Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Insight Psychological Inc's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Insight Psychological Inc

  2532 Ellwood Dr. SW Edmonton, AB T6X 0A9

  
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  Insight Psychological Inc

  171 Broadway Blvd, #34 Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2A8

  
• 

  Insight Psychological Inc

  203-15379 Castle Downs Rd NW Edmonton, AB T5X 3Y7

  
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  Insight Psychological Inc

  #703, 7015 Macleod Tr. S Calgary, AB T2H 2K6

  

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/02/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Over the last few years my sons mom and I have been undergoing a Practice Note 8 assessment for Family Court.
  
  I paid 10,500 (I believe) upfront for a retainer/down payment on the assessment so we could begin.
  
  I have always made myself available to them and their schedule for any appointments, even redundant and repeat ones that I felt were not needed.
  
  Even on one occasion, after years of being forceful withheld from seeing our son an appointment was scheduled for him and I to assess how we interact with each other. Insight knew the situation. I had not seen my son in years. Excited for the chance to see him again, even in a clinical setting, I eagerly awaited the day. On the day I was so anxious, nervous, excited and overjoyed I couldn’t even drive myself there. My world seemed brighter, my steps bouncier, and my smile smilier than it had been in ages. Insight neglected to schedule him to come, and my soul was crushed.
  
  Over the years my lawyer and I have hd to chase ****** ********* for updates, info, answer, and timelines… when I asked how much the final cost of the assesment would be She told me “about on track, with in a few hundred”
  
  Fast track to court a few months ago, the judge advised me that she hd spoken to ******- and the bill was $8000 above the estimate. Real professional. I hd to find out from a judge in open court instead of Insight.
  
  
  
  Insight has been deceptive, evasive, and unhelpful in any attempts to resolve these concerns.
  
  We have been promised and end date repeatedly, but the end never comes.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/02/2023

  We want to start our response by
  expressing our deep and sincere empathy for our client. We can only imagine how
  angering and frustrating this whole long process has been. At the same time, we
  are saddened by the complaint considering that our therapists, administrators,
  and Insight as a whole have worked extra hard to support the client and to try
  to get this whole assessment and case concluded as soon as we possibly can. As
  the client knows, so much is truly not within Insight’s or the lead therapist’s
  control.
  
  The client signed the Service
  Agreement for a bilateral custody assessment, otherwise known as a PN8.  Such an assessment is intended to determine
  child custody and access. In almost all cases, when it gets to this stage, the
  relationship between the parents is at least contentious and in worse cases,
  can be volatile and vindictive. Such an assessment involves numerous
  activities, numerous interactions with parties, and the collaboration of at
  least two families, their children, all caregivers, legal counsels, the
  children’s teachers and social workers where applicable as well as personal and
  professional references.  In addition to
  the many activities and parties listed above, the timeline for the completion of
  such an assessment is also affected by many other factors including the court
  hearing dates and subsequent directions, lawyers requiring and reviewing
  more/new information, social workers involvement and handling/holding materials
  and information, one parent or another party introducing new documents/materials/information
  at multiple intervals along the process, the assessing psychologist having
  difficulties receiving essential documents/information, and more. All of these
  can delay the completion of the assessment again and again. As well, when there
  is an extended delay, some parts of the assessment need to be redone to ensure
  that the information gain is still valid/accurate considering the time that has
  passed. This further delays the completion of the assessment. The more complex,
  contentious, and/or convoluted the case is, the more delay as well as the more
  hours of work would be required to complete the assessment since the assessing
  psychologist need to: 1) wait and connect with different parties again and
  again to get required or updated information, 2) review, take into
  consideration, and summarize for the court - new documents/information that is
  suddenly presented to her along the way, 3) redo some parts of the assessment,
  4) write additional content in the assessment report, and much more.
  
  We can understand why the client
  would be angry and frustrated when his case has been affected by almost all of
  the above plus unanticipated delays due to the pandemic. As far as the
  assessment process is concerned, the client himself has indeed made himself
  available and has been present for all of his scheduled appointments.
  Unfortunately, delays occurred elsewhere. We are also frustrated with how long
  the case has taken and have done the best that we can including the following:
  
  1) Thus far, the lead psychologist and her supporting psychologists have worked almost twice as many hours as those which would be billed to the client. The service agreement stated “Your cost of this assessment is based on an average of XX hours of professional time at a legal rate of $yyy.00 per hour, not including disbursements. The actual cost will depend on: number of participants, if the children are special needs, complexity of issues in dispute, amount of documents reviewed and amount of disbursements for travel, expenses, etc.” At one point early in the assessment process, the client asked about assessment costs. The lead psychologist did indicate to the client that they were at the time on track to be within a few hours of the estimate but she also indicated to the client that she had only just started to take a look at the documents that were provided at the time. The client was later advised that there was an extensive amount of documentation to review. He never asked again about fees or cost. The cost of the assessment has been impacted by several factors including: a child with special needs; very complex issues; delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; changes to the client’s living and relationship status; and a much larger than average amount of documentation to review. With changes and unanticipated additions of a very significant amount of new information/materials for review and consideration, more work hours are necessary. Such additions were unforeseen at the time of service-hour/cost-estimation and the additional hours/costs are fully in line with the terms agreed to by the client in the service agreement. Still, while there would be additional costs, a very significant chunk of the actual work hours has been rendered by the lead psychologist PRO BONO and a significant amount of cost incurred by other supporting psychologists/personnel and other work has been absorbed by Insight. This is our way of demonstrating compassion towards the client and the fact that we recognize the hardship that the extra costs may have on the client.
  
