Receptionists at Othodontists office.

[kidzpca]

SUBJECT: RECEPTIONIST TREATMENT OF MY DAUGHTER

My daughter has been a patient of yours and recieving orthodontia treatment since February 2005. Although we have only come to your office a few times I noticed two of your receptionists treat her rudely. Quite frankly I am appalled. All office personnel need to conduct themselves more professionally.

On Wednesday June 2, 2005 Dot came in for a regular check-up, brace tightening and overview of treatment progress. Dot has always treated your staff with the utmost respect. With "please, thank you" etc. We came to you and your office due to a professional referral from one of my co-workers at XXXX hospital. I am personally thrilled with her orthodontia care and treatment. I honestly believe we could do no better.

When it came to check-out and set up of Dot's next appointment is what has me concerned. Dot had chosen seven, yes seven (7) pencils from the counter before I approached the desk, but I told her she could only choose one and leave the rest. One receptionist mentioned to Dot to choose only one or two pencils as seven was too many. Fine, I expected that. Not 10 seconds passed as Dot was choosing the pencils she wanted, the receptionist became impatient and sternly spoke to choose and leave the rest for other patients. I agreed. Then a second receptionist rudely stated to Dot that she needed to choose only one or two, that this was the rule and to put the other pencils back!

No kidding. The situation was being handled quite nicely by Me, her Father and the first receptionist. Thank You.

At the point the second receptionist piped up and so rudely treated my daughter, I would have said something then but felt it was best to leave and try and treat this as perhaps a bad day. However, the more I think this out the more concerned I am. Yes, Dot was wrong to pick seven pencils. But to scold her and push to choose is uncalled for. We hadn't left the office yet. No one else was waiting to be checked out. No need to push the subject.

I hope that this was a one-time incident. Not the norm. Neither I nor my daughter have ever been treated with such disrespect by any medical, dental or other professional office in our lives. Totally disgusting as far as I am concerned. and feel some of the receptionists need to show more respect toward your patients and parents.

After three years of dealing with Dot's doctor, specialists, cancer centers, chemotherapy treatment, at least a dozen bone marrow aspirates, her younger brother stem cell donation to her, her nearly dying nearly a dozen times while recieving treatment, graft verses host disease etc, etc, etc the list goes on and on and her continued medical care...WE HAVE BEEN TREATED MUCH BETTER BY OTHER OFFICE STAFF IN ALL HER DOCTORS' OFFICES.

I realize that your office sees many patients and you do have practice costs to contend with. But really, for one of your receptionists to "lose her cool" over pencils when the situation was being handled by me and one other staff member was more than enough.

Edited to add that dot's bill of $5,000 was paid in full before treatment started in February...but have 12--24 months to contend with his office. I was very tempted to write a five dollar check to their precious pencil fund :rolleyes:

[Shann]

Wow that was uncalled for. I cannot believe the second receptionist had the gall to say something and then to make her hurry up. It's hard to choose your favorites when you are so young and to pick two out of seven takes a bit of time. I'm sorry your dot had to go through such awful disrespect and I would surely be sending this to the head person in the office. If they keep it up, I think I would ask for a refund of what is left of the treatment and take your daughter some place else. That is just uncalled for and I wouldn't want to take my daughter or anyone back to such rude people. *hugs to your dot*

[Aloha from paradise]

Perhaps you should talk to the doctor. Let him or her know what is going on. You are paying them and they should be nice. If it happens again I'd ask the crabby person what her problem is. Then I would talk to the doctor. You really need to speak up. Don't take any crap from them. Good luck...

[joni1269]

Nice letter - mail that sucker off!!

If it were me, at the next appointment, I would bring a handful of pencils, and set them down in front of this receptionist. Then I would give her a knowing stare, and walk off without saying a word. Then my DD was picking out pencils, I would say, "Get as many as you want, Honey, Mommy bought those pencils."

[Kelsey1224]

Nice letter - mail that sucker off!!

If it were me, at the next appointment, I would bring a handful of pencils, and set them down in front of this receptionist. Then I would give her a knowing stare, and walk off without saying a word. Then my DD was picking out pencils, I would say, "Get as many as you want, Honey, Mommy bought those pencils."

Or Daddy...as the case may be.

Good letter!!! Mail it right off!

