Thomas H Magzen Dds

Ashley Hope _{on Google}

Oct 20th, 2003

Do not, for any reason, go to this Dentist's office. My complaints are many and serious:
1) DISORGANIZATION AND INCREDIBLE INSOLENCE BY RECEPTIONIST SUE: Upon arriving to my second appointment, their receptionist claimed I had no appointment. I tried to explain to her that I would never have dreamed up a specific appointment time, a month and a half away, on a Wednesday, at 8:30am, out of the blue. She did not apologize for the confusion, or for wasting my time, but actually said, "You are confused." Still, I rescheduled. Upon arriving to their office for that rescheduled appointment, this same receptionist said "€œSorry, we double booked this time slot"€ and I waited for an HOUR AND A HALF before I was called to the chair. I sat 20 more minutes waiting in the chair. That is an incredible TWO HOUR wait to see my dentist. When I complained about the situation, the receptionist again refused to say sorry, but instead said, "€œWell, it is very clear that you don'€™t go to Doctors often." I am not really sure what she meant by that, but I did point out to her that I was very noticeably pregnant and only got so through extensive fertility treatments, hence years of weekly doctor visits, and had never had an experience as unpleasant as with her office. Her response was "Look, I don’t know what your problem is."
2) EXCESSIVE APPOINTMENTS: At my first appointment, they looked in my mouth and said, "Looks like you just need a cleaning. Make another appointment and we'€™ll do just that."€ They only had an opening a month and a half away. I go for that second appointment, and they once again looked in my mouth and did some periodontal probing (15 minutes total) and said, "Yup, a cleaning and maybe a cavity. At the front desk, our receptionist will sign you up for two more appointment slots, where we'll clean you and fix that cavity."€ That would be a total of FOUR appointments over 5 months to do some very standard minor work. Upon deciding that their office was "fishy"€ , I immediately found a new dentist. Within a week, I had an appointment, whereat my teeth were promptly cleaned, and I have a follow-up appointment one week later to polish and do the cavity. That is half the billing for HumanaDental and half the co-pays for us. My belief is Dr Magzen’s office is milking the system via excessive appointments per patient.
3) OFF-THE-BOOKS PAYMENT METHODS: Their office is not computerized and they only accept cash or personal check. Not only do they not give receipts for payment unless the patient asks, but their receipts are not itemized; €”they are just hand-written jot-downs of the final payment amount. In the end, there is no third party to attest to the services I paid for, or more importantly, to assess Dr Magzen'€™s taxable income.
4) QUESTIONABLE BILLING PRACTICES: At my second appointment, after I paid the $49 for that visit, the receptionist told me that my portion of the bill for the next two visits was going to be $1300, for a standard cleaning and a cavity fix. I asked the receptionist why it was so high, and she said because HumanaDental says I am responsible for the whole amount. I told her over and over again that I was very aware of my insurance coverage and that her assertion was simply not true. She refused to double-check her information. Once again, if Dr Magzen's office does not bill HumanaDental, their office can avoid any third party knowledge of my treatment and cost. Again, they avoid being on any "€œbook"€ .
What would have cost me $1300 at Dr Magzen's office is costing me the expected $230 at my new dentist. In fact, I thought Dr Magzen'€™s price tag too high in general, and lo and behold, the total combined amount that HumanaDental and I are paying together at my new dentist is $400 less than what was quoted me at Dr. Magzen'€™s office.
Sue the Receptionist is incompetent, ego-maniacal and just plain irrational.