ZocdocReviews 1,426

I am a psychiatrist who quit ZocDoc last week after three years of membership.

Signing up with ZocDoc was the worst mistake I have made as a physician.

It led to the destruction of my online reputation, and subsequently got me in trouble with the Medical Board. Here is my full story:

I signed up for Zocdoc three years ago. The service worked well, and I was pleased to received many bookings.

However, 95% of my bookings were from young patients seeking stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin.

Since the bulk of my online bookings were from drug-seeking patients, I re-wrote my online profile to state: I need to speak on the phone with any new patients before confirming the appointment.

This would allow me to screen new clients, and to make sure that they were not simply out to find someone, anyone, to prescribe them stimulants.

This did not work. Drug-seeking clients would book an appointment online, fail to phone me for pre-screening, and then show up at my office when I was not there.

This happened more than a dozen times.

Patients who were not confirmed for appointments felt they were stood up. They would then get angry, and leave terrible reviews not only on ZocDoc, but also on other review sites like Yelp.

In addition, when I told drug-seeking patients that I could not prescribe them Adderall or Ritalin-- they too would get upset and leave me negative reviews online.

I received calls from ZocDoc about not showing up to my appointments. They did not care about my explanation, and terminated my account, after taking thousands of dollars in fees from me.

The best part: I received a call from the State medical board regarding my so-called no-shows. I had to explain to them the entire situation.

Signing up for ZocDoc, and paying them thousands of dollars for membership fees over the years, was a terrible mistake that nearly cost me everything.

Booked appointment through Zocdoc, printed out my confirmation, took 2 trains and a bus to get there, only to find out that the practice had no record of my appointment and could only reschedule. Called Zocdoc on the number that is offered to people who post negative reviews, and was told that they "understand my frustration" but could not put me through to anyone that designs or implements their system... i wasted my time and my money today..

Also received a call from manager at ZocDoc explaining new business model going into effect this October. Charging $35 per new patient (yes - I understand its new patients only) is beyond insulting - its highway robbery. Considering we get reimbursed an average of $60-75 or less per new patient (and many patients do not need follow up appointments) this is beyond cost-prohibitive. Charging 40-60% of our total fees is ludicrous. I am all for pay-per-click pricing - but come on Zocdoc - pick a reasonable fee! ($5?). Plus, there is the aspect of fee-splitting, which Im sure ZocDocs legal team has worked out - but we wont even go there. And having to audit our bills to see if we were billed for a new patient that was seen previously, but who checked off new by mistake - is expecting too much from our staff. I know countless Docs who are now scrambling to find an alternative by the Fall. Who knows if it exists - but I know my practice can in no way sustain this type of pricing. Shame on you ZocDoc! You are going to lose your most loyal, and previously vocally supportive customers.

Got a call from ZocDoc from a rep explaining the "new billing model" beginning October 1,2018. They will be charging $35 for each new patient. How can doctors afford this? A standard new patient office visit reimburses and average of $58! They don't even take into account patients that are already coming to the office who will book for the 1st time on ZocDoc. They'll charge $35 for those patients, too. A returning patient visit reimburses even LESS. $5 is one thing $35 is extortion.

For the number of mistakes they make every day in tracking patient visits, this will present not only a financial hardship for doctors but put a strain of administrators trying to review the account for billing errors.

This is an unreasonable, preclusive fee. If a patient has a problem and the doctor takes care of it, the patient won't need to come back unless they have a new problem. It will take 3-5 visits to recoup that $35 fee! Since they're the most popular booking program they have their doctors between a rock and a hard place. Either use them or remove yourself from the market.

When I tried to communicate my concerns to the rep, his attitude was "like it or lump it." His actual words were, "This model will take effect October 1st whether you agree or not." Thank goodness I recorded the conversation because it's quite an earfull.

First and foremost DO NOT use internet reviews to choose a doctor. I learned this the hard way. Ask a doctor or friends for a referral, or at least look up valid awards not internet site awards. I used ZocDoc several times to find a doctor and book appointments. The last doctor I found there was utterly awful to the point that he might be a threat to public safety. I picked him because of his glowing positive reviews on the website. Later on, I learned that his positive reviews were fake. I even caught two his staff members red-handed in posting the reviews across multiple sites because they were dumb enough to use their real names. In addition to that you see the same duplicate names using the same language post reviews weeks apart. This site is hosting fake reviews for this doctor, when notified they left them there. I notified ZocDoc on several occasions, both that he was a threat and that his reviews were fake. The only response was that the reviews were from verified patients and then they were left there. In this instance, I am 100% certain that the reviews are fake. ZocDoc needs to be held accountable for this and responsible for anyone who is harmed as a result of going to this doctor or anyone else that might have fake reviews. I feel disgusted and will never recommend this site to anyone. This is patient safety and wellbeing that they sell off for a meager $250 a month to promote this bad doctor. How are you going to protect someone who is literally hurting people, all for $250 a month? Unethical in my opinion. I will be making a public issue of this.

Northwest Medical Center Doc! Brandy Freduei! I had to call to get my results twice. It seems as if I was the only one concerned about my health. And Wellness. And the only reason the bedside manner was OK, was because I was a new patient. The day in the doctors office, I waited to speak with the doctor for 40 mins the second time I went. She never got bk with me, said give me a few, or I will call you, or anything. As a concerned professional, The follow up was very unprofessional as well as everything else. Its upsetting when you have to call the doctor not once but twice concerning your health especially when they say we will call you! Call if you have any concerns or questions BTW she didn't call back, and we will upload it to the portal and never do! I would not recommend, but unfortunately she may react better to certain people.