You could be right, I’m not a lawyer. Could it also depends where the person you are talking to is located? No guarantee they are also in NJ.

I have some friends of friends who have a crazy story about getting this wrong years ago… and I want no part of that. It gets really bad really fast. Recording anyone without notifying them ahead of time gets dicey even if it might be technically legal, no harm at all in being safe. #NotLegalAdvice

After so many hours of initial not-recorded calls that I wished I had recorded, I also didn’t hate them knowing I’m going to hold them to what they said. It also gave me more credibility when I said “a person named <this> told me <this> on <this> date.”

I think we found a winner… ha. That’s nuts, I honestly don’t understand how that isn’t illegal. If I messed up billing one of my clients at work that bad even once I’d be fired by the end of the day. I cannot comprehend how this doesn’t result in severe and immediate consequences once discovered.

So sorry that happed to you for just trying to be a good friend.

I don’t think the medical people have ever met the billing people. Seeing as the billing department told me at one point that they only accept certain documents via fax… I can only assume the entire office is twenty to thirty years behind the times.

I had to spend 3 days in the hospital there, and I’ve spent an almost equal amount of time just trying to resolve their bookkeeping incompetence in the year and a half since then. It is as simple as they said I never paid and I have all the documents proving I did.

They are either criminally over billing or negligently incompetent. Don’t trust a single thing they tell you. By the time you are talking about $20k it might be worthwhile to pay for a few hours with a lawyer or some other expert’s time to assist you.

Their billing department is a disaster of criminal proportions. I went there for something major in an emergency and before I left they had me pay my bill. It was my full out of pocket maximum, which seemed right based on what had been done, so I paid it right there. Almost a year later they sent me a nearly identical bill (it was like $100 less I think) saying it hadn’t been paid. I called them and they had me send them proof of my payment from my credit card company, as well as some documents from the insurance company. They said they would look into it and call me back in a few days. They never did. They continued to send me bills about every 3 weeks for a while and I would call them every time to explain. They kept contradicting what they had told me on the last call, so I started announcing every time I had to call that I was recording the call. When I inevitably had to call them three weeks later and have the same conversation they would say something like “we have no record of that” I was able to play them a recording. Finally they stopped sending me bills. I called a few months later to ask if it had been settled but was told that they were still investigating. That was a few months ago. So I honestly don’t even know if it is over. In conclusion: do not trust a word they say, get everything in writing and record every call (be clear to announce that every time and get that announcement as the first part of the recording). Talk to your insurance company to clarify everything. Keep detailed records of everything including any payments you do make. I like the idea of asking for an itemized bill, but just know that they are as dishonest as they are incompetent. Maybe call back a second time three weeks later and see if they send you a different bill!