Bobby Buka, MD, PC

Let me start by saying that this is my 3^rd negative review of this place. Unilocal keeps removing them for various insignificant reasons. I have to assume that Buka gets so much negative feedback that they keep challenging every review!
Here goes:
Purely out of convenience, I went to Buka’s Williamsburg office 5 times over a 3 month period for a reoccurring cystic acne issue. Despite it getting worse they kept injecting me and prescribing thousands of dollars of useless creams. This place moves people through like a zit popping factory! You’ll only ever see nurse a practitioner, which seems to be the norm these days.
They are so tacky that they charge you both before and after the appointment!
Fed up with no results, I finally went to another Dermatologist. This time with much better results! He gave me a sample full coarse of an antibiotic and my condition has totally cleared up in less then a week!
Believe all of the prior reviews –Do yourself a favor and avoid Buka. This place is not serving the patients best interest but rather lining the pockets of Buka and his big Pharma friends.

Horrible experience. Booked an appointment specifically asking if I needed a referral. They replied that I did not. Then 20 min before I arrive to my appointment (already parking my car) they call me asking to bring a referral! On a Saturday during Memorial Day weekend! You guys had 2 weeks from the time I booked my appointment to let me know you guys made a mistake and I needed the referral. The response? A blank stare, a defensive attitude (pointing at my card that it states I need a referral) and the lamest «I’m sorry» I’ve ever heard. Why would I need to study what my card says when I SPECIFICALLY ASKED YOU If u wanted me to bring it! Waste of my time. Professionalism is this place is a joke. If this is the way they handle appointments and follow up, I could only imagine how they treat the follow ups if someone had a serious medical condition. Stay away! Seriously though, the apology was almost a slap in the face. STAY AWAY FROM THIS DUMP! I’d almost prefer a Starbucks in its place, just for it to go away. J/​K, screw Starbucks!

AVOID THIS OFFICE AT ALL COSTS. I had a nightmare experience here. I visited Dr. Buka’s Williamsburg office after I was told my insurance (Blue Cross) would be accepted by the office the day prior. Upon arrival at my appointment, I was told I was out of network. The staff had told me wrong and then treated the problem as if it was totally normal (which made me feel that this might be common practice for them). When I called my insurance directly after my appointment, they told me there’s no reason the office wouldn’t be in network as Dr. Buka is listed as in network for my plan.
Insurance policies at this office are confused at best and sketchy at worst. When I called them back to let them know my insurance says the office is accepted, there was a lot of confusion about what they would take or not take. The office itself feels very «Cash cow», there is NO respect for patients here. I was referred to by City MD and had such a bad experience with this office that I called City MD and let them know what happened. Dr Buka should be absolutely ashamed by how he runs this office. This is not a place for patients to receive CARE, it’s a money making machine. Despicable.

I had the worst experience here. My doctor was Christopher Busapavanig, and he didn’t diagnose me correctly when I had a severe allergy reaction. Moreover in many attemps of my phonecalls from the pharmacy when I was saying that I was not able to breathe all the associates were very unhelpful. I had to go to another doctor who connected me immediately to a breathing machine and wrote me a lot of medication who was much more aware of the seriousness of the situation. The doctor never even bothered to call me (his patient!) back. I am very disappointed by the service here. Not to mention that they charged 250 $ before seeing the doctor. I never had a worst doctor service in my life.

Find someone else. This was hands down the most unprofessional experience I’ve ever had at a doctor’s office. From the inexperienced nurses to the doctor that didn’t believe me when I told him I wasn’t numb and then proceeded to test my numbness level with a scalpel. The ONLY redeeming quality of this practice was the retro refrigerator they have up front full of water for their patients. The front desk had to ask me what the doctor said to do for my follow up appointment.

I hate posting negative reviews, but I’m really unhappy.
My first visit here was okay, and the PA who treated me did a good job and was nice, but the subsequent 2 visits were kind of awful. For such an expensive dermatology practice, or any practice at all, I’d expect better service and better bedside manner. My second PA seemed to ask zero questions, and I felt super rushed and like my concerns weren’t really heard. They took a lab test that never came back. A needed prescription they gave me was crazy expensive, and they only gave it to me because they had samples in the back. When I asked for samples of the medication at the front desk, the receptionist gave me the eye like I was insane, until a colleague told them it was fine. What the hell!
The third and final time I went, I specifically asked for an MD, not a PA, who specialized in my condition, and booked an appointment pretty far ahead in advance to get this done. Two days before the appointment, they called to say she wouldn’t be in, so I rescheduled at ANOTHER location (Front St) that was way less convenient for me for another time. Of course, once I’m in the patient room, they send a PA in because the MD called out sick unexpectedly. After there was nothing I could do. I’m sure the PA was experienced and fine, but is it really crazy to get what I ask for?
«You can reschedule with an MD at the front desk for another time.» Really? Because I just tried doing that and now I’m out another appointment fee.
So I tried rescheduling at the front desk, and when I asked for an MD, AGAIN the receptionist looked at me like I was stupid, and I’m just so frustrated. I cancelled the appointment today because I just don’t trust them with my health or money anymore.

