My bad experience with Dr. Olsen

Last year I went to Dr. Greg Olsen, a chiropractor in Lake Forest, on the advice of a friend to try to cure my tinnitus (ringing in the ears). The doctor told me that 10 weeks should do it, so that is what I agreed to. Additionally Blue Cross was covering most of the costs, and he said he'd adjust his charges to their standard reimbursement rates. He billed Blue Cross directly.

Since he wan't in the Blue Cross preferred provider system, they send reimbursement checks to me, and then I endorsed the checks and gave them to Dr. Olsen to pay for his charges. I didn't keep copies of the checks. Some times the doctor's receptionist charged me a standard fee, sometimes it was more and sometimes less, which I paid using my VISA card.

Well, he didn't cure me, despite his initial optimism and lots of tests, vitamins, and treatments. The treatments continued longer than the 10 weeks, until Blue Cross told me that I'd used up the benefits. At that point I cancelled my appointments and stopped seeing him. My tinnitus is unchanged.

Eight and a half months went by and then he sent me a statement that showed I owed him another $1,578.06. At no time during my treatment did he send any monthly statement, nor did he send me any monthly statement after I left. In a letter, I asked for backup, which he provided. I made a spreadsheet to try to tie it all together. It was a mess.

When you are the patient of a chiropractor, you have no idea of what the relationship is between charges and treatment you are receiving. You twist, you breath, you are pulled, you are pushed, you are prodded. You have no idea of when one billable action stops and the next one begins.

In a letter, I asked him to review my spreadsheet, and in particular look at the many times where the charges to me did not match the amount billed to Blue Cross. He wrote back that he reviewed the charges and they were correct. I asked him to review the payments in my next letter to him. He responded by mail that he reviewed them and they were correct. Since I did not keep copies of the checks, I had no valid argument in return so I wrote him a check for the amount he said I owed and mailed it to him.

A couple weeks later, I recounted my tale of woe to another friend, who said Blue Cross would send me copies of the checks, front and back. I then asked Blue Cross for said copies and received them several weeks later. I added them up and, lo and behold, it was considerably greater than I was given credit for!

I mailed Dr. Olsen another letter with copies of the endorsed checks and asked for a refund of the difference, $920.86. A month went by with no response. I telephoned his office. His receptionist told me they would be reviewing my letter with the billing service, and I should expect a call the next day. That didn't happen, so I called them. The meeting was postponed until next week. I called the next week, they had the meeting, but Dr. Olsen had some more questions so they were going to meet again. I called again, Dr. Olsen was with a patient. I called again, they were real busy and hadn't had a chance to talk. I called again and they would get back to me this afternoon. This was two weeks worth of evasion and delay.

His position was that his billing service didn't know what to do with the account since they didn't get copies from Blue Cross, so he didn't send me a statement until 8 1/2 months later. My position is that either they are incompetent and should be fired, or he is in collusion with them to milk closed accounts with additional charges. Interestingly, the first statement that he sent me had most of the charges dated 8 months after treatment, with none of them overdue as of that statement date. That tells me that they were entered into their billing system months after the fact.

For several months I gave him the benefit of the doubt, that it was the billing service that was to blame. I've changed my mind after two weeks of evasion and lies. If he was honest, he would have taken my phone calls. If he was honest, he would have replied to my letter asking for a refund. I feel that he expects that by ignoring me, I'll tire out and quietly go away.

Well that strategy didn't work, today I filled out the papers to file a small claims lawsuit against him, and he motivated me to join the ranks of the bloggers about my bad experience with this Chiropractor.

To you who might be reading this before going to see Dr. Olsen, I'd strongly advise you to find somebody else. Run don't walk.

UPDATE: On a Friday afternoon I told Dr. Olsen's receptionist to not bother to call me back because I was out of patience and was going to file a lawsuit against Dr. Olsen to recover my money. He told me to do what I had to do. The following Monday morning the receptionist called me at 9 am to advise that they would be mailing me a refund check the next day. The trip to the courthouse to file the papers is now on hold, pending receipt of the check.

SECOND UPDATE: I received his check in the mail the following Wednesday for the over billed amount.

Summary:

1) He didn't fix what was broke, despite my full compliance with his "treatments".

2) Almost a year later he billed me additional charges.

3) He would not take my phone calls when I pointed out that his "billing service" did not credit my account for all of the payments that I made.

4) He paid back the overcharge only when threatened with Small Claims Court.

Pretty sad experience, especially when I was referred to him by a good friend.

Psst...over here

“Psst…Hey, over here in the alley, you want a great deal on a Rolex or a diamond bracelet?”

Are you tempted to go see? Don’t be, it violates the three in three rule. Quickly walk away.

A few years ago I was thinking about hiring a great singer for my daughter’s wedding reception. Not rappers like Kanye West, or Lil Wayne, but someone to make everyone’s heart warm even years later just thinking about it. Someone in the Sinatra mold would do, like Michael Buble, Josh Groban or Harry Connick, Jr. Now I’m not a rich man, (in money anyway) so I had to think about what I had to negotiate with.

