Recently I've been having numerous skin eruptions on my lower legs. The VA hospital can't give me a dermoatology appointment until two months out, and their Byzantine regulations regarding availing myself of an outside dermatologist through the Veterans' Choice program have predictably made it impossible for me to get an appointment.
But I have Medicare, so I called the office of a dermatologist I saw a few times twenty or so years ago, who was good and whom I liked. He's still listed on the Internet, and when I called his number I got an answering service identifying itself as his answering service. I explained what I wanted, and an hour or so later I got a call back from a woman who said she was from his office. She gave me an appointment. Then she asked me if I knew where they are located. I asked if they were still behind ___ Bank on South Main Street, and she said they had moved, and she gave me an address on East Main Street.
Fine. The appointment was for tomorrow. Something has come up and I needed to cancel, so I called a few minutes ago to let them know I won't be there. The call was answered by a male, and he didn't say "Dr. Gray's office," he said "____ Dermatology Associates." I asked if this was Doctor Gray's office, and the response was, "Dr. Gray retired two years ago." He then looked up and verified that I had an appointment, but with some other doctor that I've never heard of.
And that pisses me off. Not so much that they gave me an appointment, but that the person I originally spoke with let me think I was getting an appointment with a doctor I knew and liked and trusted, and didn't have the courtesy to tell me that I couldn't see him because he's retired.