The Leffel Center

My experience is not a positive one either. I choose her because she is one of a few Board Certified Plastic Surgeons in Bend. I had a reduction done and before wheeling me out to surgery, she asked what size I wanted. My husband was in the room with me and specifically heard me say a «small C». During the post op office visits, I kept telling her that it didn’t look like what I requested and she replied that it was just «swelling» and would subside. Well, it never did and I am so disappointed, so much so that if I had the money and didn’t mind a 5 hour surgery again, I would go to someone else and have it redone. And the scaring… my husband says it looks like a hack did it. And I have to live with this the rest of my life. I would not recommend her based on my experience.

My initial consultation was not good and I should have followed my gut, ate the consult fee, and went to someone else. Unfortunately, I ended up with charges that were not quoted and a result that was less than satisfactory. Without getting into all the details and the long list of things that happened, my best advice would be to go elsewhere. That’s what I will need to do to fix Dr. Leffel’s poor judgement and unwillingness to revise the mistake. Something I have to live with everyday with no accountability or acknowledgement on her part.

I have to wonder how she stays in business. The incision she made on me looks like it was cut with a chain saw. It is hideous. And then she thought I should pay her again to do it better. Sorry but I was not going to throw good money after bad money. There are much better options in the area.

After very carefully meeting with multiple surgeons, i choose Dr. Leffel from a list of many surgeons to do reconstruction on bad surgery from another plastic surgeon. I met with Dr. Leffel in fall of 2012 initially. She was considerably more money than any other doctor I had consulted with. After deciding that she was the best doctor for me, I traveled from Portland back to her practice in Bend on 8÷22÷14, for another consult and to pay.
My experience was great that day. I paid them $ 5500 towards the $ 14,000+ surgery fee. I was given the option of paying cash to the surgery center and anesthesiologist, and using Care Credit to pay Dr. Leffel. Her business manager Betty Lou, had given me a list of options from Care Credit. My mom has a Care Credit account and agreed to add me to the account, which seemed like the best option. I called the following Monday 8÷25÷14, and spoke with Betty Lou about moving the cash I had given them for the surgery center and anesthesiologist, and using the Care Credit option for Dr. Leffel’s fee, since I had paperwork saying it was refundable. I was told during this conversation that the list she had given me from Care Credit wasn’t the list of actual finance options they offer, and if I wanted to do Care Credit, my options would be 6, 12 or 24 month financing, and they wouldn’t do longer financing. Financing this large an amount with 15% interest over that short a period was going to mean I paid over $ 500 a month even for the 2 year option. Im a full time college student, and this isn’t financially an option. When I asked her why she didn’t say that before… She had NO response, and when I got pushy, she claimed she did tell me. I had someone with me, and she confirmed that this was never mentioned to me.
I asked if they would make an exception, and she said she wouldn’t be able to talk to Dr. Leffel about it until ⁸⁄₂₇ or 8/​28, but she would ask. Conversation ended with that. I thought it over and called back on Tuesday ⁸⁄₂₆ and asked for a refund. This process broke my trust, and I knew I needed to find a different doctor. Betty Lou said that was no problem and that a check would go out this week. I asked her to call me when she was going to send it.
I got a call this morning, 8÷28÷14 from Betty Lou stating that since they reserved my surgery date for 4 days (less than 72 business hours) on the calendar, that they wouldn’t refund what I paid, and they were going to keep $ 575 for their inconvenience. I was honestly pretty shocked.
I am appalled at the lack of professionalism and clear hunger for money. I have no way to know if Dr. Leffel herself knows this all happened, but my assumption is from talking to Betty Lou, she does. Had they just told the whole truth about Care Credit from the get go, none of this would have happened and I would have had surgery in Bend, and would have paid cash for the whole thing.
Dr. Leffel has made herself out to be different than most Plastic Surgeons, in that she isn’t desperate to make money at all costs… But, I now question that. I have very limited money, they know this, and they weren’t out a penny for me… And they still are keeping $ 575 of the limited money I have. I am so disgusted with them. I get that this is Bend, and most of her patients have endless amounts of money to sink in to things… But I do not… And clearly her lack of understanding is affecting the practice, since she is having to work not just as a plastic surgeon, but also as a hospital doctor.
9÷5÷14: It took threatening to drive back to Bend, and involving other office staff to get them to actually refund my money. A solid week after being told it was going in the mail «this afternoon» it had still not been sent out according to Betty Lou. I demanded they overnight the check, and had to be really nasty with them. I at least now know the check is on the truck waiting to be delivered by Fed Ex, because they were able to supply a tracking number… but we are almost 2 weeks out from when I asked for a refund, of which they initially said would happen imediately.
Very seldom do you encounter this level of unprofessionalism within a business like this. If you still go here, Do NOT pay in advance, and get EVERYTHING in writing before hand.