James A Watson Wellness Center

I talk to Dr. Watson about diabetes. Dr. Watson has a wealth of Information on diabetes and it’s medicines. The staff at James A. Watson Wellness Center are cool. He sees a lot of patients, so you will wait.

My experience at the James A. Watson Wellness Center has always be positive. Dr Watson is a pillar of the community just like his father was before him. There can be a wait to see your physician, but I think it’s understandable because they serve so many people in an underserved community. When you meet with Dr. Watson he is very attentive and makes sure you do what you need to do to stay healthy. Preventive care is really important to him and I’m thankful for that.

Piss poor. I set up an appointment in December for January. Mind you I’ve been holding out on going to the ER for this appointment. I was wondering why they have not called to confirm. The day has come which is today 1÷29÷16, and I’m not even scheduled, let alone even in the system?! This place need to be re-​staffed and Watson needs to be fired. This is outrageous, playing with people’s lives. I’m hoping this establishment gets closed down. IF YOU ARE A PATIENT HERE, move to the Life Long center on Ashby in Berkeley. NOT the West Oakland health center they’re crap as well.

THE worst. I repeat. THE WORST medical establishment I have encountered in all of my life – and I say this without ever having stepped a foot within their walls.
I tried for months to register as a new patient. Every single time I called to make an appointment the receptionist would tell me that the new patient enrollment coordinator was out to lunch. At 9 am in the morning? Yes. That makes complete sense. Alright. When I confronted them about this fact and about how I had called about a dozen times before and received the same exact answer – they said they would talk to the coordinator, try to get my paperwork processed, and give me a call back (I had been waiting for over 6 months).
It’s been over a year and I never received a phone call. I haven’t thought about this place in months but the sheer disgust I feel for the establishment came running back to me just now and I had to write a review just so other people aren’t screwed over by the terribleness that is this place. Stay away. Seriously.

They hardly ever seem to pick up their telephone. So trying to do follow up work is extremely difficult.

Horrible Ghetto-​ass place. You immediately know that you are a marginalized, disenfranchised, economically disadvantaged member of society. The paperwork reinforces my claim, this place is horrific. If you have had private insurance you would know. Damn! Unemployment sucks

This place must be a joke. I called to make a new patient appointment and pushed the wrong extension & the staff member was «RATCHET» & hung up on me. I called back & chose the correct ext for appointments and Leslie answered & asked me to hold, [7 minutes] never returned. I called back NO ANSWER! Really? I will be reporting this place to my insurance, I pay too much for this kind of a care option. Absolutely GHETTO! Yeah I said it!

This place is a busy (or so it appears) medical clinic across the street from me, so a couple months ago I dropped by to get a persistent cough checked out. They had a pretty steep service fee, and when I told them I was low-​income, they said to get MediCal and come back. So instead I had to go to county and the only access I had was ER (that’s how it works, folks), and ended up with a bottle of prescription-​strength cough suppressant at the cost of $ 1,000 for the visit, which was absorbed through the county health system low-​income assistance program. In the meantime, still unemployed, I applied for and received MediCal coverage. So today I thought I’d go back to this neighborhood clinic to get a flu shot. Even though I presented the MediCal card, they insisted on cash. I told them if I had cash, I wouldn’t be on MediCal (duh). They seemed unequipped to provide flu shots, and treated my request as though it were an unusual request. First of all, the medical receptionist told me she’d have to ask her supervisor if it were OK to accept my MediCal card (which is strange because nearly everyone who goes to this clinic is on MediCal or MediCare and low-​income). It took her about 20 min to get back to me, and only then to advise me to try going to Walgreens if I wanted a flu shot. Perhaps they did not want to serve me because I am not African-​American, and now I see the clinic prefers to focus solely on that community. Maybe they should have a sign on the front door making that clear. I was under the impression, given the foot traffic, that it was a public clinic and part of the county health care system. I insisted I was at a medical clinic and that a flu shot was a pretty routine procedure. I was told to wait and she’d see if she could find someone to help me. After an hour, I left. Just before I did, an AA woman approached the desk, said she had come for an appointment that was for 3 hours earlier, and that she had not yet been seen and was leaving without service. Judging from my experience and the other reviews here, I would say this place is lacking in basic competence and to go elsewhere. Glad I didn’t get a flu shot there after all.

Dr Snipes was very nice & helpful. bring a book.

I wouldn’t even give him one star if that was an option. Terrible doctor who does not return phone calls, has no interest in being patient orientated and is a complete moron!
This doctor is a nightmare to deal with, he makes every contact with him a drawn out mess and I want people to know to avoid this office at all costs!

Horrible. Avoid this place. They never return phone calls, and the office is pure chaos. Been there twice and will never go back. During 1^st visit I had to give a urine sample. They had me leave the cup in a box with other samples under some other patient’s seat in the lobby. weird, and gross. Glad I didn’t have the pee sample seat. 2^nd visit, made an appointment for 9:30am and arrived at 9:15. Waited there until 10:45 without being seen and just left.

I would highly recommend that you avoid this office at all costs. In my attempts to schedule an appointment when I needed to see a doctor, the staff was surly, rude and unresponsive. They told me that the first appt was more then 2 weeks out and if I needed a doctor to go to the emergency room, where i would have been sent right back to them. I was a «patient» of theirs due to my hmo and could not see anyone else — obviously I switched as soon as possible. Probably the worst office experience I have ever had.