Very bad initial experience with FUECLINIC (Dr Mwamba)

[MarcoC]

Hey guys,

I'm turning to the forum because this is where I first heard about Dr. Mwamba and that he's well regarded. I initially contacted @FUECLINIC for an online assessment which was promptly answered with an estimated number of follicles and price. I then booked a consultation with Dr. Mwamba. This is where things get interesting because I'm being ping-ponged between @fueclinic.com mails and @mywhtc.com mails and at least 3 different people respond to my emails. Finally, a day of the consultation was set up and I paid in advance (50 EUR).

The day of the consultation the Dr. does not show up and after waiting 20 minutes in the video chat, I ended the call and send a reply to customer support. This is the first sign of bad customer support: I was not informed prior that the Dr. could not attend an online consultation which was set weeks in advance because he was in surgery. This would be understandable but an email informing your patient that the meeting is cancelled with an apology would be nice.

Customer support replied saying that the Dr. couldn't attend for the above reason and suggested a different date, to which I replied asking for alternatives. No reply back for 2 days. Today, I've sent them another email asking for surgery dates anticipating already the surgery. After I was promptly provided the dates I asked about the online consultation prior to the surgery because I have some questions for Dr. Mwamba. Now all of a sudden the communication stopped. 

I'm confused and I don't understand it anymore. At this point I'm thinking they are quick to sell me something (to book the surgery required 25% down payment) but they can't even be bothered to set up the consultation which I paid for. 

Did anyone have such experiences with Dr. Mwamba? What do you advice I do? Unfortunately it's insanely frustrating because I have an email thread of 25 replies with this clinic and I'm losing my patience asking and asking for this online consultation. It almost feels like I'm asking them a favour at this point.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by MarcoC

[Melvin- Admin]

Let me reach out to the clinic. It’s my understanding that Dr. Mwamba is extremely busy, and often speaks for a long time with his patients, in fact, the opposite I’ve heard is true. Perhaps he’s to giving with his time. 

[MarcoC]

Hi @Melvin- Moderator, 

Thank you for your reply! I wish the customer support team would have informed me of such or at least set some expectations and not let me figure it out from posting on forums. At this point as I already said, I'm kinda worried to set up a surgery date because of the upfront 25% deposit which I'm afraid to lose.

[Ramos]

I have experienced the exact same thing sadly all that you said I experienced. Dr mwamba is a good man but all you said ya I experienced 

[Melvin- Admin]

Guys,

 I have reached out to the clinic, the demand for Dr. Mwamba has gone up, so he’s trying to juggle doing all the surgeries and doing all of the consultations. I’ve proposed some suggestions, like automated responses to let you guys know your email is received and will be replied in 48 hours or so, Dr. Mwamba dedicates so much of his time to his patients. Feel free to pm me your names and I’ll have them reach out to you directly.

[JoeMan]

I believe I saw someone else post about his customer service recently. I'm sure he's a good Dr but maybe he's under staffed. Personally it would concern me but in the end the results are what really matter. 

[MarcoC]

@JoeMan I just don't understand why the sudden drop in communication when asking anything besides booking a surgery. The only reason I'm still in contact with the clinic and posting here is because of Dr. Mwamba's good reputation and that he's recommended by this forum. 

[FUECLINIC]

Hi Marco,

I have sent you a DM. I will be assisting with your case moving forward

Thank you

[Melvin- Admin]

2 minutes ago, MarcoC said:

@JoeMan I just don't understand why the sudden drop in communication when asking anything besides booking a surgery. The only reason I'm still in contact with the clinic and posting here is because of Dr. Mwamba's good reputation and that he's recommended by this forum. 

You have to keep in mind that Dr. Mwamba is hands-on, meaning he’s fully involved in the surgery, consultations and after care, he’s also going between three different locations in different parts of the world. Honestly, I don’t know how he does it. 

I do think there needs to be a response to let you know your query has been received, but I believe responses within 48-72 hours is a reasonable time frame.

[JoeMan]

16 minutes ago, MarcoC said:

@JoeMan I just don't understand why the sudden drop in communication when asking anything besides booking a surgery. The only reason I'm still in contact with the clinic and posting here is because of Dr. Mwamba's good reputation and that he's recommended by this forum. 

That does seem strange but maybe the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing? With different offices all over, I'd imagine communication within the different clinic staffs gets harder. I'd like to think that it's not just about taking your money though. Personally, I believe that they should refund you your consultation fee. Your time is just as valuable and to not have contacted you prior to your scheduled consultation is very unprofessional.

[Ramos]

I saw two other post of guys with Afro hair who also had similar experiences on here 

[MarcoC]

@JoeMan I agree and I dont think its just about taking my money (hence why I persisted and posted here), otherwise I would have ran . But my initial feeling based on their feedback was that unfortunately. 

