UPDATE: 11/15/11, 3:30pm — I just finished a nearly seven-minute telephone conversation with Marcus Bachmann. A member of the media was there, and a video report will be forthcoming. It will be posted as soon as it becomes available.
Yesterday afternoon I was in a meeting and, of course, had my phone off. After the meeting concluded, I checked my phone and saw that I missed a call from a number I didn’t recognize. Since the mystery caller left a voicemail, I checked it, and my jaw nearly hit the floor when I found out that the mystery caller was, in fact, Marcus Bachmann.
Bachmann was calling in an attempt to collect $150 in no-show fees from two “pray away the gay” appointments I canceled after going through five such sessions with a therapist at his clinic back in June.
Before patients at Bachmann & Associates start services, they’re required to sign a paper acknowledging that they’ve been made aware of the clinic’s no-show policy. According to said policy, patients are assessed a $75 no-show fee for each appointment that they miss without giving prior notification. I always booked the maximum number of appointments in advance that I could (3) in order to avoid suspicion — after all, it was to be a 4-6 month course of treatment — so when I went back to Vermont, I called the clinic to cancel them. However, I didn’t want to give them any kind of a heads up about the story that was about to break in the media, so I said that a member of my immediate family “back home in Wisconsin” (they had seen and photocopied my Wisconsin ID) had had a health crisis, and that I needed to go out of state but didn’t know when I’d be back. On the voicemail I left at the clinic, I told them to cancel all three of my appointments and that I’d schedule my next sessions when I knew when I’d be back in the Twin Cities.
Apparently, instead of cancelling all three appointments as per my request, the receptionist or whomever had the job of fielding voice messages only canceled the first appointment, because two months after the story broke I started receiving bills for $150 (two no-show fees) from Bachmann & Associates. I wasn’t about to have Truth Wins Out fork over another $150 for the clinic’s error, so on November 2nd I called them and very politely contested the fee. Neither the receptionist nor the billing representative with whom I spoke had any idea who I was. The billing representative merely told me that once the fees had been assessed they could only be waived at the therapist’s discretion, so she’d send a message to Timothy Wiertzema asking whether he’d be willing to waive them. She assured me that if Timothy hadn’t personally called me back by the end of the week, I could safely assume he’d agreed to waive the fees.
The rest of the week came and went without any further contact with anyone from Bachmann & Associates, so I assumed the matter was settled. Timothy must have deferred any decision on the matter to Marcus himself, as the following message was left on my phone:
Voicemail from Marcus Bachmann by user6446359
Hello John Becker, this is Doctor Marcus Bachmann (emphasis his); I received a message from our billing department asking if we would write off the two no-show fees for 7/7/11 and 7/12/11. We will not (emphasis his) be writing those off, so you do owe those no-show fees, and we would expect payment as soon as possible, otherwise we will have to turn it over to collections. If you have any questions you can call (651) 379-0444. Thank you.
(NOTE: The phone number Marcus Bachmann provided is the publicly listed phone number for the Bachmann & Associates Lake Elmo office. Were it not publicly available, we would not have included it.)
Either Marcus Bachmann has a lot more time to personally attend to his underlings’ business matters now that his wife’s presidential campaign has tanked, or Truth Wins Out’s undercover investigation remains a very personal issue for him nearly five months later. I’ll be calling Dr. Bachmann back later today. Stay tuned!
Just pay the damn thing as you likely don’t have any proof that you cancelled the appointments. You’ve gotten more than $150 of publicity off this schmuck anyway. Besides, you can always report his office to the Better Business Bureau and Angie’s List for bad business practices.
Actually, phone records may prove the point.
I couldn’t disagree with the other Michael more! TWO doesn’t owe that jackass a dime. You followed the appropriate procedures for cancellation. The error was theirs, not yours. TWO is a small nonprofit and should hardly be asked to fork over $150.00 of donors’ money on debts they do not owe. Bachmann’s substantial jowls suggest that he can live without the prime rib for the next few months and swallow this loss.
Just make sure they don’t use this to try and mess up your credit rating.
Marcus Bachmann hardly needs the money — he makes plenty from his Big Government Farm in Wisconsin and taking tax payers money from his Big Government Clinic.
Don’t pay him. He gets plenty of money of Medicare.
Your credit rating cannot be hurt by MEDICAL bills owing. Don’t worry about it.
Wrong, your credit rating CAN be hurt by medical bills. Ask many Americans how they’ve lost their homes! (But, not in this case since you have phone records.)
Don’t pay. If you informed them then they made a mistake and aren’t willing to own up to it. Unsurprising: they are fundagelicals and the rules don’t apply to them.
Don’t pay and then if they continue to hound you, sue for harassment. The mistake was theirs. Hit up the BBB while you’re at it. And Yelp. And Angie’s List…..
