AED Urgent Care Newark — Local services in Newark

AVOID AND BEWARE.  THESE GOOGLE REVIEWS ARE PHONY AND COERCED.  Provider does everything they can to pressure you to pull out your phone and write a good review on the spot regardless of the quality of care they provide.  You can even tell the most recent reviews are one sentence reviews from people with no other google reviews.  The provider dictates the review to the patient after exam, which not only is the point in time where patients are most vulnerable to coercion, but also way too soon for anyone to properly evaluate the results of the medical treatment they just experienced.  This is the only reason they have over 4 stars.  They need to counter the LEGITIMATE reviews detailing the poor service.

Google doesn't allow 0 stars, but they did earn one star anyways because the front desk staff was friendly, professional, and efficient. Would love to see them at any doctor's office.

That's where the positive part of my experience ends completely.  The nurse practitioner was a hack.  First of all, his English was so broken that we could barely communicate.  This is not a prejudiced comment because a handful of other reviews on here say the same.  Communication is important  to provide URGENT care.  It was extremely difficult.

I went in there for a health issue...he examined me for maybe 20 seconds and very quickly said I need minor surgery.  He gave me a referral and wrote me a prescription.  He gave me no instructions on how to alleviate my situation in the mean time, which is crazy because I found a wealth of information online afterwards...things I def should have been told by a health professional to do and not to do but was not told due to lack of concern.

I called the surgeon he referred me to...wouldn't you know the receptionist spoke exactly like he did.  Im about 80% sure he was so quick to refer me for surgery because he is giving his friends business, regardless if surgery is actually the best option or not.  The surgeon didn't have an appointment available for about a month anyways.  I called the urgent care provider back to get a different referral.  At this point he didn't seem to care and just said "Oh well just google someone."  I guess if I wasn't going to his buddy, it didn't really matter to him.  This annoyed me.

He told me my prescription would already be waiting for me at CVS.  Of course it wasnt.  However the pharmicist was confused and wondered why a physician would ever write a prescription for this particular medicine because providers should know that the exact same medicine is much cheaper and more readily available over the counter.  So the provider almost had me waiting and paying $50 for something I quickly found on the shelf for like $7.

AND THAT LEADS ME TO THE BIGGEST ISSUE WITH THIS PROVIDER.  It turns out that after some rest and self-care (thank god the surgeon I found wasnt available for another week) my medical issue slowly cleared up and surgery wasn't necessary at all, despite how definite his attitude was and how quick he was to refer me to a surgeon who I strongly feel was a friend or relative.  When I called to cancel the surgery consultation, the surgeon's office said that it was, in fact, unusual for someone to consult a surgeon for my issue before allowing some time to pass to heal myself.  If it were up to the urgent care practitioner, instead of rest and self-care for a week or two, I would be spending thousands of dollars on surgery that has a painful recovery time of around a month.

I did not go through insurance and paid for the urgent care appointment myself.  They told me I pre-paid in full.  After reading through these REAL reviews (not the fake positive ones they try to force out of their patients), I fully expect a mystery bill in the mail for a whopping $900 or so.  They might as well save on paper and postage because if I get a bill like that, it will be tossed in the garbage and I will never give it another thought.

With the exception of the front desk staff, this urgent care is a prime example of incompetence and lack of concern...

