a couple years ago i needed a new dentist and the only place that I could get into was a big chain that has just expanded into the area (Aspen Dental).
it had clean new office and lots of fancy tech that to scan my teeth that i hadn't seen at my little hole-in-the-wall old dentist. i was optimistic.
they tell me that I needed four fillings and a root canal, and i was a surprised because i'd been going to a dentist every six months and nobody had mentioned anything like that. but hey, that must be the advantage of all those fancy scanners. right?
they walked me down to the "payment center" which was an office holding four employees whose job was to come up with payment plans to cover dental work. that's when i knew that the whole place was a racket.
Everything seems to be going in this direction. We were recently looking for someone to clear out insects and other pests from our property, and every one of them tries to steer you to a very expensive "plan" where you're billed monthly. We looked around for a long time for a veterinarian where there were more actual vet and vet tech staff than there were billing staff. We were recently referred to an orthodontist for my kid, and right from the start they were on us like vultures about their various "payment plans."
I feel like as the years go by, more and more of my cognitive cycles are spent trying to avoid scams and predatory businesses.
Sadly business has given up on improvements/efficiency gains and is instead trying to maximize solely via extraction.
I hired a service to help with my trees because an old try was dying. Each time they come out they send me a 'survey' only it's barely a survey with most of the focus on 'Do you want to tip for the services performed'.
last time I shopped for a new dentist he looked at me like a shark sizing up his next meal. "How much can I take him for?" was painted clearly on his face - maybe that's why they keep the masks on?
it had clean new office and lots of fancy tech that to scan my teeth that i hadn't seen at my little hole-in-the-wall old dentist. i was optimistic.
they tell me that I needed four fillings and a root canal, and i was a surprised because i'd been going to a dentist every six months and nobody had mentioned anything like that. but hey, that must be the advantage of all those fancy scanners. right?
they walked me down to the "payment center" which was an office holding four employees whose job was to come up with payment plans to cover dental work. that's when i knew that the whole place was a racket.