Not being contacted prior to canceling a consultation is weird and unexpected from my side too but I let it go. 

[Melvin- Admin]

4 minutes ago, MarcoC said:

@JoeMan I agree and I dont think its just about taking my money (hence why I persisted and posted here), otherwise I would have ran . But my initial feeling based on their feedback was that unfortunately. 

Not being contacted prior to canceling a consultation is weird and unexpected from my side too but I let it go. 

The clinic has already responded to you in this thread. I’m not sure what else they can do at this point. If you don’t want to go with them, that’s fine. But at this point, not much else to say. 

[RTC]

I hope everything has been cleared up with the original poster and it's all just a misunderstanding. Dr Mwamba seems to have a great reputation but it's a shame if customer service issues get in the way of that.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Aslitarcan sucks

[dearwarsaw]

I had surgery with him on 11/16 & 17/2021. I posted a series of emails a few days ago on a different thread of my interactions with customer service to make it easier to understand what it’s like to deal with the reps. Expect a very bumpy and slow service. Not all your questions will be answered. Reps most likely are not well-trained and there’s clearly not an actual system or supervisor making sure things are done within service levels. This creates distrust and low confidence in the clinic. I talked to the doctor about this on the day of the surgery and offered several suggestions but this clearly has not been addressed. It’s a real shame because once you actually get to interact with the doctor and his team at the clinic, you will be really pleased with the real interest and concern shown to you as a person, your goals and feelings. He and his team will do everything to make sure you are heard and given all the answers that you need about basically anything you want to ask.

The most important thing will be the fact that he will be one of your best options to get the hair transplant that we all deserve.

It is normal that many doctors only want to focus on the medical side of things because that’s what they were trained for. Most of them don’t have business knowledge and this is a skill that they have to learn with time, especially if they run their own practice.

If you have these sort of skills and would like to make a difference, you should offer your services to the doctor. If you get to an agreement with him, the way he did with Matt Dominance, you might be doing us all a favor.

Edited March 25, 2022 by dearwarsaw

[dearwarsaw]

Just don’t forget my discount for future services because somehow I helped you get there.

This is the thread with the emails I posted, by the way:

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by dearwarsaw

[Mark Wolfer]

On 3/24/2022 at 9:48 PM, dearwarsaw said:

It is normal that many doctors only want to focus on the medical side of things because that’s what they were trained for. Most of them don’t have business knowledge and this is a skill that they have to learn with time, especially if they run their own practice.

 

Then they should get help so the business side runs well, and they shouldn't dabble with side hustles like selling topicals, which Dr. Mwamba and his clinic have failed at also.

Don't buy any topicals from @FUECLINICor angenica.com because you'll never get what you ordered. You'll get a lot of run around and excuses, and no product. That's been my experience now for more than six weeks since I made payment.

Dr. Mwamba and his clinic should be embarrassed.

[Melvin- Admin]

23 minutes ago, Mark Wolfer said:

Then they should get help so the business side runs well, and they shouldn't dabble with side hustles like selling topicals, which Dr. Mwamba and his clinic have failed at also.

Don't buy any topicals from @FUECLINICor angenica.com because you'll never get what you ordered. You'll get a lot of run around and excuses, and no product. That's been my experience now for more than six weeks since I made payment.

Dr. Mwamba and his clinic should be embarrassed.

They don’t sell topicals. They had it compounded at a pharmacy. They’re the middle man. As I said, cancel the order and get your money back. You can get quality topicals elsewhere. 

[Mark Wolfer]

13 minutes ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

They don’t sell topicals. They had it compounded at a pharmacy. They’re the middle man. As I said, cancel the order and get your money back. You can get quality topicals elsewhere. 

They're more than the middle man, they are the sales channel who took my money and they then contacted the clinic to fill the order. Dr. Mwamba is / was making money off of this product and his clinic is responsible for my order.

 

From the product sales page on their site:

https://www.fueclinic.com/services/treatments/topical-dutasteride-0-1/

Note how they refer to  the product twice as "our formula" and how the bottle has the FUE Clinic logo on it.

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Mark Wolfer

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, Mark Wolfer said:

They're more than the middle man, they are the sales channel who took my money and they then contacted the clinic to fill the order. Dr. Mwamba is / was making money off of this product and his clinic is responsible for my order.

 

From the product sales page on their site:

https://www.fueclinic.com/services/treatments/topical-dutasteride-0-1/

Note how they refer to  the product twice as "our formula" and how the bottle has the FUE Clinic logo on it.

 

I have confirmed that they’re only prescribing it, not selling it. If the money is taken by them, they should refund you, but let me tag them for clarification @FUECLINIC

[Mark Wolfer]

1 minute ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I have confirmed that they’re only prescribing it, not selling it. If the money is taken by them, they should refund you, but let me tag them for clarification @FUECLINIC

That's not correct. They're definitely the sales channel for these products.