[kidzpca]

After sleeping on the subject. I am still po'd. I added to the letter that we paid the orthodontia bill in full in February and that we deserve to be treated with more respect than what was shown to us yesterday. Now to come up with a way to get their names. I was so mad before I left I forgot to recheck name badges.

[YankeeMary]

I completely understand where you are coming from. My sons ortho has not only pencils, but dental floss and wax, and there is no "limit" my son grabbed one thing of wax and the receptionist said "oh honey don't be shy" and handed him like 3 more packs, 2 pencils, and 4 things of dental floss (they look like credit cards, really cool). The idea of these things are for advertisement, thats why the orths name and etc...are printed on there, hence the more your dd takes, the more people will see the advertisement. I am not so sure that I would mail the letter, I would def. talk to the doctor after I stopped by the front desk to get a couple of names. I am sorry the women in the front office were not only rude but also petty. It makes the ortho look cheap. And for $5,000.00 that they charge for braces that probably actually only cost $500.00, I feel you can take as many pencils as you would like beings that you paid for them. Just my opinion.

[freeplease]

My DD's orthodontist was great. She got all kinds of stuff over the years. T shirts, pencils, special packs at Christmas, drawings for special monthly prizes, and when she was done, a huge bag of candy! lol ALL the stuff she couldn't eat during her tooth incarceration.
Hopefully the staff was just having a bad day. But a word to the doctor is in order. The thing is, with a letter, who do you think opens his mail? The office staff!

[YankeeMary]

My DD's orthodontist was great. She got all kinds of stuff over the years. T shirts, pencils, special packs at Christmas, drawings for special monthly prizes, and when she was done, a huge bag of candy! lol ALL the stuff she couldn't eat during her tooth incarceration.
Hopefully the staff was just having a bad day. But a word to the doctor is in order. The thing is, with a letter, who do you think opens his mail? The office staff!
Good point...but in theory they would show it to the docs. Most docs hire competent honest people.

[Kelsey1224]

Plus...even though the office staff opens the mail...you will be there at a later date. If the orthodontist doesn't mention it, you can always ask, "Did you get my letter?" If it wasn't given to him...the staff will definitely hear about it.

[janelle]

Tell the office manager not the doc. It's the office manager's job to make the office run smoothly.

[queenangie]

Having had 2 sons with braces for $$$$
we visited the same office over a span of 5 years.

Yes, they both got a freebie toy, pencil,
or free MCD's hamburger card with each visit.
Plus the free toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, etc.

We were lucky that we didn't have to pay it all up front,
but had monthly payments...for 5 years.
Suddenly felt very rich, when I no longer had to pay that bill. LOL!

Be certain you address it with the office manager and / or the ortho.
They have kids in and out of their office all day long as
patients/clients. Their offices should be kid-friendly
and nice not only to the parents, but to the kids too.

A happy child will be more cooperative with treatment,
than an unhappy child.

Let us know how it goes. Hugs!

[kidzpca]

My wife thinks that I'm being too harsh. But I insist that they show our daughter respect. Two adults were dealing with the "issue" the second receptionist didn't need to step in. Regardless of her intentions. If they have done this to our daughter. This has happened with other Patients/families.

[Mystic32]

`k I`ve been through this with my dot at the dr.s office but it was over stickers not pencils....young kids like to look over everything.......I beleive everything was handled well in your predicamnet except for the 2nd person stepping in.....lucky it was you & not me cuz i would be shooting off more than a letter...

[kidzpca]

`k I`ve been through this with my dot at the dr.s office but it was over stickers not pencils....young kids like to look over everything.......I beleive everything was handled well in your predicamnet except for the 2nd person stepping in.....lucky it was you & not me cuz i would be shooting off more than a letter...

It is the second receptionist that ticks me off. Her 5 seconds of intrusion set the tone. My parenting skills were questioned. Assumption that I was not going to do anything. I felt like I was being treated as a criminal (yes over Pencils) (censored). I don't feel welcome in the office anymore. And I have paid the entire bill. They owe us treatment/care.

If this is how I feel as a paid customer...imagine how my dot feels. Which ticks me off more. She is their walking billboard. Their breadline. Personally I want the second receptionist on the unemployment line. But likely not much is gonna be done there. But after I send this letter, my dot and I will be treated with respect. All this was lost by one receptionist over 5 seconds. The office reputation destroyed. Completely.

HEY I JUST FIGURED OUT MY CLOSING PARAGRAPH.

