moople d.

I signed up for one appointment via Zocdoc. That seems to have been enough to trigger NINE SEPARATE EMAILS (1. Welcome to Zocdoc, 2. Confirm your email, 3. Pending appt, 4. Confirmed appt, 5. Add your insurance [though I did that when I signed up for the appt], 6. Appt reminder, 7. Rate your visit, 8. Schedule your follow-up, and 9. Another rate your visit), as well as THREE TEXTS (1. Appt reminder, 2. Appt details, 3. Rate your visit).

Only "confirmed appt" and "appt reminder" should have been necessary. The clincher: I had to cancel because it turned out the dentist I had chosen wasn't in-network. (Edited to add: I'm lucky the doctor's office was doing their due diligence and called to double check -- looks like lots of others here have showed up and been charged out-of-pocket or found their appointment was never registered by the provider.) I canceled directly through their office. Zocdoc never registered the cancellation and kept sending me emails as if the appointment had gone forward. I have tried to unsubscribe, but they keep coming.

Some of their emails seem keen to market their product to me as a way of finding providers. This seems like kind of an underhanded use of addresses they collect from people who are just trying to sign up for doctors' appointments. I resent getting marketing plugs I did not sign up for and regret ever handing Zocdoc my email and phone number.

I wish more providers allowed you to schedule appointments online, but this is not the answer. Other reviews suggest that there are frequent coordination problems between Zocdoc and providers; I suspect that's because any kind of third-party service that works with thousands of providers will never be able to do the right kinds of checking to get everyone on the same page. Your appointments will be more secure and smoother if you contact your provider's office directly. Next time I'll just call.