Bad experience with Dr. Feller

[hairthere]

I had to schedule a consult with Dr.Feller one month in advance. When he is not performing surgery (which you need to book 3-4 months in advance) he is doing consults. As he stated, he does not have sales people doing this. So I can vouch, from experience, that he has a full plate. Now any concerns that I did have I voiced via email to either the doc or spex and always got a timely answer. Communicating this way is far more efficient.

[bonkerstonker]

I got to admit the not taking calls 15 month after ht kind of translates to me "right lets get one customer in and one customer out the factory"! I'm well shocked by that but in Dr Fellers defence he's invited him to the office and not shut the doors completely.

[Spanker]

I had to schedule a consult with Dr.Feller one month in advance. When he is not performing surgery (which you need to book 3-4 months in advance) he is doing consults. As he stated, he does not have sales people doing this. So I can vouch, from experience, that he has a full plate. Now any concerns that I did have I voiced via email to either the doc or spex and always got a timely answer. Communicating this way is far more efficient.

 

 

I agree that I would talk to the doctors top consultant as well. That said, if I were having major issues, and wanted to speak to the doctor, I believe that respect should be given to me as a patient, even 15 months later.

 

Like I said, I know Feller puts out some great results and I also believe he has a high amount of inegrity on who he does surgery on, etc. And I also agree that he is very busy, but again, I expect a doctor to speak to me personally if I really need to speak to him. Even if a phone appointment must be made. I think that this time is just overhead of doing business.

 

Hopefully the doc's reps will be able to take care of most of these case without excalation to the doctor to minimize his time spent taking such calls, but upon insistance from the customer, it is best for the doc to take the time to speak to him.

 

I am not blasting the doc, I think he is stand up, but no one is perfect proffesionally or personally. This just might be an issue to consider brushing up on.

 

Unless directly replied to, this will be my last post on this subject. I think that there is probably not much else to do without an in-person consult of the OP.

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Wow, so many posts based on a typo.

 

I left out the words "irrate and aggressive" from my comment. Of course I speak to patients 15 months out from surgery, even 15 years. Who thinks a doctor can stay in business 17 years and not talk to post op patients? Absurd.

 

Just shows how far people will run with ANYTHING to find fault, point fingers, and cast blame. Typical internet nonsense.

 

Enjoy yourselves.

[Ecofriend]

Dr. Feller, instead of casting blame on others and retracting statements where you clearly state that you have "no time" to follow up with patients after 15 months, maybe you should take this opportunity to apologize to this patient and think about what you can do to make his and others post-op experience more enjoyable. I find it disappointing that you discredit this forum and its participants posts and opinions as "typical internet non-sense."

[Tao]

Yeah, not impressed at all with that response.

[hairthere]

I asked this patient very nicely to post some pictures of his results. He in return lashed out at me and accused me of putting him on trial. Does anyone think that is the response of a rational person? Is it possible that this patient was rude and aggressive with Dr. Feller and his staff?

 

The writing is kind of on the wall with what happened here. The patient admittedly had a successful HT with Dr. Feller. His thinning progressed (which is much more plausible than him losing HT grafts) and he became unhappy with the results. Now, Dr. Feller offered to look at the results in person to determine what happened--he told him that he could not determine anything from the pics. But it sounds like the patient persisted and, according to Dr. Feller, became aggressive. I'm more inclined to believe the doctor, who I'ver had 3 surgeries with, and who has a stellar reputation, over some anonymous poster.

 

It's amazing to me that many of you will blindly side with someone who has no reputation to lose over someone who has worked very hard to build a solid one on this site. But, as Dr. Feller, said, that's the internet for you....

Edited March 18, 2011 by hairthere

[Ecofriend]

Hairthere, I agree with you that it is apparent that this patient is disappointed and possibly disgruntled. However, it seems that he is coping appropriately with his situation. It does not seem to me that he is completely irrational in his tone either. He did not lash out at you in any way, and if that is the way that you read his response, it might be you that is overly sensitive. It seems that he was disappointed that you were more interested in his results as opposed to his true complaint that he felt neglected by feller medical to simply speak with him about possible causes of this problem and what could be done to remedy the situation. I agree with you that the overwhelming x 100 consensus on this forum is that Dr. Feller is outstanding surgeon and upstanding individual in terms of transparency and ethics. I just believe that in this case, he should speak with his administrative personal and alert them that side stepping any patient complaints and not dealing with problems as they arise should not be tolerated. I think that anyone who reads this should never question going to see Dr. Feller, his results speak. I just think that this should be a learning experience for the practice.

