Athens Dermatology Group Karen Maffei MD

Reviews 6

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Jordan Abbott

My reason for visiting this office was to simply get a price on an earlobe repair procedure and then make the appointment if desired. I had been quoted $400 on this exact procedure two years ago but had forgotten the price. The rude receptionist would not give me the price, even though it should have been in my patient file, and told me that Dr. Maffei wanted to see me again, even though my earlobes had not changed in two years. I felt that this was very unnecessary, considering that my copay is $75, the office is 30 minutes away from my place of employment, and I could have simply emailed a picture to show there was no change. It only took me a few terrible experiences with this office to give up hope completely. This office is unprofessional and does not have the patients best interest. I have paid $75 on several occasions for Dr. Maffei to take a glance at my face or issue I had with no changes and refill a prescription. Very unnecessary. Knowing that my lunch break wouldnt cover the entire appointment time, I did let my employer know I would be out for a while, but little did I know it would take over two hours. I printed and filled out all of the returning patient forms online and brought them with me so that I would not have to wait a long time. Even though I had the forms filled out, I still arrived ten minutes early. There were not many patients waiting to be seen and the office was not busy at all, except for the Locos delivery man with a HUGE delivery of food. I sure hate to think that I was waiting for my doctor to finish her lunch break, as I was using mine for this visit, even though I had a scheduled appointment two months ahead of time. I waited patiently, thinking they must be very busy back there, but not many patients filtered out of the office. At 12:20, I almost asked if they had forgotten about me, because I had been in the waiting room for exactly an hour. A nurse or assistant of some sort finally called my name and took me back to a room where I waited for over 15 minutes. The heavy smell of Locos was there to keep me company. I heard laughing and chattering in the hall and someone finally asked "Is someone going to help this patient?". I kind of laughed to myself because I realized I had actually been forgotten about. Then low and behold, Dr. Maffei appears with her trusty assistant, as if she is completely unaware of my appointment, takes a look at my left ear and says, "oh yeah the surgery is about $400" and starts to walk back out in a hurry. I caught her in time to ask her how much the other ear cost. She seemed surprised and told me $50 and that I may possibly have to pay another $200 if the surgery "didnt do the trick". She left before I could even open my mouth again and I told her nurse that I was upset. I normally dont do things like that, but I couldnt wrap my mind around the fact that I was paying $75 for something she told me two years ago. I asked the nurse if they could waive my copay, which I understand they really have no control over, but the nurse came back and knocked it down to $30. Another shocking thing was that I had racked up some credits with the office over several visits. I guess they didnt feel the need to mail me a check or even tell me that I was paying too much WHILE I was paying at the desk at other appointments. I settled with this, although I feel I shouldnt have paid anything at all, and around 12:40 I left after making an appointment for the procedure. After much thought, I decided to cancel the appointment due to the poor service I received and upon being quoted a $200 cheaper price somewhere else. Cancelling the appointment is a whole different ballgame. Lets just say that I am still trying to call and get an actual person, and not an answering machine! I will not leave a message to cancel an appointment, risking the chance of them not getting the message and being all too happy to charge me $75 for not showing up to the surgery. This is by far the worst medical experience I have ever dealt with. I hope this helps someone.

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Ashten Goeckel

My PA was nice, but Dr. Maffei was not the least bit helpful. I had contracted contact dermatitis from a face wash the PA had given me, so I went back for another appointment. Dr. Maffei was less informative than a Pinterest article. When I said I didnt think I was allergic to the essential oils I had been using, she brought out a big book of allergens and asked me if I wanted to take it home to read. Very rude, if you ask me. When I asked if using honey as a face wash would irritate my skin, she said shed never heard of honey allergy and told me to Google it. Then she sent me home without any antibiotics or creams for my inflamed, itchy skin. All I got was a prednisone shot and a "Make an appointment in 2-3 weeks if its not any better." Thanks to her rude, uncaring behavior, I ended up in the ER only a week later with my skin worse than it has ever been. I will not be going to her again.

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Donna Dunaway

Dr Maffei is the most wonderful doctor. She pretty much saved my life when I got Steven Johnsons Syndrome from an allergic reaction to a medicine I was taking. She knew exactly what to do for me and the medicine to give me. It was a long 6-7 week ride but she stayed right with me the whole time. She called or texted me everyday even from her vacation to make sure I was ok and I also had her cell number if I needed her. Her staff was also very nice every time I went in which was every day for a couple weeks. Dr Maffei is the doctor to have on your side when you have a serious skin problem.

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Amy Rhineheart

Terrible office! Hard to make an appointment and even harder to cancel it. Instead of answering an easy question, the doctors make you come in for an appointment and waste your time, while they get paid for you to sit in the waiting room for entirely too long. Adding multiple and possibly fake positive Google reviews does not look attractive to potential clients. If an office has to get that many "clients" to leave a review to cover up the bad ones, then maybe your office should contact the client directly to make it right. Bedside manner, anyone? How about an apology?

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Rebecca Storey

Dr. Maffei and her PA Hope have been amazing with diagnosing and treating multiple skin problems I have had over the past several years. I have also had a couple of minor surgeries performed by Hope. Their office staff was very helpful and nice including the nurses. I have never had to wait more than 20 minutes. Plus I had rather see a busy waiting room than an empty one. I would highly recommend this office especially if you hate going to bigger establishments where you never know what doctor you might see.

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Sarah Freeman

I have always had mixed feelings when I go there because I dont think Dr. Maffei has the best bed-side manner and one time did not alert me to the side effects of a procedure. Today took the cake, though. I called to make an appointment for a full body scan and they told me they could not see me for six months! I called a nearby provider who had been recommended and they made an appointment for me in two business days. Thats a pretty significant difference.

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