December 2019 by William N.
I went to Blossom Ridge Medical Group yesterday for a 4 pm appointment to address my annual sinus infection. I called in and made the appointment when they opened that morning, just to be sure I would be seen and not be treated as a walk-in. I arrived about 10 minutes early (don't want to be late and hold up the doctor) and was told there were a couple of patients ahead of me, so take a seat. After twenty minutes, they took me back to an exam room and was told the doctor would see me shortly. After another half hour, I was told they needed the room for another patient, so could I please go back to the waiting room. I asked at that point what the issue was, and they said there was "only one" patient ahead of me, and the doctor would see me shortly. After another 10 minutes, they took me back to ANOTHER exam room, and again said the doctor would see me shortly (I was beginning to lose faith in this statement). It was at that point after 5 pm, and the staff was beginning to pack up and go home. Finally, at 5:30, half an hour after the office was officially closed and an hour and a half after my appointment, Dr. DeFigard came in. At this point, I told her I had been waiting for 1.5 hours, and that this was unacceptable. She checked me out, looked in my file and agreed that I had gotten sinus infections about this time of year for the past several years, and prescribed the exact same antibiotic I was given before. All of which could have been done over the phone. While Dr. DeFigard was professional throughout my (brief) interaction with her, I can't say the same for the staff. First of all, I could have waited for another day or two if necessary, I wasn't going to die of a sinus infection, I just thought I would go in on a light day for me and get it over with. I assumed that since they gave me an appointment, they had time to see me. Also, NOONE on her staff apologized for the wait, or did anything to manage my expectations of when she might be free. If someone had told me that it would be over an hour, I would have simply returned the next day. Instead, they kept telling me that there was only one patient ahead of me, and kept me hanging around, in the waiting room and the exam room, thinking that the doctor would be free a just a few minutes. In her defense, Dr. DeFigard did say she had a patient come in that she needed to see urgently, and also needed to pre-authorize a procedure, but this doesn't seem to justify an hour and a half delay in being seen. When she finally arrived, she did apologize to me for the wait, but none of her staff did, or even suggested I could come back the next day. I realize doctors are busy, and they want to keep a backlog of patients so they can be as productive as possible, but this level of delay is not acceptable. This is probably the worst customer service I have ever seen, and I won't be going back.
