Suburban Psychiatric Associates

"Horrible first impression. My wife took my daughter today for what was supposed to be her initial visit. Upon attempting to check in, my wife was shockingly informed that the appointment she had made 6 weeks ago had been canceled last week. The desk staff informed my wife that somebody had called her 6 days ago informing her of this. My wife checked her phone and had no record of any missed calls or messages. My wife was very upset and called me at work. I then called and asked to speak with the Office Manager. Her name is Jennifer. I explained to Jennifer that my wife had taken the day off from work specifically for this visit. I told her that had WE missed an appointment, we surely would have incurred a no-show fee. If they can charge people for missed appointments, then the same concept should apply when a patient shows up unnecessarily because of an error on the office’s part. Jennifer stated to me that if the call hadn’t been made on their end, she would “look to make it right.” She gave me the impression that she understood that my wife was greatly inconvenienced. Jennifer said she would run a check through their phone log to verify whether a call had been made to my wife. She asked if she could call me back after she learned the results. I told her that would be fine. I never did receive a call back from Jennifer. She didn’t even have the common courtesy to follow up and return my phone call. That should have been my first clue about how this would play out. I had to call her back 3 1/2 hrs after I had initially called her. When I reached her, Jennifer immediately proceeded to tell me that after a review of the call logs, they DID call about the canceled appointment- but they mistakenly called a WRONG phone number. The number they apparently called was close to my wife’s number, but a digit off. So in other words, they DID NOT notify us that the appointment had been canceled after all. Oops. Jennifer said that she had since addressed her staff, and offered only an apology- nothing more. She offered no compensation whatsoever- since after all, she said ‘they did try to call’ (even though it wasn’t to our number). She even offered to play the recorded message we would have received if they had called the right number. Really?? When I expressed my displeasure with her handling of the situation (or rather lack of handling of the situation), she tried to turn it around on me by asking me “well, did you call us to confirm your appointment?”- as if we were at fault. Jennifer couldn’t justify paying us a no-show fee, as she assured me twice during our conversation that if we had been a no-show, the fee “would have probably been waived”, as she claimed “95% of no-show fees are waived.” I’m not buying that. A payment of $40 or $50 would have covered fuel costs and been a token gesture for the inconvenience my wife experienced as a result of THEIR miscue. Jennifer’s handling of this matter was a complete disaster. I would expect an office manager to be more tactful and caring enough to try to meet us halfway under the circumstances for what was clearly their mishandling of this situation. You probably shouldn’t tell people you will “look to make it right” if YOU CLEARLY HAD NO INTENTION OF DOING SO. This incident was handled in a calloused, unprofessional manner by the office manager. I said “ everybody has a boss”, I then asked Jennifer who was above her that I could speak with to express my dissatisfaction, Jennifer informed me there was nobody above her. Apparently she answers to no one. I think this group of Doctors and management need to re-evaluate their office management representative. I ask you to read the reviews and notice how many 1 and 2 star ratings her office has. Seriously, how does this woman still have a job? I’ll be filing a complaint with the BBB regarding the less than professional treatment my wife and I received from this facility. It’s no wonder this place has only a 2.4 out of a 5 star rating. Nobody should treat people and/ or patients this way without consequence."

"DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT ANYTHING THEY WILL DROP YOU AS A CLIENT FOR "BREAKING POLICY" AND THEY WILL DO IT EVEN IF YOU ARE ON CONTOLED SUBSTANCE PRESCRIPTIONS Also do not use there portal FOR ANY messages management can access them, THEY ARE NOT CONFIDENTIAL After 7 years with the practice I'm being treated like nothing more than an atm and was denied making a follow up appointment until my bill was paid. Just a thought, but if you are prescribing drugs for psychological reasons it is probably not best to deny further services."

"I have had nothing but good experiences here. Everyone has been friendly, nice, and very accommodating. They even helped me navigate the stress that is finding a child psychiatrist. Having read through the negative reviews, it seems like most of those people don't like that you can't just call a mental health facility and get an appointment tomorrow. That's not how it works anywhere. The others are complaining about a private practice costing money when they miss an appointment or don't have insurance. A fact that's also true everywhere else. One dude was even angry they wouldn't give him refills after he stopped being a patient. Those are problems with American Health Care, not S.P.A. specifically."

"I personally see multiple providers at this facility for a variety of things. That being said, I feel genuinely seen, cared for, and most importantly ADVOCATED for when it comes to my mental health. My psychiatrist listens very intently helping to address my concerns, but also is open to changing things up to best suit other concerns. My counselor also listens with great intentionality. Having seen multiple counselors over the years, one way that I have believe truly sets a good counselor apart is if they remember what was discussed in the last appointment and the various things you’ve been going through instead of spending the first 15 minutes getting back up to speed. That has NEVER been an issue here. I recommend Suburban Psychiatric to people all the time. Should you be nervous given some of the negative reviews, I would just recommend trying a different counselor or psychiatrist if the one you work with first doesn’t seem like a good fit. It may be awkward feeling, but they office truly seems to care most about your mental health and has been happy to do so in the past when my wife needed to switch from one counselor to another."

"I have gone here now for several years to see Dr. Cartagena and have never encountered any issues with reception staff, either in-person or over the phone. I'm always able to get ahold of someone to re-schedule an appointment if needed. Anytime I've put requests in for refills on the portal or sent a message to my provider, it's usually done same day or next day - even though it says up to several days. I will say the billing and check-in system is a bit antiquated, but that's on whomever owns the practice, not the staff. To those complaining about no longer being able to do telehealth appointments for certain things, 99% willing to bet it's because of NY state laws that are requiring you to be in person that were suspended during covid, especially if you are on controlled substance prescriptions."