Queens Family Dental Reviews

I have left 15 messages with the receptionist WITH my cell phone number and she assures me every time he will call me back. He never has. Each time I call to leave a new message I ask for a reasoning as to why I haven't been called but she has no answer. The one time I was told I could leave a message and he would be available to call me back between 2:30-3:30 because he was on break, I told them that I would just call then. From 2:30-3:30, no one picked up their phone when I called. I asked my boyfriend to call from work (since I figured everyone has caller ID) and wouldn't you know it; the receptionist picked up.

I decided to go because I figured that since the office isn't doing the actual molds that it would be hard for them to mess them up (I would never get any other dental work done here). Also, I just moved from Chicago to Astoria and it never occurred to me that a dentist's office would do something like this to someone. I never thought I would have my money stolen from me. I will now have to spend time I do not have to take legal action to get my money back so PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOURSELF THROUGH THIS.

Everything seems to have held up good from when I went last year till I went this year. The cleaning was right on time and everything seemed to be going well. They said I didn’t have any new cavities and nothing has fallen out.

Original Review: July 30, 2014

This practice is a fraud! I went in for a consultation for Groupon Invisalign. Dr. ** offered me a discount to not buy it through Groupon - should've been my first sign. He then assured me that I had to remove all my non-impacted wisdom teeth, and charged me the price for impacted (which I found out later.) I also had a baby tooth which he promised to remove as part of the price and then use the Invisalign to close the gap. After I paid everything, a few visits later, he tells me that he has to remove the tooth and put a root canal which would cost me ANOTHER $2500! When I refused, he aggressively told me that if I don't do it, he would make me sign something that says that I refused the dentist's advice, and it is my responsibility if the Invisalign fails! Giving me no other choice, I agreed to pay a lower price, but guess what; turns out he couldn't do the root canal, even after they did x-rays and scheduled me for surgery a month later. Where is my refund? Magically, they stop returning my phone calls and emails, and NO REFUND!

At this point, and this is where their scam really is. I am also waiting for Invisalign for SIX MONTHS and still nothing (he promised I would have it in 4-6 weeks), and they are giving me the worst excuses that would give to a kid. Reading his reviews here and on other sites, it seems like he's done it to everyone. His staff knows this too, but they seem to feel bad about it, trying to subtly warn me. And I am sure the practice will respond here with a bunch of excuses - "there were mistakes in impressions", "the company sent the wrong braces", "the Invisalign was ready after all", etc - all the same excuses they gave me, and visit after visit, it turned out that whoops, it's actually not ready again. I would go to their office almost every week, for them to tell me "whoops, you have to come back".

Since no services were rendered, my bank reversed the charges, and I hired a lawyer to settle this amicably. My lawyer contacted them and they ignored him completely, and put me to collections instead, for services never rendered! We are filing complains with NY Department of Education, NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, NY Department of Health, and NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and I suggest you do too if they wronged you. Hopefully something will stick and they will take his license away. If you wish to join us, please contact me through here. This has now cost me SO MUCH money. I urge you to stay away from this practice!

One time I got such a bad headache, I'm not sure if it was from him cutting my tooth and gums, or if it was from the needle he gave me. I tried to call ahead of going and asking them if they have received my tooth yet, the dentist kept telling me the tooth came in so I would travel all the way there and when I would get there they would say it came in but it's the wrong color. I never seen the tooth. One time, one of the girls in the office told me the tooth got lost in the mail. He was constantly taking molds of my teeth and saying the tooth would come in in about 2 weeks.

On my first appointments he took a mold of my teeth and said he was going to order the porcelain tooth, after I left his office I was wondering why he didn't do anything to see what color I would need. On the second visit to his office, he told me he wanted to cut the tooth next to it, he said it would look better. I advised him that I feel the tooth is fine the way it is and I prefer not to touch it. Every time I would go back in he would cut my teeth more and more. He is constantly attempting to put in a temporary tooth and that tooth would not stay in.

I live about an hour away from his office and from what I was originally understanding this procedure should have only taken about 5 or 6 visits, not over a year and countless amounts of going back and forth to the office. My temporary tooth would fall out and he would order another X-Ray before he would attempt to cut my tooth even more, just to attempt to glue it in again. Sometimes I would have to go in every other day to get the tooth glued in again. I had a tooth under my previous porcelain, but he kept cutting away at it until now that there's little to no tooth left. He somehow managed to cut the tooth next to the one that needed to be replaced, in half.

