It's amazing to me sometimes how some businesses are still stuck in the dark ages, and how society continues to put up with it.
For instance, today I tried calling aroung to make my wife a doctor's appointment with a specialist in town. Now, to disclaim things, she IS a new patient. But, ultimately, I say that this should be a non-factor with this story.
So, I tell them I'd like to make an appointment, they ask the issue, I tell them, they ask if she's ever been there before, I answer no... she says:
"Great, well our next appointment for new patients is July 27th. What time is best?"
After taking a verbal double-take, I figured she made a mistake. I assume she's talking about MAY 27th. Oh no, she informs me, they're very busy.
After a utteral cough-chuckle, I kindly excuse myself from the call and dismiss her, as easily as she dismissed me.
The lesson here:
If you don't want new customers or new business, just don't bother answering the phone. Or, at the very least, tell me upfront.
Now, to be fair, it's one thing to be truly busy. But, when she qualifies the fact that "...for new patients..." there's, apparently, a different priority.
You absolutely want to take care of your current customers, but don't spit on your potential new customers. They may come back one day later when you're not busy. If you upset them, they'll remember.
This SAME exact experience happened to me earlier this week. I said that it was important that I see a doctor, and I was a new patient, and then she told me the next avaiable appointment for new patients is some date next month. I felt angry, and that I just wasted my time.
Welcome to my world. A world where my country has a state run health system, meaning a wait of 6-12 months to see someone. I'm glad we have the option of private healthcare if you choose to pay.
This exact thing happened to my wife earlier this week - she called around 10 doctor's offices and many were rude, and unwilling to offer any kind of help.
She finally found one that had an appointment in two weeks, and was calling every day to see if there was a cancellation. Seems like you should be able to put your name on a list to call if there's a cancellation. She ended up being lucky and was able to get an appointment in a couple days.
I think the "new patients" disclaimer is usually due to having to run insurance checks (I had to deal with this as well) and they have to schedule a longer appointment time. Most doctors are double booked anyway - whichever person arrives at their 15-minute slot first gets dibs.
That isn't that far off compared to an appointment with my dentist. They found a cavity at my last cleaning on april 23rd and the next available appointment to get it filled was August 3rd. I should also add that I have been seeing this guy since I was 10.
What we in America are experiencing is the Medical Squeeze perpetrated in the interest of maximize profits from its captive market. Sounds like the oil industry. Most graduates of medical school (and that number is limited with supply-demand concerns at the forefront) are saddled with a huge education debt. The only solution for most new doctors is to go into high-income specialties and to run their businesses to maximize profit... health care is a concern, only repressed by the economic realities. If we were serious about health care in America we'd make medical schools free to anyone for as long as they wanted to attend and licensing would still be required. Do you think the AMA or Congress who receives millions in "payoff/donations" would allow that to happen? It would ruin their golden goose...egg.