Pearl Dental Los Angeles Beware

The Full Story

Ongoing from 7/19/2023

On July 16, 2023 I was experiencing pain in my front tooth (right) and proceeded to lookup a dentist that was in my network (Delta Dental) on the Delta Dental website. I found Alex Boudaie and Pearl Dental on the website and proceeded to contact them by email to make an appointment for July 17, 2023. On July 17, 2023 I went to Pearl Dental in El Segundo for the pain. Upon entering Pearl Dental, I was greeted by the receptionist and was informed that my visit fee would be $88. I was asked if I had insurance, to which I replied that I did and I proceeded to show the receptionist my dental insurance card. I was then told that that they couldn't verify my insurance and would have to call my insurance provider to verify it. I let them know that I understood and they proceeeded to charge $88 on my credit card for the dentist “visit”.

I took a seat in the waiting room and was soon called in by the dental assistant. After a short wait, Alex Boudaie walked in and introduced himself and we proceeded with the examination. I was told that it appears that my front right tooth had gotten infected some how and that I would be needing a root canal. Mr. Boudaie then told me that they are a booked for the day at the location I was at, but they have an opening the same day at their Culver City location where they would be able to do the procedure. Mr. Boudaie aske me to wait a second as he exited and then returned and said that I'd need to first talk with Jeanette who handles the billing, and then we could continue with the treatment. I followed Mr. Boudaie to another room where we sat down with Jeanette.

Jeanette proceeded to show to me two quotes. One quote include the charge for a crown, and both quotes included the cost of the emergency root canal procedure. I let them know that I would proceed with a crown later and that I'd simply like to pay for the emergency root canal procedure. She then presented me the second quote, which totalled $3201. Before presenting my credit card I asked why charge for the procedure was so expensive and I asked if my insurance coverage had been taken into account. She then told me that the insurance was not taken into account as they needed to call my insurance provider to verify my coverage and that the charges would change when my insurance was verified. However, in order to to schedule the procedure I would need to pay the $3201.00 as an out-of-network patient. I agreed and paid the $3201.00 between two credit cards. $2701 was charged to a Chase Sapphire Credit Card, and $500 was charged to the Capital One credit card which I had initially paid the "visit" fee with. Once the payment was processed I proceeded to drive over to Pearl Dental's Culver City office where I saw Alice Chang and had the root canal procedure done.

After I left the dentist’s office I received a called from a receptionist at Pearl Dental and was asked to schedule a date for my cleaning. I was not sure what the receptionist was talking about as I hadn't asked them about any follow up visits for cleaning. I asked the receptionist on the phone what cleaning she was referring to and also that I'd like to wait a while before scheduling any further visits. I was then informed by the receptionist that I had already paid for the cleaning, so I should follow up as soon as possible to schedule. I was surprised and confused as I wasn't aware that I paid for any cleaning procedure; only the emergency root canal procedure, so I asked how much I was charged for this “cleaning”. She told me the cost of the "cleaning procedure" was $1200. Again, shock. I quickly did the math in my head and asked what my card had actually been charged for, and also about the single cost of the root canal procedure. The woman took a short pause and then told me the cost for the root canal was $1500. Completely confused, I asked if both of these charges were part of the $3201 that I was just charged and the woman confirmed that they were. I let the woman know that I didn't pay for any cleaning and confirmed once more the cost of the root canal. The numbers didn't come close to totalling $3201.00, and I knew that something suspicious had taken place and that I was blatantly overcharged.

I hung up with the woman who was apparently from the Pearl Dental Culver City office and I immediately followed up and called Pearl Dental in El Segundo. Jeanette answered the phone and after letting her know about the unapproved charge situation referred me to speak directly to Dr. Alex Boudaie. He was with a patient at the time, so Jeanette said he would call me back. I immediately proceeded to check Pearl Dental's Yelp page and after some poking around discovered numerous 1-star reviews referring to Alex Boudaie and his "secret charging" of numerous patients for the exact same "cleaning". After a while I finally received a call back directly from Mr. Boudaie. After a discussion and explaining to him that I felt I was fraudulently charged and "tricked", he agreed to refund me $1200 for this “cleaning procedure”. I then inquired about the remaining charges and was told that after my insurance was verified and the claims were processed the charges would be adjusted and Jeanette would help me out. At this point my Chase Credit Card still had a remaining $1501.00 charged from Pearl Dental, and the $588.00 charged on my Capital One credit card.

Approximately 2 days after visiting Pearl Dental and being “secretly” charged, on July 19th, I followed up with a call to see if my insurance had been verified and the claims had been sent. I called Pearl Dental and I spoke to Jeanette. In an irritated tone, Jeanette replied that she hadn't had time to call my insurance yet and that she would be working on it later in the day. I proceeded to asked her about my charges and why the I was being charged so much. I let her know that the receptionist that followed up with me after the procedure had specifically told me the charge for the root canal was $1500. Still aggravated, Jeanette told me that the amount I would be charged would change depending on the insurance, and that they would contact me when it was settled. She also quicly made a comment about refunding me any money that my dental insurance coverage provider would reimburse them. This sounded very suspicious as the refund process that was being explained to me made no sense to me. I was sure that the money that my insurance provider would send to them would be in payment for the services rendered, and I would be responsible for my portion as stated on my insurance claims. I told her that I didn't think her explanation was correct and asked if it would be possible to get these charges refunded first and then charged later for the portion that was responsible. Jeanette said it was not possible and then reiterated that she would call me when the insurance was verified.

