, then it would be normal practice to look at what they would charge for a missed appointment - and they've very helpfully provided you evidence of that.

littld

Thanks all, I've written to the debt collection company and asked them for the name and address of the person claiming and evidence which suggests to their client that an amount is due. I have stated that I don't think anything is owed. Wish me luck. Oh, not directly related but I found out they were inspected and found horrendous hygiene problems which were deemed a risk to patients! I so wish I'd known that before I went there.

littld

Update: I've had reply from the company which says I have no defence as there was a notice in the waiting room. They don't answer any other of my questions and says I just pay within 14 days or face court.

mwarby

Not hugely likely that they'll take you to court for the sum involved, and not at all certain they'd win. You could try pointing out again the debt was paid in Feb, or you could simply ignore it.

If you wanted to I suppose you could bill them(debt collection agency) for your time dealing with them and try taking them down small claims route. You could also try same with dentist, but billing them for missed appointment.

Smodlet

You could even name and shame them on here, provided you either have proof, such as a newspaper article, or use plenty of words like "allegedly", "apparently", "seemingly"... because, if it happens to be the same dentist I use, I'd like to know.