Pediatric Affiliates Medical Group

After reading most of the reviews, I must say I’m a little confused. My children have been going to this office for almost 5 years now. We have never once been given poor treatment from any of the staff members. Yes, sometimes the waits are a little longer on the more popular appointment times but it’s like that at all doctor offices. The doctors here are great. Especially Dr. Snyder! Best pediatrician out there. He is extremely thorough, kind, and gentle. We love this office and will not be going to any other.

I recommended this office to a friend but she was put off by the negative reviews. My family has been using this office since 1985! My children came here and now my grandchildren are patients. Obviously we love the doctors and the staff is warm and friendly. In fact, I was surprised to see some of the same people on staff!

Condescending office staff and wait times always exceed an hour. Not sure why they make appointments. I guess they double book to make more profit but don’t care about their patients’ time/​experience.

There office staff can be rude and lack common sense. They changed their billing system and you cannot make an appointment with an outstanding balance due. Even if you have been with them for 10 years and its just $ 25.00 bucks.
Told them ok I would gladly pay them the following day at the appointment. Rude billing lady said nope!
Are you kidding me? You don’t want me to come in and pay you? Really… you would rather turn me away until I give you a credit card over the phone!
No common sense and certainly no customer loyalty.

My kids have been coming here for many, many years, but I think I have had all I can take. We are not going back. The office staff is rude and really have a «do not care» attitude. They talk about other patients right in front of you. Very unprofessional. The lady checking people in is the rudest. Wait times are over an hour then once you are brought back, you are waiting another 20 minutes before the doctor sees you. It is almost like they overbook appointments and the waiting room is always jam packed. I stayed with them so long because, once, a long long time ago, they were a very good medical group. I would not recommend this office.

I love this place, three of my kids are here for few years. The doctors and nurses are great and except different insurances.

I decided to bring my daughter here because I had a great experience as kid. However, I’ve been very disappointed with the staffing. The billing lady (I can’t remember her name) is the worse. My daughter was sick one day and my mom ended up taking her in, paid $ 40 for the co-​pay of $ 30. They told her they didn’t have change. They will apply it to the next visit or deduct it from my account. Long story short, I have no idea where the $ 5 of those $ 10 went. I kept arguing with the billing lady over $ 5 (it’s not so much the money, it’s more of the principal) and she instead that it was deduct from my last claim when I haven’t even received a bill from the last claim. So did they deduct that money to my insurance? And I couldn’t make a payment unless I paid that money. Needless to say I’m looking for a better pediatric office.

We have been going there for years, but for the last year and a half, the staff seems unhappy and the waits are an absolute, even if you have the first appointment.

Ive been going to both offices for a little over a year now. I must say I’ve always had a great experience. Sometimes you have to wait, but that’s ok because I know my child will be getting the same great care as everybody else. All the Drs are great and the office staff are all nice too. I love this place

Have been going to this office for several years and only now i realized how much this office doesnt care about anything other than money. They tell me to bring in my infant in every month when in reality according to the American Association of Pediatrics, its not every month. insurance companies cover according to AAP protacals and Of course this office wont disclose that leaving you with all the bills then even going as far as neglecting to see my sick child due to past due bill on account! Hate this office Vanessa in billing is so rude and unprofessional, its her way or the high way, talks over me… wont even let me explain or finish a sentence thinks she is correct because its the insurance or my «cheap coverage» thats the problem not their shaddy stratigies to get peoples money. So disappointed, never expected this from my childs dr office who i trusted for so many years. It all comes down to money for them. My insurance also called them to explain and see if they would see my sick child but the rep from my insurance also had the same expirence with Vanessa. She talked over ins rep, didnt care about anything other than the money. End of story, looking for new dr for my children!

We absolutely love Dr. Baik! She is phenomenal and thorough! She has been my youngest sons Doctor since his 10 week premature birth 5 years ago and my older son’s for 7 years. She explains everything and my boys love her. She is so calm and comforting to them!

My experience with this office has always been positive. My kids are excited to see
Dr. Fineberg who always takes his time .The nurses are polite and I have had an average wait time of no more than 10 minutes.
I hope that this does not get filtered because I sincerely feel that I always come back with all my questions answered.

Most of the Neg comments are spot on. We are looking for a new Dr for our children
My son came in for a visit and was mis diagnosed. After taking him to urgent care (due to the office being closed that evening) I informed the Dr of the instructions that we were given… she said «What rock did you find this Dr under» Speaking of the meds he prescribed to my son and advise me to ignore the orders. She sent us home and said follow up in 3 days– that it was a virus and should work its way out of his system. My son is a older teen– football player didn’t really want to go back but after 2 days my son was getting worse– lost 8 lbs in 3 days. We followed up and she sent us straight to the ER, that was the 1 thing that she did right. He spent 5 days in the hospital and was in really bad shape. He had a infection so bad his entire intestine was swollen. After taking antibiotics that were initially prescribed by this office– it wiped his system OUT of all bacteria good & bad. His recovery has been slow and a challenge for him because he still has to take it easy with the foods that he eats even after months out of the hospital. Needless to say the Dr at the urgent care was correct with his initial diagnoses. The pain, the days missed from school, the hospital stay, the recovery all could have been avoided if she was not so much of a «know it all» and considered another Dr. observation.
When taking a child to a Dr you should feel secure. I knew that it was time for a change when I second guesses everything after that experience.
Billing– we notice that the billing was incorrect. It almost appeared as if we were being double billed. Upon calling and questioning we were told that they would look over it and follow up. Didn’t happen–
Patient service– RUDE… if you don’t like your job maybe consider another profession. The last place a person should encounter unfriendly behavior is at a Dr office.
Having a appointment means waiting a hour to be seen. I’m so over this office–

