Avery Center For Obstetrics & Gynecology Pc

When I went with my wife for our first visit the doctor we met and spent 15 minutes with completely forgot who we were three weeks later. Yea, this could happen for whatever reasons but this pretty much sums up the feeling of going there. We found another practice when my wife was 28 weeks.
Out of touch with modern birthing. Not personal connection with their patients.
The positive I would say is the doctors do seem competent and I would trust would safely deliver our baby. However, they have no consideration for a birth plan other than their own.

So I am updating my review because back in June I came here telling my DR that I was having pain during sex. She took a quick look, said she did not see anything, did no tests and sent me on my way just telling me I needed more lubrication. I ended up losing my insurance and couldn’t come back until November when I got insurance again. Instead of going back here I ended up going to another place called Woman’s health Care of New England. The lady there did numerous blood tests and swabs and found out I had a pretty bad bacterial infection that had been going on for months. The whole time I just thought I was crazy but now that infection has cleared up and nothing hurts me.

This is my second pregnancy in two years with the Avery Center and I love this place. I never have to wait too long for my appointments. I had such a positive experience with my first birth that I am now using them again one year later. Dr. Offer delivered my son and he was amazing! I am confident with their services and they are straight to the point.

The two star rating should be a warning. My wife and I are having our second child; our first was born in NYC. We’d since moved to CT and we were hoping for a more personal, intimate and friendly experience. A friend of ours referred us to Avery because she really liked her Dr. there, though she warned us that the staff could be prickly. Coming from the city, we figured that what she considered prickly, we’d find welcoming. We we’re sadly mistaken. From our first visit we found that the office had a prevailing cold and impartial approach to patient relations. From the staff behind the desk handling scheduling and insurance to the nurses and ultrasound technicians, my wife, 2 yo daughter and I were condescended, treated like a number and made to feel like an inconvenience. NOT how one wants to be made to feel when brining a new baby into the world. At every turn, we felt more marginalized and statistic than we had at the city hospital where we had our daughter. And we gave birth to her in the aftermath of Sandy when our hospital was overcrowded due to the closing of two others.
The only reason this isn’t a one-​star rating is the Dr. my wife saw. He was personable, caring and made us feel very comfortable. Unfortunately his staff makes the entire experience not worth it.

I don’t know where all the terrible reviews come from. I was almost 30 weeks pregnant when I needed to switch to a new doctor and they took me right in (not many obgyn will take you that far along in your pregnancy). I was in the military at the time and wanted to have my baby close to home, norwalk. I was stationed in jersey and found them WELL worth the 2.5 hour drive every week. I wouldn’t have spent the gas and toll money if they weren’t. They were super flexible with me and always gave me awesome Friday appointments since they knew where I was driving from. I was disappointed at first because I wasn’t with just one doctor, since they rotate all the time. But I can say they all made me feel very comfortable, and when the time came I could have cared less who my doctor was as long as that baby was coming out! Lol. Dr. muelenberg delivered my baby and I saw a few people said she was rude and dry, she may seem that way at first but she’s far from it, she’s just a straight to the point type of lady and I respect that. For the people who say the appointments are way too short being only 5 minutes. I wish my obgyn in jersey gave me 5 minutes, I could barely get 3 out of the guy. Doctors are very busy and have a lot to squeeze in so that they can get home to their own families. BUT during my follow up appointment After the baby I was very upset because my husband was still overseas and here I was with a new baby all by myself, the doctor I saw (I think Dr. Sauter was her name) let me cry with her in her office for as long as I needed. I even got my own mother to start coming here and she loves it just as much. Keep up the great work!

While some of the doctors here are really great, the administrative staff is just awful. They do not return phone calls, are very impersonal and continually cancel your appointments. After being with the practice for many, many years, I finally left for a better managed practice.

