Intercare Dental Accounts - shocking service

I’m writing on behalf of my mother, Mrs. HH Frauenstein.

She visited Irene Detail Center during June / July 2022 and the dentist ordered a full set of dentures for her through a laboratory of their choice. My mom had to visit the dentist repeatedly for various reasons given by the dentist. She also had problems with the bottom dentures that hurt her. The dentures were sent back to the laboratory to get it fixed – to no avail.

The reception at the dentist did not advise my mom that she had to claim the laboratory’s fees from the medical aid herself. When the laboratory contacted my mom, we learned that she had to submit the claim herself. When we submitted the statement from the laboratory to her medical aid, they paid the money into Intercare’s account. I then had to request that the medical aid reverse the payment (apparently the accountants at Intercare do not monitor their accounts and did not realise that incorrect fees were paid to them).

The medical aid reversed the fees paid. They then paid an amount to Intercare but it was a short-payment of R978.08. On March 10 this year my mom received an SMS from Intercare to say that she needs to pay this amount. I phoned to request a statement which was sent on 13 March. Then my mom received an SMS on 17 March stating that her account has been handed over to an attorney. The amount is now suddenly R1800.

According to Intercare's records an email was sent with a statement on 22 February – my mother never received this statement. It turns out (after I spoke with one of the accountants this morning) that they have an incorrect email address for my mom on the system. No-one confirmed the email address with my mother before handing over the account to the attorney. My mom did NOT receive a courtesy phone call from Intercare to warn her that the account will be handed over to an attorney.

On my mom’s last visit to the dentist, she requested that a complete account be sent to her to allow her to track the fees outstanding and whatever the medical aid pays. She never received an account.

From Intercare’s side they did not provide my mother with enough time to pay the account. Keep in mind that she is a pensioner and does not have funds readily available to spend as she pleases.

I do feel that the service that we received from the dental center at Irene was not up to standard and the accounts department at head office seems to be *********** in ensuring that the patients receive ample notification of outstanding fees.

This is a lady of 77 years old who is not technologically savvy. She is emotionally traumatised at what happened – she has never in her life had any issues with debtors. Though both she and my father never had a lot of money – they always paid all accounts timeously.