Misleading pricing, client unfriendly. Went in for basic stuff (Brooklyn location) and my main beef is that the charges were multiples above what was indicated by the doc, which I had asked in advance and is the only reason I let them perform an incredibly simple and minor task. After getting the bill I tried to reason with them ad nauseum, but the young doc claimed she never intimated any price (probably not wanting to look bad). I rarely bother writing Unilocal reviews, but the bait-​and-​switch and 0% compromise from the company was not okay. I feel like this probably happens all the time. Looking forward to a transparent medical system in the year 2050…

I really like Dr. Buka. He’s a great guy. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen him in years, and this practice that he owns doesn’t always live up to his example.
Let’s back up a bit. Why am I at a dermatologist? Glad you asked:
Although it looks like I have a lot of problems (physically*), I actually only come in here for my annual skin cancer screening, which I tend to do about once every 2 or 3 years because I’m irresponsible. Most people probably don’t even need to do this, but I tend to get more moles than most people. Disgusting, I know.
There are things I like about this office.
1. It’s in Brooklyn, which beats the Manhattan locations.
2. There’s an arcade game in the waiting room.
3. It’s clean, and fairly comfortable.
4. The people are reasonably nice, or at least, not rude.
5. There are always Hasidic Jews angrily having speakerphone conversations in the waiting room, which some of you might not think is a positive, but you’d be wrong.
So things aren’t all bad.
My major issue with this particular practice is that there’s always a problem with the billing, despite reassurances from everyone there will be no problem with the billing.
And really, I don’t actually know who is at fault here. Maybe my insurance thinks they are too expensive and refuses to pay full claims. Maybe I need better insurance. Maybe the office need to do a better job of disclosing that a tiny procedure that they said was nothing and would be covered would cost me a bunch of money. I don’t know.
What I do know is that when I repeatedly call them to talk about it during their business hours, it shouldn’t send me straight to a voicemail box that is already full and leaves me with no recourse.
I expect that sort of thing from my degenerate friends, not my doctors.
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*You have to get to know me better to find out about the other issues.

I came to this office because I had a rather embarrassing skin condition that I finally decided to seek help for instead of hide in shame. Each time I saw Dr. Buka and he has always been kind and listened well. I’m on state insurance so I tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to anything medical. Not with Dr. Buka. He wasn’t judgmental at all and he cleared up the problem. The star knocked off is because at one of my appointments I had to wait a good 45 minutes in the exam room which is not easy with a 3 year old boy. All of the other times I was seen in a timely manner. No complaints here.

So this place doesn’t seem to care one little bit about their patients or losing patients. After arriving early and waiting almost 20 –30 mins past my appointment time I spoke to the reception staff to let them know that I really had to get back to work. Their response, «okay we’ll get your copay refunded». One of them even muttered something like «no problem at all» so they must be doing really well at this location. So no mention of trying to get another practitioner to examine me or trying to get me an estimate about how much longer I might be waiting. Just a simple snarky insinuative bye.
The bottom line is this is a clinic posing as a private physicians office. If you have nothing to do all day and want to be a patient at a place where you will be reminded that your time means nothing and they don’t really care if they lose you as a patient, go for it! If you are a professional with a busy life, find a real doctors office.

[Edit] I have to say that this started off as a negative review but I have since changed it. Yes, there was a negative experience at the front desk (the doctors themselves on the other hand have always been very professional), but they did reach out and went out of their way to rectify their mistake and ensure that it won’t happen again. I suppose mistakes happen but they’ve shown that they do care and won’t just send an empty apology.
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Have been coming here for a year and a half, you’d think they had some record of that. I forgot my HSA card once and they refused to see me before I cleared my «extremely large» balance of $ 66 from my last visit. So I had to leave and come back and then wait for the lineup that had now built up in front of me. I was clearly coming back for my regular appointment in a few weeks and could have cleared it then but that’s «not company policy». Never missed a payment in a year and a half. You’d think relationships and trust are relevant and valuable and count for something in a medical practice but nope, just money.