I don’t really understand the bad blood in the reviews below, and I also don’t understand why I am writing a review of a gyno, but here I am.
I moved to the area 6 months ago and realized I haven’t been to the lady doctor in quite awhile, so here I was making an appointment. I made it last second, and an on-​call doctor agreed to see me. Good first impression.
The receptionists were both pleasant and had smiles on their faces.
My wait was a 15 – 20 minutes, which I expected since they squeezed me in (that’s what he said).
So, they asked the basic preliminary questions (do you have sex, do you use the pill/​condoms, have you had the HPV vaccine, do you drink/​smoke, when was your last annual, yatta yatta)…Normally I get the «don’t have sex… because you will get pregnant, and die» speech… and finally I went to a gynecologist where I wasn’t made to feel like I was 2 inches tall for being real.
Well, this has been my somewhat mature review of the Avery Center.

Wish I had read others’ reviews of this place before I made my first appointment with them. I chose this practice because it is the closest practice to my house that was also within my insurance network.
The billing practices here are EXTREMELY SHADY. These people do not know how to deal with insurance companies. It has been over a month since my last visit to their office, and despite repeated inquiries at the front desk and phone calls to their billing department, and it has been extremely difficult to get a straight answer about 1.) the breakdown of my charges and 2.) how much I REALLY owe out of my pocket. I have ever experienced such issues and lack of transparency at any other doctor’s office in my life. I finally got a breakdown of my charges from the last visit and they listed a lot of items, including a lab test that I know nothing about and have received 0 results for.
I saw Dr. Meulenberg, who was less than compassionate. In my opinion, a doctor should NEVER advocate for an abortion unless the patient has already decided to have one; she basically made it seem like that was my only option, which is absolutely ridiculous and unprofessional. After my appointment, the front desk brushed away my billing questions, claiming «we don’t know, it’s all up to the insurance company now,» which didn’t even remotely answer my question. The front desk is incompetent and does not respect all of their clients (maybe they would show more respect to older women — though I’m 24 and feel like I should be treated with a normal level of respect).
Overall I left this place with an awful impression. I will not go back for another appointment with the same doctor (due to her general lack of compassion and the degree to which she almost force-​fed me different methods of abortion, which I did not ask about). I would have considered switching doctors at the same practice, but the rude, non-​transparent front desk/​billing situation has not made me eager to go back. For a health establishment for pregnant women in Westport, CT, the customer service is atrocious and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.

This place is just ridiculous. I saw Dr. Mulenberg who is basically a robot — I was 8 weeks pregnant and there to confirm my pregnancy. She allowed my husband and I to hear my baby’s heartbeat for less than 1 second before turning it off and leaving the room with a «sounds healthy» comment, she was very mechanical — when we asked her about what exercises I was allowed to do during my pregnancy, I was given the «whatever you want» answer. When I tried to clarify what this means (since I have always heard you are not suppposed to lift heavy things when preg), she repeated her answer and said to me «if you’re going to lose it, you’re going to lose it». I was shocked. Same whatever response i got when I asked about what vitamins I should be taking. Not once was I asked how I am doing, how I am feeling, etc. The place is definitely run by young girls — one of them called me after i did my blood work for genetic testing and instead of telling me I needed to redo it bc there was not enough fetal DNA in the blood, she says to me «there was a problem with your results» — I cannot describe how my heart completely sank and I panicked thinking something serious could be wrong. We switched drs right away and are now with Circle for Life where they treat you like a human.

This place treats you like a number. They don’t provide any information which was especially disconcerting as a first pregnancy. Basically they ask, «do you have any questions?» And as a first time pregnancy, I didn’t know what questions to ask. My appointments would last five minutes.
On my first appointment to confirm my pregnancy, Dr. Szeto actually answered her cell phone and dismissed me. I left crying.
Front desk personnel were always terse and in a bad mood.
Dr. Muelenberg delivered my baby and she had absolutely no bed side manners. She’s just there to execute her job.
There is nothing warm and fuzzy or supportive about this practice.
If anyone has a recommendation for a different practice, I’d love to find a different place for my second baby.

