Advanced Sleep Medicine Services, Inc.

Turned away and then locked inside the building late at night until security guard found me

I showed up for my late evening appointment at the Encino location and was turned away, being told that my appointment was at the Century City location. But had I gone to the Century City location, my insurance would have not covered the bill. That is what the scheduling office told me two days earlier, when they called to cancel my Century City appointment, and reschedule me for the Encino Location! Very confusing and frustrating to get the run around like this. Even though I had a confirmation email for my appointment at the Encino location, I was turned away when I showed up for my sleep study. Calls were made, but no one took any responsibility. The Encino technician said, "Scheduling made the mistake, not us..nothing I can do, we are booked for the evening…." And the customer service rep said, "There is nothing I can do…." So they gave my appointment away to someone else… but I was the one who paid the price. Now I am going to charge them a $200 late cancellation fee. Then, when I tried to leave the building, I couldn't get out, all the doors were locked and the night security guard was nowhere to be found. Very scary experience. I called the customer service number to see if they could contact the security guard so that I could get out of the building. There was no answer. So, I went back up the elevator to the seventh floor and told the tech at the Clinic that the lobby doors were locked and I couldn't t get out. The tech told me to press the 'exit' button to release the doors. I told him that I had tried that, and it didn't work. The tech didn't believe me, and repeated his instruction. Frustrated, I went back downstairs and pressed the 'exit' button again, but the doors were still locked. I grew panicked. There was no telephone or call button for contacting the security guard, nor any instruction on how to unlock the doors. I felt trapped. There was nowhere to sit, and I was feeling weak and scared. I started screaming, "Hello, help me!" I considered pulling the fire alarm, but wasn't sure that would help. After a few minutes the security guard appeared. He said he was on break and when I asked him why the 'exit' button wasn't working, he told me that I had to press it three (3) times to release the door. By that time, I was visibly shaken, and very upset. A sign should be posted with accurate instructions on how to exit. I had been locked inside without any way to summon the night time security guard. I had screamed for help and no one heard me. I was quite frightened by the time I left. I will not be going back.

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