Monterey Bay Urology Associates

This doctor’s office is the worst I’ve ever visited.
I work on the west side of Santa Cruz, but for insurance purposes have to travel to Watsonville for the care I needed. Anybody in the county knows that trying to travel between Santa Cruz and Watsonville at commute hours is tough to do. I communicated with the office that I may be late and the said «That’s fine».
I arrived in watsonville and remembered that this office does not take credit or debit cards (because what business does THAT?). This delayed my arrival.
As I approached the red light at the corner to make my left, I called again, and told the receptionist I was 30 seconds away. She told me «I’m sorry but you’re more than 15 minutes late, so we cannot see you.» I arrived at the office door exactly 17 minutes late, so I was denied being seen for 2 minutes (I do understand the necessity to be prompt; however, I also understand the business of customer service where you do bend for a customer who is making the best effort to get there they can).
I decided to walk in and plead my case, and was still told the same thing.
I left one job early to try and get there on time; I went to my second job late due to this appointment, and most regrettably I didn’t get to lay eyes on my 3 year old son all day as he was asleep when I left and upon my return.
I can’t speak for the doctor; in 4 visits (3 getting shots and yesterday’s fiasco) I never laid eyes on or met the man. I will say that his hiring standards leave a lot to be desired as his staff is always rude and unprofessional every time I’ve been in there, or had to call on the phone.
I would not have even given the one star if I didn’t have to do so. This office should be shut down, or at least the front office fired and replaced.

Worst experience ever!!! Not even worth the one star I am force to give it! READ FULL REVIEW to hear about doctor and office staff experience. I am a very healthy 35 year old and one year ago I had excruciating pain that lead me to the ER. While there it was determined that I had a very large stone that I could not pass and would have to have removed. The ER doctor informed me at it was an easy fix; infrasound would be used to remove the stone and I would be good as new by tomorrow. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The on-​call Urologist, Dr. Benjamin from Monterey Urology, was called in but he was too busy to come in. So, he had the hospital physician give me drugs to hold me off until Dr. Benjamin could be bothered to see me. That night I spend it in tremendous pain accompanied by severe vomiting. It felt like I was in labor with a stomach flu. Horrible!!! Dr. Benjamin made his was to see the next day and to he honest I was so weak and in so much pain that the only recollection I have of that encounter is me begging him to make the pain stop and him telling me I would go into surgery the «next day» and a stent would be placed in me. Really!!! Dr. Benjamin chose the most beneficial treatment plan for him ($$$$). So, one more day in pain but unfortunately I am far from relief! After I came out of surgery I was covered in urine. I was given diapers to wear (yes, diapers!) and sent home. While at home I quickly search the internet trying to get clarification on why I was still had discomfort and I could feel the stent in between. I quickly learned that the stent should have be internal and I called the hospital. the hospital advice me to call dr. Benjamin and he eventually called me back. He agreed that the stent needed to be internal and said he would fit me in the next day. He suggested I must have pulled the stent out but it was out from the moment I came out of surgery. If the procedure had been explained to me I would have know it needed to be internal but I wasn’t. So I didn’t know what to expect. While at his office, I waited over an hour (in a diaper) to be seen. When I went in I was trying to get information on the stent, my recover, when the stone could be removed, why it wasn’t removed and Dr. Benjamin was redirecting my questions and kept talking about the Wharf-​to-​wharf I had missed because of my stone. Missing the Wharf-​to-​wharf was the last thing I had on my mind. THEN she shoves the stent in… YES without giving me anything… not even a warming! @$#% that was painful! I was later told by ANOTHER Urologists that «he» had only done that while in combat with limited resources! I guess they must have limited resources at Monterey Urology and no regard for the patient! Dr. Benjamin told me the stent would allow me to continue my exercise routine of 10 – 15 hours a week at the gym and go on my 5+ miles trail run. He even told me I could compete in my Spartan race that was scheduled in a couple of weeks. Really!!! I was happy to hear that but that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t even walk my dog around the block without feeling like I was going to faint and left out of breath. I couldn’t care for my two daughters without help from friends and family. I spent our summer vacation in bed barely able to do anything. And that is how the Internet described a stent placement. At that point I went to another doctor and had the stent and stone removed that SAME day! Now I am left with thousand and thousands of dollars in bills, after my insurance paid their portion. I tried to negotiate my bill with Monterey Urology but that was also a horrible experience. Lupe used a very nasty tone and was very condescending. Figures were changed and changed again and after it was all said and done… I was left feeling violated. My pride taken from me, my strengths and dignity! This was my experience! I am still in despite about my balance but Lupe has made it clear that the doctor does not care about my experience and will not making any chances to my balance. I did receive a minimal credit for the inconvenience and was told my balance was x amount but I later found out it was incorrectly quoted by Lupe and apparently the world balance to Lupe means balance on a portion of my charges and not my full balance. So she quoted me a balance on a portion of me fees but there were other fees I had a balance for. Wait… does that make any sense??? What can I at this point?