Having been a patient at Brunswick Eye Care for 26 years, I am extremely disappointed by my recent experience. While the doctors have always been wonderful, the customer service—particularly in the front office—has declined significantly in recent years. Most recently, I was given inaccurate information regarding my insurance and was treated in an extremely rude and condescending manner when I questioned it. I explained that my insurance company had indicated the issue was that the provider I saw was out of network. For the 11 years I have had this insurance, the providers I have seen at this practice have been in network, so I was understandably concerned. I was told that this was impossible and that it would not matter which provider I saw because the services were not covered. Rather than simply accept that answer, I took the time to thoroughly research my insurance policy and speak with multiple representatives at my insurance company. I was ultimately able to confirm that Dr. LaPointe is in network, while Dr. Poulin, who I was scheduled with, is not. The individual that scheduled the appointment confirmed my insurance was the same and that they would bill as medical prior to booking the appointment. They had absolutely no idea that one doctor in the practice was in-network and the others were not. As a result, I now have a $315 bill, consisting primarily of medical testing that my insurance will not cover. Had I been scheduled with an in-network provider, my insurance company confirmed that these services would have been covered. I took the additional time to explain the situation in an email and offered to provide the documentation from my insurance company confirming this information. The response I received was essentially that I could pay the bill and go elsewhere. My concerns were not addressed, and there was no willingness to discuss how the situation occurred or how it might be resolved. I never asked the bill to be forgiven and even stated I would be calling with my card information to pay. I assumed the employee would look further into this matter as she told me they ALWAYS have problems with this insurance. I would assume this is why. It is a large employer and not all of your doctors are in-network so it would be beneficial to be mindful of scheduling people with the policy accordingly. Clearly, she had no interest doing anything to gain knowledge and better the experience for both staff and the patients. Unfortunately, my entire family has left this practice because of the rudeness of the front office staff, and I will be doing the same. It is especially disappointing because the doctors at Brunswick Eye Care have always been kind, professional, and excellent. However, good medical care needs to be accompanied by good customer service. Patients should be able to ask questions about their insurance and billing without being dismissed, spoken down to, or given inaccurate information. I hope the practice takes these concerns seriously, because after 26 years as a patient, it is incredibly disappointing to feel that the customer service has reached this point.
