Doctor's office sends bizarre dog-voice message to patient after missed appointment, then repeatedly calls their emergency contact after patient leaves a negative review

"Woof woof! This message is condescending and weird! We're trying to cover our backsides against any legal pawssibilities. Woof!"

The unfortunate realization we all come to as adults is that life happens. Things get in the way of your plans all the time, and they're usually out of your control. Your kid gets sick and has to be picked up early from school. Your brother surprises you by coming into town with his family and you have to host them at the last minute. Or, you get into a car wreck on your way to the doctor's office and end up missing your appointment. Should you have to pay for missing it if your excuse is that your car is in pieces on the side of the road?

Adding insult to injury, they forced the patient to pay for their missed appointment while stranded and their car in pieces. The patient went home and rightfully left a negative review, which prompted the strangest response we've seen in our time as internet sleuths. A message, in the voice of a therapy dog, attempting to disprove their claim.

But wait, it gets better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). They continued to call the patient after the negative review, and after they blocked them, they called their emergency contact over a $75 missed appointment fee. Does that sound like something a therapy dog would do?

01

via Getty Images For Unsplash+

Customer giving a bad online rating of customer service
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
“Am I overreacting for being angry that my doctor's office responded as a dog to call me a liar?”
Sorry for the doozy of a title. Essentially, the context is that I had a car wreck on my way to their office, obviously causing me to miss my appt. When I called to reschedule, they wanted me to pay $75.00 to do so-literally while I'm standing on the road.
I tell them about the accident and I don't even ask to waive the fee, just to reschedule as they take 4-6 weeks to get you in and I have to see them for my psych meds. I literally beg the lady on the phone to just put me down and let me pay the fee when I'm able to get to my things, and she refuses.
When I got home, I left a review. There aren't many psychiatrists offices here and I don't want people wasting their time on that one. Within 10 minutes of my review, the office posted this (my review attached as well).
02

via Canes--Venatici
We've seen a lot of crazy stuff in our time as a writer for Animal Comedy. Things like puppies getting stolen from backyards, otters adopting kayakers or surfers, and even a Japanese man rescuing and befriending a penguin, but we've never seen something like this. Who in their right mind would think it was appropriate to send a message in the voice of a dog to a person who just had a car accident? We love dogs, probably more than most people, but even we would get weirded out by this.
On top of telling me there was no evidence of calling (while pretending to be a dog who is writing this), I also proceeded to get tons of calls and texts from them. Upon blocking them, they called my EMERGENCY CONTACT to ask if they could speak to me about waiving the fee. I asked them what gave them the right to reach out to my emergency contact for a non-emergency, and there was no answer.
03

via sarah b - sixthcitysarah

Man sitting on a couch while on the phone, with a border collie
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
04

via Canes--Venatici
I'm obviously not intending to go back there, but am I being ridiculous or was this like really infantilising and r*de of them?
Edit to Add: The person calling me over and over again wasn't even office staff-it was the owner who isn't even a psychiatrist and has no business talking to my EC about anything if I'm not d*ing in their office.
-Canes--Venatici
We have a sneaking suspicion that this message was written by AI, which is notably unable to read the room. We would like to think that any human would know that it was inappropriate to send an email in such a childish tone to someone who just went through something very serious. This should be a good lesson for companies that not everything can be done automatically with AI. A lot of times, a human touch and intervention is very much still necessary in our day-to-day communications.
05

via nutthasetharcher

Car accident crash, Car accident protection, Claim collision
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.