Infuriating

I am so steaming mad right now, I thought this may be a good outlet to vent. :-)

The last time I was to the dentist, I made an appointment for 6 months in advance for my next appointment. I’m sure this is pretty standard practice with dentists. Today, I discovered that my dentist appointment that is scheduled for next month is scheduled for a day that I will be in Rhode Island. So, I called to re-schedule. I say “I’d like to reschedule an appointment I have next month since I will be out of town”. She says, “Would you like me to put you on the list?”. I say, “What is the list?” First gripe… do you think maybe she should explain what the list is rather than just asking if I’d like to be put on it???

Well, guess what? No appointments are available until January, so “the list” is their cancellation list. They will call me if they have a cancellation and I can come in. Initially I said, OK fine.

After thinking about that idea I was concerned that them calling me at the last minute because they have a cancellation is not likely to work with all the conference calls and meetings at work. What are the chances they will call when I have nothing scheduled??

So I called back and asked more questions. “Does this mean that you may call me last minute to come in?” She says, “Well yes but we always allow time for you to get here”. What???!! Sounds last minute to me. I explained that with my work schedule, that is not likely to work. Asked again if there was nothing else she could do. Nope.

Then, I asked “If I were a new patient and I called and said I’d like to come in, you would tell me ‘Sure, in January’?” She said they don’t do cleaning on first visits so that’s not a problem.

Ughhh…..

I left this dentist once before for this very reason. (The first time was because I had to go to court for work… I thought that was a pretty legitimate reason to reschedule and surely they could do something, but nope. I was mad then too so I went to a different dentist).

However, I like this dentist because it's so convenient to work, etc so I went back. And the reason I asked that last question was when I did go back they were able to get me in within a week!!

I guess I’ll see how the list thing works out and find another dentist if I have to. I did certainly tell her how disappointed I was with their system. :-(