A patient of the now-closed Half Dental office filed a complaint Thursday with the Washington Attorney General’s Office, claiming he has lost thousands of dollars he paid for unfinished dental work.
Tom Porter of Vancouver filed the complaint with the Consumer Protection Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, saying that another dental office that has taken some Half Dental patients will not refund money he already paid for services.
The state, as of Thursday afternoon, had one other complaint against Half Dental, said Alison Dempsey-Hall, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
Porter said he prepaid for dental services at Half Dental totaling $2,400. When Half Dental closed its Hazel Dell clinic last month, it sent all of its patients to Gentle Dental and said prepaid services would be covered. But Porter said the cost of his implant would be twice as much at Gentle Dental and he wants his money back.
In the explanation of his complaint, Porter states:
“I contracted with Half Dental to do an implant. Their office closed due to legal problems and Gentle Dental assumed their customer base. Gentle Dental refused to honor previous financial responsibilities and referred me to the corporate office of Half Dental. All inquiries by phone are dropped or sidetracked, leaving me to believe that they will not honor any request for a refund.”
He added that a former Half Dental employee who now works at Gentle Dental told him that about 70 former patients faced similar financial situations.
Porter told The Columbian he hopes the complaint will put pressure on Half Dental, which is based in Las Vegas, to reimburse patients.
“I’m disappointed with them,” he said. “I think that the rest of the public at large ought to know how dishonorable their business practices are. They’ve taken advantage of a lot of people.”
Messages left for Gentle Dental and Half Dental on Thursday were not returned.
In June, the Washington Department of Health’s Secretary of Health said it would issue a cease and desist order to Half Dental after a complaint-driven review revealed that the company’s corporate structure violated state law.
Washington law requires the owner of a dental facility to be a licensed dentist. The filing was against Implants Dentures and Dental Inc., doing business as Half Dental Inc.; Richard Blanchard; Brandon D’Haenens; and John Doe.
The company faced a possible $1,000-a-day fine until a licensed dentist could be established as an owner. The clinic had been located at 910 N.E. Minnehaha St.
Gentle Dental officials have said they are working on transitioning patients over and that prepaid services would be honored and patients will be taken care of.
