Overcharged by dentist - can anyone help?

neece56

I have a very small bridge next to my front tooth that fell out. I checked my dentists price list online before I booked my appt and it showed £79 for a re-cement. I pay a monthly dental plan which gives me 2 checkups, 1 hygienist appt, necessary x rays and 10% off any treatment. I very rarely need treatment, thankfully. After my treatment (10 mins in the chair) I was informed by reception that my bill was £150, the receipt showed no breakdown, nothing about 10% off etc.  I was in shock. I queried it there and then, and was told it was correct. After numerous phone calls to the dentist, I’ve been told it is correct, the website is being updated. As of this morning it is still showing £79. Should I keep on fighting? Is there a law which states I should be charged at the advertised rate. I really do think I’ve been overcharged as other online dentist prices are even cheaper than £79. If anyone can give me advice I’d very much appreciate it. Thank for taking the time to read this post.

Toothsmith

Obviously this isn't brilliant communication, and it is important as part of 'informed consent' that patients do know how much any procedure is going to cost them.

When it said a 'recement' on the website, was that recementing a crown, or a bridge? 

If the bridge had 2 units to it requiring sticking on, then it just strikes me that if £150 was the cost with 10% taken off, then full price is £165. Half of that is £82.50 - which isn't a million miles away from £79, and so if the website said a recement was £79 'per unit' then it's possibly about right? 

As I said - It's not ideal that you didn't know what it was going to cost before the procedure was done - but I would check exactly how the website gives the price.

neece56

Thank you so much for your reply. The website states “Re-cement of crown/inlay/bridge £79”. My bridge was a “butterfly “ which had 2 pieces of metal,  but now only has one piece which is cemented to the back of my front tooth.  I’ve asked about 4 times for a breakdown of the £150 but so far without success. 

Undervalued

Have you actually paid the £150?

If not (and providing you don't mind finding a different dentist in the future) I would send them £79 in full and final settlement with a polite but clear explanation as to why!

If you have paid (and again providing you are not going to use them again) I would write (don't phone) and ask for a partial refund, making clear that if this is not forthcoming you will make a formal complaint on the basis that you were not asked for "informed consent". Win or lose that will cause them a lot of grief and in all probability they will settle to avoid the hassle.

Even if your complaint isn't upheld you can still file a claim in the county court (moneyclaim online) if you want to.

Toothsmith

If you've tried the things you've said, and had no response - I would write a polite but firm letter of complaint anyway. Whether you've paid or not

The practice will have it's own complaints policy, they should reply to you within a few days acknowledging your letter/email, and enclose/attach a copy of their complaints policy. This should detail how the complaint will be dealt with, how soon you can expect a proper response, and places you can take the complaint to if you are not satisfied with their response.

Most practices will want to settle complaints in-house - so hopefully this will either get you some sort of refund, or at least a very good explanation of why it was as much as it was.

Doing it through their complaints system and keeping it polite but firm shouldn't prejudice your future with that practice either (assuming you would still want to go there). 

neece56

thank you all so much for your responses. I have paid the £150 and I will as suggested go through their complaints system. I will be leaving the practice as it has gone downhill since being taken over a couple of years ago. Thank you all again, 

Undervalued

Toothsmith said:

If you've tried the things you've said, and had no response - I would write a polite but firm letter of complaint anyway. Whether you've paid or not

The practice will have it's own complaints policy, they should reply to you within a few days acknowledging your letter/email, and enclose/attach a copy of their complaints policy. This should detail how the complaint will be dealt with, how soon you can expect a proper response, and places you can take the complaint to if you are not satisfied with their response.

Most practices will want to settle complaints in-house - so hopefully this will either get you some sort of refund, or at least a very good explanation of why it was as much as it was.

Doing it through their complaints system and keeping it polite but firm shouldn't prejudice your future with that practice either (assuming you would still want to go there). 

Indeed it shouldn't but if you really believe it wouldn't then you have more faith in human nature than me! 

Toothsmith

Good luck with it. Post back again if they still seem to be mucking about.

Have you done a screen shot of the web page with the price on?

You say that you're on a plan with them. The two 'market leaders' in the plan providers do have pretty good complaint resolution departments who might not be bad to escalate it to if you still feel you're not being taken seriously.

The GDC do a fairly decent private complaints handling service too.

Going full GDC fitness to practice complaint will be the one the dentist fears the most - but will take forever, and whilst causing a world of pain to the dentist, wouldn't really give you any resolution. Certainly not in the short to medium term.

Toothsmith

Undervalued said:

Toothsmith said:

If you've tried the things you've said, and had no response - I would write a polite but firm letter of complaint anyway. Whether you've paid or not

The practice will have it's own complaints policy, they should reply to you within a few days acknowledging your letter/email, and enclose/attach a copy of their complaints policy. This should detail how the complaint will be dealt with, how soon you can expect a proper response, and places you can take the complaint to if you are not satisfied with their response.

Most practices will want to settle complaints in-house - so hopefully this will either get you some sort of refund, or at least a very good explanation of why it was as much as it was.

Doing it through their complaints system and keeping it polite but firm shouldn't prejudice your future with that practice either (assuming you would still want to go there). 

Indeed it shouldn't but if you really believe it wouldn't then you have more faith in human nature than me! 

Very often UV a well handled complaint can leave a patient with a very good impression of a practice and actually increase the bond and loyalty of a patient to a practice.

I have a few patients still happily coming to me as I've handled 'issues' they've had with various treatment well. 

I've also had some I've never seen again, but even in those cases, I've felt that the fact the case didn't escalate was worth the refund. And in one or two, the fact I never saw them again felt very good value!

mda99das

@Undervalued are you still with your NHS practice despite having lost confidence in them?

Undervalued

mda99das said:

@Undervalued are you still with your NHS practice despite having lost confidence in them?

I have a routine appointment booked with them in a few weeks time. However....

If I come up with a more promising alternative before then I will cancel.

If I don't then, based on recent experience, I imagine there is a 50 to 70 percent chance they will contact me to postpone for three to six months!

Fortunately nothing urgent as far as I know.