Office review: Very Disappointed with Practice - Bethesda, MD

Finally did it. After searching three years and almost having surgery with dr richards, I finally settled on Dr. Harley in NC. I will be posting my photos this week. I had to travel all the way from Nj but even after I returned home 4 days later, his follow up care has been amazing. Please check out my review in a few days or send me a pm if you have any questions.

I was scheduled for surgery with dr Richards in July. I was to have a mini lift, a lip lift, a bit of fat added with the lift, and a scar revision and lipo to abdomin. I had given a deposit, taken a full month off of work, had my medical clearance faxed, opened a care credit account, and was excited to move forward. I had already skyped uwith dr Richards, made a trip from NJ to meet him, and was sold on him. All that was left to do was To remit the remainder of his fee and to have one final Skype or phonecall. Unfortunatley, I shortly thereafter stumbled upon two recent patient reviews that said Dr Richards had deviated from the plan that had been discussed( one of these posts showed a photos of a scar where, according to the patient there should not have been one.) I was confident still that I had the right dr, but was feeling anxious and simply wanted reassurance from him that what we discussed would be what actually occurred. Now my presurgery Skype/phonecall was scheduled for one week before surgery, but my final payment was due two weeks before. I asked Alicia, a patient coordinator there, if I might move that Skype up a week. That was when, in my mind, things took a bad turn. She accused me of wanting to move the Skype up in case I wanted to cancel, I would not be obligated to pay the remaining 13,500. Um, well, yeah! Isn't that my right to cancel up until two weeks before if that's what the contract says? That, for me, is a LOT of money, and so yes, while I was hopeful and confident that when we spoke dr Richards would give me the reassurance I needed to proceed, I wanted to ensure that if he DIDN'T , I still was within the time frame that I could cancel. I didn't want to feel obligated to let someone cut into my face that I didn't feel 100 percent confident about. Well, I never got to have that phone conversation because Alicia called me back and said that my surgery was cancelled. I was very upset at first to be dismissed like that, not to mention the cost I bore having taken a full month off from work, although they did refund my $500 deposit. I now realize it was for the best. Better to find my concerns dismissed before surgery, than after.