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Super Contributor
Posts: 303
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Person ahead of me at the dentist today arrived 20 minutes late..so of course 

I had to wait and my appointment was late.

 

Not only did I wait it was in my cold car. They don't allow people in the waiting room these days.

 

My daughter had an appt. at the same time as me and got right in. Then she had to sit in the car and wait for me to be done.

 

Why should the person who arrives on time for a scheduled appointment have to be the one to suffer?

 

Just a vent. If this happens too often I will find a new dentist. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,160
Registered: ‎10-04-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

[ Edited ]

Oh yeah, they should have let you in and then the late person.  I'm afraid I'd have raised a stink.  I don't usually do that, but, right is right and that wasn't in my book.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,889
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

That policy was a mistake. Most of my health care professionals' offices have signs that state they have the right to cancel (and charge for) appointments where the patient is more than ten minutes late. That patient who was late should have gone AFTER, if at all. It's bad enough that doctors too often run late, but when you add doctors' schedules to patients' tardiness, you've ruined at least half a day,

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,296
Registered: ‎09-18-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

When the person ahead of you was 5 minutes late, they should have called you back, in my opinion. I wouldn't be happy either. 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,132
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Agreed.  I had the incident where I needed some quick work done, a 20-minute appointment.  So they took me back on time, stuck me in the chair  and the assistant kept saying he's on his way in.  He had an emergency and wasn't. So that 20-minute appoinment was an hour and a half with the repeated "he's on his way in".  I did vent my frustration.  I said just tell me you are running an hour behind instead of her repeatedly lying to me.   I had to pick up DD and instead of frantically getting someone else to do it I could have had it taken care of earlier.

I had a friend who had the incident where they were told they would have to wait in the car and it was going to be a long wait so she said see ya and rescheduled.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,111
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Odd, to me, that a dentist office can afford to wait for a tardy patient to arrive. A few minutes, OK.  But 20 minutes???!!!  Hope they rethink that practice!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,311
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

@petepetey the dentist's office made a mistake, they should have taken you first if she or he was more than 5 minutes late. This can throw off the dentist's schedule, unless he was running late already. Your time is valuable.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,892
Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

[ Edited ]

How do you know the person was late and not an emergency they were trying to fit in between appointments.  Cannot imagine anyone will discuss the situation with another patient.  Next time keep your car running to keep it warm and have good thoughts.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,012
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

My dentist has two hygienists but I was actually waiting in the lobby for the dentist on this day.  Karen called the patient to see if they were still coming and at that time they were ten min. late.  She told them if they still came right over it work because the next appt. was not till later for the hygienist.  Person canceled since they had made other plans.  10 min.before she called and still drive time to get there would back up the next appt. if one had been scheduled for sure.  Tardiness is my main pet peeve.

"Live frugally, but love extravagantly."
Honored Contributor
Posts: 43,240
Registered: ‎01-08-2011

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

@petepetey 

 

We never know if the person before us is having the same procedure or not, but I would have talked to the office manager before I left.  You can still call tomorrow and ask their policy.