Hi, feel I've received unfair treatment at an orthondontics place and wonder what I can do please:
I had orthodontic treatment at a London ortho clinic privately a few years back, with a bonded retainer behind my top and bottom 4 teeth applied as a permanent thing to prevent teeth moving in the years after my ortho treatment finished. Additionally, I got a plastic removable retainer made by that practice for top and bottom that I wear every night.
This was a few years ago, no issues whatsoever. Since then, I've moved to a different town and decided to enquire about getting a retainer remade as my old removal retainer was getting a bit icky from years of use.
So, I booked an appointment at a private ortho practice in my new town who said they would be happy to measure my teeth using a techy wand type thing (no longer the horrible clay mould things to bite into..!) and get a set of removal retainers made for me, at the cost of £220. I agreed and then they were sent out to me in post.
I waited a week and didn't receive them so I phoned and they had to resend it and finally got it today. (I was wearing my old retainers every night in the meantime as usual).
I tried on the new retainers as soon as they arrived and bottom one was fine but upper one felt very very tight and I heard a bit of a crunch - I couldn't even get it off without a lot of struggle and to my dismay it has pulled off my bonded retainer off one of my top teeth so that bit of the bonded retainer is sticking out whilst the rest remains intact.
This makes it very hard to eat and uncomfortable and so I phoned the ortho place immediately telling them how trying on the removal retainer they sent (that I paid £220 for!) had caused my bonded retainer to come off. They insisted I would have to pay £160 to get this fixed.. despite it being caused directly by them and it being a 5 minute job to glue it back on..!!
I said that was unfair as it was no coincidence my bonded retainer was fine all this time until the moment I try on the retainer they sent me. They then tried to compromise by saying I could pay £160 for deposit of appointment and then IF they judge it to be the retainer, I would get it fixed free. I said Ok but if they say it's my fault, can I decline fixing it for cost? They said, no if it's not our fault, you will have to pay 160 for the time they have taken to even assess it (so even if I don't go ahead with the fixing). I think that is scammy and unfair as it's a very subjective seeming issue and they could easily say on purpose it's not their fault and I would have no choice but to pay for their time!
I was very disappointed by this all and said I was going to write a negative review about this experience, esp as I had already paid 220 for a device that has broken my bonded retainer - why should I pay another 160 for a simple glue on job that was entirely not my fault? I have enough experience putting in and taking out retainers to know it's their fault.
After I said I would write a review, they gave me an email address and said to email their dental therapists for more details to see if they could help in some way. I don't hold out much hope though! Any thing I can do in mean time, even some sort of legal action? or someone higher up that has power to deal with this?
All the info above is from practice managers apparently :(
Any ideas if I have any legal rights here etc ?