Balances for medical bills are not allowed to be reported on your credit score. You did follow procedure. I would submit a written letter of dispute and cc the Better Business Bureau.
He deserves negative money. Pay him negative money.
[...] Here’s audio, from Becker and Truth Wins Out: [...]
[...] is now is demanding payment for Becker’s two no-shows. He really wants that $150, and left this message on Becker’s voicemail: Hello John Becker, this is Doctor Marcus Bachmann (emphasis his); I received a message from our [...]
If you are going to pay, get creative, maybe we could all mail in an envelope with one penny in it.
The receptionist who failed to cancel all appointments per your request should be held accountable. If she says only one was mentioned by you, where is her proof? Medicaid/Medicare should be prosecuting them for fraud.
I wrote to Bachmann, and he actually CALLED me. Guess the guy has too much time on his hands.
I like #15′s idea. We should all separately mail-in pennies on Becker’s behalf.
It sounds like Bachmann’s billing practices are as deceptive and misleading as his “therapy”.
Becker should write back with a lawsuit asking for damages in the amount of 1 million dollars for having a fraud perpetrated on him, having psychiatry practiced on him without a license, and intentional infliction of emotional pain. See how Bachamnn likes that.
Give him monopoly money…… ; )
TWO didn’t incur the debt. John did. Its his credit that will be damaged if it goes to collection.
If you had three future appointments, but they are billing you for only two, that would support your claim that you called to cancel. Ask them about it.
Instead of mailing pennies, mail $1 bills with the “Gay Bucks” stamp on it.
Don’t pay them a dime.!.
Marcus is just a bitter betty. ;.)
Send him counterfeit money. After all, he operates a sleazy counterfeit therapy scam.
Marcus is probably seeking every penny he can collect to help pay the debts of his wife’s failed presidential campaign – a campaign based to a significant extent on embracing anti-gay bigotry.
Ask him if you can spend it on hookers instead as you’re still trying to go straight… and you think that would REALLY help! :-)
Here’s how to wrap it up to everyone’s satisfaction: Pray Away The Pay.
OK. I don’t shock easily and I have seen and heard it all. Nevertheless, I find this truly astonishing. If my late partner had taken that message, he would undoubtedly relay it as “some fag says you owe him money.”
There is always conciliation court. You can file for a 75 dollar filing fee. Minn. Stat. Ch. 491A.
It is an informal small-claims court, most often without lawyers involved, and you can claim that you are being harassed over a false debt claim, and that you want to recover for harm to reputation and the filing fee. That you have been provided no documentation proving you did not cancel by phone, and are unaware of why that firm made mistakes.
That’s what you ARE saying here. It’s not any new story, no twisting of facts you’ve already documented online.
You can subpoena Jane Doe, Clinic Receptionist, Marcus since he’s the one dunning and threatening you, and the Wiertzema guy, and tell your story to a judge and play the voicemail you appear to have preserved.
If the witnesses do not show you can suggest to the judge they are ducking things and your story will not be contradicted. If they do show, sometimes those calendars can drag out for half a day before the final contested case is heard.
It’s not a court of record so you cannot have a transcript of anybody on record about pray away the gay matters, but it’s your right to have a calendar date if you pay the filing fee and fill out the complaint form, and your right to compel witness attendance by subpoena. There might be an additional fee to have the subpoenas issued.
Details vary from court to court, and it would be in Stillwater-Lake Elmo, Washington County, and you could invite the press because it might be viewed as newsworthy.
That’s just an idea. Run it by a lawyer to see what he/she thinks. I am not a lawyer in Minnesota, so don’t regard this simple comment as anything to rely upon – talk to a lawyer.
Also you might want to check with the Attorney General’s office about proper and improper debt collection practices. At least check the website.
An alternative: If you pray and fast for three days, God might give you an answer, just as he told Michele and Marcus that Michele should run for elective office. The very same way. She has no lock on it as only her personal pipeline.
Don’t call back. You are obviously in the right by cancelling way before the sessions. (?) Usually there is a 24 hr advanced notice to cancel such things. Sue him now for malicious business practices as he has threatend collections which could sceew with your credit rating. That would make headline news and go over very well for honest Americans and not so well for Michelle Bachmann. And don’t settle out if court. ; )
I suggest that a call to the state licensing board is in order, since you are being charged for no-shows when you called to cancel.
Charging for services unfairly is a violation of ethical guidelines for all the US mental health professional organizations, and pursuing this in the manner he has chosen appears to have crossed the ethical boundaries.
John,
Firstly, the “Christian counseling” sold to you as a medical treatment is pure quackery drawn from discredited junk science.
Consequently, you are a victim of both consumer fraud and medical malpractice.
You may owe administative cancellation fees, but should not pay one penny until this clinic refunds everything that you paid for health care, plus the standard “emotional distress” compensation.