When I confronted him about it, he denied touching that tooth. He also damaged the 2 teeth next to the one that needed to be replaced. Now I have a total of 5 teeth that have been damaged by him. I even had pain in my ear after he touched the tooth on my bottom jaw. The 2 teeth I already mentioned and somehow he managed to damage the 2 teeth next to those and also managed to damage another tooth that is on my bottom jaw. I asked him not to touch my other teeth and he has done so without my consent.

I was so embarrassed about having my front tooth missing that I couldn't engage in any social affairs. The holidays were the worst time for me. It was hard to organize anything with the constant trips, not to add the embarrassment of having your front tooth missing, and all this causing my breath to smell horrific. He is only in his Flushing, NY office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so sometimes I would have to wait for days to be able to see him without me having a front tooth. I called Citi Health in the January 12, 2013 to cancel my card since I knew something was not right, and he had someone from his office call me and convince me that they were good, ethical people and to come back.

I believed that they were trying to do the right thing and decided to give him another chance. I regret doing so. Recently the doctor said that for him to fix my tooth, he is going to have to do the tooth next to it as well because he stated that the other tooth won't stay in otherwise. The doctor would attempt to put in the temporary tooth without sterilizing it. He is a smoker and his hand would smell so bad, especially when he decided not to use gloves. I would notice that he didn't even wash his hands between patients, that wouldn't be a problem if he had gloves on.

On another one of my visits, he cut my tooth and his assistant said, "I don't know what you're gonna do to fix that?! I guess you'll figure it out." Even his employees were questioning his work ethics. He cut my gums so bad one time that it was so swollen and I bled so much that I went and sought medical attention from a clinic by my home, STAT Health, they advised me that I got an infection, so they gave me antibiotics and a cream for my gums. Till today, I still am draining some blood and have a foul odor coming from my mouth. It has been becoming hard to chew my food. This whole experience has been more than stressful.

My last visit with Dr. ** as my Dentist was on February 19, 2014. They made me an appointment for February 25, 2014 but I called to cancel it the day prior. When I called to cancel my appointment, the secretary asked me when I would like to come in, and I advised her I would not be returning. On February 24, 2014, his wife called and left me a message on my answering machine. I went to see another Dentist on February 27, 2014. The new dentist advised me that I will now need a bridge since Dr. ** chopped too much of my other tooth off. The new Dentist also advised me that since Dr. ** worked so much on my mouth, that I once again, got an infection in my mouth. He advised me that the infection was really bad and did not understand how someone can continue to work in my mouth that way, nor why he wouldn't advise me that I needed antibiotics, or why he would not give me anything to help cure it. They prescribed me Amoxicillin 500mg capsules and advised me to take it 3 times a day for 7 days.

The main issue was that the staff seems so unorganized and I would walk and it was as if there was no prep done prior to me getting. Almost as if they didn't even know I was coming. There were many times where I went in and nothing was done. I mean nothing. As if they forgot to order materials or did not prepare ahead of time. Eventually, the crown was fixed. Not perfectly but I just wanted to start the invisalign process. It is now July 2013 and I have NOT STARTED THE INVISALIGN PROCESS YET. 6 months of waiting and every time I go in the doctor tells me another two weeks and gives me some ridiculous excuse. How can this be possible??? I feel like I'm being scammed and just want to warn people before they go to this office. I am creating a complaint with the Better Business Bureau as well. I wish I would have checked the reviews here. I have pictures of the replacement crown and proof of payment to them earlier this year. Why am I still waiting?

According to other dentists, this type of cosmetic works usually takes 5-6 visits, not 6 years. During numerous attempts by his multiple dentists, the laminas and crowns have been placed incorrectly and as a result has cracked and fallen out. This resulted in damages to my teeth such as three root canals in the bottom of my teeth, as well as a cavity in the top of my tooth due to the fact that the office cannot keep the temporary cap in my mouth correctly. All the root tips are already showing as if the laminas have been there for years. Within this short period of time, several laminas have already cracked and fallen out. As a side note, my old laminas and crowns were in my month for over 2 decades and not once did I have any problems with them. At this point, I still have a temporary crown made out of metal that is not sitting correctly done by his third dentist who refused to listen to the fact that all my other crowns are porcelain so needless to say, it doesn't match the rest of the teeth again.

