My father went to a new dentist that was recommended by two people to get a crown. My family and I have been on a quest to find a good and honest dentist for months and months now. We finally had our hopes up that this time, maybe, we got one!

On the first two visits to the dentist, my dad seem pleased. His tooth was prepared for the crown, and all was going well.

Then yesterday, my dad went to get the new crown cemented in. He was happy to have the procedure behind him. But within the hour after leaving, he called my mom and I who were visiting during his absence. He called to say the dentist has changed his mind, and had decided he wanted to put a gold crown in instead of a porcelain crown because gold would be more durable, if my dad agreed.

Read moreMy mom was immediately on alert that something was fishy, and asked if the price was going to go up. My dad assured her it wouldn’t. The dentist said the price would be the same.

One would assume that my dad would be getting a better deal then, would you? Gold is a premium product.

Well, after my mom hung up, her wheels were spinning. She looked at me, and said something is up! There is some dirty business going on here. He was supposed to get his crown put on today, and now they are changing his order. What’s up with that? This doesn’t make sense.

Did they forget to order his crown?

Are they going to raise the price on him, and not tell him? What is going on??

My mom was visibly annoyed. This dentist wasn’t being honest, and she knew it.

We sat there, and talked about it–wondering what my dad was going to tell us when he came home. We waited for my dad to return quickly since they were changing the order, but he didn’t. Instead, he returned two hours later, so we were really curious!

When my dad walked through the door, and talked, we could tell his mouth was numb by the slurring of his speech. The dentist re-drilled around his tooth again. Obviously, there were issues, but did his dentist tell him this? My mom and I asked.

“No, he just changed the plan,” said my dad. “The dentist told me my bite is hard [which the dentist knew weeks ago], and so he decided I should have a gold crown instead.”

My mom said, “This dentist isn’t being honest, and I don’t know why, but I don’t like him!! I don’t like what he is doing!”

Mom my was going to think it through until it all made sense. You could see her wheels spinning. My dad, however, just wants to trust people, so he was getting visibly annoyed at my mom. He didn’t want to hear the truth. My mom and I are not easy to live with. We often see problems where others see none.

I immediately got on the web, and searched for gold crowns versus porcelain. Guess what I found? Gold crowns, while they are more solid than porcelain, are on average 20% cheaper!!! But this dentist didn’t offer my dad any discounts in the price he was to pay. Hell no. Instead, he told my dad that he changed his mind due to my dad’s hard bite which made no sense after the crown was supposedly already ordered!!

No dentist would change the order after it was supposed to already be delivered because he would be out money to switch the order after the fact, and hence he would transfer that cost to my dad, and he wasn’t. So that was the big red flag.

What my mom and I suspect happened is that this dentist messed up the work he did the first time, and when he sent the impression to the lab for the crown to be made, the lab rejected it.

But instead of telling my dad honestly that they needed to make a few more corrections, he decided to lie to my dad and tell him a made up story. And he made my dad endure more drilling and more pain. The nerve of this guy!!

Had my mom and I been in that chair, tensions would have risen because we would have questioned his inconsistencies on the spot! His version of events, if true, that he simply changed his mind, wouldn’t have required more drilling. We would have stopped him on the spot, and said wait a minute! We probably would have found an egotistical man, and walked out.

A simple statement of “We need to make a few more corrections” wouldn’t likely have alerted anyone to a problem, and he could have saved his reputation. Instead, he got cheap and wanted my dad to foot the bill for his mistake and in the end shot himself in the foot! Not very bright, if you ask me. We certainly aren’t going back to this guy. He just lost an entire family of business!!

Rewind 18 Hours

My husband went to get a haircut. He came home, and after dinner when he turned around, I noticed the shavers had buzzed off a big section of hair in the center of his hairline! You couldn’t miss it.

I said, “Turn around. What happened here?” My husband looked left, and looked right and said “What?? What’s wrong?” very aware that he couldn’t see the offending problem.

My husband ran and got a mirror, and stood before another one, twisting and turning until he saw what I saw.

Clearly, the guy cutting his hair got distracted, or slipped, and took of a lot more hair in the middle of his hairline then on the sides. My husband’s hairline looked like this __^^^__. You couldn’t miss it. While the middle wasn’t gone, it was thinned out more than 50%, and a big visible eye sore.

My poor husband was mortified, but quickly shucked it off as there was nothing he could do. My mom joked on the phone he should tell everyone it is the new French Doo as she laughed. My husband didn’t find it funny at all, and went back to the shop.

The owner is the one who cut his hair, and the owner’s wife was at the desk when he came in. She offered to fix the problem upon review, but my husband knew the fix would be to shave his hair another inch up his neckline. He declined telling her that would look awful. Then she said she’d talk to her husband about a refund. She went to the back, behind closed doors, returned, and said he was on the phone, but they would give my husband a refund. The guy who cut his hair never came out, and acknowledge it, and my husband has been a loyal, returning customer.

I’m sorry, but after you do this to a customer, I can’t imagine too many phone calls that should take a priority. Was this man just giving my husband an excuse so he didn’t have to face him?

If you make a mistake, fess up for Pete’s sake. We are all human, and we all make mistakes, and that’s okay!! Had he apologized to my husband when he did it, my husband might not have been happy, but he would have understood. Or better, he could have come out when my husband was back at the salon complaining, and acknowledged it, and apologized, but he didn’t. That’s just poor business ethics. I have no idea now where this guy will draw the line.

All this beautician had to do was come out, look at the problem and say, “Oh my. That’s awful. I’m terribly sorry.” He didn’t have to go into anymore detail. But instead of doing that, he ignored it, and frankly lost another family of customers!

Both of these professional men in the twenty four hours leave a bitter taste in my mouth, and feelings of distrust. These men were both willing to deny the truth, and skirt around the issue rather than face it which tarnishes their character, if you ask me. While they only made a mistake, which is completely excusable and forgivable, their unwillingness to face the music, and try to properly rectify the situation only complicates matters, and makes their situation even worse.

No one expects an elaborate defense for a simple mistake. Mistakes happen. We all do them. A simply apology goes a long way.

Is it really worth to deny a mistake? I personally don’t think so. I’d much prefer to offer a genuine, heart-felt and sincere apology, and if you can’t accept it, that is no longer my problem anymore, is it? I did the absolute best I could, and I can live with it.