Don’t know what happened to this place. It used to be good but now only PA’s are available and customer service is terrible. Went in for annual and was not told I had an outstanding balance of $ 10. Now I’m being inundated with notices from a debt collector. Paid the bill and the notices keep coming. Will not see this doctor again.

Not only is it SO easy/​quick to schedule and book appointments here, the team goes above and beyond to make my visit fun! Kara is highly skilled, careful, and super cute– it goes a long way when your doctor seems like someone you would WANT to be friends with. Rosa and Henny are always cheerful and happy — I look forward to these appointments because of the team, which could otherwise be stressful or a nuisance. Not here!

It’s a good thing I’m not waiting on life-​saving prescriptions here. I’ve been calling the office for about a month to resolve an issue with refilling a prescription I’ve had for several years (insurance doesn’t want to shell out for the incredibly expensive prescription this office is pushing). The major issue is they’re a large group of several offices and no one takes any responsibility when a patient calls. They put notes in a chart and move on without actually resolving anything.
Don’t expect returned phone calls if you have any type of issue and the «prescription refill request’ mailbox that they «pick up each night» is a complete joke.

Absolutely the WORST experience I have ever had with a doctor’s office. I have been trying to fill a prescription for 4 weeks. All they had to do is get in touch with my insurance company to approve the prescription, and somehow that took them 4 weeks. I finally called the insurance company myself (which they claimed they could not get in touch with) and I got in touch with them and resolved the issue within 5 minutes.
Not only are they incompetent, but they are also rude. A woman actually said to me: «if you want the medication so badly, you should just pay out of pocket for it.» WHAT KIND OF DOCTOR SAYS THAT!
tl;dr — DO NOT GOT HERE! TERRIBLE SERVICE; TERRIBLE ATTITUDE. WORST DOCTOR I HAVE EVER BEEN TO.

Nice office. Terrible service.
I’m currently sitting in a patient room waiting to see the doctor. I’ve been in here for over 30 minutes by myself.
My appointment was at 1pm. It’s now 2:07pm and I still have yet to be seen.
Might try a smoke signal to get someone’s attention soon…
Send help.

Saw a wonderful PA for Botox in Williamsburg. He said he uses it very conservatively, because it is easier to add more than take it away. I agreed!
7 days after the injection and zero results.
Unfortunately for me, I left for vacation right after my appointment and will miss the 2-​week grace period for touch-​ups by 2 days. Am so annoyed with myself for wasting $ 500 on nothing. I’m never going to go back now.
They won’t make an exception. I begged the manager. I think it would be less costly than having me never come back and telling my friends and family to get their Botox and derm needs, somewhere else.

I took my child in for acne because it was the easiest to get an appointment. The first PA was lovely, totally sweet. However, she moved on. I went in for botox because I thought they knew what they were doing and I should’ve known better. It’s cheap… and in this city, you get what you pay for.
Every time my son tried to get a refill, the office would insist we come in. It would cost us 250 for a visit and I’ve never walked away with a bill for less than 500. After 6 weeks, we would need to keep coming in for a refill and get billed for a doctor visit yet we never saw a doctor, just a pa but again, a bill for close to 500? can i get a rx refill without the dr visit just once?!
my hard to book derm is much more helpful so we will go back to her for botox and teen’s derm issues.

Do not use them. I was inappropriately charged for services NOT RENDERED.
I visitied Dr Buka and they confidently advised me that my procedures would be fully covered by my insurance… which they weren’t. I received a large bill for work that I otherwise would not have had done if I knew I was paying full price. In addition, the procedure did not resolve my issue, which was a very minor skin issue. My coworker had the same problems with them and received a large bill as well. Ultimately, its my responsibility to vet their services against my insurance but I feel I was mislead by them nonetheless. I will not be going back.

Does Dr Buka exist? I’ve had two appointments with him and never seen him.
Twice, he left a PA (physician assistant) to see his patients at one office while he went to the second office to cover for an MD who couldn’t make it to work. Both times I had a late-​day appointment and his staff could have called me but they didn’t get around to it. The girls at the desk said that they’re so overwhelmed they can’t manage to reach all the day’s patients! Uh uh. (The office was EMPTY both times.)
Why did I come back a second time after being disrespected once? Because my second appointment was confirmed TWICE by Buka’s staff, and because a doctor who I know and trust (who is appalled at what happened) referred me and vouches for Buka. Well I’m done.