Dec 10, 2010

An apology goes a long way

I have an update for the Or Alternatively... ordeal. After a round or two of phone tag with me, Rob was able to connect with Dr. Fong on the phone two weeks ago. (Yeah, I'm behind.) Rob told him of a couple of our concerns, explaining our overall unsatisfactory experience at his consult.

Basically, he told him we felt uncomfortable asking questions after several of mine were left unanswered and that he seemed to not be present. His response?

It was as good as it could have been. First, he apologized that we didn't have a good experience. Then he spent some time going over a few examples that Rob gave, including the giving of treats to Castor. He asked if Castor was okay after the visit. (Fortunately, he was.)

Before getting off the phone, he offered to speak with someone at SFVS about getting us reimbursed for some of the consult. He also provided Rob with his email address, offering to answer our questions by email if that was more comfortable for us. He did both of these things without prompting, which deserves to be noted.

Though I'm told there was a bit of defensiveness at first (who wouldn't be?), Dr. Fong validated our feelings, apologized, and offered solutions for us. That is good customer service. I will still take Castor to the new alternative veterinarian in Pacifica for future acupuncture, mostly because I still don't feel entirely confident that I will be fully able to communicate my needs to him. I really appreciate Dr. Fong's response, nonetheless. (I received terrible customer service from my regular vet in SF the same week, which made me appreciate his even more. More on that later.)

Maybe he was just having an "off" day when we came in, and maybe not. Either way, I have no complaints about how we left things. Hopefully, I can get better information from him via email. I might as well try.

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