Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: refusing service

That seems like a lot of money to pay -- even for a crown. Although this isn't technically legal advice, you might want to check with some of the dental schools to see if they could do (presumably) as good a job at a more reasonable price.

Re: refusing service

I agree with Attorney Cohen that from a non-legal perspective, that is a truck-load of money, and you may want to investigate other means of completing the process - you are by no means tied to using that same dentist. The problem, however, is that it might continue to increase costs by starting over somewhere else.

The problem you face is this - if this were a life-threatening problem, and you walked into an emergency room asking for it to be fixed, they have a legal and ethical obligation not to turn you away, regardless of how much you owe them. Dentists, however, are a whole different ball of wax, and can refuse to continue service until they are paid. I've even heard of dentist mid-procedure essentially hi-jacking parents for additional money while their kids are under. You really have no leverage, so you may wish to look into alternative providers to get a better deal, or look at financing the balance of the work - GE Money Bank has dental accounts - see if your dental provider can help you get one to finish the work.

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