Village Counseling

"I had my initial appointment with one of the therapists here, and it well. However, my follow-up experience with my follow-on appointments was so bad I'm going to look elsewhere. My issues are with the cancellation fee, the communication practices, and the poor customer service of the office staff. My appointments were scheduled originally on Mondays at 11am, with the first being on October 2nd. During my initial session, I had asked to be notified if a later time opened up so I wouldn't need to take off work every other Monday. So my next appointment was scheduled for the 16th and all was good. I get a call the next day saying that Fridays at 2pm had opened, and I gladly accepted thinking that I would be meeting with the therapist on the Oct 13th instead of Monday the 16th. I get a notification text at 11am on October 5th saying I had an appointment the next day, which was odd since I had just met with the therapist on Monday of that week. Since I don't have my phone or email access at work, I didn't get the text until I left around 4:30, which was already past the 24 hour cancellation window. But I tried to call anyway (twice) to let them know, but got the answering machine both times. I called them the next day telling them I couldn't make the appointment because I wasn't expecting to meet twice in the same week. They told me I'd have to pay the $100 cancellation fee. When I explained to them that it wasn't communicated to me that I'd be meeting twice in the same week, and that the next logical appointment would have been Oct 13th, they told me that the therapist cancelled the appointment on the 13th and scheduled it a week earlier since the therapist would be out that day, yet they neglected to tell me except for a notification the day before with only a 3 hour window to cancel. They argued with me over the phone for a good 10 minutes about having to pay the $100 cancellation fee (even lecturing me on how to make sure to track commitments despite me not knowing the appointment was changed) before they finally said they would waive the fee this once. Once this was settled, I asked if my therapist had a work email address that I could use to reach out to her in the future for situations like this or if I needed assistance between visits, and I was told they "don't have anything like that". The few therapists I've seen in the past have always given me some work-related means of reaching them directly if I needed to, and I don't feel comfortable not being able to communicate directly with the person providing my care and instead having to go through the "office number" which seems to go to an answering machine pretty regularly. While I didn't have any issues with the therapist directly, the customer service and communications practices of this provider (especially the insane cancellation fee) have made me uncomfortable enough to look elsewhere."

"This is a very well run practice. They actually have receptionist that answer the phone and will stay on the phone with you while you fill out online paperwork. I was so impressed on how knowledgeable the staff was and the therapist they assigned me to. I have been very please with the therapist Amie Bereson."

"I inadvertently missed an appt due to move/renovations. All Rebecca had to do was send me a 2 second text and I would have jumped on call. I didn’t think to set alarm on my phone. In the past counselors would send a quick text or call as ONE Time courtesy. I did not miss any other appts and she indicated I was very reliable. I was charged $100 an I VC refused to meet me halfway and reduce fee to $50 as a one time good customer will/service. I didn’t ask them to babysit., simply be kind once. Good customer is terrible today! Predominance of younger generation has no idea what it means to be kind and do what it is right."

"Edit: The scheduler called and explained the situation. I’m removing the therapists name because it sounds like it wasn’t her fault. I’m hoping to have a better experience after the next appointment. Zero stars. Do not make an appointment with this practice. They sent a text message cancellation while we were on the way to the facility for the appointment because they were missing paperwork. We tried to call back, no answer. We came in to the building since we already drove all the way here and sat in the waiting area without any way to find or contact the therapist. Last minute cancellation of mental health services, after having to wait for a new patient appointment, is not a way to care for patients or support mental health. It is hard enough for someone struggling to make an appointment or force themselves out of bed to meet a new doctor."

"I wouldn’t recommend service from village counseling. They require patients to fill out payment authorization form, leaving credit card information with them than requesting the card credit on visit to process any copy. They also have $ 100 for missed appointments. Their business model focus is on profitability than patient care. Many other offices don’t require leaving credit card information with them or missed appointment fees providing similar or better service."