Schweiger Dermatology Group - Smithtown — Attraction in Town of Smithtown

Horrible, if I could give no stars I definitely would. I’m not even sure where to begin with this. I was seen as a new patient by Dr. Strauss at Stony Brook in mid April - let me just say that it took me longer to fill out new patient paperwork than the doctor was actually in the room. Office staff seemed friendly but just blunt. Dr. Strauss talked so fast explaining things I left there feeling unsure. The nurse talked me into using this horrible pharmacy called Long Island Apothecary-but that’s a whole other story. The whole experience with this place has been a nightmare. I was prescribed two medications, one I had to pay out of pocket for ($90) and the other covered by the insurance. I started using them as directed and a few days in, I started getting hives on my face, skin peeling, face redness, and some swelling. I spoke with the nurse (I think her name was Joanna?) who told me to stop both medications until my face cleared up and then start one medication and the other a week later. So I did just that. And sure enough I had the same reaction so I called the office again and left a message. Joanna got back to me hours later and I reiterated exactly what she directed me to do. She wanted me to try the other medication now by itself and see what happens with that. I told her this is my face, how I interact with people on a daily basis and I’m not playing around with different medications on my face. You would think a healthcare professional she would have realized this but I guess the competency just isn’t there. She offered me a courtesy office visit at the smithtown location to see if they can prescribe me something to calm down the reaction. I agreed. I left work early to go to the smithtown location (a 30 minute ride from my place of work). I got there and was immediately asked for a co pay. When I went to tell them it was supposed to be a courtesy, I was told they know nothing of it and she went to check with the physician. The receptionist came back 10 minutes later and told me that Joanna told her that the courtesy was just to get me an appointment, not the visit being a courtesy. This is not what I was told - I wouldn't have driven out of my way. I was told by the receptionist that they will have to bill my insurance and this visit requires a co pay, I left and refused the visit. If I wanted to be charged for an office visit I would have just seen my primary care for this. I called their main number and told them to cancelled my future appointments and am now waiting on a phone call back from management. I will NOT be back. Waste of my time, gas and money. They are so unprofessional and...

I have been trying for almost a week to get a response from the Smithtown office about transferring a prescription from one pharmacy to another due to the cost. I was laid off after 18 years in February and do not have insurance. I have called , sent multiple text messages and yesterday went I person where I was told they could not find me , because they had my name spelled wrong their system . I was told yesterday someone would get back to me and they did not. This experience has made my condition worse due to the stress and the office refuses to advise me if the RX can be transferred. Deplorable customer service from a profession that is supposed to heal. Update to this review. Six days after my initial call to the office I went back to the Smithtown office , after sending another very detailed text via their website, because once again I could not get a person to get on the phone. I was in tears. This time someone did come out and informed me the RX had been transferred the prior day . I responded “ no one could call me to inform me of this ?” I was told she left me a voice message the day before. I let her know I never received a voice message and left there wondering why she thought I would have gone back to the office in tears if I had received a voice mail the prior day. I filled my RX that day , still no response to the multiple text messages sent via their website. Seven days after my initial call I got a voice message ( after I posted this original review) telling me “We received your text message and are trying to figure out what you need help with “ . I was very clear in both office visits, my multiple text messages and this review. I tried to call back and nope could not reach a person .I sent another text stating explaining in detail the horrible resolution process. I then received 2 more calls with no voice message and someone finally responded to my text messages via text message. They wrote “ glad you got your medication have a great day”. Not “I’m so sorry our lack of communication caused you so much harm “ or “ So sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. “ This morning I received an email referencing my review with a request to contact them . I again replied with the details of this post and my last sentence suggested that they have a person answer the phone when it rings. I will be looking for a new...

I'll try to make this short. I recently and suddenly started losing my hair, dramatically. Clumps and clumps.. I'm young and healthy so this was very scary for me. I made an appointment with this office, gave all of my info. I called one day prior to see if they had any more availability by chance or a cancelation because my hair had loss become significantly worse in a few days. The woman who answered told me I didn't have an appointment. I immediately started to panic and I said there's been a mistake, I even stated I understand this isn't your fault but I need to speak with a manager/owner/doctor and expressed to her how devastated I was and how I needed to be seen asap. She kept replying with I have no appointment and she HUNG UP ON ME. I called back and spoke with a different woman and she said " yea you have an appointment. I made it for you when you called I remember you" The right thing to do would have been asking someone for help because clearly the woman didn't know what she was doing. Not only was she rude but completely lacked empathy for someone going through a very stressful time. I cannot believe this office employs people who think the it's acceptable to HANG UP on a person who is clearly in distress and please take note I was not rude, disrespectful nor did I curse at her etc I was on the verge of tears in fact and kept restating I NEED to be seen. How can you work to help people and treat them like that? Put me on hold. Ask someone else. How completely unacceptable and wrong. I have never been treated like that ever by anyone. If I was mistreating this woman by all means I would say this was justified but I wasn't. And the amount of added stress she caused me simply because she didn't know how to search my appointment was terrible. I was so bothered by this that I actually called and made a formal complaint and I never heard back from the office manager.

They need to hold a staff meeting and go over the definition of empathy and compassion. How completely unacceptable it is to treat people like this. Again, had I been rude or nasty by all means...but wow. I'm not sure how that place has such a...