To think the dentist shouldn't charge me for cancelling?

[SneakyGremlins]

Have a dentist appointment at 2PM today, but emailed this morning to cancel as I have been vomiting off and on overnight and thing I'm coming down with something. Dentist acknowledged email but said they would "probably" still have to charge for a late cancellation.

AIBU to think this isn't fair? Do they want me to go in and throw up?

Have taken thread advice and rung them - They've managed to fill the appointment 30 seconds after I emailed I bet as I sent the email before they opened and will "on this occasion" waive the charge. I did offer to come in but they were surprisingly not keen..

They can certainly fill the slot. I needed root canal treatment and was on a waiting list for a cancellation. I was in agony and was so grateful for the call.

I would happily pay if I had just missed the appointment but I'm not having a merry day off

X post I didn't see that you were on ESA so it is different to a swimming lesson. Apologies, I didn't realise that you were charges exempt.

@C8H10N4O2 I spotted that after I posted. That'll teach me for not refreshing the page before typing my response!

Am not at all surprised by that result.

YABU, and even moreso given that you are already so so lucky to receive free dental treatment. I’m sure when you signed up they explained their policies. As PP have said why should they be out of pocket? The 24 hour rule is so they can fill it with someone else and not waste slots. It has to be in place cos people are chancers and will ring and cancel with twenty mins to spare for the most ridiculous reasons and the dentist can’t exactly spend time and effort getting evidence of whether someone is lying or not.

Glad they waived it for you.

Good. Glad they waived it for you. Cheeky fuckers!

Of course they should charge you. It's not their fault or problem that you are sick.

NHS isn't allowed to charge. I went to one of the newer commercial dentists for a while, as an NHS patient, and if I agreed at some point to any non-NHS treatment as part of a course of treatment - eg, having 2 fillings done, agree to have my teeth cleaned as well - then they could charge for any lateness.

One day I was 3 minutes late for an appointment. The dentist wasn't even ready for me, and they still tried to charge. I pointed out that on the previous 2 occasions they had been running 10 minutes and 30 minutes late, and that I had let someone go ahead of me on the 30 minute occasion because they had to get back to work more urgently than I did, and that it was rather cheeky to charge me when they couldn't even keep their own appointments in order. They let me off.

I then moved to another (european) country, where I pay for all my dental treatment. The surgery is more modern, the treatment is cheaper, and higher quality (3d printed crown last time), I am not charged if I am late, and the kids checkups are free (as is my checkup if I subsequently need work). I actually fly back now, because the quality of care is so high that I'm happy to spend the extra money (and have a weekend away at the same time)

Out of spite id go and then vomit in the waiting room..... 😷🤭

It would have been better to speak to them in person rather than an email OP.

YABU, and even moreso given that you are already so so lucky to receive free dental treatment

Lucky? The OP is lucky to be on such a low work/income footing that she qualifies for free dental care? Do you have a clue what hoops you go through to get and maintain ESA until you can find other work?

Fuck me, I've heard it all now.

Oh and NHS dentists can't charge for missed appts, which doesn't stop some of them trying it on.

Private medical practices have the same dilemma. The ones I've worked in usually waive the cancellation fee for patients who are normally show up as scheduled. A minority of patients generate most of the cancellations. I recall one woman who wanted to cancel anytime there was rain in the forecast, as she didn't like to go out when it was raining.

Err, 'lucky' to be on ESA (i.e.: disabled enough for the govt to care)??

Yes, I'm so lucky to be suicidal, depressed and anxious enough to be unable to work, thus being on ESA. How fucking lucky I am!

I work in dentistry. We stopped charging for failed or cancelled appointments a year ago. Low income area, felt very punitive . However, yesterday I had 100 minutes of wasted surgery time due to fail to attends. Charging for missed appointments does help reduce this waste of valuable resources.

It is ridiculous, as you have a vomitting bug which is contagious, and can present a bio hazard if you throw up in the dentists.

Not lucky to be on ESA, of course. Lucky to be given free dental care. Plenty of people who don’t qualify for ESA but are desperately skint simply can not afford dental care because it’s impossibly out of their budget. I’m glad that you get free dental care but it is very fortunate it’s provided while on ESA, especially compared to someone who can’t afford it and works! Don’t twist my words

It’s common practice
You’re required to give 24 hours notice otherwise we can’t fill the gap and lose money

The latest thing is to charge you the total cost of treatment before you book and no refund if you don’t come for any reason

My dentist have a 'no cancellation within 48 hours' thing which says a charge is incurred, but I did it once and they didn't charge me. I would hope that if you are a regular client and haven't done this before or for years, then I would hope that they would let it go. What really irks me is that my dentist is always running over by at least 20 minutes, so I think a missed appointment would be a bonus! Once they cancelled appts for me and 2 DC when we were just about to walk through the door of the practice (at 8 in the morning!) If they had tried to charge me for the one I cancelled, I was going to bring that up! Not sure what the situation is in your area with dentists, but there is a shortage where we are, so I think they know they have us where they want us.

I am surprised that anyone would email on the same day to cancel their appointment.

Not lucky to be on ESA, of course. Lucky to be given free dental care.

The two are directly related which is blatantly obvious.

Yes there are plenty of low income people who don't qualify and can't afford dental. Lobby your MP, campaign for that it is a genuine health issue apart from anything else.

Don't crap on someone even worse off by telling them they are "lucky" to be getting the benefits for which they have previously paid into the system.

It's nice that they cancelled the fee but I think there is an awful lot of missed appointment through last minute cancellations or just no shows.
And I reckon a lot of people would like about D&V if it got someone to waive a fee. There's plenty of liars who would take advantage so it taints the truth tellers.

greendale I knew I wasn't going to make it in, but the phones weren't open yet (I checked) so I sent an email and went back to bed for a bit, what with feeling ill.