[hairthere]

Ecofriend, Here was my request:

 

"Justaguy, Can you provide better photo documentation of your pre, intra, and post-op? Also, is your hair wetted down in that picture? Thanks."

 

Here is his response:

 

"I resent being made to feel like I'm on trial. It's the reason I waited so long to post here, because this is exactly the kind of response I expected. I'm just a guy who had a failed surgery and tried to explain that my surgeon wouldn't talk to me about it, but instead I'm getting demands for pre-op photos. It's beyond disappointing."

 

Does that not set off a red flag for you?

[Michael5577]

Good Lord. This response is so manifestly ridiculous and disingenuous that it ought to send off alarm bells in the head of anyone considering Feller.

 

He can't find 15 minutes a month to take a phone call from a patient who's put thousands of dollars in his pocket, but he somehow can find the time to meet with that patient for an extended period if the patient were only to . . . fly across the country to meet him at his office.

 

The needle on the gauge just did a 720.

 

 

 

Keep in mind that Feller is a prolific poster as well, so his lame excuse that he just "doesn't have the time" doesn't pass the smell test. I hope all who consider Feller read this thread. Internet has really done wonders to expose people for what they are.

[Michael5577]

Wow, so many posts based on a typo.

 

I left out the words "irrate and aggressive" from my comment. Of course I speak to patients 15 months out from surgery, even 15 years. Who thinks a doctor can stay in business 17 years and not talk to post op patients? Absurd.

 

Just shows how far people will run with ANYTHING to find fault, point fingers, and cast blame. Typical internet nonsense.

 

Enjoy yourselves.

 

Sounds like backtracking.

 

A patient who has lost transplanted hair probably has a right to feel a little "irate and aggressive" especially when his surgeon hides from him and can't spare some time on the phone. And even if the patient is "irate and aggressive" (maybe because of shabby treatment?), he should be shown some compassion.

 

Zero people skills.

[Michael5577]

I asked this patient very nicely to post some pictures of his results. He in return lashed out at me and accused me of putting him on trial. Does anyone think that is the response of a rational person? Is it possible that this patient was rude and aggressive with Dr. Feller and his staff?

 

The writing is kind of on the wall with what happened here. The patient admittedly had a successful HT with Dr. Feller. His thinning progressed (which is much more plausible than him losing HT grafts) and he became unhappy with the results. Now, Dr. Feller offered to look at the results in person to determine what happened--he told him that he could not determine anything from the pics. But it sounds like the patient persisted and, according to Dr. Feller, became aggressive. I'm more inclined to believe the doctor, who I'ver had 3 surgeries with, and who has a stellar reputation, over some anonymous poster.

 

It's amazing to me that many of you will blindly side with someone who has no reputation to lose over someone who has worked very hard to build a solid one on this site. But, as Dr. Feller, said, that's the internet for you....

 

You're speculating. I don't see a reason to disbelieve somebody who says that his HT didn't work out. He doesn't have to provide photographs, if he doesn't want to. The gist of his complaint is the total lack of communication and poor treatment, and only secondarily his HT failure.

[The count Of Baldecristo]

Most people fly around the world for a procedure to get the best doctor. these trips cost money and time for the patients. If an inperson consult is so necessary maybe it should be complimentary for patients who are in trouble and are so desperately trying to find their doctors by phone. From what i understand from Dr. Feller there are also some legal complications with speaking on the phone i didnt know that.

 

But come on, we have online consultations, skype, facetime, mails to sent pics that we can use when we first look for feedback from doctors before an operation. We even have consultants with no medical degrees giving consultations and talk graft number estimates etc. I dont see any legal problems there!

 

I for once appreciate this guy and how he spoke and every guy that might be in trouble from a procedure and wants to share it with us. Maybe we can focus on the good things that could come out of this and not attack him. Even better service for the prospective patients because clinics dont want bad reviews in forums. Isn't what these forums are about hairthere? Things to become even better for us the patients and prospective patients not about praising doctors and how amazing they are. Our money, time and personality is more amazing than any doctor and should be treated with respect!

Edited March 18, 2011 by The count Of Baldecristo

[Michael5577]

From what i understand from Dr. Feller there are also some legal complications with speaking on the phone i didnt know that.