On July, 2012, ** promised to redo my lamina with his fifth and final dentist, and for whatever reason if he is another one of his high turnover staff, we agreed that I will not try another one of his dentist from his office. I waited 4 months for an appointment and at the end found out that he no longer works there. I have never seen anyone change their dentists, including their entire office staff as frequent as this office. It's almost as if once the workers found out how the office is managed, they run as well. On December 27, 2013, ** personally promised that he will refund my money and asked me to call his biller, Elisa **, the following week. Believing him again, I called her and she has no idea what I was talking about. Finally, after numerous attempts, she said that he will give me a check back on February 28, 2013 at 5 pm. Again, I showed up and waited for over 30 minutes. At that time, Elisa ** tells me that ** is not in the office but that she had everything prepared for the refund check and to come back again. I knew that they were giving me the runaround again and probably had no real intention of negotiating in good faith.

I contacted them the following week again and asked for a certified check or I was going to report them. Then he got his wife to call me asking me to re-explain the entire situation and to come in and see another one of his dentists, which I refused. She said that she was going to call me back on March 8, 2013 and never did. Also, beware of the offices billing scam. They persuaded me into taking out a loan for $8000, which is the total cost of the cosmetic work and the owner tells you once the insurance pays for their portion, he will reimburse you. The owner is a liar. He will pretend he forgot about it so he can get paid twice. I only found out he was also getting paid by my insurance from the EOB (explanation of benefits) statements from the insurance company. It was another battle to get that money back once I confronted him. Later, I found out that most dental office will ask you to pay the balance after the insurance, not ahead of time. Beware of this.

This is the most dishonest, unethical medical and business office one can ever encounter. Doing a little research on the office just confirmed that the owner has been practicing like this for a long time and gotten away with taking patients and insurances' money. To date, I still have unfinished teeth and he still have not refunded my money as he promised personally. I am so exhausted from all the runaround and all the broken promises from this office. I hope every patient gets to read about my experience so they will not be fooled by ** like I did.

On the next appointment, the only difference was a temporary crown was put in. On the next appointment, a Dr. R. S. ** was assigned. On the initial inspection, blood was found. Pictures were taken, and it was stated that the tooth was chipped, and split at the base. The financing for the tooth was also a problem. Dr. ** needed to be called three times, before previous treatment plans determined to prevent further trauma, were adhered to. No work was done on the tooth, except for replacing the temporary crown.

When I expressed doubts as to his diagnosis and treatment plan, Dr. ** reassured me that I could work out a payment plan or take out a loan through him if I couldn't afford to pay the $4,500 upfront. I was suspicious and asked him to print out an invoice listing all of the work he thought I needed. I have this document and would be happy to provide it. In fact, after visiting my family dentist, it was determined that I had only one cavity that required a simple filling. I tried calling Dr. ** back to let him know that he had completely misdiagnosed me but was told I could not speak with him.

I received new impressions due to 'new molar' possibly affecting my Invisalign. Odd weekly visits where dentists checked on new molar and Nightguard, just taking a look and nothing more. Told me I was good and then sent me going. This ended up costing me my job at end of August as my company told me my weekly visits were unnecessary. Another appointment made for next week by the dentist, oh boy! October - November, during a supposedly assigned visit, dentist's assistant looked through my files and confirmed no Invisalign order was ever made. No impressions were ever saved or sent to be made. I called the dentist and asked for a refund of $2,500.00 immediately (the full cost of Invisalign only). The dentist tells me we can work it out by next week.

New visit, front desk manager, the oldest lady tells me that I was to wait two weeks to pick up the check as the dentist was "busy with a patient" to see me. I received the check from the dentist with instructions to send on November 15, 2008. I agreed, in the hopes to take care of the problem. On a side note, the check was for $2,155.00 with notes from front desk/receptionist manager, old lady, Lucy. The remaining amount was a deductible fee ($345) that was supposed to be taken from them to Capital One. Also, they didn't provide the correct address to where to send. I had to contact Capital One to double check, talk about shady!

