42yo W/ 3 Children - Miami, FL

I went to Dr. Mendieta feeling very confident in his skills due to all the press regarding his education, training, studies, his own teachings, web videos, and photos from his site and else where.

To try and summarize, the night of my surgery (10/06/14) I was very emotional and disappointed in seeing my target area unchanged. The next day, I went in for a follow up and tried to voice my concerns with Dr. Mendieta and to my surprise, he was very rude and had an attitude, I guess because I was complaining. He didn't allow me to fully express my concerns before he interrupted me and said, "You're still swollen" and stormed out, leaving me in tears and amazement. The nurse in the room was also shocked. She went to get the Office Mgr. When they came back the Office Mgr reassured me that they would rectify the issue but give myself some time to heal. I asked her how much and she said it would be the fees for anesthesia. I went back in for followup on 10/31/14 the Office Mgr was present in the visit and everything was healing as expected and his attitude was better. I asked her about the cost again and I was told she wasn't sure of the exact price but she would let me know. I was scheduled again for 11/07/14. When going to that appointment again, another disappointment. I sat for over an hour for them to come in the room and say, "No one called you to reschedule? He has a lot of surgeries before the holiday..." I guess since my money was paid I was no longer of significance. Naturally, they rescheduled me. 01/09/15 I went in to discuss my revision surgery and for 2016, possibly breast aug and ttuck. While the Office Mgr was in attendance, he looked me over and said he could perform the revision and target my initial areas of concern. It was starting to seem as though things would work out. When the Dr. left out, I asked her of the revision cost again. She said she had to talk to his wife (whom she said was the Office Manager, ...hmm two (2) Ofc. Mgrs.) and she'd let me know and that more than likely it would be the price for anesthesia. On 01/14/15 I got a call from the surgical coordinator stating my fee was $7000! She verbalized that price for tummy tuck and revision. I explained that there was some sort of miscommunication being that the only thing I was having done soon was the revision. She said she would look into it and call me back. I called her a few times before she called me back today (01/16/15), where now she says the $7000 is for my revision. So, I'm to pay $7000 more for the same exact procedure because he didn't understand what I wanted?

I understood not to have unreasonable expectations, but my expectations weren't of the sort. I knew the next day/post-op that what I wanted was not what I got. And to go back to him after I'm no longer, "Swollen" and have him tell me he could do it... why wasn't what I asked for done the first time?

I still don't doubt his skills. Even though I showed him my target area, I believe he did what he wanted to do. However, I'm still very disappointed because I feel like he should step and admit to them there was a misunderstanding and to just be fair about it. And, as for his administrative offices, their decision in trying to make me pay almost the same price (less $2850) is really senseless and unjust.

This is a troubling situation. Not only do I have to endure the pain all over again, I have to pay basically the full price all over again, too? This is disheartening.