 

And I have a beautiful bridge to sell you. The BS and arrogance are breathtaking. But again, nobody forces anyone to get an HT with Feller. Thanks to experiences like the poster's, Dr. Feller might become less busy and have more time to speak to patients. Everybody wins.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Michael5577

[JustAGuy]

Okay, first let me thank everyone who supported my basic concern, that Dr. Feller wouldn't speak to me by phone post-op to answer a couple of general questions. For those who are missing the point and/or attacking me, let me clarify some things, even though they were all in my original post:

 

(1) I don't blame Dr. Feller for what seemed to be a failed transplant. If it indeed failed, I believe that it was likely from factors beyond his control. I have never questioned his competency. (And from his post, I now realize that my surgery might not technically be considered a failure.)

 

(2) My overriding concern was simply that Dr. Feller wouldn't talk to me by phone after my surgery to answer some general questions. That's it. I still can't think that it was unreasonable to think that he'd take my call. I certainly would have paid for the phone consultation just like an office consultation, had I been asked to.

 

Also, my questions were general and not specific to my head, which is why I didn't think an office visit was necessary. My questions were, what could cause a transplant to fail after 15 months, and what if anything could I do to try to keep any remaining transplanted hair?

 

(3) The other things I mentioned, like not realizing that Dr. Feller wouldn't be placing the grafts himself and not feeling informed about that prior to surgery, are just minor details. I was just trying to paint a complete picture. Had these been the only issues, I wouldn't have posted here. I posted simply because I wanted people to know that I couldn't get Dr. Feller to talk to me by phone post-op even after over a month of trying.

 

Now, as for the character attacks on me: I was absolutely never the slightest bit irate and aggressive on the phone, period. Even if it were my style -- which it's not -- it would be completely counterproductive. How could I expect that Dr. Feller would be eager to speak to me if I yelled at his staff? For what it's worth, below is a transcript of a representative call, #6. (Yes, I kept records, because from my very first call to the office to inquire about my post-op loss, I had a feeling that I might not be successful in getting to talk to the doctor, based on my past experience, and I also had a feeling that if I posted about my failure to get through here, that people wouldn't believe me, because Dr. Feller is very popular. It turns out I was right on both counts.)

 

Receptionist: Dr. Feller's office.

Me: Hi, this is [name], I'm still hoping to talk to Dr. Feller about my hair loss?

Receptionist: Oh, did he ever return your phone call, [name]?

Me: I'm afraid I never heard from him.

Receptionist: Ummmm....okay, hold on. Let me just write a little note here for him.... Okay, give me your phone number, [name].

Me: [phone number]

Receptionist: Okay, when did you have surgery?

Me: Uh, it was in May 2009.

Receptionist: May, two-nine. Okay, I willl give him the message when he gets out of surgery.

Me: Okay, thank you very much.

Receptionist: Thank you.

Me: Bye.

 

If you think it's semi-ridiculous that I'm posting transcripts of the calls, I agree. But I don't know how else to defend myself against the accusation that it was my fault that the doctor wouldn't talk to me because I was supposedly some raving lunatic. And by the way, all my other calls and messages were the exact same tone. I was absolutely never the slightest bit irate or aggressive. Not once.

 

hairthere, I'm sorry our communication went badly. I was just disappointed that I came here primarily to explain that Dr. Feller wouldn't talk to me by phone, and then you ignored that completely and asked to see more pics instead. It really did sound to me like you were just looking to find a way to discredit me. From your subsequent posts, I can't really feel that I was so wrong about that. But if that really wasn't your intent, then I apologize.

 

By the way, I don't live in Brooklyn. I only stayed there for my surgery. I actually live across the country. In fact, early on when the receptionist was pushing me to come in for an office visit, I said that it wasn't really convenient for my to go across the country just to ask a couple of questions, and she asked didn't I live in Brooklyn?, and I explained that no, I don't. Dr. Feller knew where I actually live because we talked about it in my pre-op consult. Granted that he might have forgotten, but I made certain that the receptionist knew that I wasn't anywhere close to their office when I called. Though I want to be clear: Even I lived in Brooklyn (three hours away by train round trip), I still think it's reasonable to expect a surgeon to be willing to answer a couple of general questions by phone post-op, especially after over a month of trying to get through by phone, and especially if I were willing to pay for the phone appointment.

 

Anyway, I think Dr. Feller's responses seems to support my point. Here's how little concern he has for the fact that I couldn't get him on the phone:

 

Just shows how far people will run with ANYTHING to find fault, point fingers, and cast blame. Typical internet nonsense.

