It's shocking how little they seem to care about customer service. From my experience, It appears as if customers are never put first here; the only interest is in money/greed. They constantly overbook, thus resulting in looooooong delays. I've sat in his office most of my visits for more than 3-4 hours.
The staff is INCREDIBLY RUDE and seem to care more about themselves. In an effort to save valluable time, I always come prepared with any questions I may have, written on paper, but they still rush me along, don't listen, don't explain anything. I can get better advice online! Whenever I have a question, even if it's very basic, they always make me schedule an appointment, which is extremely frustrating. They wouldn't even write me a script for diabetic testing strips until I came in for an appt. Good grief, you would think I was asking for narcotics the way they act!
Everything they originally told me they would be able to do for me, they ended up not being able to do or "just don't have time to finish with me due to the over abundance of patients". Excuse me! Thats why i made a damn appt in the 1st place, and for which they were paid. However, they know it and I know it, they schedule you for every little thing separately just to rob you of as much money as possible. I felt misguided and lied to repeatedly.
It is nearly impossible to get an appointment at their office. They are always overbooked and have an excruciatingly long waiting list/time. I have left messages so many times for days and days, never receiving a return call.... On my last visit, they suggusted people make appts by emailing the office. That's ridiculous! but that's their style of "customer service" or should I say lack of such. Hell, the email would probably just end up in the spam/junk folder...
To say he and his office staff absolutely SUCK!, would be too mild of a statement. I've been a patient there for 8+ years & would have switched to someone more sane, considerate, intelligent, attentive, etc, etc, etc. sooner, but was I was expecting to relocate out of state.
His staff (especially an asst nurse Rochelle) were unbelievably conscending, rude, disrespectful, and not only did they insuate, but many times told me I didn't know what I was talking about WITH MYSELF/MEDS/SYMPTOMS!, etc.
As I was providing a list of meds to Rochelle, she stopped me a couple times (quoting her "you are obviously confused, because Vit. D does not come in 5000 iu, you must mean you are taking 1000 iu 5 times/day".) No damn it... I informed her I very well knew what I was taking and talking about since I buy it in the 5000 iu dosage every month. Then she asks me what dosage am I still on with an inhaler... uhhh, I have NEVER used an inhaler for anything; but apparently, since it says it in my medical record, it must be accurate... yeah right!. Every time I attend this office, there are errors within my records. Twice they were writing things in my record, only to realize an hour later, only when they referred to me by another patients name, that they had the wrong record....well that's a BIG SURPRISE! I guess that other patient will find my meds listed in her records now... geez.
On my 4th visit w/in 10 days time, I provided Ms. Rochelle with the bottle of Vit. D 5000 iu as proof of what she says with certainty does not exist..."cause she is a nurse and I am not & "knows" more about these things than I would". What nerve! Since my mother has been a nurse for 33 years, I have plenty of knowledge of many medical areas, but regardless, I would still have enough sense to know the simplest of data.
What nerve! I would have switched years ago, but we were expecting to relocate for the past 3 years, so didn't want to go thru the hassle, only to need to do it all again when we moved.
Every time a group of patients are waiting out their sentence inthe waiting room, a discussion always occurs of facts/situations of severe and disturbing issues with Dr. Maccarone's office. I've seen many patients finally give up and leave... who knows if they rescheduled or switched to someone more capable of doing thier jobs.
When getting blood work done recently, the only place, other than the nasty floor, to place my purse & jacket was the counter; however, since there were cups of uncovered urine wrapped with partially wet paper towels, (yuck!) sitting on it, I wouldn't dare sit my belongings there. It was nasty!
There is such a constant high volume of complete staff turnover, that I have almost never seen any of the nurses who saw me on previous visits. There have been some good nurses there (Michelle Brown, Heather Day, Linda Zajac, Kim Guffey, & Dr. Michael West), all of whom sought employment elsewhere after enduring a short time in Dr. Maccarone's office; I am told he is verbally & physically abusive to his staff... hmmm, he was arrested 5-5-11 on 2 "alledgedly" domestic assault charges.
Had it not been for Linda Zajac, I would likely never have known about the golfball sized cancerous thyroid tumors! (Surgery removed part of them). Ms. Zajac told me herself, that she had endured enough crap from this office & was leaving in a week or two, especially when she found out one of her patients had repeatedly called the office/her asst, leaving many voice mails for A WEEK that she was having allergic reactions from a certain medication, but Ms. Zajac had never been informed of it at any time. She was furious... who can blame her; that lack of staff responsibility/accountability effects her reputation also if she continued to practice in such an environment. Its a shame, she was thorough, nice, very intelligent, attentive and very knowledgeable in her field, as were the others I mentioned previously.
Dr Maccarone's office apparently has a bad reputation everywhere. Every other doctor in any particular area of study & pharmacies greatly dislike having any interaction with them. At the mere mention of Dr. Macc's name, I have seen more than a few exhale a sigh and roll their eyes upon hearing they must interact with his office... Pharmacies say its useless anymore and will no longer even attempt resolving issues because no one responds to phone calls, messages, or faxes.
Recently, there has been so much talk at various other medical facilities and hospital of "trouble he's gotten into" that he is currently away from the office for an extended period of time... stating he is on "sabbatical" which everyone always gestures these quotes around sabbatical and an odd look as though they want you to read their thoughts of the matter.
My family has decided to seek a new physician... reasoning that it could not possibly be anyone worse.... and with the rumors that he is either leaving the area or may lose his office due to the derogatory history and arrests, we want to ensure our medical records are transferred somewhere else before they are lost to an unknown location.
Soooo, unless you are dying at his front door, seek medical attn elsewhere.
I am always cheerful and in a great mood upon entering his bldg, but usually leave with a headache from aggravation and frustration or just plain pissed off.
by Louise
November 30, 2011
