First I want to state that the staff at this office, who I will name, Desi, Rose, Liz, Stephanie and Dr. Slaven are all efficient, kind people who I wish would work in another office, because I do not want them to be jobless for the lack of patients, buf it you do not want to read the whole review, stay away from this office, because the owner dentist is very vindictive to those patients who displease her. I gave a higher star rating because of the staff.
I wrote a negative review though not quite as bad as some of the other one star reviews, regarding misinformation that I was given about an approval needed for an expensive covered procedure. When I came in for take xrays needed for the request, the dentist that owns this and many other offices, whom I never saw in the two years I have been going there off and on, Dr. Aswani, was there. I later ascertained that she was there to see who wrote the negative review, but at that time I thought that it was only because she cared enough about her reputation to correct the situation and when she explained that the staff member was incorrect and the request had been sent which was true since I got a letter from the insurance company saying it was approved, I was satisfied.
Whilst there she said three times, in a very unsmiling fashion that she wanted me to remove and rewrite the negative review and ALSO she had her office manager do so, which I was going to do anyway. When I got home the first thing I did was remove the bad review. I would speculate that she may not have liked my updated review, it was still positive but only had three and not five stars and I did allude to the past review but said that the issues were corrected. Monday, I called the office and asked the manager, if they contacted the insurance company, and at that time I was informed that I could not have services with the office. The office manager could not say, but I knew it had to be the decision of the owner. My insurance company called and firmly requested, that they finish my treatment as I had waited so long to get an approval and they finally agreed.
I have no problem if they do not want me as their patient, but what I didn't like is that SHE was not honest and upfront about it (another Yelp reviewer mentioned that the office lies, although I have never been lied to by the staff, only misinformed, the DENTIST DELIBERATELY lied to me.) The dentist's behaviour on the day I met her for xrays, was strange, refusing to confirm the appt. three days away, closing the door to the office (which had NEVER been closed before) to talk to the dentist who would be working on me, refusing to give me the medication I needed because another dentist may do it (I thought she meant an endodontist although I told her the regular dentist was approved) all this made me believe she had already made her decision. She could have told me after the procedure on the 31st-only 4 days later (which is the easiest day that one can change the provider as this is an HMO and many other dentists will not take people until the first of the month ) that I could no longer avail myself of their services. She SHOULD have told me on Friday, three days before my procedure, so I could have more time to find another, instead of (again) me spending the time rewriting a positive review she demanded of me and this shows her lack of professionalism and one wonders, whether there was some kind of "special treatment" (discounts, gifts etc.) that helped persuade people to write 5 star reviews. I was also told by the insurance company, that a patient shouldn't be penalized for writing a negative review, you feel the way you feel, the dentist/office can always write a rebuttal.
Although understandably upset when I was told (wrongly) after three weeks of waiting that my request for approval for a treatment was not sent out, (the reason for the bad review) I was neither profane or yelled at the staff, good reasons to ban a patient and as I said I DID post a positive review, when I was very FORCEFULLY told to do. She is connected with various other offices, EZ Dental Group, 3 D Dental Group, AAA Dental and My Time Dental, all of which may be staffed by competent kind dentists and staff but why spend your money on a chain run by HER when there is a plethora of dentists in the Los Angeles area, who don't treat their customers poorly, one reviewer was banned just for asking for records, much worse when it disrupts your treatment, you had waited a long time to get approval on. On the another note, although you may hopefully get another dentist like Dr. Slaven, Dr. Aswami may be the one who treats you, she attended dental school in India, it might behoove you to check out the reputation of that school.
by Jenn Garden
xxx.xxx.150.234
August 02, 2018
