Level of service for £7K is ridiculous?

[falutoo]

I went for a consultation in a top London clinic. I waited in reception and was asked by three people who was I waiting for.

After 20 minutes of waiting the person I was there to see came out and said “oh no one told me you were here”.

She didn’t take my makeup off to look at my skin. And just guessed at what could be the cause of my skin condition.

She said she would send over the treatment plan and pricing. Which I then had to chase up and they sent me the information of a different patient - their name, address, date of birth, what treatment they are having etc.

They then sent me half of my treatment plan and quoted me £7K. Aibu to think if you’re charging this much then that level of service needs to also match?

(Just a side note I’m not paying that as I expected the amount to be around £2K)

OK.

Don't give them your business.

I have LITERALLY started to make a list of business to avoid based on their bad service. It's here on my laptop - and anyone who doesn't offer good service and a good job goes straight onto it never to be used again. I'm getting fed-fucking-up with it.

Not a great first impression. Go somewhere else.

I think that's shit, I wouldn't give them my buisness.

I once went into a clinic for a nose job consultation and the woman (nurse?) doing it said 'oh? I think your nose is OK, I thought you were going to say you wanted your boobs done' 🙄

She pointed out my skin conditioner and said yes it’s really bad isn’t it?

Ok … thanks? Already felt super self conscious but now I feel fantastic.

I just think the level of service I get at most places is terrible.

I contacted an independent bakery to ask them to do an afternoon tea for ten people that I could collect and the owner took 2 weeks to respond and by that time I’d already found someone else. When I told them this she responded with - well I don’t check my emails every day.

I don’t know .:. I don’t expect people to go above and beyond but just the basic level of me not having to chase up responses would be great.

A little known secret is that most "top" doctors and clinics do not give a shit about potential clients who they do not know personally or are not significantly famous or wealthy in some way. They've build up their reputation in order to create a cash cow so people come in just based on the name and pay their inflated margins. Shoddy business is not surprising, sort of like how you can get terrible service at a top restaurant or luxury store. (Getting sent another patients details was a huge error, but possibly due to new untrained staff).

Well-known private doctors tend to have a large network of private recommendations. Their best service is always reserved for patients who can mention some sort of personal connection (eg, they got the recommendation from the spouse of a football mate of the doctor, or it's the son of one of their parent's friends). If you go to an expensive doctor as a total stranger, then you often do not get the service that matches the price. This is particularly prevalent in aesthetic medical fields like beauty, skin, dentistry, plastic surgery, fillers etc. (Less common with serious medical problems like illness, cancer etc).

That's crap I would be well put off.

I work with small businesses, and honestly, I'm often not surprised that many do not make it, people seem to really struggle with managing things that I would consider quite basic and not taking opportunities.

Yes that’s very poor service whether you’re paying or not. Also someone else’s details. That’s awful disorganisation never mind breach of privacy. I’m not a derm or medically trained but am a facialist of 30+ years if you’d like any advice.

It's money for old rope for them. Scary and lax to hear about practises like this in healthcare.

Ask your GP to refer you privately to a consultant who does both NHS and private work.

They sent you another patient’s personal details?

That’s a significant data breach.

Yep there is a lot of small businesses where it's dire. A lot of small businesses think world owes them a living and it's customers fault any issues.

There's a number of shops/bars near me who just open when they want, you talk to people and everyone stops going in because they never know when they are going to be open as no consistency from week to week.

Report them to the Information Commissioners Office for a data breach, so they can learn about data security.

I had a breast reduction last year, the op, the post op care etc were all excellent. But the communications and admin were laughable. I took my mammogram letter to my pre op, the nurse looked at it blankly then popped it in the file as if she didn't know what else to do with it. The surgeon then blamed me when the letter wasn't where she expected it.

She also blamed me for her not being told by the nurses that I had briefly passed out the night before.

All the clinical stuff was absolutely faultless but sometimes it was like dealing with Laurel and Hardy, not a modern, professional healthcare provider.

A few other ladies on the breast reduction thread reported similar.

so true. I had a nose job about 8 years ago with an EXCELLENT but extremely busy doctor - whose office didn’t return my call’s until it transpired his grandson was my sister’s godson. Then he could not have been more charming or gracious 😆- I still think he’s a ass, but he’s now a charming ass who did a great job…

@Tattletwat yes we have a few like this in Bath too- I go to the same places repeatedly because they stick to their opening hours- same is true of some indie shops here too