 

I think he's kind of making my case for me.

Edited March 21, 2011 by JustAGuy

[Shadow of the EMpire State]

It's always disturbing to see this kind of behavior from a doctor because the world still regards medicine as the preeminent patrician calling, and people have come to expect doctors to comport themselves with the social graces befitting their rarefied station in life.

 

Doctors are supposed to be pillars of society and, by extension, above the fray. So when you come across a doctor who engages in puerile, ad hominem bickering with patients, it's very disconcerting.

[Ukresponder]

It's always disturbing to see this kind of behavior from a doctor because the world still regards medicine as the preeminent patrician calling, and people have come to expect doctors to comport themselves with the social graces befitting their rarefied station in life.

 

Doctors are supposed to be pillars of society and, by extension, above the fray. So when you come across a doctor who engages in puerile, ad hominem bickering with patients, it's very disconcerting.

 

Guy's for what it's worth I happened to have a very smooth and pleasant experience from the initial correspondence with Sharon one of the receptionists to going through Spex to arrange my HT. Just to let you know I never mentioned this before because as far as I had seen Dr Feller's reputation was rock solid, I had no need to second guess anything. I might add that in my actual experience dates were shuffled to accommodate my own agenda as I was incorporating a holiday into my HT in NY, The details of surgery, blood work and payment were crystal clear.

 

During the actual procedure, Dr Feller was very relaxed, which made me relaxed it all went perfectly I stayed at the local hotel ' the Andrew i had paid for 2000 grafts and he put in 2250 with no extra charge, he was very open and happy for me to pop in the next day in to his office if I felt I needed to, but I wanted to explore long island and NY with and over sized cap and enough vicodin for a few days to get me home.

 

When I asked for the pre op pics to compare after 6 months I received them after a few short days.

 

You know I don't want to bore people with the conversations and ethics that were discussed. It's just a real shame that people jump all over a post and disregard the decade of work people like not just Dr Feller but several other clinics and doctors have gone through.

 

Over the forums it's easy to take one side of someones story. At the end of the day people that put themselves on the line day in day out and have a reputation like Dr Feller and other good HT doctors mean that they have by definition had hundreds of good and quality results in such a cut throat industry.

 

All I say is this - think about the maths and the situation, one guy has a experience that he personally feels is not up to his expectations vs hundreds of satisfied HT patients?? What and every one starts saying that Dr Feller is behaving inappropriately??

 

Come on?? Get some balance here - As far as I'm concerned I had a 1st class experience and will not hesitate to recommend or go there again for another one should I need to.

[bonkerstonker]

To be fair i'm thinking this case is true and has been dealt with quite shockingly from what just guy is saying but i feel it's likely to be a 1 off because if this was how Dr Feller and his surgery was all the time they'd be loads of posts about it and i've barely ever seen a bad word said about Feller medical in 7 years of me reading on all the major forums.

[Dan72]

Although I sympathise with the posters situation, I would also like to concure with UKresponder to give this thread some balance. I recently had a procedure with Dr. Feller and found everything from my initial communication with Sharon and Spex through to the end of the procedure to be nothing short of 1st class. I was hugely anxious due to previous surgery with Bosley, and everyone made me feel 100% relaxed. All of my questions were answered, and Spex always responded within the hour to any emails both before and after my surgery. I have to say too, that Kathy was probably one of the main people to make me feel completely at ease and even held my hand throughout the local anaesthesia.

 

I will be returning to Dr. Feller for my crown once this HT grows in.

[corvettester]

Wow! Not Again!

 

Dr. Feller's own words do more damage to his reputation than anything JustAGuy could have said. Dr. Feller's response and tone is outrageous and has no place on the forums.

 

This isn't the first time I've been shocked to read Dr. Feller's responses to his dissatisfied patients and I've only been on the HTN about 6 months.

 

This makes three separate cases in the last six months of former patient complaints about Dr. Feller and his practice... that is three more than any other coalition doctor on the HTN that I am aware of.

 

Furthermore, this isn't the first time I've seen posters complaining about poor customer service, communications and / or poor results from Dr. Feller. At least he hasn’t threatened JustAGuy with a lawsuit… yet!

 

It makes me wonder, how is it that Dr. Feller is a coalition doctor?

 

Does he really think that he is above criticism? He could have handled it so much better, like a gentleman and professional, but clearly he chose not to. If posters cannot post their honest complaints or praises without fear of reproach (or litigation), then what is the point of the HTN?

