To cut a long story short in the summer my dentist was taken over by a new company and they booted everyone off as nhs patients and went fully private.
they sent a letter saying that to be a member I had to sign up with a fee of £19.99 per month which included some treatment discount, check ups and hygienist.
what the letter didn’t say, and what they didn’t tell me on the phone (calls are recorded apparently) is that a minimum of 2 direct debits had to be taken before an appointment could be made so when I tried to make an appointment after paying 1 direct debit they refused even though I was heavily pregnant awaiting a c section so wouldn’t be able to make it in for treatment for a little while. They also took a one off registration fee for each of my husband and I and again this wasn’t stated on the letter or on the phone.
I submitted a formal complaint at the end of August. I was told I’d get a response by 13th September to no avail. I’ve phoned them near enough every other day for weeks to be fobbed off.
I’ve submitted a data subject access request to access the call recording and I’ve told tjem
if they don’t comply I’ll report them to the ICO.
Ive also been advised to report them to the financial services ombudsman.
does anyone know if there’s any other action I can take to elicit a proper response from them? I’ve requested a refund as my desired outcome and I’ve cancelled my membership and signed up elsewhere (as I know a lot of other people have done).
id also add that when I told them I wanted to cancel my direct debit they threatened to take another as it was “too close” to the next dd date even though it was at least a week away. I had to ring my bank to have payments to them blocked.
such as shame as it used to be a great dentist which id been a patient of for over 10 years with the same dentist. Appreciate a LOT of people are in a similar situation and I’m lucky to be able to afford my dental membership.