Potomac Psychological Center

We waited 45 minutes for our first appointment only to find out that our therapist was late "due to construction and was only a mile away." 15 more minutes past before we decided to get our money back and reschedule. After a few "I'm sorry's" and a true lack of understanding how terrible of a first impression this was for a place who's supposed to put patient's mental health first, we decided to call it a loss and find another practice. Very disappointing and unprofessional.

This place is unacceptable. My daughter went to Maria and had been seeing her for a while. She did not feel comfortable having me in the room, and I said that was ok. Maria then told her that by not having me in the room she was never going to get better and then she said "I am not the one with problems, your mom is not the one with problems, you are the one with problems." I thought that it was very inconsiderate and we have not been back since. The front desk is also not good. They have messed up billing on multiple occasions. I would never go back to this place and never recommend it to anyone else.

What a JOKE!

No part of this experience has gone well. When you call to make an appointment, you leave a message (if the voicemail box isn't full), and wait for a call back. If you're lucky enough to be waiting by the phone when it rings. If not, you call back and leave another voicemail (if the mailbox isn't full). This phone tag game continues until you connect person to person.

Although, our experience was not one of being charged for a supposive missed appointment fee (like other reviews), we did show up & then got the 'oh, you didn't get the call that your appointment was cancelled?' from the front desk. Arh, Frustrating!

And just when this should have been the sign to take our business elsewhere, we didn't it. Things got worse. My son was seen by a LCP to have a comprehensive evaluation completed for ADD. This has been the straw the broke the camel's back. The intake appointment was in June. The testing in August, & we still don't have the results (nearly Nov-nearly 3 months). I've left four voicemail messages in four weeks requesting a call back from the doctor- NADA, NOTHING, ZILCH! Better Business Bureau is the next step!

Have been billed for 1 missed appointment visit that I know was changed because I entered them in my calendar when scheduling the appointments and reverifed the appointments with the scheduler over the phone. They denied the request for a full waiver on a missed appointment fee from when I was so sick I couldn't talk and was in the hospital for two days. (They claimed I had adequate time to call). The second missed appointment fee was due to my daughter having a major emergency surgery. I went over 2 months without being seen after they denied the full fee waiver for my missed appointment from being extremely sick. Due to that time gap they are now stating I have no right to an appeal on the missed appointment for my daughters emergency surgery. Then today June 22nd I showed up to my appointment at 1:30pm I had gotten and email about and was told that it was yesterday June 21st at 1:30pm. Yet was in my calendar for June 23rd at 1:30PM. BEWARE! No compassion and unwelcoming staff!

The building and location were nice. Unfortunately, those are the only high points of my experience with the office staff and therapist at this psychological center. The licensed professional counselor (LCP) I worked with was always at least 20 minutes late and did not have adequate availability or time to give proper treatment. She didn't file necessary insurance claims on time, leaving me to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket. Additionally, the office staff was prickly and unsympathetic in addition to causing numerous scheduling issues when what was written on a scheduling card did not match what was in the computer. All in all a terrible experience. I will never go back!

I decided to give this place a try despite the poor reviews, but I am thoroughly regretting that now. I was greeted for my appointment stating I had a bill from a month ago and a bill for today. The receptionist said I had to meet my deductible first.. which I knew was incorrect. I let them know that I had not been told this previously and that I had already worked with my insurance and that outpatient sessions were covered with this particular therapist. I mentioned I was not paying near $200 before my appointment because they were not correct and I left. They called right after mentioning they billed the wrong address but blamed the way my insurance card was formatted. Overall, the tone was accusatory which was frustrating as I never miss payments I need to pay and am in a business where I am trying to humble myself to receive help. I felt the same tone from the therapist which was disappointing, and a reason I will be looking elsewhere.

The billing department and front desk are to worst I have ever dealt with. They make up appointments to bill you a missed appointment fee. There are so many other options in the area. STAY AWAY!

Terrible! Run, don't walk...away from this office. Nasty billing office reps make lots of mistakes and act like loan sharks. Very disrespectful to a family who always pays the bill on time. They want your money up front! This is bad manners. Shame on them. We tried going for three years, hoping it would get better over time. It didnt! You have been warned.

Two major issues: One- they make up missed appointment charges. We have had this TWICE. The first time, hey insisted my child had an appointment that was on a day/time that NEITHER my husband nor I could have POSSIBLY brought him. We KNEW it was a false appointment/charge. The next charge for a missed appointment didn't appear until 6 months after the accused missed appointment. They claim they called my husband's cell phone, but no such record of the call exists. Second issue (and MOST concerning): HIPPA violation! The receptionist have our financial information that had NOTHING to do with my child's care to a social worker who was working with my son at a different facility. I will NOT return.



Like a previous poster- I give one star because 0 stars is not an option.

I've had two experiences at this place and each deserve separate ratings, so the above rating is an average of the two.



The first experience was when I went in to get tested for attention problems. I dealt with Dr. Ruth Stephens and she was amazing. She was friendly and she listened well, prompting the conversation into directions she wanted to explore. She took her time and didn't make me feel like we were on a time crunch. She gets 5 stars.



My second experience was when I took my son in to be examined for anxiety problems. He was 7, which I explained when I made the appointment. After waiting 1.5 months for the appointment, we walked into the office of Sharon Hamilton 15 minutes late (we had been in the office, she was late) only to be told that she doesn't see patients that young, and she escorted us out of her office. It was incredibly unprofessional. I called the office manager to request that she not charge insurance because we weren't seen that day and she promised to look into it and call me back. We moved out of state a week later so I dropped the ball and didn't follow-up to make sure she didn't charge insurance (and me). She did charge insurance and my explanation of benefits (EOB) says we saw Stacey Stickley (who treats patients that young) when we really saw Sharon Hamilton. I checked previous EOBs from their office and the provider is always listed as the actual person we saw, not another person in the office. For this stunt, I'll give 1 star because 0 stars isn't an option.



These two experiences are why I only gave PPC 2 stars. Even if we hadn't moved out of state, after this kind of underhanded practice ethics, I wouldn't return to this office.