Breast Lift and Lipo: Good Surgery, Horrible Customer Service - Miami, FL

Wanting to get a breast lift and face lift, I went and got an appointment with Dr Leonard Hochstein.
I can't say that I had an amazing rapport with him, he was smug and his office was covered with pictures of minor celebrities praising his skills...not a selling point for me, but better that than bad reviews I guess.

I have to say that the place is impressive, I don't think you get to have an office like his if you are not excellent at your job.
He also has books with lots of pictures of past patients, and he's just oozing with confidence.

Now...this office is a real factory...maybe 20 girls working there: nurses/ assistants and other various jobs with tons of clients in the waiting room.

His assistant was sweet and professional but exactly what I don't ever want to look like- completely redone and unnatural looking ( boobs, lips, nose, butt, bleach blond hair...)

A few days after meeting him, because he's supposed to be the best for boobs, I decided to give a deposit and was hoping to do the surgeries around the end of the year.
My goal was to get my old boobs back, so no implants. just a lift and reduction ( from E to a small D), and get a mini face lift at the same time, since they told me I could get back to work after a week and I was planning some time off during the end of the year holidays.
But, a week after I gave the deposit, I had a job opportunity I couldn't refuse.
I contacted his assistant right away to explain the situation and ask if I could get my deposit back since, with this unexpected situation, I now wasn't sure when I was going to be able to do the surgery.
Despite the fact that I wanted to cancel with a 2 months notice and only one week after giving a deposit, the lovely Dr refused to give me my money back...I guess having to pay for his over the top office is more important than offering a fair customer service.

I was really upset and thought that it was absolutely unfair and obnoxious, but I couldn't afford to lose the $3,000 deposit.
I don't understand why such a successful Dr would offer such a horrendous customer service, things happen in life and keeping the money with a 2 months notice isn't right.
That is why I want to make sure to post my review in order to warn people about this fact.

To get to the point: I decided to do the breast lift sooner than expected just to get it over with and not have my money held hostage for an indefinite amount of time.
I also added a liposuction of the abdomen at the same time, just to take advantage of the general anesthesia, since I wasn't able to do the facelift anymore because of the new job.

So, I went to see the Dr for a pre-op appointment and get the blood work etc...
I was introduced to another assistant, not sure why, but no big deal.
A nurse took care of me, not super warm but I didn't expect a red carpet treatment, after all...I'm just one in many, many clients, so no need to treat me particularly nice.
Then I met with the Dr again. I was expecting him to give me some type of speech and explain some stuff about the procedure...nope, he just told me: "I know what I'm doing. Do you have any questions?"
Way to make me feel comfortable...again, sorry I'm taking away your precious time.

Came back for the day of the surgery, when checking in, the nurses told me I had to leave earlier than the time I scheduled.
My brother was supposed to pick me up a 3pm...the nurses literally freaked out, telling me they had a short day and basically made me feel like it was a major inconvenience for me to stay for so long.
My surgery was at 9.30am, they told me I could leave at 11.30am...wow! Kick me to the curb will you?
I might have been able to rush my brother to be picked up earlier, but then I would have been left alone since he had a business meeting to attend.
It seemed counter productive since the reason to have someone pick you up is that you are not alone for the first 24 hours.
Anyway, considering no one told me anything about the fact that it was an issue for me to stay a few hours in the recovery room and that I had to leave right after the surgery until the very morning of it, I can't say I was able to plan otherwise.
Not happy about it, stressful enough to get surgery, not to have on top of things to deal with the employees clearly not wanting me to spend too much time here.

Got in the sexy paper gown and went to a room where the Dr made some marks on my body.
Every time I saw him he was wearing a suit...never saw him in a scrub, even then, right before the surgery...I didn't see him in the recovery room either...

I was picked up at 2pm, I managed to rush my caretaker because I didn't want to inconvenience the staff since they had a short day.

Fist day was awful, I was in pain, major nausea, vomiting everything....really painful to move by myself or get up and lay down on the bed.
Both the Dr and his assistant before the lipo, told me it really wasn't nothing much to worry about and an easy procedure, so I was surprised to feel so awful.
I'm so glad my family was here to help me instead of having a nurse...I needed help for a good 48 hours.

In the evening I got a call from the Dr, he asked me if I had any questions.
I started telling him how awful I felt and all the nausea issue, he interrupted me, being very short: "Do you have any questions?"
I could hear there were people in the back and he was barely listening to my answers.
Took me aback, not cool Dr...I looked on my cell phone, the call lasted 1 minute...can't even give me 5 minutes of your time so you can reassure me and tell me if my symptoms are normal.

The next day was bad too, blood oozing from the incisions everywhere, not pretty, and not feeling great at all.
I thought I had a post op appointment at 10.15 am but it was changed to 12pm...OK, no worries.

Anyway, I got there on time.
I asked the nurse to help me change in new clothes since I was in pain and afraid to hurt myself...she seemed annoyed by my request, I thought it was part of her job, but it looked like I was wrong.
She didn't clean me up at all, just replaced some of the stained pads and told me I could take a shower by myself already, then reluctantly helped me get in my clean sweat pants.
She removed the bandages on the breast, and only then the Dr peeked through the door...literally just a peek, he wasn't even in the room, he had a foot in the corridor and one in my room.
He looked at me from a distance and said everything was fine...so, about 4 seconds of his time.
My breast were connected together in the center of the chest, which didn't look natural, and they seemed uneven...both the nurse and the Dr told me : "Well, it's swollen still."
They made me feel bad, like I was such an ignorant to be concerned about the shape of my body after major surgery.
He didn't even bother to look at the liposuction, just the breasts
Then he left and I did manage to ask: "That's all?"
He said: "Well I have surgery , so if you need more time with me you'll have to wait 2 hours."

At this point I think that he's officially the least pleasant Dr I've ever met.
The nurse didn't make it better by rushing me out and looking like she just couldn't be bothered with me...it was the day before Halloween, so they had more important things to think about I guess.
All the girls in the office were taking selfies and group pictures in their costumes.

I sent an email to his assistant after the weekend to explain that my overall experience was quite unpleasant and that everyone made me feel like a nuisance.
She obviously defended the staff and the Dr by saying that he did tell me he would have more time for me if I wanted to wait 2 hours...
Well, if he's not available to do a proper post-op appointment, why schedule me then?
Doesn't make sense.

After that, the assistant was prompt to answer via email my questions and concerns, but it didn't change the overall bad experience I had with the surgeon.

So, if you don't mind feeling like a piece of meat with an Amex, this place is for you.
I don't know what to expect for the results of my surgeries, I just hope I will heal fast and well, that is the most important after all.
I'm supposed to see him again next week for the 2 weeks follow up appointment.
He was made aware of my comments, I can't say I'm looking forward to go back to this office or see him.
I still want to do a facelift sometime soon, and even if the results I get from his surgeries are outstanding, I never will use this Dr ever again!!
No way I'm giving my money to be rushed and treated like a nuisance , there are other top surgeons to chose from.