Scare Tactics

Today in the mail I received an invoice for a large amount of money for some recent treatment that I had, stating that I had provided incomplete or inaccurate information at the time of treatment. However, there was no indication of what the problem was. Just a demand for money, saying that if I don't pay within fifteen days, I will be charged extra. Unsurprisingly, seven days had already elapsed from the date of the invoice to the date of my receipt of it. Heaven forbid I might be away somewhere. As far as I'm concerned, I provided every piece of information that I was able to give, and was told that everything else would be taken care of. Clearly, someone was misleading me. So I telephone the office number and on the third attempt, I manage to get through to someone. She gets hold of my file and comes back to the phone, and I ask her why I have received this invoice as I feel I shouldn't have. She asks me why I think this. Well, hang on a moment. You've invoiced me on the basis that I have not provided full accurate information. Surely you must know what the discrepancy is. Eventually I get told what they need, and I provide it to them over the phone, having paid the cost of telephone calls to do so. For something that I was told would be taken care of at the time, and was not done so because private information could not be passed on. Between who? The doctor who examined me and the place in which he works? I ask why they couldn't send me a letter asking for the information they needed, and was told that they have thousands of these and they don't have the time to do so for everybody. Just a moment; you have time to send me an invoice but not a letter? This is the only way we can get people to respond, I'm told. By causing the patient extra stress through no fault of their own, but purely through inefficient bureaucracy. How nice of them. So I ask if I can disregard the invoice now that they have the information, and they tell me I can toss it. No way am I tossing it, I'm keeping hold of it with my written notes of who I spoke to, at what time and on which day, and what I was told. Just in case they try to pull anymore scare tactics or bordering on fraudulent activities in the future. I am very relieved that I don't have to pay, especially as I am not liable. However, these kind of policies aren't very professional, and are all too common it seems.