I am a therapist with a very small practice. I charge low prices because I believe therapy should be affordable. Because of this, every dollar I earn matters. I signed up with Zocdoc in hopes that I could generate more business, and although my initial consultations are free, I could make up the $70 referral fee out of the $80 I charge for a second appointment. That's right, it takes me TWO APPOINTMENTS just to afford to pay the fee for a referral from Zocdoc. This month, I was charged for FIVE referrals even though only two of them showed up! Two of them cancelled IMMEDIATELY because Zocdoc referred them to me even though I can't accept insurance at this time, so I could not treat them. Zocdoc KNOWS the patient immediately cancelled, because they did it ON THEIR SITE. A third patient did not cancel, but never showed up. I am still being charged HUNDREDS of dollars for these patients! How am I expected to pay that when I never even saw them! When I complained to customer service, I was basically told "oh well, too bad, that's what no-show policies/fees are for". How am I supposed to charge a no-show fee for a person I can't even contact? They're only response was to freeze my account and tell me someone would reach out later about closing it. I literally do not have the extra hundreds of dollars to pay these predatory and fraudulent fees. I have bills to pay! I didn't make any money from Zocdoc, so I don't have money to pay, its that simple!
Claimed loss: $280
Desired outcome: Cancel all of these referral fees immediately and close my account.