Awful service in general
Awful service and an incredibly frustrating experience from beginning to end.
I saw Dr. Fernandes for my first appointment. She was fine during the visit, ordered several tests, and I completed everything she requested. The problems started almost immediately afterward.
When I went back to the same office to pick up the first test, I was charged a different amount from what I had originally been quoted. I pointed this out, but ultimately paid the new amount because I was told the original quote had been a front-desk error and that the employee was “brand new.”
Then came the follow-up appointment to review my results. My initial visit was $100, but the follow-up—which was supposed to be primarily to discuss my test results—was $158. We asked why it cost significantly more, and nobody could give us a clear explanation. At that point, I had already invested time and money into the process, so I scheduled it anyway.
My telehealth follow-up was scheduled for Monday. I joined the appointment and waited about 20 minutes past the scheduled time. Brenda, the medical assistant, eventually called and told me they did not have my test results yet and asked whether I still wanted to proceed with the appointment.
My response was basically: proceed with what? The entire purpose of the appointment was to review my test results. If there were no results available, what exactly were we going to discuss? Had I proceeded, I would have paid $158 for that appointment and presumably another $158 later when the results were actually available. I declined and Brenda rescheduled me for Thursday.
Thursday comes, and I join the appointment as scheduled. Around the appointment time, someone from the front desk calls asking for payment. I was initially confused because I assumed payment would be collected after the visit, but she explained that it had to be paid beforehand. Fine—I had no problem paying.
However, I told her I wanted to pay securely through MyChart, as I had done previously, rather than giving my credit card information over the phone. She put me on hold. The call disconnected, and when she called me back, I explained the same thing again. Her response was essentially that if I didn’t want to pay, they would have to reschedule me.
That was never what I said. I repeatedly explained that I was completely willing to pay the $158; I simply wanted to make the payment through MyChart instead of providing my credit card information over the phone.
They offered virtually no assistance with that, so I eventually figured out on my own where to make the payment through MyChart. I paid the full amount and continued waiting for my provider.
I waited for ONE HOUR.
Finally, I called the office to find out what was going on. After another roughly 10-minute hold, Brenda told me that according to their system, my appointment had been moved.
I had never asked for my appointment to be moved. I had never agreed to have it moved. I had paid the requested amount and had been sitting there waiting for the appointment.
I asked to speak with the manager, Heidi. She told me that the front desk had moved my appointment because I had not waited to pay for it. I explained exactly what had happened: I never refused payment. I only requested to pay securely through MyChart, which I ultimately did.
Heidi apologized and said they would refund the payment, but told me the provider had already moved past my appointment and would no longer be able to see me that day.
At that point, I told her I would not be returning to see any of their providers.
I then formally requested my medical records again. This was especially frustrating because my mom and I had previously requested my records so I could seek a second opinion, and we had been told I would only have access to the remaining information after speaking with the provider. I had already paid for the testing and simply wanted access to my own records.
This time, after I made it clear that I would not be returning, Heidi agreed to email me the remaining records that were not available through MyChart. That was probably the most helpful thing that happened during this entire experience.
This clinic is out of network for me, and I only came here because a good friend strongly recommended them. Unfortunately, my experience involved inconsistent pricing, poor communication, long waits, an appointment being moved without my agreement, difficulty accessing my records, and an overall lack of professionalism.
After everything that happened, I will not be returning and cannot recommend this clinic