ComplaintsforAla Moana Dental Care Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  12/27/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Well, first of all I went in with a toothache spoke with the insurance Specialist in the office and she said youre gonna need to put a new crown. Your old crown has failed. The cost will be $1800. I have had crowns before not from this dentist office Ive had the same coverage and never paid $1800 so I question I have insurance what does it cost after the insurance she comes back and she says oh yeah the insurance took care of 80% your total cost out-of-pocket today if you want to do the procedure will be $1100 as Im sitting in the chair Im thinking this is ridiculous. Ive never paid $1100 even with my insurance but Ive had a toothache for two three weeks. Im in the chair and I need a procedure done I said OK Ill make the payment for the procedure lets get this done technician comes back in. She says were gonna take some x-rays first to see if theres anything else going on so they take the x-rays. The dentist comes back he says Theres nothing else were just gonna put a new crown youre good. OK lets do it. 4 Weeks go by and its time for my semi annual cleaning and I tell the technician im still having a toothache under the new crown that was just put in. She says OK were gonna take some x-rays and well see if theres something going on underneath the tooth comes back and says yeah youre gonna need a root canal will send you to a specialist so this is what is goin to happen with the specialist theyll drill through the crown take care of the root canal and fill the crown. so I say through the new crown. Im not a dentist but Im pretty sure if I went in with a toothache and I still have a toothache either got worse with the new crown on but Im sure that I needed a root canal before it didnt happen three weeks after I just put a new crown on.

  

  Business response

  01/10/2024

  Hello ****************,

  I have read your complaint.  If the staff caused any confusion about insurance and steps in your treatment, I apologize.  However, it is a common procedure to have a specialist drill through a crown to perform a root canal to save ***************** and the permanent crown.  This is best practice as to not cause damage to ***************** by trying to remove a crown that has been placed with permanent cement.  After I read your complaint, I reviewed your chart and noticed that the specialist said they cannot save the tooth and you returned to the office for an extraction.  I have emailed my insurance billing team asking them to retract the claim for the crown from your insurance so it will not be a part of your history and we will refund them their payment.  For your payment, you are due a refund for the crown as well and I will have my patient billing team reach out to you to discuss it further.  If you have anything further to discuss you can contact me at the office.  This is ************************************, the General Manager of Ala Moana Dental Care.

• Initial Complaint

  09/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On August 13, 2023 I went to Ala Moana dental care to re-attach a veneer. They notified me my previous insurance had expired and I was to purchase a new one. I read their brochure and chose a plan based on the information presented. The plan was to be valid for a year. After I paid the insurance, my tooth was re-attached and I proceeded to schedule a cleaning which, reading their plans, should have been discounted. The receptionist said it wasnt included and didnt give any explanation why so I asked for the managers email address. I proceeded to write several emails to management notifying them of the misleading brochures and asking for an explanation but was never given one. Today I received a letter in the mail notifying me that they would no longer be able to service me as a client effective October 30. I asked if they would refund the annual insurance plan I had purchased and they said no.

  Customer response

  09/25/2023

  Aloha, 

  Since making this complaint, I went back to the original email confirming my insurance purchase to see if there were any "fine print" that I failed to read. Upon doing so I discovered that Ala Moana Dental Care has, since I initially signed up, changed their website to stipulate that cleanings are in fact not included. This leads me to believe that they do realize the clarification was necessary to make, as was my point. I don't understand why they so staunchly dismissed me telling them they weren't being clear, only to later add the clarification that I was seeking to begin with. Plus, their releasing me as a client without so much as offering a pro-rated refund of the annual insurance I had paid for seems nothing short of punitive. 

  Given the above, I would like to enquire if I can post my experience as a review of the company on the BBB website. 

  Please let me know if that's possible. 

