One of our individual members discovered that by using the Crawley (Sussex) Boots Dental Service he could save himself £30 compared to the price that would be charged by the equally-distant Croydon store!
He paid just £19.50 for the Boots initial comprehensive dental examination at Crawley when the same examination cost £49.50 in Croydon! Why the difference?
Two reasons apparently - one is that Croydon was not offering a "Special Introductory" offer of £20 off, and secondly the normal price for that examination in a "London" store is about 25% more.
Our intrepid member contacted the Customer Service Team at Boots HQ who confirmed the differences in normal prices because Croydon is in London and Crawley is not. But worse was to come, the prices of Boots Optician Services, Foot Care, even general products on the shelves might all be subject to this "in or out of London" price difference.
The lesson to be learnt, if you live near the London boundary, and you want to pay less for the same service or product, is to avoid stepping over the boundary!
Anyway, readers might like to know that the member thought the initial dental examination very thorough (over one hour), he received a clear written report (including photos of the key areas for attention) with estimates for the dental work recommended to be done. He later went on to purchase some dental work from them and was satisfied.
In the last issue of Consumer News we reported about the Super Complaint lodged with the Office of Fair Trading by the Consumers Association which has concerns about the market in private dentistry. The OFT has looked into the complaint and has found causes for concern. John Vickers, the Director General, said: "Our preliminary study has given grounds to suspect that the market is not working well for dental patients. The next step is to investigate thoroughly what is going on. If action needs to be taken we will drive it forward."
These causes for concern are about the transparency of prices, the level of competition and the way complaints are dealt with and compensation offered. There are also questions about access to dental services and about how much guidance patients are given before treatment is undertaken?
The OFT will now use the powers it has under section 2 of the Fair Trading Act 1973 to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into this market. It will examine how the provision of NHS and private dental services operate together, the incentives for dentists to treat patients under the NHS or privately, and the constraints and incentives to provide new services. It will also study the expectations and rights of consumers, and the availability and quality of information for consumers to enable them to make informed choices.
This wide-ranging investigation will be completed by the end of the year and will include a period of consultation with key interested parties.
Our Legislation and Consumer Affairs Committee is aware of the investigation and considers that there are other questions to be answered. These are:
• is NHS dentistry available where you live?
• do you have a dental treatment insurance and if so has it been effective in helping to meet the cost of private dental treatment?
• can you choose your dental treatment insurer, or are you tied to the one your dentist requires?
We would like to know from Individual and Group Members the answers they have found to the above three questions. If they reveal a cause for concern we can ask the OFT to include this in their investigations. Please send your replies to the Editor in writing, typed, on floppy disk, by e-mail or by fax, to John Brown, 6 Priory Gardens, Dartford, Kent. DA1 2BE. Fax and phone 01322 280673 email editor@ncf.info
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