ASPEN DENTAL MENTAL FLOSSED

Office Manager

ASPEN DENTAL

257 North Plainfield Road

W. Lebanon, NH 03784

Dear Aspen Dental:

I’m writing as a former (and please note the emphasis on former) customer.

Yesterday, 09/17/2019, I went to your West Lebanon, NH office looking to have my broken dentures repaired. I had no appointment, but you've always offered "Emergency" and "Walk-Ins Welcome" as part of your services. In fact, you broadcast it in foot-high letters on your office windows.

Truth in advertising. Uh-huh.

It all goes to hell from there:

I traveled to your office (a 50-mile round trip for me) because no one would answer the phone when I called at 8:45 a.m.  You advertise your office hours as 8am to 6pm, but apparently not for humans who answer phones. I got a recorded message, asking me to call back "during office hours." Right.

See the first problem?

Your office hours are 8am to 6pm.

I called at 8:45am. No sign of a live human.

I still left a message requesting that someone at AD please return my call asap, though I knew it to be futile. Sure enough, hours later at home, no one had, so I reluctantly drove the 25 miles to your office. And, as of today, incidentally, still no return call or acknowledgement of mine.

I arrived to find an overflowing parking lot, not a space to be had, so I parked two business lots away and walked back to the office, difficult for me because of reasons I will cite below.

And, in the waiting room, not one available chair.

Your receptionist, after I explained my problem, said "Well, there's no way we can help you on 'oral surgery' day," and was rather glib about it. (Never ceases to amaze me why people who aren't good with people choose to work in the people business. She needs to find a widget assembly line job somewhere and avoid any contact with the public).

Yes, apparently, you schedule all your oral surgeries for the same day, according to her, so tough luck. I told her that I'd TRIED to call first, and again, she blew this off and restated how everyone there (as I could see) was too busy to answer the phones on oral surgery day. How dumb of me. Why wouldn’t I know that.

I’ve watched this evolve over the long time I’ve been a customer of yours. You’re overbooked. Understaffed. Overcrowded, inside and out. And, your communications (phone) have become non-existent. This is so typical of businesses that grow faster than they can accommodate the needs of their customers. You move into strict profiteering at the expense of all else.

Customer “service” unravels, and people become names & numbers on paper.

Before I left, your flip receptionist did make an appointment for me for today at 9 a.m.  So, I left.

I arrived today, 09/18/2019, at 8:20 a.m., checked in, same receptionist. She took my teeth and disappeared, returning a minute later to inform me that it would 3 hours before they could be repaired, and told me what my bill would be (apparently the only thing you can do in a timely manner is figure what I owe you before you’ve done anything.)

THREE HOURS.

Right about here, you need to know the following:

I have Stage Four cancer in my lung, liver and brain. I am being treated with chemo and radiation. It’s difficult for me to sit anywhere for very long because of the revolving pains I have and the medications I’m taking.

I called my wife there in the waiting room and told her that I’d had enough of Aspen Dental nonsense. I told her that I was going to ask for my teeth back and get the hell out of there.

Your receptionist (who has the personality of a bottle of hand sanitizer) overheard this, and said “I’ll see if he can do them sooner,” again disappeared, and returned abruptly with my unrepaired dentures. “Here they are,” she said, putting them on the desk and turning away from me. And that was that.

And, for me, that was it. Let’s just say I took that opportunity to loudly tell her and your rapidly filling-up waiting room (yes, I made a bit of a scene) just what I thought of Aspen Dental, its (lack) of customer service, and its overall decline and  depersonalizations, again so typical of businesses that plan and act poorly.

Oh … and just for seriocomic relief … whoever was back out of sight in the lab had dipped my dentures in a bitter solution that caused a wave of nausea when I left the office and put the partial-partial back in my mouth. I was not informed of this. Was that his idea of a JOKE? Did he and your snippy receptionist put their pinheads together and decide to prank this disgruntled (and vocal) customer?? I am still tasting the effects of it.

Clearly, to me, it was done deliberately, as was not informing me of what your techie had done. I can’t prove it, but I believe it was malicious.

Finally, I will now take the opportunity to report all of this --- on social media, my website, and wherever I can influence anyone looking for dental services. I have been in the healthcare business for over 35 years.

In my opinion, you’ve become corrupted beyond repair. All mouth and no open.

Shame on you.

P.S. Your CEO’s statement: “We’re big advocates for the patient” is outright amusing. And, I’ve been reading the thousands of lodged complaints and lawsuits against Aspen Dental online.  Stunning that you’re still in business.

Cc:

CEO

Aspen Dental Management, Inc.

13, Ocala Ave

Jacksonville, Florida 32220