  Thank you, 

  ************;

   

  Customer response

  10/03/2023

  There are several lapses in professionalism that can be seen clearly within the screen-shot correspondence, that I would like to be published in their profile: 

   

  First, there is the case of the managers misspelling my name - that he spelled it correctly the first time, *******, and then proceeded to refer to me as ******* thereafter, would (at best) point to his lack of attention to detail and (at worst) reveal his micro-aggression to myself. To validate this point, a quick ****** search shows how misspelling a name - especially the name of a mixed race person such as myself - is one of the more prevalent displays of micro-aggressions in professional settings. 

   

  Second, there is the timeline in which they answered my emails. The first email I sent sat without acknowledgement or response for 2 weeks. The second follow up email I sent, 15 days later, was replied to 5 days later and it was replied to not by the manager I had sought to contact but by an assistant manager who started her response with I apologize for the delay in response. Im not sure if you were able to receive an answer since your email was sent so I did want to take the time to reach out to you This is problematic because any professional establishment should have a system in place wherein they are able to not only track customers emails but also perform a quick search in their responses to see if those emails have been responded to or not. Why is she not sure if I was able to receive an answer? What flaws exist in their customer feedback system that dont allow them to see whether customers concerns have been addressed or not? How can they assure paying customers that their concerns are being attended to if they cant even track their own emails effectively? 

   

  Third, is the general failure to help me understand. Both the assistant manager and manager kept repeating their determination Cleanings are not treatment but offered no actual explanation as to why this was or how they justified their answer. At no point did they tell me that they would in fact be adding cleanings not included to their website - information that I would have found helpful given that that was the point I was making. Instead of acknowledging that the content of my emails were not without merit, they remained brusque and dismissive to the end. Now, I understand that this attitude may not necessarily be mutually exclusive to good customer service in some industries however when you are service based it is your responsibility to communicate in such a way that attempts to reach a resolution. 

  

  Business response

  10/12/2023

  The complainant assumed that she would get a 30% discount with the urgent care in office plan she pruchased.  If she would have asked the staff she would have known that the urgent care plan is for emergency services only and has no benefits for preventative care.  We offer 2 other plans that include preventitive routine care coverage.  She asked for an explination several times and our answer was never good enough because it didn't include the agreement of getting a discount on her cleaning.  We provided her with the option of changing her plan to one that includes preventative care coverage and only paying the difference of the 2 plans.  She is the only person that has tried to argue and challenge our urgent care plan and I will not make an acception.  Her email correspondence became rude, demanding, and insulting so I told her we are not responding to her anymore and sent her a dismissal letter.  I asked the administrator of our in office plans to refund her and they said she had already contacted her credit card company to dispute the charge.  We are kindly not removing her discounted exam, which is covered at no charge under the plan she purchased, nor the 30% discount she received on her treatment.  The purchase price for the urgent care plan is $154.97 and her savings on that one visit is $215.85.

  Customer response

  10/12/2023

   
  Complaint: 20617530
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  1. I "assumed" that I would get the 30% discount off of cleanings because of how the plan I purchased was worded. It stipulated "30% off of all treatments" with some exclusions. The exclusions did not have cleanings at the time that I purchased the plan. They later changed their website so that cleanings were listed among the exclusions for this particular plan. Had this change been made before I purchased, it would have been very clear and I would have not made the assumption that I did. 

  2. I would like to know what, exactly, in my correspondence is deemed "rude, demanding and insulting." I was insistent, but never breached courtesy. 

  3. If in fact I am "the only person" that found their plans confusing, why then did they change their website after I made my complaint?

  4. That their office planned to refund me is a blatant lie. I have an email asking them for my refund to which they replied "I'm sorry we will not be refunding you the ********* you purchased...please let me know if you have any other questions." This reply was at 10:44am on 09/17/23. I called my credit card company asking to dispute the charge *after* I received this response because I was worried that I got scammed. There is no other explanation as to why a business will sell an ******** ********* plan to a person, then 2 months later tell that person that they will no longer be serviced by the business. 

