Vlagopoulos Triphon P

Avoid at all costs is right. What a waste of my time. MY PCP referred me to this doc — still unsure of why. I went in only to sit down and not have the doctor understand my problems, charge me $ 25 and then tell me to come back for a test another day.
Test me now! I still don’t udnerstand why I couldn’t get everything done at once. What a waste. It was like walking into the 70s. DO NOT GO HERE.

When I first called this office, I actually hung up on them as soon as the receptionist said «Ello». Sadly, the woman couldn’t string three words of English together. And please don’t mistake me; I haven’t a prejudiced bone in my body– I am half Jamaican and first generation US born, so I am extremely understanding. However, to me, if the person you have in direct contact with your patients can’t adequately communicate with them, that is a sign of inevitable disaster.
It was only after a lengthy and unsuccessful search that I accidentally happened upon this office again so I thought, Ok, why not just give them a try? So I stayed on the phone with the woman to book my appointment. Told her what my medical insurance was, gave her my info (all of which she had a very difficult time absorbing). She instructed me to double check with my insurance to make sure the appointment would be covered, and I did. And it was.
I took time off from work to see this doctor. Drove over an hour to get there in Boston/​Cambridge traffic. (which obviously was not their fault, but it contributes nicely to the dramatic effect, doesn’t it?)
I arrived for my appointment, and it was now painfully obvious that the «receptionist» was probably the doctor’s 70-​yr-​old mother/​aunt/​neighbor/​family friend. I handed her my insurance card with trepidation.
«Oh,» she said blankly, «I have to verify your deductible, but the insurance companies are closed now.»
What did this mean? It meant that I could be seen, but with no guarantee that I wouldn’t end up footing the cost of this appointment myself– a risk I was not willing to take, especially with my preexisting hesitance of going to this office as it was. At the end of the day, isn’t this all something that should have been communicated to me perhaps when I scheduled the appointment? Isn’t this something that could have been taken care of over the phone prior to the appointment? The answer is, YES– it was never communicated to me.
With no way to confirm my deductible, I ended up not being able to be seen after all the trouble it took to get there, and the doctor did not even emerge to take control of the situation (he was there, because his mother/​aunt/​neighbor kept asking him questions).
2 hours of my time wasted all because this woman could not communicate properly to a new patient.
I don’t blame her in the slightest. I blame Dr. Vlagopoulos– he should make sure that the employees keeping his calendar and managing his patients are fully able to meet their needs. They are, after all, paying customers.
All in all, this was an absolute disaster– and I should have listened to my gut when I hung up on them the first time. My prediction came true.
Avoid at all costs.