Friday, April 18, 2014

Just Dial - Tread with care

It's election fever pan India. everybody is taking help of the social media  to get their thoughts across. It could be for personal gain or a part of social activism. Not to be left far behind, I thought I should also join the circuit, albeit for a different cause. 
The subject here may not be that important, but it is quite relevant to our medical fraternity. This message needs to reach far and wide at the earliest to stop this farcical practice initiated by JUST DIAL- one of the finest search engines. 

The incident came to light yesterday when a close doc friend of mine who was leisurely holidaying abroad, called me - panic stricken. He reported some unruly behavior happening at his clinic and asked me to look into the matter.  
Apparently, a couple of patients had been given appointments for his consultation through the services of Just Dial even though the doctor was on leave. These patients were creating a ruckus outside the clinic premises claiming that the appointment was routed through JD but was given by the doctor's secretary. There seemed to be something spooky about this whole affair since the secretary in question blatantly denied giving any such fixtures as the doctor was on a planned vacation. 
It was up to my sleuthing to uncover this shady business. I called up the Just Dial service at 10 PM, wanting to get the contact number of Dr Shabbir Baldiwala. I was very politely asked if JD could book an appointment for me. Since I agreed, they apparently transferred the line to a person, some Mr Vijendra who claimed to be Dr Baldiwala's secretary. I asked for a Saturday appointment knowing fully well that the clinic is closed for consulting on Saturdays. I was promptly given a time for 5 PM. When I tried to reconfirm whether the doc would be available on Saturday, I was told by Vijendra that the time was confirmed since he was speaking from the clinic itself. Phew. 

Messages were exchanged and the appointment booked. The SMS sent to Dr Baldiwala does mention the client's phone number. So it is now the doctor's job to call up the patient and make the necessary clarifications. In all this exercise, who is being inconvenienced? The patient, the doctors or both??

Just Dial needs to answer this question before it is slapped with the CPA. 
 

9 comments:

  1. Gud write up and hopefully just dial will make amends.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is really bad! What could be their ulterior motive in this elaborate masquerade?

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is really bad! What could be their ulterior motive in this elaborate masquerade?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its very bad. We cannot accept any such kind of irresponsibility from just dial. JD have to clear it earliest

      Delete
  4. Really frustrating for both patients and doc as well....JD needs to look in to d matter asap.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very intriguing. This has to be investigated. How does Just Dial benefit ? They reply eagerly awaited.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Sir, we are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused. Our team is currently investigating the issue and will get in touch with you shortly.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You should post this on FB with a handle to JustDial itself. JustDial has an official page on FB. So post of FB with (@JustDial) and this should hopefully be resolved by JD asap. If not atleast the followers of JD on FB will be notified about this scam which will compel JD to take some corrective action

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes Sir. I have already posted on their FB page. Thx.

    ReplyDelete