First let me say that you have to read the filtered reviews to get a good sense about this office. I was shocked to see only negative reviews than realized 8 excellent reviews were being filtered. I hope my review doesn’t get filtered because I think the office is great. My kids were born in Santa Monica UCLA and had only seen a UCLA pediatrician, whom I LOVED, all their lives. Then we moved to the valley in 2009 and at first I refused to change doctors and continued driving over the hill to UCLA. Then we experienced an insurance change and I was forced to find new doctors and I am so happy with my choice! We saw a couple of the doctors (Fineberg, Melman) and while they were excellent, they didn’t feel right for us. After one visit to Dr. Melin-​Perel, who I had heard negative comments about, I was convinced she was the perfect choice for our family. She has correctly diagnosed my childrens’ illnesses, is proactive, knowledgeable, follows up, and really knows her stuff. I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the negative review or I would have missed out on a great doctor. I have encountered two staffers who don’t provide the best service over the phone, but once I get passed them, I’m well taken care of. Oh, I almost forgot, they have an office in West Hills and another in Agoura Hills. I tried both and settled on Agoura for my regular office but I still can go to either. Just whenever I go to West Hills, which has later hours during the week and weekend hours, it’s nice if they know in advance so they can transfer my son’s chart.

I can’t stand Dr. Beth Mellin-​Perrell. She is a know it all, and has twice given me very bad advice. All the other doctors are great and I would highly recommend them. The office staff is fine.

I have been taking my children here for the past 23 years and not once have I ever had a problem with appointments or a waiting issue. I show up, I sign in, they call our name and we get put into a room. There may be a small wait but what doctor have you gone to and there isn’t a wait. The doctors are GREAT!!! I’ve know Dr. Fineberg for 23+ years he was there at my first son’s delivery as he was premature and Dr. Fineberg was an NICU doctor. He has been nothing but exceptional with the care of my sons. Beth Melin has been my 2 daughters doctor since Maureen Hechter left she was the best. The girls like Dr. Melin and also Dr. Baik as they prefer females. I love the fact that they have both male and female doctors available which helps the children have a less tramatic office visit. The nurses are always friendly and helpful when the chidlren were scared or unsure. They are awesome! I live in Santa Clarita and have for the last 20 years and will continue to make the drive to West Hills because I know my children will get the best care at Pediatric Affiliates.
Single Mom of 4

I been holding myself of not posting a bad review about this place, only because my daughter’s doctor seem to be a good doctor, but to be honest, «their staff», not the doctors, are very unprofessional, it doesn’t matter if you schedule an appointment at 10am it will take 1.5−2 hours WAIT to see a doctor, once the doctor comes in to your waiting room, it might take 5 – 10 minutes, but the waiting is terrible, their staff don’t know what their doing, they are very rude, I would say about 90% of the time they have attitude problems, and watch your bills, they bill your insurance for more of what they really do, and if you call to question them, they just tell you, and I quote the girl on the billing department on extension 3; «It’s just a mistake, it happens you know??» with the attitude again. I hope any of the managers read this an realize they have a problem.

Extremely bad customer service! I called to make an appointment for my son to do his TB test. The receptionist told me on the phone, the appointment is 2:30pm on Thursday. But when my husband and my son showed up, they told him there is no records of the appointment! Unfortunately, it’s too late for me to change my son’s Dr! New parents, please stay away from this place!

My experience over the last 18 years has been rather par. They typically accept most insurance, which has been needed whenever our respective employers try to save money, which is why I have remained over these years with all four of my children. The also have office hours on Saturday in West Hills. As of late, the Rude office staff is too much to take. I’ve been given the «bums rush» one too many times. The latest was in Agoura (I’ve been to both). I simply requested 2 of my children’s DTap proof required by the state this year for school. I inquired about it last week and they told me I could pick it up, but call first or they might not have it ready. Ok, so here goes my call:
«Hello Pediatric Affiliates (exasperated) I have 4 calls ahead of you (click)…(silence)»
(After 12 minutes)
Me: Hello, I needed to get proof of 2 of my kids whooping… (cut off)
Staff: Name? (sigh) the name???
Me: Wow ah… Simp…(cut of again before I could finish our name, I guess the first letters were all she wanted and then I needed to shut up)
Staff: Ahh which ones… which kids???
Me: Child 2 and 3
Staff: yeah its here (and she was about to hang up on me)
Me: wait wait… what time do you go to lunch?
Staff: In 45 minutes!
Me: Thank you I’ll be right there…(she hung up while I was speaking)
I realize I was the 100^th person to request this however, this is the easy stuff!!! Answering the phone! Not to mention HER JOB! There is no excuse for rudeness. The teller at my bank the other day was slammed learning a new procedure and he apologized 3 times and at the end he smiled and thanked me.
When I picked up the forms, she was still unfriendly but handed me the forms. The Dr. actually took the time to write my kids are due for «well» check ups, yet staff didn’t offer to make appointments she got up and walked away. This is not isolated, this is just the last straw. I can’t trust this person to be the liason between me and the doctor, I think I’m done. My children deserve better, it really makes no difference how good the doctor is, as long as the front office treats patients as a huge inconvenience your bound to get substandard care.
The nurses have been good over the years. There also used to be 2 sisters who ran the front and they seemed overworked and a little frazzled but always very nice helpful and polite. The last nurse I saw was good but looked like she was fed up too.

Long waits before and after you’ve been called into an office which is really fun with little kids.
Long waits on hold for appointments. Best of all, rude office staff. Attitude galore!
I would continue to put up with this if I thought the docs were great, but they’re really not. I will give them this, the nurses are great.