Dr. Fernando J Duarte

I have taken my daughter 3 times to see Dr. Duarte. My dental office and I provided his office with my ins information. His secretary either does not understand how to verify insurance, or did not do it and told me I did not have coverage. I questioned her but since she insisted either way if I were covered that they were in network and any payments would bring down the Aetna patient liability portion I owed anyway and convinced me to allow them to start records to get it out of the way. I Paid OOP for records and the first banding scheduled for the following week in good faith. Turns out I had coverage but they are out of network. Sec lied to the dr and said my insurance info was not provide to her to cover her mistake. To his fault, all the dr. Had to do was look in the chart and see I had been a patient for over 2 years and they had my info, but he took her word. They refunded for services I pre- paid, but did not refund me the records I paid for which should have been refunded… considering his secretary mislead me and then lied to him. Come to find she is related to his wife. Unprofessional and negative experience, and as an honest person who is great with my payments it is the principle that bothers me most of all. $250.00 lost, but I will not stop telling everyone I know about this experience and my dental office will no longer refer to his office.