In all economic negotiations, there are three primary ingredients. These are quality, time/location, and price. You can always get what you want if you only want one of the three, you will have a hard time if you demand to win in two of the three, and there is no chance that you will ever get all three of the three. This is the three in three rule. I’m surprised to find out that not everyone knows about this, and it seems to be a hard concept for certain people to accept. Let me illustrate.

I really wanted to have Harry sing for Rachel’s reception. That is a single ingredient. To get him, I’d have to agree to his price and his schedule. Now if I wanted him to sing at Isaac’s bachelor party and the rehearsal dinner as well, he would charge more, but would still do it for the right price (much more!). That is two of the three (quality and time). If I wanted him to do it for fifty dollars, (quality, time, and price) there would be no deal, and I’d be lucky to leave the room with no injuries (oh wait-that would have been Sinatra).

Say I wanted to have Harry sing for us for fifty dollars and gave him the option of setting the time (that’s two of the three). Being a gentleman, he would take my fifty dollars, and schedule an appointment for June 1, 2999. You can’t fault him for his timing.

Now if I wanted to negotiate a little harder, I could mention to Harry that I might be considering a competitor, like Mr. Groban. Harry would readily admit that Grogan is a great singer. That would not change Harry’s price to me. I could mention that Grogan charges a little less. No change. I could mention that if Harry would meet my price on this wedding that I’d hire him for both my son’s weddings. Nope.

The bottom line was that I could not afford to hire Harry to sing at Rachel’s wedding. (Not to worry, we wound up using a cd player, the music was terrific, we danced and danced, and everyone had a fabulous time).

My point is that in all economic transactions, you must play by the rules, and the rules say that two out of three is the very best you will do.

Years ago I heard a story about a discussion between a rancher (of the all-hat and no-cattle variety) and a little feed store clerk. The rancher wanted to buy two tons of oats for his horses, he wanted the oats delivered this week, and he wanted it at half the posted price. He blustered, intimidated, and carried on until the browbeaten feed store clerk finally meekly admitted he figured out a way he could sell the oats to the rancher at half price. The cowboy slapped his money on the counter and stalked out, proud of himself that he’d bested the clerk. A week later the store delivered two tons of manure to the ranch. The irate rancher stormed into the feed store demanding to know what happened to his order of oats. The clerk quietly replied that the rancher got his two tons of oats. It was just that the price of fresh oats was twice the price of oats that had already gone through a horse.

At GEI, we sell professional expert services, which to borrow from the story, is to say, fresh oats. This level of expertise is earned only by twenty to forty years of training and experience. The doctor, dentist, engineer, and attorney have comparable levels of academic training, rigorous qualifying professional examinations, and career paths which require decades to master. No one gets into the expert business quickly or easily. These are not services that are interchangeable commodities like an oil change or a carwash. Neither are they luxuries that we cut back on when times get harder. Professional services should only be used for very specific situations and only where great risk is involved. Great risk may involve sickness, a lawsuit, or a complicated construction project. You do not ignore great risk. Great risk must be dealt with cautiously, carefully, and prudently.

If you have appendicitis, you need a doctor, not a do it yourself surgery manual.
If you are accused of murder, you need an attorney, not Perry Mason reruns.
If you need to build an airplane, you need an engineer, not a delivery of logs and ten cubic yards of concrete.

Sometimes people who do not deal directly with experts think that they can shave a few percent off the professional services expense line of an operating statement, particularly in the insurance industry. Like the cowboy, they press hard and they get their price reduction demands. What they ignore (to their company’s peril), is that by getting concessions on cost, they still have to “Pay the Piper” in either time or quality concessions (usually both).

Their company’s great risk is not dealt with prudently. You cannot cut price without cutting quality. It is a game of Russian Roulette, but most of the people who command cost cutting do not get shot. In cases where an expert is indicated and not utilized, insurance claims are paid that should be denied. Far more dollars are lost on fraud and improper claims than are spent on expert services. Frontline managers (and then adjusters) get chewed on by the cowboys to minimize costs for the short term, and then in the long term, they get chewed on by the actuaries who built premium rate structures based on not paying every claim that walks in the front door. To finish the analogy, the cowboy cost cutters get their way but someone else has to deal with the remaining pile of manure.

Back to Harry-it is a comfort to me to know that by my masterful negotiating, I can still have him sing to me, at my price (two out of three). I just have to agree to his time/place requirement (which is his next scheduled appearance at the convention center with 50,000 other people who have made a similar agreement).

The lesson to learn from the three in three rule is one out of three, yes, two out of three, sometimes, and three out of three, never.

Finally, let us return to your new buddy in the alley. A great price (that is one), the time is right now (that is two), and the third question is quality. Do you really think they are real diamonds or a genuine Rolex?