When I came to pay the lady I presumed was the Receptionist because she was one of two ladies sitting at a reception desk, told me that the prices had gone up. I reminded her that we had set a price then of £65 and I had paid a £20 deposit.... but said that "I don't mind paying a few pound more".
"It's more than a few pound," she said but added that she could sort it out if I waited for the Receptionist"".
I had been thinking that I was talking to the Receptionist as the lady talking to me appeared to be undertaking Receptionist-like tasks. But apparently being a Receptionist was a much higher position than the one of the two ladies I was talking to ...who were both merely some forms of faktotum. As I sat waiting for the Receptionist who was important enough to be called a Receptionist, I started to wonder about the internal management structure of the practice. Were the ladies at the desk actually the lowest level of management or was there a layer of responsibility somewhere even below this?
As the two ladies who were not Receptionists booked people into appointments which seemed a Receptionist-like activity, I waited quietly in the seating area for the person who was important enough to call herself a receptionist to appear. The two ladies answered some phone calls. One offered the other some kind of fruit in a tupperware box. The other declined. They entered into a conversation slagging off someone who worked there who was behaving strangely and not sleeping. "Where is she?" said one. "She was supposed to come here to talk to the customer, why is she taking so long?" Perhaps they were under the illusion that because their desk had an upstand and my eye level was below that that I couldn't hear every word... but I could hear every word. Then an older man paid for his appointment, noting the increased costs for which the ladies at the desk apologized/schmoozed. He flirted with them a bit in response, was separated from his money and advised them not to get old... something that seemed to be happening to me as time stretched on and the Receptionist who was the Receptionist still did not appear.
Eventually she did appear and informed the ladies that the they should inform people when they come in that the prices had gone up. I told her that she couldn't actually do this because she had agreed a price when I/we/they paid the deposit and changing the price only when the consumer actually turns up for the service is actually called bait advertising*. The Receptionist then produced the piece of paper about hygienists not being dentists under which she or someone else had scrawled £88 and said "You signed this!". So I said "No, I didn't ...you added that retrospectively and anyway you'd still be in violation of Trading Standards". Since the Receptionist who was not called a Receptionist had taken the £45 now it seemed too late for the Receptionist who was a Receptionist to extract a further £23 anyway... so I walked out. By this time the other Receptionist who was not a Receptionist was complaining she couldn't hear herself talking on the phone ...
No wonder these places have to put signs up saying "Don't abuse our staff". I expect people tell them to fuck off into the middle of next week on a regular basis. The complete absurdity of it is that I'd offered to let it slide, they said they "No, don't" and then tried to somehow catch me out with faked paperwork.... Pity the fools ... as Mr T used to say. But ... Why is it like this every time I go to a dentist? In the past I've had one who tried to convince me I had three fillings that no other dentist could find, one who tried to get me to sign for a course of treatment I'd said I didn't ...and now this clown trying bait and switch on me and slander me with fake paperwork... I used to be afraid of dentists for the pain but these days it's the Wild West shenanigans.
Honestly, ... they're such a load of cowboys. I don't know why they don't get Doc Holiday back in and be done with it.
Oh yes, I do ... he was honest.
[*See The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 Schedule 1 Regulation 3(4)(d).]
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