OK, long story short I was in for a routine dental checkup and as I was on my way out and paying, the clerk told me "I had looked at your insurance, and with your $1,500 orthodontics benefit, Invisalign braces would cost you $2700 out of pocket!"

I decided thought about it a couple days, and decided to go for it so went in and paid $2700, which they accepted.

They took all the measurements and five weeks later (today) I'm called and told the bracers have come in and to come pick them up!

Buuut......

"I noticed on the account that with your insurance benefit of $1500 there is actually a balance of $500 on the account, I guess I had thought your benefit was $2000"

She said the total bill $4,700 was reflected on my receipt, and this is correct.

I REALIZE THIS IS MY FAULT FOR NOT DOUBLE CHECKING THE MATH but I'm feeling kinda bait and switched. At a 20% increase over my quoted price (even if it was quoted incorrectly) it is now more expensive then I want to spend. I had already been suffering buyers remorse for 'investing' the $2,700 in the first place!

I *know* my legal obligation is to pay, but what I'm asking is do you think I have moral grounds to request the $500 be waived, or to have them split it with me, or even to NOT get the braces and get a refund on my original $2,700, or is that completely out of line and I should just buck up, 'find' $500 I don't have and just pay it and move on?

Incidentally, I have a memory of watching the clerk as she was rechecking the price before I paid entering a $1,500 and coming out with a $2,700. -- Which would mean she told me it cost too little total *NOT* that she accidentally assumed I had $2,000 benefit. But once again, the receipt clearly shows a 'total' price of $4,700 which if I had paid attention and subtracted $1,500 would have noticed the numbers don't jibe.

My receipt for payment does NOT say paid in full, incidentally.

Thank you guys.

-Allen

was anything ever signed by you that has the original amount on it, concerning the $1500?

Good point, if something was signed you're probably gonna be able to get out of paying the extra cash.

My dentist is very similar. I simply won't go anywhere else cause he's just damn good, and he's so nice. But his receptionists are TERRIBLE. They've messed up my insurance and bills seriously about 5 times, my mom's like 5 times, my dad's and my sister's too.

Each time though I just talk to him about it and he straightens the situation out. HE does not want to lose a good customer (or 4 in the case of my family), so he always fixes the issue.

So maybe you should talk to the doctor about it. Tell him what happened.

Good luck. I know how frustrating these situations can be. :mad:

When I recently got my braces I had to sign a document that said exactly how much I was responsible for, how much insurance was expected to pay, and if they didn't pay that I would be responsible for it.

Be glad your insurance covered that much. Mine only covered $500 (of $5,200 total) and the girl told me that was more than insurance usually covered.

Explain the misunderstanding to them and see how they react. At the very least I would think they would setup a payment plan for you.

After talking to many others that have had braces I believe you will be extremely happy you took the plunge once this is all over. In the long run it will be money well spent.

If I thought I'd been tricked, I'd fight it to the end of the earth but that doesn't seem to be the case here. It sounds like an honest mistake. Good people can make honest mistakes and it sounds like you and the receptionist share part of the blame.

I'd explain to them that you simply don't have the extra $500 and ask what kind of arrangements can be made. Maybe they can split the difference with you and allow for some kind of monthly payments. Maybe they'll waive all of it, who knows. You won't know until you ask and there's absolutely nothing wrong with asking.

As far as you backing out on the entire deal, that doesn't seem to be an honorable way out unless they're totally unwilling to work with you and you simply cannot afford the extra $500. If it were me, backing out completely would be a very last resort.

I understand buyer's remorse. I've been there myself, but you can't let that cloud your judgement about the right thing to do. It's been my experience that honest, well meaning people can usually work out a compromise that's fair to everyone.

UPDATE:

I went in and explained that I thought I was being treated unfairly, and that I knew that LEGALLY I owed the $500, and that if I had done due diligence and doubled checked the figures on paper versus what they were telling/selling me on, I would have noticed the discrepancy. But that I didn't do it because I had trusted them to act like a Dentist office and not used car salesmen. The receptionist went back and talked to the dentist who then told me that "they had made a mistake and put on $500 extra dollars, it is now corrected".

She is awesome, best dentist I've ever been to and while the billing is sometimes a little screwy, I'll go back there forever and recommend the office to everyone (new office with all the latest technology).

Situation resolved!

-Allen

Good, now send her/him a NICE christmas present as an extra thank you.

booya dude, right on! I'd say you owe your dentist a Christmas card :)

I am sooooo glad that it all worked out for you. And on top of it, you'll have a pretty new :D in no time!

Update #2:

OWWWW THese things kinda hurt, constant dull ache as the teeth are pulled to their new positions over the next year and half.

Ugh.

Hopefully it is worth all the headache.

Incidentally BEFORE this whole incident, I was planning to write a letter to the dentist saying how much I loved her practice/etc and how satisfied I was. Now, yes she gets a nice Christmas present/card.

-Allen

wow man, I was just going over the brochure from my dentist with the invisalign stuff.

Really curious what your experience with them is - keep posting updates pls :)

I got invisalign a few years ago. It hurts for the first few days of every new tray, then stops after a bit. The upside is that you can take them off for eating and whatever, so you don't have to clean nasssty braces. The downside is that you can take them off, so somtimes you forget to put them back in.

Update on Invisalign themselves:
They aren't too difficult to to keep in, and yes now that my teeth have started to loosen up and match the tray more, getting them in and out is getting much easier.

Bonus #1: Because you have to take them out to eat, I am finding I'm less likely to want to snack, the downside is doing things like 5 or 6 meals a day SUCKS and I am back to 2 or 3 meals a day.

It is hard to chew on hard things because my teeth are sore, so I'm preferring softer foods.

*I* notice them and don't think they are "invisible" at all, but everyone I have asked said you can't see them, and my girlfriend said she can't see them, but my teeth look "shiny".

From a distance of 2 or 3 feet, most people do not notice them. That is kinda nice!

My upper tray is rubbing against the soft tissue in the back of my mouth right behind my front teeth, I assume I can file the tray down a little bit to prevent this.

So far I'm happy with them, but will be glad to get rid of them!

-Allen

Oooooooold thread but...how did Invisalign work out for you? Have you finished treatment yet?

Interesting.

I was just at the dentist last week for an unrelated problem. He tried to play salesman and talk me into Invisalign.

I noticed a BMW 760il in the parking lot and the vanity plate was something like "RX DDS", which I assume translates to someone being a doctor/dentist. A 760il is damn near, if not a six-figure car - to me, that's a mortgage, not a car payment. In contrast, I came driving up to his office in my $4,000, 20+ year old Mustang.

We discussed my teeth and gums. I asked if they were otherwise healthy, to which he replied yes. He quoted me a price on the Invisaligns. It was a good thing I was laying down, I might have fainted otherwise. After hearing that absurd number, I asked him if that was his $100K BMW in the parking lot, to which he also answered yes. I then informed him that I would NOT be making any payments for him in the near future.

My teeth may be a bit cockeyed, but they are healthy and can chew steak just fine.

-R

The mark-up that dentists make is enormous....though you should definitely give an X-mas card,etc. I assure you your dentist made a hefty profit even with absorbing the $500 shortfall in expected profit.