re: Am I the a-hole? Doctors office sent me to collections

You’re not the a-hole but I’ll say this….

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A 2 minute phone call would’ve saved all of this hassle not to mention whatever fees or credit dings come from being sent to collections.

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Its never a 2 minute phone call. Majority of the time clients want to argue with you on the phone and it turns into a 5-10+ minute ordeal. And if you have 20+ patients with outstanding balances, that takes up a lot of time. So I get the logic of “send them a paper deal and let them deal with it”.

That being said, you weren’t unreasonable and their shitty attitude needs to be called out

Pretty snippy for the eye doctor at the front of your Walmart.

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I would immediately inform the head doctor / owner about what has transpired and tell him you are considering taking your business elsewhere because of how rudely you were treated.

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What’s crazy is when I came back from dealing with collections outside on their front porch, there was suddenly an older gentleman back in the reception area that wasn’t there before literally just standing around. He said nothing to me but I’m 100% sure he’s the managing doctor/partner and they probably got him in case I exploded or whatever.

I never yelled or raised my voice but I was incredibly direct about how I thought what they did was outrageous without a courtesy call. when I came back inside and told them collections hadn’t heard of me everything got worked out almost instantly.

ETA: most importantly the managing doctor went to Tulane.

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Maybe it’s 30 years at USPS that has shown me the importance of updating your address. But I also am hyper attentive about handling my business, since It’s just me and my schnauzer. I have a binder that has every business and account info that I do business with listed. When I move, I mark the ones as I have notified of my move. I do find it odd how many people move and just assume the Postal Service will find them. Too many people will only inquire about their mail when they are looking for a check.

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I thought I was too. I had a whole list and did them all at once. The two I missed apparently were eBay and this doctors office.

Had 3 freaking eBay packages delivered to my old address this week and the previous owners are selling now. I found that out when I showed up and they weren’t on the front porch. The realtor freaking took them, saw my name on it, and the owners who have my cell phone never said anything. I called her and she was like “oh yeah I’ve got those”. I wasn’t really annoyed at that but was she just going to take the packages for herself if I never called??

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I'd find a different eye doctor

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But, before you do, tell your current doctor WHY you are doing so.

This seems like a front desk staff issue. It’s an unfortunately common problem at doctors offices.

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We recently got a bill from a collection agency for something related to my father's hospitalization last summer. It was for a 25$ copay so I just paid it to avoid the hassle. We never got an original bill either.

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There's an entire cottage industry built around bullshite medical billing. Just send random bills out to everyone with random amounts. Anyone who calls back to question it, simply say it was an error and everything is fine. But many will simply pay it without question. Places make millions and millions of dollars doing this, and it's always with very small amounts that will entice people to simply pay it instead of investigating it.

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I wasn’t really annoyed at that but was she just going to take the packages for herself if I never called??

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I’ve had a couple instances in my town the past year where new substitute carriers mis-delivered parcels to the wrong house and the people kept them. I told them my gps report showed we delivered it there and both of them said they never saw any parcels.
There are thieves among us.

So it’s safe to say the OP won’t be buying any houses in the next 7 years.