WORST EVER, Please read what this place is doing to customers. First 10/8/19 we went there for USCIS Exam (they told us to bring any vaccines and shots that were taken other places before) so we brought and went it over with Dr.Singh and they gave us this Immigration Physical Order Form which clearly describes which tests are needed (and which is excused) and told us that they will give us a call on 10/13/19 with an update, however no one called us on Sunday 10/13/19, so on Monday (10/14/19) we called and ask for the update and they said Heidi is in charge of USCIS Exam and she will contact us, so we waited for her to give us a call and yes no one called us back again so on 10/15 Tuesday, We called back this time I was upset because on the Physical Order form (which I got it from the doctor's office on the 10/8/19) says this must be done in 7 days, and 10/15 Tuesday was the 7th day. So, we asked them why is this not yet finished they said they are still working on it and that they will give us a call back by 7pm same date(10/15/19)so, that we can pick up the packet by 8pm (which is their closing time). And funny enough someone called us at 8:38pm(38 minutes after their closing time) and left voice mail saying that it's not ready.(what a clever way to earn extra day to work on the packet). So today 10/16/19 morning We called again and ask them what's going on, and we had to speak with 2 different assistants who did not have the answers to our questions, and then Dr.Singh took the phone(literally there was no let me transfer your call to Dr.Singh or anything like that) from the assistant that we were talking to in the middle of the conversation and then he says "Who are you? What do you want?" our response was like, what?? so we explained that we were expecting the USCIS packet and he was hysterically said "we don't do "abc" (not sure the name of the test/shot) so go get that from other place and bring it so we can finish your packet" so we said, if there was another test(or shot) that was needed and if you do not do it why didn't you mentioned it on the 10/8/19 when we were at the clinic for the USCIS Exam why are you telling me this now? and then Dr.Singh said "ok never mind, just come this afternoon and pick up your packet" and hung up on us (literally just hung up on me), so we called them right back(of course different assistant that we hadn't talked) picks up the phone and first thing she said was "what do you want?" and kept on asking us "What do you want?" and so as we tried to complaint why did Dr.Singh hung up on us and what did we do wrong, they said we were rude one the phone, but the thing is we were not rude all we did was fact checking and complaint about why they were not keeping their side of the deal. First we didn't get what we had paid for we paid for USCIS Exam to be done in 7 days (it says on their form it must be done in 7 days) we paid, but they did not deliver and their communication if you promise to call someone by certain hour you call them but they did not. Every time they said they were going to call us they never did, and when we asked for specific reason and/or the time for me to pick up the packet they kept avoiding the answer and giving us very vague expression this afternoon or this evening. Also, while we were on the phone we heard them whispering about " just tell him he can pick up his packet and deal with it later" so This is our first retaliation and we will post reviews on every reviewing platforms and also BBB and other agencies that we can escalate this...

I have noticed many reviews talking about "surprise billing" and as someone who worked there during peak covid, I would like to give context/firsthand experience. I was a data entry clerk along with two other employees. There was an influx of patients coming in because of advertised "free COVID tests". Those tests were in fact not free, and we were supposed to charge their insurance with a general diagnosis code (we were assured, like many patients who ended up calling back, that the insurance company would foot the bill or that it would get forwarded to a fund that would cover it if the patient did not have insurance). One of the employees (who was a 16 year high school student) broke protocol and had her mother come in DIRECTLY INTO THE BACK OFFICE (mind you, we have a designated space for covid testing) and got rapid covid testing as she was showing symptoms. Her mother tested positive within 15 minutes and the employee who had direct contact with the mother CONTINUED to show up to work. She got every data entry clerk sick along with medical professionals and instead of firing the employee or even reprimanding her, the doctor refused to take responsibility saying "covid is everywhere, you cant prove you got it from here". My whole family got sick because I thought I was doing a service and helping people out during covid. They couldn't even keep their own staff safe and I refused to return due to the lack of professionalism (as did many other staff members). This could explain the late billing as there weren't many data entry clerks left and the ones who did work were unqualified. I was disgusted as covid has shown to trigger debilitating conditions as CFS and other genetic diseases. If this man was a true doctor who cared, he wouldnt be acting the way he does and perpetuating an unsafe workplace/culture. If he doesnt care about his staff, what makes you think he will care about you as a patient?

Edit: I just found out that if you got billed, DO NOT PAY IT!!! As quoted on NBC "Bottom line, if you have received a collection notice from Saloojas Inc or AFC Urgent Care of Newark threatening to take you to small claims court, according to the temporary restraining order, you can hold off on paying that notice for now. By phone, 7 On Your Side Investigates spoke with another attorney who is also representing AFC Urgent Care of Newark who said he is trying to work something out with the Alameda County DA's office. Also that the business had already stopped sending out those bills and collection notices, but some people have...