Anyone ever miss an appointment (dentist, doctor) and get charged a fee?

I phone my dentist to make an appointment today, and the receptionist tells me that I owe a $50 missed app't fee for back in May.
So I'm like "uh oh", I'm racking my brain for a way to weazal out of it, but I know they got me!

Don't ask me why I missed it, I don't remember, and I'm very diligent about keeping appointments to begin with.

So I make an app't for next week and I ask her:
"If the doc doesn't see me at 11:45 (scheduled time), does this mean I can charge you guys a $50 fee?

Now there's silence on the phone, and shes like "well, Mmmm, ummmm, no, you can't charge us a fee"

My point was about all the times Ive been to an appointment on time, and they don't call me in for 1-2 hours after (because they're running behind.

So finally she says "ok, ok, I will reverse the charge and take it off the books"

HAHA, that was pretty cool of her, I'm sure she did it because i've never missed anything in the past and always been on time.

Glad I spoke up though, it saved me 50 bucks!

Habibi

 

Habibi,

I'm with you 100%. Unless your doctors office is willing to pay for your time when they make you wait more than 30 minutes, they can't be allowed to charge you for missing an appointment. I will say that if someone makes a habit of it and misses a few appointments without calling, they should be charged.

 

LOL!! If they said that I owed them for missing ONE appt. I would say 'it was nice doing business with you, C-YA'! Now if someone misses two or three times, well I can see that you're wasting their valuable time so....

Although, Its hard to find a good dentist you trust. I love mine thankfully. They send me a post card the week before my appt. and then they call the day of my appt.! ~ good thing, Im forgetfull as heck.