I contacted Capital One to confirm they received the check. A Capital One agent named Rolo calls me back after I leave a message to one of the customer representatives. He informs me that other people are facing similar refund demands and I was lucky to get a check, It is here that I find out that the weird $345 deduction fee from the dentist was not authorized, agent himself states they aren't supposed to do that and instead, they will make sure I get the rest back as the fee is waived from me. The Check bounced! Practically the very next day! Automatic affecting my monthly payments with odd NFA charges to this day. A claim that, to this day, I have to double check with Capital One to make sure they are not charging me this (I found out two months later).

On December 18, 2008, I notified the dentist with a claim letter, asking for 7 days for payment. Receptionist manager Lucy at front desk tells me that she forwarded everything to the wife as for some odd reason, she is the person in charge of Finances of his business. January 2009, I was told by the dentist's wife that a second check was sent to Capital One on January 5th, only to be informed by Capital One agent, Anayra ** (phone number available) two weeks later, that no second check was ever sent or received within the 10-business days check process. All this vocal information was recorded to serve as any tangible evidence since Capital One, to this day, has made no physical claims that they understand what is happening (No email, no letters, nothing! )

September 2009, Here I am, taking it from there since Capital One agent Anayra ** has stated that once my $2,500, half of what I am supposed to pay, is paid on my behalf, I don't have to worry about paying the rest. This was told by her and recorded by me as evidence. On a side note, she repeatedly tells me three times the same thing and makes it sound like its my responsibility, that I am supposed to check on them after my remaining amount is paid. Wow Capital One, I so love your commitment to keep me as a customer.

I owe less than $3,000 to Capital One, as of now. Roughly $500 to go... What will happen next?! Why am I waiting so long? I guess I'm either too naive or too stupid to do as make Queens Family Dental and Capital One pay me back, as they love playing the fun tennis game of avoidance with me. Debating to take this matter to court, a subpoena was highly suggested (by Anayra ** herself) that it will be the only way to get physical evidence of statements from Capital One. Thankfully, I ran into this site, with what I can only hope is an ongoing list of evident victims in the same boat as me. It's sad really, my amount to pay back may not be as large as some others but there are many senior citizens within my area being greatly affected today with this fraud.

To the person in charge of posting this info, if it gets approved if/before editing it: Please put as much info provided by me, my current evidence is short as neither Capital One agents nor the dentist is willing to provide any printed proof of my account being processed or taken care of! I'd gladly put my info below but I am sure, it'll just get removed, I wouldn't want this or other of the additional information in this very suspicious case to be removed in this post.

I'm about to reach $2,500 in my loan, which I am not supposed to pay at all but somehow, I have the gut feeling The dentist is not going to pay me anytime soon and Capital One will proceed to deny any record of this and will make me pay for it. Capital One charges me hidden monthly fees, all stemming from no funds check that wasn't even by my name. Dr. William ** is still free and scamming other people. Working hard to get our money back maybe? I don't know, I'd like to think so. How many people does he truly owe back? I've noticed in the post that there were potential new victims this year and they were very lucky to get their money back on a timely matter. When is my turn?! Or victims like Vincent, from the story he provided in this site? I also suspect his wife Fiffy ** is working with him as she was very astute at dodging my phone calls and giving me the runaround to deal with everything with Capital one. "The check is in the mail", "we are sending the check next week". The minute you say: Send certified check only... they tell you to talk to Capital One!

Newsflash: Capital One or Capital One agents cannot do anything as legally it needs to be resolved between you and the doctor according to the loan form you may have signed. Most likely, they will ask you to get a subpoena, which therefore suggests bringing to court as your ultimate choice.

My biggest regret is not having enough courage to speak sooner and louder. When I was waiting every week or other week, I witnessed countless of older folks and even new patients question their fees when they were complaining to the front desk. I tried not to eavesdrop, but I did find that weird at the time, now, I ultimately know why. Please help, feel free to reach out to me and discuss this matter further. I have listed every chronology of the situation as clear as possible. Sorry for lack of any specific dates, as most of these events took place on a weekly visits and appointments made via phone calls, which sadly, were not recorded, nor were any weekly appointment slips saved.

