South Lake Gastroenterology

Trinz

I want to start by saying I really like Dr. Fernandez. She is very sweet and nice and has great bed side manner. However, I am upset with the interaction I had today with Carrie (not sure if spelled correctly). I had my endoscopy procedure August 10th and I was supposed to have my followup appt August 30th (which is already more than 2 weeks past my appt). Someone calls me yesterday stating Dr. Fernandez is not available now and I have to reschedule but they do not have until September 14th. When I told them it was too long of a wait just to get results she stated a nurse would be getting back with me. I call the next day (today) no answer, phone just rings and rings and I leave a message. I get a call back hours later with a "How can I help you?" I stated I left a message (now I have to explain all over again). Carrie states with no empathy that there is nothing she can do and she can't help it if doctors reschedule. I ask her if I can see someone else? She states you would have to be transferred to a new doctor and that wait list is until October/November time. I said is there anyway someone can just let me know my results or video tele-visit? She states no, only the doctor does that. She told me I can just call everyday to check if there is a cancellation. Then, when I asked her if I will be receiving a text message with my appointment date and address she stated "I can give you the address now"I told her I'm not ready to take that down yet and she said sarcastically "You don't have a pen?" Like what the heck? Then on top of that, they didn't even save my appointment slot for September 14th, they gave my appointment away, so now I will be seen September 15th. So not only am I just irritated because now I have to wait over a month just to get my results from my endoscopy, but the total lack of professionalism and empathy from Carrie made the situation so much worse. She needs to learn how to speak to patients with care and sincerity. She also stated "I'm not normally up here answering phones", well obviously since you totally lack any type of customer service.

renny chavez

Horrible experience! I was scheduled for a procedure on July 1st. Had already taken all my sick days (which was hard to request). Then on June 28, I received a phone call from the office stating that I could't get the procedure because they said I haven't got any of my labs done. I told them I did all the requirements on April 1st. They said they haven't received the stool sample. I told them I did everything already. They said it wasn't a complete tool sample. Oh so you waited until LAST MINUTE to tell me this!? I was livid, but we rescheduled another procedure over the phone anyway. I asked her to put me on Tue or Wed because those are my days off, as I do not have any sick days off anymore! She said she didn't have any available on those days, but she put me on July 21st just for now, and will call me back the next day. Surprise..surprise no one called me! Today July 13th, I stopped by the Clermont-34715 office to get my tool sample kit and reschedule my procedure (since she never called me back). The scheduler (a woman with yellow/orange hair) was very curt. She told me that I'd get charged $100 fee in the mail because I reschedule the appt less than 2 weeks. I told her the whole story again from the very beginning. A lady from the back chimed in and said, well actually you don't need the tool sample for the procedure. I was like, so I could've gotten the procedure on July 1st!? I ended up just rescheduling only my follow up appt and cancel the procedure. They better not charged me $100 fee!!

Kimberly Jones

BEWARD OF THE BILLING DEPARTMENT. I have been a patient since 2011. I have a family history of colon cancer and started getting colonoscopies early. Before I had a colonoscopy this year I spoke to South Lake Gastroenterology and their response was that they didn’t expect that there would be a co-pay. I spoke to my insurance company and got the same answer since this is preventative care. However, I have received a bill for over $260 and who knows if there are more bills to come. I called my insurance company and they told me that South Lake Gastroenterology submitted a code that was not preventative and offered to call and see if they would resubmit under a different code. I decided to call instead and they refused to resubmit. I asked why they used a different code than they used in 2011 AND 2018 and the person I spoke to said “I wasn’t working here then”, as you can imagine this is a very frustrating answer. The person on the phone also told me to call my insurance so I told her I already had and she then told me to call the office and speak to a nurse so basically anything to dodge responsibility. UPDATE- Adel from the office has contacted me and is working to resubmit. We shall see how that works out. I plan to update

Camia Santiago

This place is terrible. I was referred by my OB/GYN and made an appointment to have a scheduled call 3 weeks out. No problem. The day before my appointment I got a call saying my appointment was from 2 PM - 3 PM but the doctor may call a “little bit earlier”. I’m working a full time job with a newborn but I figured a little bit earlier isn’t a big deal so I scheduled it on my calendar accordingly. The doctor called over an hour before my scheduled time, and I was in a meeting and couldn’t take the call. What if I showed up over an hour before an appointment and expected to be seen? I tried calling back and was not able to speak with a doctor. Next day I rescheduled for another couple of weeks later — today. Another phone appointment and this time at 9 AM with Dr. Maqsood, so that I could hopefully get an on-time call. It’s almost 10 AM and I have yet to receive a call. I have called the office twice and I’ve gotten the voicemail both times. Question: does this doctors office realize that we aren’t scheduling appointments for fun, but for health reasons? I personally would prefer to be treated like I matter as a patient and not have my time wasted when I could be seen by doctors who actually care. In fact, that’s exactly what I’ll do.