AIBU to think the dentist should have allowed me to postpone?

[ViaRia01]

Just wondering others’ views on my interaction with the dentists’ receptionist just now. It’s not really a big deal but wondering whether iabu

at 10:20am the receptiost phoned me to confirm my attendance for tomorrow 10:30. I double checked with her to cost and then asked is it already too late to postpone the appointment. She quickly said well yes it’s too late as it’s 24 hours. I checked the time and noticed that it’s technically more than 24 hours notice as it was not yet 10:30. I said ok, that’s fine, we’ll see you tomorrow 10:30. She very very quickly (and not particularly politely) said ok see you tomorrow bye, then hung up.

So I can and will go tomorrow. I want the check up and I can pay for it. It is all ok. I’d prefer to delay it a couple of weeks due to my own mid-budgeting this month but I know that isn’t their concern and if I haven’t rescheduled on time then so be it.

But…. It was (only just) more than 24 hours notice and so surely I should have been allowed to postpone. If I had made the phone call at the same time I don’t think they could/ would have argued it, but they phoned me (which I do also appreciate!)

I’m just wondering what others would have thought or done in this situation. I am trying to find a better balance at standing up for myself but without becoming too confrontational or fighting a losing battle if that makes sense. So:

YABU: appointment change request was not received in time and the receptionist is right to deny it.

YANBU: appointment change request was in time and should have been postponed.

It was technically before 24 hours so I assume they'd have allowed you to postpone it if you actually wanted to. You didn't though you just did a kind of gotcha thing to the receptionist which sounds quite annoying.

MN advice is a bit pointless here, because no one here can tell you what your dentist’s cancellation policy is. You need to look at their website maybe? If it’s 24 hours, then yes, the receptionist is being ridiculous and you have every right in this situation. But just be aware; my dentist has a 48-hour cancellation policy for this very reason, because they can usually fill the slot with 48 hours of notice, but it can be difficult with just 24. So figure out the exact policy, and if it’s 24 hours, then that’s that, done and dusted.

@DilettanteRedRagger thanks for responding. But I know the policy and the receptionist reiterated it - I need to give 24 hours notice and I gave 24 hours and 10 minutes.

Well then yes, it seems open and shut to me. If the policy is 24 hours, then even if you call to cancel at 24 hours and 1 minute, it’s not your problem. If they want a longer cancellation period, they need to set one.

EDIT: I don’t mean you have to be rude about it but it doesn’t sound like you were rude to me.

@mochimoons i don’t think I did…. I asked would it be possible to postpone and she said no so I said ok see you tomorrow. Where is the ‘gotcha’ in all that?

Maybe I've misunderstood then sorry.

You probably could have argued your case at the time because 24 hours is 24 hours. I expect that receptionist is a bit tired of her job and was being rude!

Im just amazed you could reschedule and it would likely be a couple weeks later. I had one of my appointments cancelled due to the dentist scheduling holiday and my appointment was 9 months later. My Daughter had to cancel an appointment due to a hospital appointment clashing and hers was rescheduled for 11 months later.

Our one is pretty good. They text you a reminder 48 hours beforehand, asking you to confirm. I think she was being a bit rude saying you couldn't cancel at that time though, as it was 24 hours beforehand.

Tell them you have Covid and ask if they want you to come in with Covid or if the want to postpone.

I think you were in the right with your 24 hours and 10 mins countdown. My dentist has a waiting list for cancellations so they could have covered your appointment or rather used the free time to stop making other people wait for 30 mins past their appointment time because they are running late

bit different but I had bug over the weekend and a Monday appointment so phoned 10am on the Sunday morning and left message that I couldn’t make my 11am appointment the next day.

On the Monday I phoned to reschedule and expecting to pay for my missed appointment I was told no charge as I had left the message at 10 am Sunday 25 hours before my appointment so no charge

24 hour cancellation period means 24 hours to me

They aren’t doing no it to check you are still going though, just reminding you. They have hundreds of appointments a week and the patient has one, so far easier for the patient to be the one to cancel, or not.

If you called them at that time, they would have to accept it.

