Seton Spine & Rehabilitation Center

I was referred to see a spine specialist because of the pain I have been experiencing for the last six months. Waited 2 weeks to see a specialist. Showed up and was told the doctor was in surgery and I could not be seen for at least another week. No notice. Nothing done to help me. Just, «oh, we’re so sorry the doctor decided to do something else today.»
Then they told me that I had been called and a message had been left. They even told me the time of the call. I checked my caller ID logs. No such call was received from them at any time of the day and no message was left. I was sitting next to that phone working all day long.
After several phone calls I finally got through to a human being who actually tried to solve the problem. Turns out the person who makes the calls blocks her caller ID. I do not EVER accept phone calls with blocked caller ID. Neither does the nice lady I talked to. No business should ever block their caller ID. This one does. I’ve had trouble with doctors who blocked caller ID and then wondered why no one picked up their calls. Can you say arrogant? I knew you could.
OK, so they have scheduled me to see a different doctor and I only have to wait until Wednesday. Only half a week rather that a full week. They wasted my whole morning because they want to treat others in a way they themselves do not want to be treated.
— — — – update: Tuesday — — —
The bad news: I just got a call telling me that I had just missed my Tuesday appointment. It seems it was scheduled for for Tuesday at 1:30 PM. not on Wednesday at all. Oh, I wrote it down, I verified it with the very nice lady on the phone. I noted the date in this posting. But, it was on Tuesday… and I missed it.
The nice lady asked if I had received a phone call this time. I did not. She said that she didn’t expect I would because they call 48 hours in advance and from Friday to Tuesday was less than 48 hours. I pointed it that is was, in fact, 96 hours. Her reply was «Yes, yes it is.»
The good news: The doctor has agreed to see me later this afternoon and my wife is going to be able to cover for me this afternoon. Both of the appointments I thought I had, the one on Friday and the one on Wednesday were at times when I was free and had plenty of time to sit around waiting in a doctors office. Tuesday afternoon was not such a time.
Summary: Mistakes made by incompetent people at Seton have cost my wife a half vacation day. Not to mention that It is amazing that her employer was willing to let her go at all. OTOH, I have dealt with one person at Seton who acts like she wants to fix thing and get them right for me.
I have dealt with a number of Seton doctors and their staff at several different Seton facilities. It is clear that not all of Seton is bad, some is remarkably good. But, they really need to get their act together on providing a quality experience at all of their facilities. If I had not waited so long to see a doctor and I was not in so much pain I would not be going to this facility. I intend to start looking for another doctor as soon as I post this message.
— — — — — — — — - 5÷22÷2015 — — — — — — — —
My back problems have gotten much worse. Can’t sleep, can barely walk. Time for serious treatment. Saw my PCP, got a referral to Dr. Viet Tran; exceptional reputation, looking forward to seeing him again. I saw him about 6 years ago when my back problems really started getting bad.
Only trouble is that he works for Seton Spine and Rehab. The place this post is about. Called up, was asked to leave a detailed message. I left the message. I left messages several times over the week. Finally on Friday I got the first reply. They had just gotten around to checking their phone messages. Turns out they have NO ONE who answers the phone. You have to leave a message an wait for a call back. They are supposed to check messages ONCE PER DAY, seems their voice mail system is a bit slow… So, several days have gone by. I left several messages on the two numbers I could find and I finally get a call on Friday.
Sorry Dr. Viet Tran. You have a stellar reputation. But that does not make up for working for an organization that is so completely disrespectful of customers. Not patients, CUSTOMERS. You are a business, you have customers. No matter how good you are I am not going to let you do surgery if I can not contact you after the surgery.
I have had major surgery before. I got a post op infection and nearly died. It was hard to get the surgeon to believe me and do anything about the problem (he flat out did not believe what I was telling him) but at least I was able to get hold of him. If I let Dr. Tran do my surgery is Seton going to let me call anyone if I get in trouble after the fact?
Well, yeah, maybe. The idiot who nearly killed me also worked for Seton and had a stellar reputation.
Until Seton learns to respect customers I will be looking for healthcare elsewhere.