the clinic said my bill was underpaid but I don't think so.

[Fionaxxie]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
California

I went to a clinic to do some body check and I didn't yet had insurance at that time. So I paid the total amount of $318 they asked for. I based on the price they ask for to determine whether I am going to do it and where. $318 seemed acceptable so I paid for it the same day the check up was done. And the result already came out. But few days afterward, they called me and said there was a mistake on the bill, it supposed to be $390 instead of $318. They didn't give me a price list and there was no breakdown on my credit card receipt. So there was no way I could know there was a mistake. They asked for the package price of $318 and I paid for it. A contract was there so I don't think I owe them anything.

To be honest, if I were satisfied with their services, I would have made payments even thought I don't think I should. But I wasn't , the doctor made a mistake and I had to do the chest x-ray twice. I know that the amount of radiation from a single chest x-ray equals the radiation dose people are exposed to naturally over the course of about 10 days.

What's worse, they threaten me if I don't pay for the balance, they are going to go through collection and it is going to affect my credit and screw up the application I used the body check result for. And so far, they refused to send me the results.

What should I do? Am I obligated to pay them because of their mistakes?

 

[ecmst12]

You should get an itemized bill and then pay it. Sounds like you had something done that was not anticipated in the prepayment.

 

[TigerD]

I agree with you. You shouldn't have to pay the extra $72.

Now the part you won't like:
Assuming you make minimum wage - you will spend far more than the $72 fighting it.
A negative entry on your credit report will cost you more than $72
There is no way fighting this doesn't cost you a lot more than $72.

You should pay it. I would probably also pay the clinic's administrator a visit and write a letter of complaint. But, not paying it would hurt you more than them.

DC

 

[Fionaxxie]

I agree with you. You shouldn't have to pay the extra $72.

Now the part you won't like:
Assuming you make minimum wage - you will spend far more than the $72 fighting it.
A negative entry on your credit report will cost you more than $72
There is no way fighting this doesn't cost you a lot more than $72.

You should pay it. I would probably also pay the clinic's administrator a visit and write a letter of complaint. But, not paying it would hurt you more than them.

DC

I don't understand how would that affect my credit report. They haven't sent me the result report yet, which mean they haven't completed their job. If they haven't done their job completely, they should give me partial refund, why there will be negative entry on my credit report???

I do need your expert opinion.

Thank you

 

[Fionaxxie]

You should get an itemized bill and then pay it. Sounds like you had something done that was not anticipated in the prepayment.

I did got the itemized receipt. I couldn't understand how the mistake was made. The single digits are all zero. I don't know how they got 8.
Anyway, I wouldn't have gone there if they asked for $390 at the very beginning. I even found another one that can do it on flat rate of $200.

It is their threatening that makes me so mad. I believe it was serious misconduct for what they have done.

 

[TigerD]

I don't understand how would that affect my credit report. They haven't sent me the result report yet, which mean they haven't completed their job. If they haven't done their job completely, they should give me partial refund, why there will be negative entry on my credit report???

I do need your expert opinion.

Thank you

You confuse "should" with reality. You owe a bill. If you don't pay it, it will go to collections. While I don't know the internal policies of the vendor, it is pretty safe to say the debt will be reported.

I've given you my advice.

Good luck.

DC

 

[Fionaxxie]

You confuse "should" with reality. You owe a bill. If you don't pay it, it will go to collections. While I don't know the internal policies of the vendor, it is pretty safe to say the debt will be reported.

I've given you my advice.

Good luck.

DC

Thanks for your advice.

But I would like to know who can determine if I owe a bill? By law, the contract cannot be voided due to an unilateral mistake made by one party and wasn't known by another party. If that isn't the case, any clinics can come after me and say they make a mistake. This is like, you go to Walmart store and bought a stack of paper with the label price of $5 and you came home and used it, and then they called you next day:" it was a mistake and you owed another $5. "

I don't know how medical billing works. I am interested to know how debt collectors determine a bill was owed.

 

[Ladyback1]

Thanks for your advice.

But I would like to know who can determine if I owe a bill? By law, the contract cannot be voided due to an unilateral mistake made by one party and wasn't known by another party. If that isn't the case, any clinics can come after me and say they make a mistake. This is like, you go to Walmart store and bought a stack of paper with the label price of $5 and you came home and used it, and then they called you next day:" it was a mistake and you owed another $5. "

I don't know how medical billing works. I am interested to know how debt collectors determine a bill was owed.

You need to request an itemized statement of what was done, what you paid, and what balance they say is outstanding. There should be line item charges (visit-$100, Xrays-$50, etc.) None of us saw the contract, thus we can't read the fine print to see if there is some sort of clause, for example: Blood work having to be sent out for analysis and that charge not being covered. Thus, you need to have a copy of the contract of what was covered by the initial amt. you paid.

 

[Fionaxxie]

You confuse "should" with reality. You owe a bill. If you don't pay it, it will go to collections. While I don't know the internal policies of the vendor, it is pretty safe to say the debt will be reported.

I've given you my advice.

Good luck.

DC

You need to request an itemized statement of what was done, what you paid, and what balance they say is outstanding. There should be line item charges (visit-$100, Xrays-$50, etc.) None of us saw the contract, thus we can't read the fine print to see if there is some sort of clause, for example: Blood work having to be sent out for analysis and that charge not being covered. Thus, you need to have a copy of the contract of what was covered by the initial amt. you paid.

Thank you so much for your reply.

There wasn't written contract. It was all oral. They said $318 included everything, it was a package price. And I paid in total with my credit card. And the checkup was done after I paid. I received the itemized statement after they said I owed them and after I requested for it twice. The statement is very straight forward, there are four items, and they are $110, $40, $ 80, & $160 respectively, what I have paid $318 and how much I owe $72.

I am also interested to know if the threatening for screwing up my application is a misconduct! They told me everything is fine with my health condition right after the checkup. So the health report should not be a problem for what I have applied for. But what they said let me feel like if I don't pay the balance, they are going to take revenge.

 

[ecmst12]

An oral contract only matters to the extent that you can prove that it existed and what the terms were.

 

[ecmst12]

Also if you don't pay the bill they don't have to give you the report at all.

 

[TigerD]

I am interested to know how debt collectors determine a bill was owed.

We don't. The client says you owe X. You owe X. Once it hits collections, absolutely no one cares what you have to say unless you are reading check numbers to pay the debt.

DC

 

[Fionaxxie]

An oral contract only matters to the extent that you can prove that it existed and what the terms were.

easy, if they wouldn't have done the checkup if I had not paid in full. And they had admitted the mistake over a voice msg.

 

[Fionaxxie]

Also if you don't pay the bill they don't have to give you the report at all.

You are right, they are really bitchy about this.

 

[Fionaxxie]

We don't. The client says you owe X. You owe X. Once it hits collections, absolutely no one cares what you have to say unless you are reading check numbers to pay the debt.

DC

Hey, I say they owe me $499.