In this case, they just called you 20 minutes earlier than they should - it was intended as a reminder call not as "do you want to cancell call".

If your reason was something genuine, it might be different, but "can I postpone because it would be more convenient for my cashflow" is a bad reason.

This.
I think the receptionist got ahead of the calling schedule. They don't want to activelly offer last minute cancellation, they want to make sure people don't miss their appointment for stupid reasons.

Of course we all know that dentists can pick and choose their patients at the moment so if you get too argumentative you may find yourself discreetly sidelined and without a dentist at all.

Am I the only one who has a dentist where emergency slots are like gold dust, and are snatched up at 8am, if they're even available?

I’ve been phoned before by my dentist asking if I want to move my booked appointment earlier, usually that day or the next day. Like they’ll phone and say you’ve an appointment on Thursday but would you like to come this morning at 10am instead. I’ve said yes before so presumably it’s a decent strategy. Then they have my appointment to offer someone calling up. Clearly they are filling cancelation spots!

Also you can often get seen same day or next day if it’s an emergency (I’ve been at dentist when the receptionist has taken those calls) so they clearly do keep some spaces free.

I’d take the 24 hours to mean literally 24 hours. So you could’ve cancelled at 10.20 if you’d wanted to push it.

@FourSevenFive i do understand/ agree with you to an extent. But why would you / the dentist receptionist determine that my reason was not genuine. The policy is to give more than 24 hours notice, it doesn’t say anything about “if you have extenuating circumstances” or “you can cancel short notice but only if you have a medical note” for example. My reason if my reason but it isn’t really relevant provided I have enough notice.

If you’d wanted to postpone, why didn’t you call yourself the day before or even early yesterday morning ? Were you intending on calling yourself within that ten minutes if you hadn’t got the reminder call?

I’m sure the reason the receptionist ended the call quickly was because she’d confirmed the appointment with you and had incoming calls to answer and another bunch of confirmation calls to make.

The dental practice probably has to make the reminder calls instead of or maybe as well as text reminders because so many make appointments and then don’t bother turning up.

if you’d a genuine reason for cancelling, you’d have cancelled yourself before the call. You make an appointment, you put it in your calendar or diary, you cancel in good time or turn up on time for the appointment. It’s basic good manners.

You didn't call to cancel yourself.
You tried to use timing error on their side.

Technicaly they should had let you cancel, it was over 24 hours - but not offer you another appointment for being a CF.

And I would think you could have called the dental practice back and said well, actually I can’t make tomorrow now and I need to re-schedule, they would have done so and not charged whatever no-show fee they charge. Or if you’d said, oops I forgot about the appointment, can I reschedule they would also have facilitated that.

The whole point of the call was to confirm your attendance. If you really wanted to postpone you should have just told them you can’t make it and need another appointment, they would have done that. Although your reason for postponing is a bit pointless. You have the time to attend, you want the appointment and you have the money so just go

Well no, I didn’t try to use a timing error on their side. I accepted her response that it was too late to cancel but my AIBU is that technically I should have been allowed to postpone it, which you appear to agree with.

No-one can prevent anyone from cancelling an appointment, you simply cancel and pay any cancellation fee, forfeit any deposit paid, etc and then accept whatever wait time for re-scheduling. Obviously late cancellations or no-shows are not fair on a business and are not recommended! And not fair on others who have long waits for an appointment they would definitely attend, especially a medical related appointment.

Your mistake was asking if you could cancel under the 24 hour cancellation notice. If you’d truly wanted to cancel, you’d have done so yourself before then or you could have said you’d forgotten the appointment and it no longer suits, For a dental practice, they would have had enough time to fill the slot with an emergency appointment.

Being pedantic about 10 minutes in your case is ridiculous because you made no effort to cancel before the confirmation call, probably had no intention of cancelling before you got the confirmation call and then wittered on about the 24 hr cancellation policy, rather than simply saying you now can’t attend and would like to re-schedule.

I imagine she had another call to take or a patient or two standing in front of her.

Why would you cancel your dentist at short notice except for an emergency?

To me 24 hours means 24 hours so yes, you should have been able to cancel, without penalty when she rang you.