Woman, 51, wanted S$43 'Chas orange package' at Aljunied dental clinic, charged S$134 for not saying exact words

A 51-year-old woman made an appointment at a Singapore dental clinic after coming across an advertisement for a S$43.73 dental package.

The package, advertised at Smile Central's Aljunied outlet, offered five services at a discounted rate for orange Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) card holders.

But when it was time to pay, she was charged about S$134 — the full rate with the standard orange CHAS card subsidies.

The clinic explained it was because the woman had failed to use the phrase "CHAS orange package" when booking.

She'd instead merely mentioned that she was a CHAS orange cardholder.

Booking the appointment

Her daughter, Chantelle, told Mothership that her mother had found out about the package after seeing it advertised on Facebook.

It offered five services: consultation, X-ray, scaling, polishing, and topical fluoride.

Chantelle's mother then made an appointment "for scaling teeth" on Dec. 1 with Smile Central, according to screenshots of the WhatsApp conversation seen by Mothership.

Intending to book the discounted package, she asked if she could use "the orange card", referring to the orange CHAS card.

The clinic staff replied that she could, and that there would be a partial subsidy with the orange CHAS card for scaling and polishing.

Regular subsidy applied

During the appointment, Chantelle's mother underwent four out of the five advertised services: consultation, scaling, polishing, and topical fluoride.

She did not receive an X-ray.

When she asked the clinic why the charge was higher than the advertised amount in the Facebook ad, she was told that a S$60 discount — the regular subsidy for a CHAS orange cardholder — had been applied.

The total amount before subsidy was S$194.57, according to her bill.

She later shared her experience with her daughter, who contacted the clinic to request a refund of the S$90.34 difference.

Exact phrase needed

In response, the staff member explained that the patient should have mentioned the exact phrase, "orange CHAS package", when making an appointment to be eligible for the S$43.73 package.

Chantelle pointed out that her mother had said that she was an orange CHAS member, and enquired about the advertised service.

But the staff member said that the exact phrase was required.

"There is no 'CHAS Orange package' mentioned. As you can see, it is stated that there will be a partial subsidy for CHAS Orange card for scaling and polishing," the staff member said.

"Since 'Orange CHAS Package' was not mentioned at the time of booking, the package does not apply to the current visit."

The refund request was subsequently rejected.

Not fluent in English

Chantelle called the clinic's justification "unethical", and questioned why an "exact magic word" was required.

Her mother is "not fluent in English", and had gone to the clinic alone, she explained.

Since the clinic knew that the woman was an orange CHAS cardholder, they should have proactively offered the advertised rate, instead of "exploit[ing] a linguistic barrier", she alleged.

She has since reported the incident to the Singapore Dental Council and the Ministry of Health, while a friend of hers posted about it on Reddit.

Similar to previous charges

In response to Mothership's queries, Smile Central said that the woman is a longtime patient and "should be familiar with our pricing".

"We also note that the price she was charged for the most recent visit is similar to the charges that she was charged in her previous visits," the clinic said.

It added that the staff had confirmed the price and treatment with the woman before the appointment started.

It said it was unable to share further comments due to privacy reasons.

Top images from Smile Central Clinic/Google Maps and Chantelle