Steven Schneider DDS

Review: I have been a client of Dr. Schneider's for 7+years. When I started going to him I was extended a 10% discount off his billing rate for his services. Over the last 7 years that discount has arbitrarily been applied. And although the discount is a perk, I continued being a patient factoring in that discount into my reason to use his services. Recently I had a routine semi-annual cleaning scheduled by his office that my insurance company denied. The cleaning was a day before my eligible next cleaning date. In my mind since his office scheduled the cleaning it was their mistake, yet when I called the office inquiring I was told Schneider would have to review it and that they would get back to me. Well they never did and the monthly billing statements (with interest and late fees) continued to be sent, for which I emailed to the office stating they were incorrect. After doing this for several months, I was frustrated and requested billing records from his billing company. Those records yield discovery that my 10% discount was ununiformally being extended. I am an accountant by profession so I audited the records and discovered that I had been overbilled $300 over the years due to unapplied discounts. I brought this to Dr. Schneider's office and suggested we net the cleaning charge with the credit I was due and he was very unprofessional in his response, stating that I really owed him +500.00 in past under billings. Please help me get to the bottom of this.Desired Settlement: I am owed a net of 100.95. I am requesting this refund.

Business

Response:

10/2/14

To: Revdex.com

Re: [redacted]

Dear [redacted],

I was very disappointed to have received this complaint but not surprised. We had responded to **

but she was not happy with our response. She had threatened if I do not give her money she will

"bash me on Yelp and Google".

She made a dental cleaning appointment that she cancelled and rescheduled. According to her particular

insurance plan she could only have her cleanings 6 months and one day from her previous one. She was

aware of this at the time of her booking. The week before her appointment she cancelled it and moved

it up 2 days. She came in and had her appointment. Her insurance company then denied the claim and she

was responsible for her bill. She was told and got upset telling us we should not charge her since her

insurance did not pay. We showed her the office policy that she signed and also explained that she

changed her scheduled appointment not us.

She then got angrier and told us we owe her money because she did not get enough discounts over the past

8 years. We then explained that she actually got way more than her discount, since a mistake was entered.

Our discount policy that we give friends and family is 10% off her copay if she has insurance. She was

actually given 10% off full treatment fees which came out to over $300 more than she should have

received. We have never asked for money back. In her new calculations she is even asking for money

back on treatment her insurance covered at 100%. We do not pay patients to have work done; we also do

not do our work for free.

She has since written bad reviews on yelp and google and has informed us of how she is badmouthing us

through the community.

She owes the money for her treatment as laid out in her signed office policy and is going to be turned over

to a collection agency. This is a form of business terrorism/extortion and we do not give in.

She has never been mistreated in this office and she has a bill that she owes. She made the change to her

appointment, not us.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

Thank you for looking into my complaint against Dr. Schneider. I read his response and

once again fmd myself disappointed with every aspect of how I have been treated and

how this matter has been handled. Please let me further explain the nature of my

complaint in addition to addressing Dr. Schneider's comments.

RE: 10% discount on all services

I have been a patient of Dr. Schneider for 8 years. His best friend was an employee for

my ex-husband and this friend suggested that we use Dr. Schneider. At that time Dr.

Schneider voluntarily offered both me and my husband his "friends & family" discount

of 10% off the entire dental fee, not 10% off the co-pay. I have attached a few supporting

dental billing statements that validate the discount. At no time between the beginnings of

the relationship to my last visit did Dr. Schneider or any of his staff members inform me

that the 10% discount had been incorrectly applied OR had ended. On several occasions

upon receiving my bills the discount had been forgotten and I requested it be corrected by

his in house billing department. After having to ask, most the discovered errors were

corrected after the fact. Frustrated with having to deal with Dr. Schneider's lack of

customer courtesy, I audited the records I could locate (I am an accountant) I uncovered 9

instances over 8 years where my 10% credit was not given. He had always given me

10% off the billing not the copayment. Look at his statements I have attached. He is

lying once again, changing his story once again now claiming his billing service had been

under billing me for eight years. Does that really seem to make any sense to you?

Absolutely not.