I LOVE ALL of the doctors and nurses at the Avery Center. I truly believe they’re the best in the area. Very caring, attentive and knowledgeable. I also like that I can always call and be immediately connected to a nurse if I have a question or concern. However. I do have to echo some of the sentiments shared by the other reviewers about some of the front desk and other staff. Either they are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of patients or they are incompetent. There is one woman at the front desk who has been there for years and I think without her the place would crumble. I have had problems with communication, mainly having to chase people down for information or test results. I had a prescription called in to a pharmacy I dont use by a Dr in the practice that I don’t see, and I had no idea what it was so I told them it was a mistake and then got a snotty phone call asking why I cancelled my prescription. Uh because no one told me about it? I have also had to call and get test results on a few occasions. It seems that unless there’s a problem, they don’t call you, yet they tell you they will. I get annoyed by these things but I let them go because the real reason I am there is because the doctors are awesome. I would rather have an experienced doctor than anything else. I have not had any insurance or billing issues so that’s a good thing.

Worst experience EVER! I was a loyal patient to the Avery center for many many years. When I recently became pregnant, I realized how HORRIBLE this place really is. Its very unfortunate because the doctors and nursed treat you well, even though you will feel quite rushed. Its the FRONT DESK STAFF and BILLING DEPT who RUIN it for the rest of the group. They falsely coded my pregnancy visits, costing me hundreds out of pocket in copays and costing my insurance more as well. When pregnancy visits should be covered normally. They created insurance fraud to make the office more money. When I called to question the bills, no good anwer was given and it was IMPOSSIBLE to speak to the office manager about this concern. Once I told them I was unhappy and going to leave the practice, they did NOT care one bit. This place is a ZOO. Not good for individualized care. And being pregant with my first, I felt I deserved more.

This is the most incompetent medical office I have ever dealt with in my life. Patients are treated like cattle and the admin staff are less professional than high school kids working at McDonalds.
Between getting billed improperly due to their failure to understand how to file claims with insurance companies, to the time they decided to not call me for months to let me know I had bad test results that required a follow-​up, they have lost all my faith. (Oh sure – they called me once, ONCE! And when I asked why they were calling they told me they «didn’t know.» I asked if it was about new meds I had recently been prescribed, which I had already spoken with the doctor about; the girl on the other end said, «Oh, that must be it.!» and then the call ended. After months of not receiving any calls or their certified letters –because I work and no one was home to sign for them so I didn’t even know they existed – I got a panicked call on my cell telling me that it was up to me to seek care either with them or elsewhere due to my potentially life threatening test results! Greeeeaaat.)
Even now trying to get med records to transfer to a new doc has been a nightmare – their phone is constantly busy or hangs up on you and if you leave a message, they conveniently call back after their business hours so you can’t return their call when someone is actually available because the answering service can’t transfer calls. (I must say they have called and left msgs at other times, but I have asked for specific, not confidential info – page count of my record – and they can’t even provide that. Phone tag ensues…)
They are the most recognizable OB/​GYN name in town, but the amount of friends and family that have shared horror stories with me – from similar billing errors to staff being incredibly callous – I feel like anyone new to the area seeking care should be forewarned unless you truly are ok with gambling with your health.
I did have a good experience with Dr. Goldberg – not my usual doctor – but the practice is too subpar for me to stick with.
I know this review is long and high-​strung, but when you are dealing with your health, it’s already stressful. No one needs this. I don’t need this!
Quick ⁸⁄₁₄ addition to this review after revisiting this page and seeing the glowing review from Tara P: As per the contents of her review, she had a basic OB/​GYN screening. I am glad she had a positive experience but want to note the clear reason why this could be: For myself and others that have visited and experienced poor treatment, it’s because we have gone there for specific treatment of something other than a routine checkup (cell abnormalities, polycystic ovarian syndrome, IC, pregnancy w/​complications are just a few of the things I can think of that women have spoken to me about in regard to poor treatment here.) When treatment should be exceptional – when there is actually something wrong, is when things turn sour. Maybe Avery is finally losing patients and realizing that they can’t continue with the same ol’ and get away with it, but I just wanted to elaborate so folks could be properly warned.