Written statement from William **, Fiffy **, or Capital One explaining this case is being processed and or/resolved as it is the only way I will know my account debt from Capital One will be taken care of by these leeches, as it should be. Give my complaints to 1-800 DENTIST for recommending such a easy to communicate and responsible dentist business!

Finally, my complaints have been submitted to the BBB though they expect more information (I am trying to figure out what is it that they need) my complaint number is: **.

Update:

This is a continuation of my story below posted many months ago. This isn't solved yet! Since November of last year I am still waiting my $2,500 refund from the services of Dentist William ** and as of now Fiffy **, the person held responsible for the initial bounced check. There is also a debate in regards of receiving full amount being received with unusual deduction fees.

According to the phone conversations with Fiffy **, I am one of three remaining consumers whom Queens Family Dental owes to. She makes monthly payments to an account that is redeposited but applied to another account, to which then Capital One (supposedly) chose to distribute the money evenly. She sends her checks every month but is not clear to who receives it, much less, if this is being deducted from their accounts. As a victim of this case, I'd like to believe her, but having received no announcements from her or Capital One, all this time makes me feel further uncertain, not to mention highly suspicious.

November 17 – December 1: Matt ** is unreachable. I left several messages. No reply. On November 18, 2009, my half share of the amount was paid in full but no zero balance was ever displayed in my account, and I am still on schedule to pay the remaining balance.

Call Mr. Fiffy ** and she provides Matt Lockwood's next-desk worker named Carol’s number, also unreachable. December 3, 2009 (Present), two reasonable options only. The contract states this dispute should be solved within me, the consumer and Mr. Fiffy **: Ask for a certified check to be given to me (not Capital One) within days. Take them to a Small Claims Court.

One last thing, for anyone else who has received an NSF check from Mrs. Fiffy ** or Queens Family Dental, I've been reading on local collection agencies, generally they are more effective in getting your money back and far less expensive than reaching out to Small Claims Court. I am very certain that I am purposely lied to in order to help buy some time not to sue. I'm currently reading on best approach for this. There's even a discussion on how to sue and get three times the payment after sending a demand letter (I did) and not getting paid.

This is not easy. I do think we are at least trying to solve this in the most civilized way possible. There are just too many strange runarounds when trying to settle and conclude this dispute with Mrs. Fiffy **. Chances are, I may never get my full money back or even a sincere apology from Dentist William ** himself but in situations like these, it’s best to ask: What’s better, to recover the money or punish the check writer?

Thank you consumeraffairs.com! This has been a long, exhaustive battle for justice but you've proven that telling one story online does serve as helpful voice to speak for and listen to, for consumers' complains and potential victims alike. I will post more once this story reaches its conclusion. Thanks again! Loan has affected my credit to debt ratio/credit score. I requested for credit limit increase for cards and instead, they decreased it as they weren't sure I was further capable of paying additional bills.

I wrote him a letter on June 1, 2009 requesting a refund of $12,000 and inquiring why he never contacted me. The total work was quoted to me as costing $20,000, but he also received checks from our insurance companies in the amount of $2,500. He responded and said he would like to meet with me. I met with him on June 9th and he said he tried to call me and sent mail to my address. The one problem was he was calling and mailing to an old phone number and address if you want to believe that he even did.

I updated all of my current information in July of 2008 and the office had all of my new information. After our visit, he said he would need a week to figure things out and he would get back to me. After making multiple phone calls to his office, I still have never received a call back. His girls behind the desk are on alert not to pass through any calls. He is always busy or on the phone or with another patient. I would leave my phone number and three times I was promised a phone call back. One day, I did a search on the Internet on Dr. ** and found that the NY State of Education had filed two violations against Dr. **.

One was in September of 2000 and the other was in July 2004. He was fined and put on probationary suspension for both violations. One violation was for not properly recording dental work on patients’ records and the other was submitting falsified claims to insurance companies for work that was never done. Isn't this very interesting information? I first went to him in July of 2004. He was recommended by 1-800-Dentist. I have subsequently filed two complaints with 1-800-Dentist against Dr. ** recently. Can anyone please help me in getting my $12,000 back? I am still unemployed and could not keep up with the payments to the finance company. I have since defaulted on my two loans. I just recently learned that the finance company is completely out of the health care financing industry. I still would like to have the work done by another dentist, but I need this money in order to do it since I cannot finance another loan due to my defaulting.