RE: Cleaning appointment not covered by insurance

I have had the same dental insurance for 8 years. That plan allows for 2 cleanings per

year but they have to be staggered by at least 6 months. For 8 years Dr. Schneider's staff

has "scheduled" my next appointment during check out. On 8/12/13 his staff scheduled

my following cleaning appointment on 2/10/14, one day before my eligible date. He is

absolutely lying by claiming that I changed the appointment and moved it up two days,

and this is the first I have heard of this story. Not surprising. When I received my EOB

from my insurance denying the claim I immediately called Dr. Schneider's office, upset

that what in my opinion was their scheduling error, and asked that they write it off. The

woman I spoke with did inform me that regardless of who made the error they were not

responsible. I was shocked and disappointed they were not even going to come to some

compromise. She did say she would discuss it with "the Doc" and get back to me, but I

never heard from anyone. When I began receiving past due notices from the billing

company every time I faxed the statement to Dr. Schneider's office asking them to

remove the charge. Again, no one ever contacted me to discuss the matter further. I

understand that I signed an agreement stating I would take responsibility for charges that

insurance doesn't cover. The original charge for the cleaning was 181.00 and my

discount of 10% should have left me with a balance owed of 162.90 to be applied to my

pending credit on account for previous discounts.

RE: Letter #1 to Schneider (attached)

Dr. Schneider's response to your inquiry stated I threatened to "bash" him on Yelp and

Google. Read the letter for yourself. What I said specifically was "In addition (to

reporting him to Federal Trade Commission) I will write a negative review on both Yelp

and Google and file a complaint with the Revdex.com." That was not a threat

or any form of harassment, extortion, terrorism, or any other craziness he is implying. I

stated that ifl received another erroneous statement that did not properly give me the

discounts I was supposed to have I was going to do further pursue the issue-and I did

just that.

Here is my Yelp and Google Review FYI. Read the other negative reviews. He is

unethical and I am not the only person who has had issues.

"Beware. There is a reason there are negative reviews and mine is no

different. Expensive and need to be your own advocate for what you really need

done. Nice guy, nice staff, cool office but in my opinion routine cleanings turned into

fishing expedition for additional dentistry work. Routine checkups after cleaning yielded

fillings that "needed replacing". Twice after replacing fillings that were not bothering

me within a week I needed root canals and crowns. It could have been a coincidence but

in my opinion I don't think so. "

I no longer go to this office. I had a billing dispute that was handled very

unprofessionally and I was not properly given a discount that I was promised when !first

started seeing him in 2007. Long story short, after I audited my years of bills (I'm an

accountant) I discovered I was owed a refund, not that I owed him. When I asked for the

refund and said I will give him negative reviews on social media he warned me about

slander. Well it isn't slander if it is the truth, that is a fact.

RE: Letter #1 to me from Schneider (attached)

Please read the ranting's in his letter to me. In my opinion his unreasonable behavior is a

personal vendetta. Note that he brings up the fact that my ex-husband was his friend's

boss. My ex-husband fired his friend and I can't help wondering ifhis treatment of me is

bad blood. Again he states I threatened him, which clearly I did not. I believe Dr.

Schneider is somewhat unstable.

RE: Letter #2 to Schneider (attached)

For your reference, along with all my other very conclusive documents, demonstrates that

I have been clear from the begimling that the cleaning should have been a courtesy write

off, but even with that charge still standing I have not been properly billed for some time.

When all is said and done, Dr. Schneider owes me $100.95.

In conclusion, this issue has now become more a matter of principal, ethics and

accountability. Dr. Schneider has been unreasonable, unprofessional and unethical since

this started. He is dishonest and is a liar to boot. I have I have reported his billing

practices to Blue Shield of California as he has billed my insurance the full amount of

services when he should have billed the discounted rate, appearing to have pocketed the

difference. I will be reporting the harassing and incorrect monthly billing statements as

well as Dr. Schneider's deceptive bait and switch discounting practices to the Federal

Trade Commission upon completion of this response. Still, I would appreciate your help

in resolving this matter if at all possible.

Sincerely,