The following Monday, July 24, 2023, I called Hawaii Dental Service to inquire if Pearl Dental had submitted the claims for my procedures and to inform them of the charges that Pearl Dental was refusing to refund, and also of the “secret” charging that they attempted on me. I was informed that one of my claims was missing x-rays and could not be completed, but that two other claims were processed successfuly. I got the totals from the cusomter service representative and I immediately followed up and called Pearl Dental and got Jeanette again. I informed her that I was told of the missing x-rays and that they needed to submit my x-rays to Hawaii Dental Service to get the claims finished and processed. A few days later I called Hawaii Dental Service to confirm that the x-rays came through, and they had.

On August 1st, I followed up again with Pearl Dental by email to inquire about getting a refund back, as my portion of the root canal procedure should not come close to the total that they had charged me on both my cards. I laid out the numbers for them. They replyed with “Thank you for the update. As soon as we receive the payments I will give you a call to process the refunds. :)”. Again, refunding me only the money that was paid to them by my insurance provider did not seem correct.

On August 3rd, I then followed up with Hawaii Dental Service again and after explaining my case and a quick review of my file, I was able to get my claims escalated and pushed through so that payments could go out to the dentist’s office.

Following my call on August 1st to Hawaii Dental Service I attempted several times to contact Pearl Dental and let them know that I had gotten my Explanation of Benefits from Hawaii Dental Service and that I am aware of what my portion of the charges are, and also asking for the refund for my over-charge. Each time I called or emailed the dentist’s office I was told that, no money was received yet, and that I would be “refunded the money that was paid to the dentist’s office when they get the checks”. Jeanette’s verbiage told me that something wasn’t right, and that I would not be getting the proper amount refunded to me at all.

In an email on August 10th (attached) I explicitly wrote out the charges I was responsible for, along with the charges they charged me, and if they could please refund the $1501.00 that was charged to my Chase Credit Card, as they still had a total charge of $588 on my Capital One Credit card, which more than covers the $444.53 total for my portion of the services rendered. I told them that when the checks come in, they can then refund me the balance of what I owe and what they had charged on that credit card. The dentist office refused still refused to refund the original charges.

On August 22, 2023 I received an emailing from Pearl Dental letting me know that they had received the payments from Hawaii Dental Service (Delta Dental) and that I was due a refund of $184.11. I thought this was being refunded to my Capital One credit card (that still had a total of $588 charged by Pearl Dental), so I replied and stated that they still need to refund me the $1501 ¬that was charged to my Chase Sapphire credit card. I received no email response so I immediately called Pearl Dental.

Jeanette answered the phone and I politely let her know that they have yet to refund me the $1501 on my Chase Sapphire credit card. She said no. I let her know that I am aware of what amount my insurance sent to Pearl Dental, and I am aware of what amount I am responsible for. I also let her know that my insurance was made aware of what was going on. I slowly explained to her the charges on my two credit cards and the amount I am responsible for, and how much I should be getting refunded. She then proceeded to tell me, “According to your account here you’re responsible for $1800 something and so we refunded you $184.11.” I asked why I was responsible for “$1800 something” when I can see on my Explanation of Benefits that I am responsible for $444.53, and if Pearl Dental didn’t include CA state tax, then I would be responsible for the tax as well. I told her that my insurance company would be getting involved at this point and she replied that Pearl Dental can just deal directly with insurance. I finally asked again if she could explain why she is charging me so much more than what my Explanation of Benefits is stating. She put me on hold, then when she came back she replied that I’m responsible for “other fees and charges” as well. I politely asked her to go over my account with me so that I can understand what these “other fees and charges” are, and she put me on hold again and then came back and said that she doesn’t have my account statement. I asked for a copy to be emailed to me or mailed to me and she said no problem, but then quickly followed up with “You just have to sign a release.” I asked her to email me the release form. I have still not received a release form.

I immediately followed up with my insurance company to see if there was any way that they could help me in this matter and On August 24th Ruby Tomokiyo from the Hawaii Dental Insurance claims department called me. They proceeded to organize a worksheet detailing the charges that Alex Boudaie’s office had run on my credit cards and also the claims that were submitted by Pearl Dental.

On August 29th, I got on a 3-way call with Hawaii Dental Insurance in an attempt to contact Pearl Dental and Jeanette V. A receptionist answered the phone and we were told that the dentist and the workers were out to lunch so we left a message asking for a call back. No callback was received, and Ruby attempted another 3-way call on September 7th. I was also informed at this time that on September 1st Pearl Dental submitted two additional insurance claims. We proceeded to call and this time we were sent to voicemail. Again. we left a message for a call back and again, we have received no communication from Alex Boudaie, Jeanette V, or any Pearl Dental employee.

On September 26, after almost a three weeks of no contact from Pearl Dental, I received a phone call from one of their offices. I did not answer as the case was still being processed by the Dental Board of California and Chase Credit Card services. After a few minutes, an email arrived in my inbox from Jeanette V. saying "Hi Jason, Good news! - We got another payment from your insurance. Would you like us to refund it to the same payment method? Best, Jeanette". From what I knew, all the insurance payments had already gone out to Pearl Dental and were received quite some time ago.

The story continues...stay tuned for more updates.