Dr. Joseph Celestino Petrini, MD

He is a fine doctor that is why I have been seeing him for the past 24 years. I agree with comments made about his office staff.....

Dr. Petrini is fine as a physician. we have stayed with him only because my husband likes his demeanor. His staff is incredibly rude, uncaring and unsupportive. I'm not sure how Dr. P manages to find the worst front office staff so consistently, because they have been like that for 10 yrs now. Don't expect service from them, because you won't get any. I am finally done with them, we are in the process of finding a new primary care phys. Patient follow up, or even memory of who you are, does not exist in this practice.

Love him

After requesting the first appointment of the day, and being told I was the first appointment, I waited 45 minutes to see the doctor for a routine physical. Before my appointment I verified that my insurance was accepted. 3 weeks later I recieved a bill for the full amount. When i called to question it, they told me they do not ever preauthorize with insurance companies. The billing clerk admitted to telling me that I was preauthorized, but that she was just assuming it would be ok. Incompetant staff who lied to me to get me in the door. Terrible experience, there are plenty of other doctors in Salinas...find one of them.

I have been a patient of Dr. Petrini's for nearly 13 years but will be finding a new primary care physician because of a very disappointing interaction with his office staff. Three years ago I chose to continue to see Dr. Petrini after moving an hour away from his office (and I work two hours away). I thought there were benefits to staying with a doctor who knew me and my medical history.Recently I was in a situation where I needed to speak with the doctor on the telephone and was denied access to him by one of his office staff. I was told that I had to make an appointment and come into the office. When I did make that appointment and talked with Dr. Petrini in his office, I asked him about the interaction I had with his staff. He told me he did not refuse to speak with me on the telephone.When the appointment was over, I spoke with his staff person who had denied me access initially. She basically blew it off like it was nothing. I told her how difficult it is to schedule time off… from my job to come into the office because I live an hour away and work two hours away, again she raised her eyebrows as if to say, Oh well.I told her I was disappointed because I had been a patient for 12 years and I did not want to look for a new doctor, but would have to if access to Dr. Petrini was going to be difficult. She put her arm and pointed to the wall of files and said, Thats fine. You see all these, they are all his patients too. I interpreted her remark to mean that I was free to go and that Dr. Petrini would not miss me as a patient.I am currently looking for a physician in my area.