Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much fraud in dentistry. Lots of "you have a cavity we need to fill" on perfectly healthy teeth.

Yes!! At a new dentist I had 8 cavities. I really freaked out since I’m very conscientious about brushing and flossing. Drove back to my old dentist and had zero. He even went over my X-rays with me and showed me. Now I just drive an hour each way to still go to my old dentist. It’s been 15 years and I’ve had one cavity since.

What really upsets me about dentistry is not just the cost, it’s that someone would have drilled into my teeth and further weakened them for no reason. And then you’re more likely to end up with root canals and implants later. I love my teeth.

I can so relate. I went to a highly recommended dentist whose name was always appearing in our neighborhood list serve. The unpleasant feeling started when the tech started berating me that I have excellent dental insurance and I am not using it to clean my teeth twice a year. I was relatively new to the country, moved relatively recently to the area after living in another state, so lots of upheaval. Then of course the crazy X-rays that took ages, and then madam dentist appears with ts ts ts look of how horrible my teeth are and counts 14 or so cavities - basically 50% of my teeth - and presents me with a treatment plan.

My procrastinating nature saved my teeth, and then I had opportunity to go back home and go my dentist to fix a few while I am home and she couldn’t find see a ***single*** cavity.

The monster here wanted to drill 14 locations in my perfectly healthy teeth. This was over 15 years ago and I had 2 or so cavities filled since then (one in an existing cavity that needed to be resealed).

I never went back to that nasty dentist who tried to take advantage of someone new to the country and relatively young just cause I had dental insurance.

Anonymous wrote:The ZIP Code up charge for home services should be considered a scan in a fraud.

I think for services like car and dentistry and anything that has to do with a businesses rent and overhead is a little bit different and you can control some of that by going outside of your ZIP Code area to more affordable place.

We live in NVa. Usually look to contractors who are based past Manassas for better deals. The difference in cost for tree removal was in the thousands.

Anonymous wrote:I let dh handle all car repairs. I can’t tell you how many times I got up charged as a female.

I think the secret to not getting scammed is learning to do everything yourself. If you hire someone to change your AC filters (my neighbor doesn’t know how!) you’re just asking to get up charged everywhere.

Our AC filters are in the attic, my wife probably doesn’t even know where the HVAC is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much fraud in dentistry. Lots of "you have a cavity we need to fill" on perfectly healthy teeth.

Yes!! At a new dentist I had 8 cavities. I really freaked out since I’m very conscientious about brushing and flossing. Drove back to my old dentist and had zero. He even went over my X-rays with me and showed me. Now I just drive an hour each way to still go to my old dentist. It’s been 15 years and I’ve had one cavity since.

What really upsets me about dentistry is not just the cost, it’s that someone would have drilled into my teeth and further weakened them for no reason. And then you’re more likely to end up with root canals and implants later. I love my teeth.

Same experience, though not with 8 teeth.

Another time, a dentist said I had a cavity that needs filling, had me schedule the appt to fill it. I canceled it later but went back to the dentist for a cleaning and had other visits later. They never mentioned it again. Wth!

The ZIP Code up charge for home services should be considered a scan in a fraud.

I think for services like car and dentistry and anything that has to do with a businesses rent and overhead is a little bit different and you can control some of that by going outside of your ZIP Code area to more affordable place.

Anonymous wrote:I stopped going to one of those “dental spas” a while ago because they put all these excess charges that I never fully consented to. My new dentist with no frills is amazing- usually in and out for a cleaning in 30 minutes with no weird charges- just straight forward. As a pet owner, I have noticed veterinary clinics going the way of dentistry, so be careful there.

We had been going to the same vet office for years but our actual vet left. The new guy was reluctant to even touch our cat much (!!!) despite our cat being current on vaccines and then charged us $350 for an exam (again, barely touched her) and shots. So for our other cat we just went to a vax event instead at a pet store: $60 total.

I do know that quotes for lawn care can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Washington Post is now charging different prices for each subscriber based on data analysis (what data and how they get it is anyone’s guess) thankfully I dropped it long before Bezos bought it but it is sad to have lost the paper.

I stopped going to one of those “dental spas” a while ago because they put all these excess charges that I never fully consented to. My new dentist with no frills is amazing- usually in and out for a cleaning in 30 minutes with no weird charges- just straight forward. As a pet owner, I have noticed veterinary clinics going the way of dentistry, so be careful there.

I love my dentist but that's the first time I find a good one as an adult. The fact you can outright lie and hurt people to make money is disgusting and I don't know how they sleep at night. For everything else I agree as well. We do as much as we can ourselves. Not going to ever upgrade our house because I'm not into a scammy contractor coming in my house.

Well, there is always moving. Higher expenses are just part of the zip code we live in and frankly we make plenty of money, I like where I live, and I don't really care about it.

My dentist is amazing, has not attempted to upsell me, DH, or DS once. We like them so much that we now drive 45 min to them.

Anonymous wrote:We really need to do some renovation work on our house but I emotionally can't get myself to get the ball rolling because I dread dealing with contractors to get quotes that I assume will basically be pulled out of a hat.

If you are unable to manage research in pricing for your area, you might hire a consultant who can evaluate the bids for you. Bear in mind that many of the costs are mandated by permitting fees from local governments. Those fees are increasing because of the loss of revenue from retail, restaurants, and other commercial uses.

I let dh handle all car repairs. I can’t tell you how many times I got up charged as a female.

I think the secret to not getting scammed is learning to do everything yourself. If you hire someone to change your AC filters (my neighbor doesn’t know how!) you’re just asking to get up charged everywhere.

Anonymous wrote:So much fraud in dentistry. Lots of "you have a cavity we need to fill" on perfectly healthy teeth.

Yes!! At a new dentist I had 8 cavities. I really freaked out since I’m very conscientious about brushing and flossing. Drove back to my old dentist and had zero. He even went over my X-rays with me and showed me. Now I just drive an hour each way to still go to my old dentist. It’s been 15 years and I’ve had one cavity since.

What really upsets me about dentistry is not just the cost, it’s that someone would have drilled into my teeth and further weakened them for no reason. And then you’re more likely to end up with root canals and implants later. I love my teeth.