charging a no-show fee for a virtual appointment when the doctor was late

[Anonymous]

I waited in the virtual waiting room for over 20 minutes past start of appointment time, eventually had to run to another call. About 30 minutes after the start of the appointment, I see a text on my phone saying the doctor "is ready to begin you appointment." Later I see in the portal they marked me as "no-show" for the appointment and want to charge a 50 dollars fee.

Is this legal??? Shouldn't there be a record on their virtual appointment system that I signed in and was waiting for over 20 minutes?

And this is an office that charges PATIENTS if we are more than 10 minutes late!

What can you do in this situation?

[Anonymous]

You just call the office.

[Anonymous]

Argue this. I think you'll get the fee waved.

It was probably automated, but that's really obnoxious, and I'd call and have it removed.

[Anonymous]

You can complain and ask them to refund you.

It's legal if it's in their terms of service.

[Anonymous]

Have you called and talked to the office yet? It may just be an automatic charge that they will reverse once you explain the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I waited in the virtual waiting room for over 20 minutes past start of appointment time, eventually had to run to another call. About 30 minutes after the start of the appointment, I see a text on my phone saying the doctor "is ready to begin you appointment." Later I see in the portal they marked me as "no-show" for the appointment and want to charge a 50 dollars fee.

Is this legal??? Shouldn't there be a record on their virtual appointment system that I signed in and was waiting for over 20 minutes?

And this is an office that charges PATIENTS if we are more than 10 minutes late!

What can you do in this situation?

I would recommend a couple of things.

First contact the office manager and ask for a refund and explain why.

If that doesn’t work (I would only ask once, but nicely) and then leave a review with a comment. These offices live and die by online reviews.

Finally, I would file a dispute with my credit card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I waited in the virtual waiting room for over 20 minutes past start of appointment time, eventually had to run to another call. About 30 minutes after the start of the appointment, I see a text on my phone saying the doctor "is ready to begin you appointment." Later I see in the portal they marked me as "no-show" for the appointment and want to charge a 50 dollars fee.

Is this legal??? Shouldn't there be a record on their virtual appointment system that I signed in and was waiting for over 20 minutes?

And this is an office that charges PATIENTS if we are more than 10 minutes late!

What can you do in this situation?

Waiting 20 minutes in the waiting room at the doctor's office IRL is pretty normal. Sorry, OP, not on your side for this one.

[Anonymous]

Argue it with the office. Dispute it with your insurance company. Ultimately just don’t pay it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I waited in the virtual waiting room for over 20 minutes past start of appointment time, eventually had to run to another call. About 30 minutes after the start of the appointment, I see a text on my phone saying the doctor "is ready to begin you appointment." Later I see in the portal they marked me as "no-show" for the appointment and want to charge a 50 dollars fee.

Is this legal??? Shouldn't there be a record on their virtual appointment system that I signed in and was waiting for over 20 minutes?

And this is an office that charges PATIENTS if we are more than 10 minutes late!

What can you do in this situation?

So you only scheduled 20 minutes for a doctor's appointment?

Bizarre.

[Anonymous]

That's crappy but at least your doctor is still doing virtuals.

[Anonymous]

I would call, explain how long you waited, and refuse to pay the fee.

[Anonymous]

30 minutes isn't an unreasonable wait for a doctor's appointment. Scheduling a phone call 20 minutes after the appointment began is unreasonable.

Have you never been the one who made the next appointment run over? If so, you'll realize that a doctor who isn't flexible on this would be a disaster.

[Anonymous]

I think the difficulty with virtual appointments is that you're just sitting at home and you have no idea what's going on so if they no show, you're in the dark. At the office you'd have checked in at reception and see other patients moving along. If the doctor wasn't available that day, they'd tell you.

My doctor is actually good about this as the front desk will call my cell if the doctor is running late to a virtual appointment, so at least I know about how long of a wait.

[Anonymous]

You need to understand the doctor’s time is more important than yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to understand the doctor’s time is more important than yours.

Pompous a$$.