  5. Have they changed their printed brochures to read that the *********** plan doesn't include cleanings, to match their website? I am asking because my original point is that their plan descriptions were confusing. That they made the change to their website is reassuring because I know people after me won't make the same mistake that I did. But just as they changed their website, they should change their printed brochures as well in case people don't read the website as carefully. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  

  Business response

  10/24/2023

  Hello,

  I am unable to refund the $130.75 that you paid on your last date of service for treatment rendered by Dr. ********************** with the credit card slip we have on record.  You will need to call the office with your credit card number or I can ask our billing department to mail you a check.  As for the advertising dispute, Dr. ********************** stands behind his wording and descriptions of the plans we offer, and I did add the additional disclamor after your complaint so that there should be no misunderstandings in the future.

   

  Best regards,

  ************************************

  General Manager

  Customer response

  10/26/2023

   
  Complaint: 20617530
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  1. I am not requesting a refund for the services rendered. The dentist- who was not Dr. *********************** did a fine job of attaching my veneer and Im satisfied with what I paid. I dont understand why you are attempting to refund this amount- can you please explain? 
  

  2. The refund that was being discussed in previous messages was for the annual insurance I purchased. I made that purchase after reading the descriptions in your printed brochure- descriptions which I later discovered to be misleading. As seen in earlier messages, I have contacted my credit card and was already refunded for that after your company decided to cease rendering services to me in a time period lesser than the year of insurance purchased.

  3. I appreciate that you have made the desired clarification to your website, but ask that you make the same clarification to your printed brochures as well. 
  

  4. I feel strongly that your office has so gravely mishandled this situation in every possible way and has yet to take any accountability for doing so. Although I initially sought for you to correct your advertising (which again- I acknowledge that you have half fulfilled by changing the website) at this time I feel that I am owed an explanation as to why you lied to me and the BBB (by saying you tried to refund me the annual insurance but found I already contacted my credit card) and also an explanation for why you called me rude, insulting and demanding. The former, I can prove if necessary by requesting from my credit card the exact ************* I requested the refund on insurance- it will show that the request was made after I got the email from your office that you would not refund me. The latter, that I am rude, insulting and demanding I am considering a lie until youre able to explain exactly what in my correspondence spurred those accusations.
  

  Should you find yourself unable to explain, and realize that you are in fact responsible for your actions, then please write back acknowledging the following: 

  A. That your business did not clearly explain your services.

  B. That your business failed to act with care or consideration in your responses to my inquiries. 

  C. That the owner of your business made baseless accusations of my character

  D. That the owner of your business lied about attempting to give a refund. 

  With utmost sincerity, and in the spirit of compromise, I will accept your response if it contains an acknowledgement of A-D above as well as photos showing that your brochures match your website. 

  Aloha, 
  
  *******************************

  

  Business response

  11/07/2023

  1.  When I looked at your filed complaint under resolution it stated refund.  Since you were refunded your insurance plan and this case is still open we processed a refund check for the balance paid at the time of service.

  2. no response

  3. We are updating our brochures to match the website

  4. I did not lie when I stated I was going to refund you. When we concluded that it was best to dismiss you as a patient I did contact our 3rd party administrator that handles the dental plans and the payments.  Our contact told me you had already initiated a refund through your credit card company so she did not need to do anything further.  Calling me a liar was rude and insulting.

  At this time I feel we are being harrased and bulllied.  I have refunded everything and made additional statments to the *********** plan to be very clear that it contains no benefits towards cleanings.  Every response we provide is not good enough and creates additional questions and statements, and requires more of my time.  This has been resolved and we are only going in circles here now.

   

  ************************************

  General Manager

  Customer response

  11/14/2023

   
  Complaint: 20617530
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  I am no bully - I am a customer asking that a business be held accountable for the words and actions of its' staff members.

  However these exchanges reveal that such intention may prove futile, as you are apparently incapable of understanding, or reflecting honestly, these events.

  As such, I will cease communications after I see the changes made. Again, my concern is only that future customers will not be misled such as I was. 

  Can you please upload photos of the changed brochures?

  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