Customer Service in the Doctor’s Office….Not

April 3, 2008 at 7:37 am | Posted in Customer Service | Leave a comment

I guess doctors feel that they are immune to the same customer service requirements of “traditional” business. My most recent experience is just typical of the lack of interest and ordinary respect that doctors’ offices regularly dish out to their patients.   My appointment for a regular yearly checkup was supposed to be next Tuesday. The date had been on my calendar for months however I received a call from the office telling me that I would need to reschedule because the doctor would be unavailable on that date. I’m a reasonable sort of person and I can understand that situations arise, and so I gave the “scheduling manager” a couple of alternate dates within a window of approximately 3 weeks.The response.  She laughed out loud and told me that in no uncertain terms that the doctor’s calendar was very full and that I would need to look at mid-May or beyond to reschedule my appointment.Let’s remember now that the office asked me to make the switch. No options. No apologies. Just some laughter.Can you imagine doing that in your business…asking a client to move an appointment and then telling them that you were too busy to see them for over a month (and laughing when you gave them the news). End of story:  I rescheduled for mid-May (being held hostage by the medcal insurance that I carry) but vowing to see if I can make a switch for my next physical. Who’s your doctor? Should I know them? 

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