State laws already protect you for consumer fraud and medical malpractice, so don’t be shy about using consumer rights and patient rights that you already have.
Secondly, given the dangerous, discredited, worthless treatment that Bachmann & Associates sells, they probably do not carry sufficient medical malpractice insurance. If you demand to see evidence of the insurance policies protecting both the clinic and you during the weeks that you were being treated, they won’t dare to ever phone you again.
It is so bizarre that out of the same mouth comes “you have missed your ‘pray away the gay’ appointment, and then in public denying that that is the basis of his “Ministry!” What Hypocrites, after all, I was born Gay, was aware I was early in life, and found that my Christianity and being GAY are NOT incompatible!!! Thank GOD!!!
@ John M. Becker
I think maybe Marcus is calling you personally because he fancies you…
If you sign a commitment to several sessions of anything, in this case “therapy,” and then you discover it’s a fraud during the first session, are you really obligated to pay for the remaining sessions? I don’t think so.
And I’m thinking that this move by Bachmann could be seen as an unintended gift to TWO, as it serves to further confirm that Bachmann is running a sleazy operation.
[...] Writes John Becker: Before patients at Bachmann & Associates start services, they’re required to sign a paper acknowledging that they’ve been made aware of the clinic’s no-show policy. According to said policy, patients are assessed a $75 no-show fee for each appointment that they miss without giving prior notification. I always booked the maximum number of appointments in advance that I could (3) in order to avoid suspicion — after all, it was to be a 4-6 month course of treatment — so when I went back to Vermont, I called the clinic to cancel them. However, I didn’t want to give them any kind of a heads up about the story that was about to break in the media, so I said that a member of my immediate family “back home in Wisconsin” (they had seen and photocopied my Wisconsin ID) had had a health crisis, and that I needed to go out of state but didn’t know when I’d be back. On the voicemail I left at the clinic, I told them to cancel all three of my appointments and that I’d schedule my next sessions when I knew when I’d be back in the Twin Cities. [...]
Call JUDGE JUDY!!! I bet those a******s would never want this on her show and if it is, think of the great publicity we would get. Her show advertises ‘Have you been *scammed*?” The answer here is a most definite yes!
There is a lot of good advice legally here, in the sense there are many parts to this issue, and there are indeed statutes and such that need to be consulted — and you might well want to talk to a lawyer — but the good thing is: ratchet it up! Oh yes, I’d drag it all before a judge on the “false medical practices,” I’d complain to every public authority that has anything to do with what this clinic purports to do. If one is truly to expose this mush as nothing more than “prayer” (which one is always free to argue for,) than only battling it out will do it. Enjoy.
[...] explains the circumstances that led up to the phone call: Before patients at Bachmann & Associates start services, [...]
You know how there’s this old saying, “Queer as a $3 bill”? Wonder if he’s heard it and what he’d do if you printed off $3 fake bills….
I have to wonder if this is a scam how many others have cancelled appointments only to be harasssd for payment
Marcus just wants to chat you up, John! haha :D
[...] lashing out at gay activist group Truth Wins Out. Their feud began in July, when a TWO activist, John M. Becker, published an investigative report about how Bachmann’s Minnesota-based clinic practices [...]
He wants you to break down and admit you don’t have the money so he can demand you f**k him in the a*s in lieu of payment.
Marcus surely has a crush on John, and used the demand for fee payment as a ruse to call just so he could hear his voice. After all, John is pretty darn cute. Marcus must have been devastated when his call went into voice-mail. I think that a person being groomed to be our nation’s First Lady would have much more important things to do than making collection calls.
I just sent a penny to his office and asked that it be credited to your account. I’m trying to get my facebook friends to do the same and ask THEIR friends to do it, and so on. If we can get 15,000 people to each send a penny it’d be paid. BTW,,address is Bachmann & Associates, Inc., 8669 Eagle Point Blvd., Lake Elmo, MN 55042.
Call the MN Attorney General’s office and the BBB. I’m sure the folks at the AG’s office would have some good advice. Our AG, Lori Swanson, is about as tough as they come! I also like the idea of spreading this story as widely as possible, using Angie’s List, etc. You clearly called well in advance of your appointments, more than 24 hours, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Give them some bad publicity over it.
My penny is going in the mail tomorrow…
Great idea, Rich!
LOL!!!!! I LOVE the penny idea!!!!!! DO IT!!!!! :) 15K pennies!!!! SO FANTASTIC!!!!!
Whenever I make any kind of medical appointment, I get called to confirm the appointment one or two business days earlier. I suspect they do this precisely to cover themselves if the patient doesn’t show.
I concur with the guys who advise some manner of small-claims court to repudiate the debt – definitely talk to someone who actually knows something about this too – but if they can’t provide documentation proving that they called to confirm the “missed” appointments, you should have them dead to rights.