zomi k.
Yelp
One star for friendly. The other star for clean. The rest is 000.
This is a relatively new, local business that I wanted to wholeheartedly support. I had been a patient at the dentist, Dr Shawn's other location in a Thousand Oaks. I get my teeth cleaned every 5-6 months with no history of any dental problems.
I value supporting small business. So when I heard of Dr Shawn opening his own practice, I scheduled an appointment. I asked for the cost and was quoted a rate of 150. I blocked out an hour for my visit on my calendar. Cut to the appointment date.
I receive a text message asking for new patient information to be filled out. As I start to fill out the forms, I'm increasingly aware of the MANY questions being asked of me as though I'm being questioned for marketing. Annoying.
I arrive for my scheduled appointment. I'm greeted with a very friendly receptionist who has to pull my file together. I wait. I wait.Then I'm told about X-rays. Well- I don't need x-rays. I had them from the previous facility. "Oh. Ok." she says. So, I'm waiting.
Someone else comes out and we are now 20 minutes into my 1 hour appointment. The assistant- very friendly- escorts me into the patient room. The new office is beautiful. Tall windows looking out into greenery. Everything looks nice, clean, high tech. Great. I'm waiting. Cut to doctor coming in.
Me: "Oh congratulations! I'm so happy for you and your wife in your new space!"
Doctor Shawn is friendly and smiling and small take ensues while he examines my teeth. He asks about whether I use a night guard. My response "well, not right now. We discussed the idea of that at your other place when I complained about some jaw discomfort but I'm not having that anymore so I didn't think it was really urgent. He then pulls out pictures of his brother and proceeds to tell me about how he had to put crowns on 10 of his brothers teeth from grinding. And that he doesn't want to see me in the same position. Okayyyyy. This is sounding very scary and serious now (which was the intent) He then proceeds to tell me about another option, which is BOTOX injections in the jaw. "But that wears off after 3 months and you can really feel it when it wears off". Okayyyyy. My response, "But im telling you, I'm not feeling any discomfort". His response "well, you don't necessarily have to feel anything". Okayyyyyy. He closes the sales pitch with " Well, it's up to you. You can think about it". 35 minutes have passed into my one hour appointment and nothing but fear and sales have been performed. Dr Shawn gets ready to leave and I prompt him with, "Hey I'm so sorry but I blocked out one hour for this today. How long do you need for my cleaning so that I can make arrangements?" Response: "Oh you're easy. 30 minutes". Okayyyy.
The nice, young receptionist comes back into the room moments later with paperwork. She explains to me that the doctor recommends the night guard for 650$ and a deep cleaning for $250.
Okayyyy. What happened to my inititial $150 teeth cleaning? Well, she says, "this is what he recommends". The deep teeth cleaning is $250 and I was just told that I was an easy client who needed 30 minutes for cleaning. Huh??!! So why exactly is deep cleaning so urgent now?! So I pause for a few moments to reflect on all the bullshit that I've just been served up and told to eat. "So what do you think? " says the receptionist holding the paperwork.
"I want to go home", I said. "You wanna go home?" she says. " Yes. I want to go home" I repeat. "I'm not comfortable here." "I wanted to come to support Dr Shawn in his new business and I can't help but feel like I am being upsold on services that I don't need. And it makes me feel very uncomfortable." So I picked up my purse and I walked out. The following day I received not a phone call, but a mile long text message from the receptionist telling me what a pleasure it was to meet me, blah, blah ,blah, and continuing to serve up bullshit about what I experienced. No phone call from her or the doctor. A text. And they want me to be comfortable stated at the end of the text. Call me old fashioned, but this is not the way you handle people!!!My original 150 teeth cleaning was now estimated at $900. And perhaps some of you would have no problem or objection or even consider challenging the situation. But I know my body. And I know my health. And I know my teeth. I'm not in any pain. I don't have special needs in the dental department and the 40 minutes I spent in that office was complete bullshit. Unfortunately Dr Shawn at the Smile Spa was a much better employee at his previous place than he is a business owner.