Dental Planet BuyDentalEquipment.com Bait and switch, breach of contract, refusal to pay commission, refusal to respond to contact attempts and BBB re

23rd of Dec, 2011 by User366673

Dental Planet is a company out of Texas that offers several services to their consumers. Their services include buying surplus medical/dental equipment and also reselling "refurbished" equipment. I own a small dental equipment repair/installation company and became involved with Dental Planet in December 2010. The rep I dealt with is no longer with the company. She explained to me that Dental Planet pays a commission to dealers that either sell Dental Planet equipment, or sends Dental Planet a buyer. My company was considered a dealer, and in late December 2010, I brought them one of my customers. An equipment agreement was reached in January/February 2011. Throughout the process, I tried to maintain contact, but Dental Planet became more and more distant - not returning phone calls, messages or e-mails for weeks at a time. When finally getting a response in April, I was told the equipment was ready several weeks before, but was unfortunately forgotten about. The equipment was eventually delivered at the beginning of May 2011. I installed it several days later, and began inquiring with Dental Planet about the commission payment. It was supposed to be mailed out the day the equipment was shipped. Many e-mails and voicemails followed. With the exception of one response every 5-10 days where I was told payment should have been processed and they would "look into it" and get back to me the next day, I felt completely ignored. After a few days of waiting for any response, as promised, I would begin trying to contact Dental Planet again. The same series of events would repeat, eventually involving the Dental Planet accounting department, the accounting manager, and also the VP of sales. Each person would promise a response a response the following day, each would blame the other for failure to process payment, but all would fail to follow through with any of it, leaving me to wonder what was going on. Late July 2011, was the last empty promise I accepted before sending 2 certified letters to the Dental Planet corporate office explaining my displeasure. Both letters were sent in August, and both have also gone without a response. I then sent 3 separate e-mails - one to the rep I originally dealt with, one to accounting and one to the VP of sales. I again informed them of my experience and concerns, I told them of my intentions to report them if they continued to ignore the issue, and stated that I'd sent certified letters after having been consistently ignored up through July 2011. In September, I received a response from the original rep. She apologized that payment had not been sent, and proceeded to again blame accounting for not processing it. She continued to explain that the company was having "cash flow" issues, and that was why my payment had not been processed. Up to this point, that had not been mentioned by anyone. She then told me by the end of that current week, she would be resigning from the company. She again told me that all the information would be sent to accounting and they will get in touch with me the following day. I was instructed to contact accounting by noon the following day if I had not heard from them first. It was no surprise that accounting did not contact me. I began calling and leaving messages for specific reps in that department. Eventually, I received a response where I was finally given an estimated date for the payment to arrive, around October 7. The date passed without a payment. I called back, leaving messages every day, eventually receiving another estimated date from accounting of "by the end of the month". After not receiving payment in early November, I started calling the accounting manager and the VP of sales again. Of course, I had to leave voicemails, just as I've had to do with any person I tried to contact directly since May. They would also ignore every phone message I left, until I suggested in a voicemail to the VP that I felt I was being ignored intentionally. He actually called me back and explained that he was not avoiding me on purpose. He also told me, "You WILL get paid, I just can't tell you when." He went on to confirm that Dental Planet was in the middle of restructuring, which was the main reason why I, along with many others, have not been paid commission. The principle of this issue drove me to report Dental Planet to the Texas Better Business Bureau, by the end of November. I received a response from BBB. They made 3 attempts to get a response from Dental Planet, and received none. It is unfortunate that Dental Planet has shown such a lack of interest, responsibility, and professionalism in dealing with this issue. I've since learned this is common practice with this company. I've also learned they have filed bankruptcy have changed ownership several times in the last few years. Please be aware that Dental Planet has proven to be a company that does not stand behind what they say, or even what their own agreements state. Once they are paid for equipment, the customers and dealers are left completely on their own. There is no customer support beyond equipment shipping dates, and in spite of contracts/agreements, commission is not paid to dealers who bring Dental Planet business.

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