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It pays to know the law, folks!

Sure, most of us won’t put in the time or the effort to do get to the bottom of certain issues, but when there’s money involved, you bet your bottom dollar that the rules change!

The woman who wrote this story wasn’t playing around when her dentist’s office tried to pull a fast one on her…

And she wasn’t backing down, either!

Let’s take a look at what happened.

Don’t double down, if you don’t know the laws.

“I’ve only went to this dentist because it’s close and I had an emergency.

My tooth broke in December of 2025. I called and made an appointment. They had to wait for insurance to approve it. Whatever. So I waited. I waited for an appointment because this dentist didn’t have appointments for a while.

Yikes!

So 7 months later had to go pay out of pocket for an emergency root canal. I finally felt relief and wish I know about this dentist sooner.

My dentist called to reschedule my upcoming appointment (cleaning) for the next day and not next week. I have a disabled child and was up all night and slept for most of the day, missing my appointment.

They called me while I was asleep and left a voicemail that they will charge a $50 no show fee. I ignored it. They called to confirm my upcoming root canal, that I have been waiting for so long.

I already canceled that appointment, since I no longer need it. On the phone I canceled and they let me know that I owe $50 for the missed appointment.

I’ve worked selling insurance and have gone to school for medical billing. I know some laws. On both sides of the insurance.

She wasn’t having it!

I tell them they can’t charge me for a missed appointment, because I’m a Medicaid recipient. She tells me per “policy” they are allowed too. I remind her it is illegal to charge me for a missed appointment.

She said “yes ma’am we can. It’s our policy and we can charge it.” I respond “no you can’t I receive medicaid and its illegal and I’m pretty sure state laws over power “policy”.”

She said the words. The words I didn’t want to hear. “If you don’t believe me call your insurance.” ……Ok. BET!

So I maliciously complied and called the state dental insurance.

Bam!

And of course they said they can’t charge me $1. The state decided I need to file a complaint with the dental board and with the state insurance.

Okay, I will still comply.

After, filing the complaints I received letters from the state saying ya they will be investigated, blah blah blah. The day I got the letter of the state reminding the dentist that it’s illegal is the same day the dentist decided to drop me for that one missed appointment.

I already knew if I filed a complaint my care no longer would be adequate. So, its not a lost to me. I have a found a dentist that did a root canal in 30 minutes and is actually amazing that I’m willing to pay for a good dentist so I gained a great dentist. I won’t know the full fall out. Except that an audit might happen.

So the lesson here is….. if you don’t know the laws, don’t act like it and the “POLICY” is not above the law.

Sorry, not sorry.”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person had a lot to say.

Another individual weighed in.

This Reddit user spoke up.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who got back at slacking coworkers with fresh-baked treats.

And another reader shared their thoughts.

Good for her for standing up for herself!

You gotta wonder how many people have no idea when they get hit with a fee like this…

Sad!

She wasn’t playing around with these folks!