 

I advise anyone considering an HT to take the time to research Dr. Feller's practice and read in his own words how he handles dissatisfied patients. As someone mentioned before, it is not how a man acts in the good times that his character can be accurately measured, but how he acts in the bad times.

 

 

 

Corvettester

Edited March 19, 2011 by corvettester
Spelling and Grammar

[corvettester]

JustAGuy,

 

I want to reach out to you to let you know that you are not alone and that there are those of us who sympathize with your experience as well as your right to post said experience. I find such critiques invaluable. In fact, there isn't enough of it online as nobody is above criticism.

 

I really appreciate your civility and honesty; it's unfortunate that Dr. Feller was incapable of reciprocating the same civility.

 

This seems to be a recurring problem with Dr. Feller. Any time anyone criticizes him or his practice, he explodes! Two previous posters (Badluck and John Malloy) were publicly threatened with lawsuits and I haven't heard from them since. So I advise that you are always careful with your choice of words and proceed with caution, you don't want a lawsuit.

 

Good luck with your situation and don't hesitate to reach out to me via PM if you need anything.

 

All the best,

 

Corvettester

[BadHairUK]

Sorry to hear your having a bad time. I have to say that all my dealings with the office and Spex were second to none and you would not have one issue returning to see dr feller. All his staff were great and doc feller answered all my questions via email which wasnt going to be a disaster. If there was anything of any ultimate urgency.. Spex was always on hand via the phone, if I had any problems contacting Dr Feller and he would be there 24/7. I found the time difference more of an issue being in the UK, so found it far easier to contact Spex via the phone and every issue I had was resolved straight away.. most of the issues was me being uncertain to the post op procedures.. which was pretty easy to put my concerns to rest for Spex which gave me great peace of mind.

 

Hope things pick up.. all the best.

[Curious]

If you're going to attack Dr. Feller like this, I think it's fair to expect that you're going to post more than one crappy photo. How could anyone judge your result with just one photo? I don't blame the doctor for being ticked off at the attack on him.

[Blake Bloxham]

Corvettester,

 

Our site is dedicated to transparency and honesty with respect to both physicians and patients, so I am glad that this discussion involves both critical and non-critical insight from both patients and physicians. Because of this, I've felt as if my presence as a 'moderator' hasn't been necessary thus far. However, I did want to add a small point of clarification to your post and with regards to the Coalition:

 

As far as Coalition physicians are concerned, here are the requirements for consideration:

 

-A demonstrated capability to successfully perform large sessions of ultra refined follicular unit grafting using tiny incisions and grafts that are microscopically prepared.

 

-The ability to dense pack tiny follicular unit grafts in a given area when appropriate.

Mastery and control of the orientation and direction of the transplanted grafts to achieve a completely natural appearance.

 

-Dedication to doing state of the art hair transplantation exclusively or as the main specialty of the clinic.

 

-Excellent patient results demonstrating a high level of artistry and naturalness throughout.

 

-An outstanding reputation amongst colleagues and former patients.

 

-Exceptional Value - as determined by quality and pricing taken together

 

From how I understand it, the main controversies surrounding this situation stem from communication issues and a forum reply, not as much from any of the qualifiers listed above. Because of this, I simply wanted to share the above requirements and state that Dr. Feller, via proven results and a dedication to state-of-the-art techniques, has solidly earned a spot in the Coalition and I don't believe his recommendation status is what's being discussed here.

 

Just a quick point of clarification. If you have any additional questions or disagree, feel free to post or send me a private message. My goal here was simply to clear up any misconceptions regarding the Coalition.

[corvettester]

If you're going to attack Dr. Feller like this, I think it's fair to expect that you're going to post more than one crappy photo. How could anyone judge your result with just one photo? I don't blame the doctor for being ticked off at the attack on him.

 

 

Curious,

 

Did you not read JustAGuy's posts?

 

He made it explicitly clear twice that his complaint was not with his less than optimal HT, but rather with the poor follow up care and customer service. The photos are completely irrelevant to his complaint.

 

JustAGuy said "Again, I want to stress that I don't question Dr. Feller's competence, and that the failure of my surgery was probably to factors beyond his control."

 

He then went on to clarify that his grievance was with Feller's refusal to communicate with him, poor customer service, etc...

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I would find it entirely unacceptable if my only avenue of communication with my HT doctor was via email. For the price one pays for an HT, I believe a higher level of service and care is expected.

 

 

Corvettester

Edited March 20, 2011 by corvettester