SEE I KNEW I WOULD GET ANSWERS FROM MY BBS FREINDS.

[justme23]

Tell the office manager not the doc. It's the office manager's job to make the office run smoothly.

Yeah, that rarely works... I am not seeing a doctor I REALLY like anymore because an office manager told me 'it's all of us or none of us, we're a package deal', and then told the doctor (who told me to take my issue up w/ the office manager) that I was irrate and screaming, so she called me and told me she could no longer see me. Now, I will admit that I have anger issues w/ ppl who are outright rude, but I was NEVER ugly w/ this woman til she basically told me 'too damned bad'.

[janelle]

Yes, they do have the right to fire a patient but believe me it's usually over not paying their bill or being totally unreasonable about their care. Like they want a procedure that the doc does not want to do. Some procedures will get them into trouble with the medical board and they can have their license removed.

But it you are a good PAYING patient they will bend over backwards to please you. One patient saying they would not recommend them is like losing 10 patients to them. Word of mouth is so important and they know it.

Oh, you will get a doc sometimes that has such a bad bedside manner that they don't see pass the end of their nose, but they usually are the ones who tick off thier patients themselves.

[queenangie]

Two words - tape recorder.

[irrelevant0]

i think i am alone on this opinion; i think you are over-reacting. getting her fired over that? maybe an apology, and the extra pencils if they mean that much, but there is no reason to try and get this woman fired. i know she was rude, but we all have bad days.

[kidzpca]

i think i am alone on this opinion; i think you are over-reacting. getting her fired over that? maybe an apology, and the extra pencils if they mean that much, but there is no reason to try and get this woman fired. i know she was rude, but we all have bad days.

you have a point.

This is why I have held off on sending this letter. It really isn't about the pencils. It is about how they treated the situation and us. Neither I nor my dot is a criminal. Myself and the first receptionist had the situation under control. The second receptionist didn't need to pounce and rip our heads off like a PIT BULL. The 5 second intrusion destroyed their reputation. Dot is a walking/talking billboard. I am their Paycheck. But if they want the one receptionist to continue to treat patient/families like they did us. The Ortho will no longer practice here and they will not have job. One person says something to 2-3 people, those people say something to 2-3 people and so on...NO BUSINESS.

[freebielover]

All this over PENCILS??? How much did those pencils REALLY cost the doctors office? 5 cents a pencil? How sad. I mean 10 pencils is a lot and if they didn't hear you reprimand maybe a simple "You may take one or two pencils" was in order but she shouldn't have been jumped on like that.

[ang in NC]

I used to work in a dds office. They buy those pencils dirt cheap. The floss etc usually comes from a rep. So don't think they are doing you any favors!

[justinenycole26]

Don't you think you are being a tad dramatic?

BTW, your daughter's cancer treatment has absolutely zilch to do with this. If I were to be the office staff reading the letter, I would think it was a sympathy ploy.

Get over it. I'm sure this is not the worst that will ever happen in your life and if you are losing your cool over something this petty, what are you going to do when something serious happens?

[ahippiechic]

Don't you think you are being a tad dramatic?

BTW, your daughter's cancer treatment has absolutely zilch to do with this. If I were to be the office staff reading the letter, I would think it was a sympathy ploy.

Get over it. I'm sure this is not the worst that will ever happen in your life and if you are losing your cool over something this petty, what are you going to do when something serious happens?

I agree. I don't think what the second receptionist did was big deal.

[kidzpca]

After several days of "getting over" the incident. I still feel the second receptionist was out of hand. Still feel she was rude. Getting in the middle of a situation that I and the first receptionist were correcting. In the meantime, I have toned down notes and will save for an subsequent visits to the ortho's office. I will get the names and if this continues I will take more notes and will contact the office if this turns into a pattern. Otherwise I am considering it a lesson learned. But one had to be there to witness how demeaning this person was to all involved. Pity her. Because if she does this to one patient/family she has or will do this to others. And the practice will lose customers. I am just waiting to get more weight for my thesus.

[janelle]

If this person is rude to a lot of people she will soon be gone. See if it was just a bad day. The next time she may be very nice to you. ?????

If she remains rude then take it up with the office manager. I would down play it to your daughter. You don't want her to start dreading going to the doctor. She is just beginning to see how people act in how they treat the public and customers. LOL