Nasty phone calls collecting $$$ for dentist

[afishwithabike]

I have been dealing with this for 8 mos. I told the dentist office to send an itemized bill to my supplimental ins so the "co-pay" could be taken care of. DH has $2 an hour set aside into a medical savings account through his union to take care of large co-pays or any co-pay really. ALL you need to do is get the office to send itemized billing into the supplimental office. WHY can't medical offices understand this? I get the "we sent it in to your ins company and they paid their part". THIS has NOTHING to do with the ins company. It has to do with the co-pays. They think I am an idiot when I tell them what needs to be done. THEN I get nasty calls from some jerk that won't even let me talk to explain the situation threatening me that if THEY don't get their $$ they'll take action. This is OVER 24 hours after I had the supplimental ins company call the dentist office and gat them to fax the info. I called this morning to the dentist office and somebody there told me "don't worry about it they are mailing the check right now". After jerky lerky called I phoned the dentist back to ask them to kindly call off their watchdogs and that the $$ was already on it's way. The office girl I spoke with this time said. "Oh, you have to pay them now. It's out of our hands". Why didn't somebody say this earlier this morning when I called to check on things. I don't have $1100 to pay these people by 5:00 PM today. Especially when I tried to *69 to get the number of the jerk that was so nasty to me and it's a private # that you can't have access to. I can't call them back how am I supposed to "straighten" things out? Sorry for the long vent but I am SICK of people thinking I am an idiot and NOT doing things right in the first place. It's so annoying. Now I look like the idiot because it didn't get paid and the jerk on the phone that called asking for $$$ simply thinks I am a dead beat. ARRRGGGHHH :

[twins10705]

I don't have any advice, I can just relate. It sounds like this will eventually turn out ok since you know that the money is there regardless of what the jerk was saying, but it sure is terrible to have to go through. I hate phones -- maybe this is one of the reasons why?

[kerc]

That sounds really frustrating. When you go to the doc (with the copay) can you submit the receipt yourself?

For us -- we pay the doc, submit the receipt and then our fsa reimburses us. How do other people on your dh's job handle this? Do they have suggestions?

[oneKnight]

I'm sorry, if someone calls me from an "unknown" or otherwise private/withheld number we're either "not home" or else (depending on my mood) they get an earful. Caller ID is wonderful, too bad it costs a lot.

The only collections companies I have delt with mailed a letter in advance stating all the specifics - the company it was from and the total amount due, a phone # to call and dispute, a date that you could pay it off before other actions started, etc.
We got one from Cingular over a lost cell phone/early termination fees/2 months' bills that all landed on us at once.
We also got one over a cable box that was in DH's name that his sister was late turning in when they decided to cancel the service.

Neither involved nasty calls or threats, that's just wrong. I would be suspicious myself. Like Kerc said, ask around, maybe someone else has had some experience with this company?

[michelle524]

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