  In response to the client’s concern that he found out about the
  increased costs for the assessment in open court; there was never an intent for
  him to find out in that manner.  The
  judge emailed the lead psychologist stating that she had a meeting with the
  parties that afternoon and asked “I need to have a better idea of where the PN
  8 stands at this time, how much more time must be spent, whether you have been
  paid for what you have done so far, what the cost for any further steps is
  estimated to be, and when this can be completed.”  The lead psychologist provided the
  information to the judge, which was presumably communicated to the client that
  day in court.  There was no intent to
  withhold fee information from him, but rather the question had not been raised
  prior to that.
  
  2) Both the lead psychologist as well as our ******** ** ********** have contacted the client numerous times (we can provide record of exact dates) to 1) provide him and all relevant parties with an update whenever there is one or 2) to request for more information or complete tasks where necessary for the assessment.
  
  There
  have indeed been many delays in this assessment.  The most notable delay
  was due to difficulties receiving essential documents.  For example, the
  client was asked by the lead psychologist to obtain pertinent information in
  March 2020; it was received two years later, in March 2022.  The lead
  psychologist has been open and communicative with the parties about delays and
  the reasons for them. Thus far, updates had been sent by the lead psychologist and/or
  her co-assessor to the client and/or his lawyer on 8 occasions. In addition,
  updates were provided upon request from the lead psychologist directly to the
  case management judge on 3 other occasions.
  In
  addition to the lead psychologist, Insight’s ******** ** ********** has thus
  far also connected and followed up with the client on 14 occasions to address
  billing and other concerns that the client might have. In total, 28 separate
  email conversations and multiple phone calls have been made by the ******** ** ********** including calling the client 4 times in the span of 3 months to
  provide updates over and above the updates provided by the lead psychologist.
  
  Recognizing
  the complexity of the case, the lead psychologist had never and could never
  promise a completion date; although she did make statements such as “Provided
  the above items can be completed within the next few weeks, and no new relevant
  information is received, the assessment report should be finalized by xx
  month.”  When the anticipated timeframe
  could not be met due emerging factors, updated communication was provided to
  the client.
  
  Our
  latest online meeting with the client occurred on Monday, February 6th,
  2023 where we once again addressed the delays and billing concerns, but also
  asked for a task to be completed by the client and the other relevant party for
  what we hope would be the last item needed in order for the lead psychologist
  to complete the assessment report. Barring any further delays, missing
  information, and/or emergence of new concern/information by any party, the lead
  psychologist should be able to complete her assessment report in a timely
  manner.
  
  With reference to the client’s son
  not arriving for a scheduled appointment with the client, the lead psychologist
  immediately investigated the incident to determine what went wrong. She
  discovered that a new administrative assistant booked the appointment for the
  client but did not understand the custody dynamics where multiple parties had
  to be contacted separately to make the appointment possible. The assistant was
  not aware that she had to inform the other parent to bring the child (as the
  appointment was booked in the client’s name). The lead psychologist explained
  the error to client and expressed sincere apologies as he had been anxiously
  anticipated the meeting. The client left with an understanding and
  acknowledgement of what had happened. The appointment was later successfully
  rebooked.
  
  Again, we recognize how upsetting and frustrating the delays have
  been for the client. Insight has never once been evasive or deceptive, though
  we do feel helpless at times for not being able to move the process along
  faster due to delays that are NOT of our doing and NOT within our control to
  eliminate or avoid. We have, however, done what is within our control to do and
  that is to: 1) waive a noticeable portion of the cost incurred by the extra
  work, 2) keep the client and all relevant parties updated when there is an
  update, 3) do our best to complete our own tasks as timely as possible, and 4)
  try to prompt the process along the best we can.
  
  Ultimately, we will continue to do our best for the client, with
  honor, integrity, and compassion.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 13/02/2023

  
  
  Complaint: 19330790
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I am awaiting completion of documents: an invoice and an arrangement addendum to be provided- as well as an answer to the question of proof regarding the service log where deductions have stated to have been made. 
  

  I have been in touch with Insight by phone and email since this complaint was lodged, and am eager to see the complaint resolved and report released. 
  

  Once the report is released, and service log and invoices are provided- I will close this complaint as accepted.

   

  I must note that I resent the finger pointing at me in Insights response. ****** was instructed that if the estimate was to change substantially then I expected to be notified so arrangements could be made. This did not happen. Further to that I did not leave the appointment with any answers only that it would be investigated. I was later advised of the cause.

   

  And even now as the ******* has issued a timeline to complete the remaining step to release the report- namely a payment arrangement- I again have to explain and break down the circumstances to achieve any sense of advancement  

   

  I do not expect things to be resolved within 10 days of the previous response, so I am rejecting it until I see material progress instead of promises, and assurances  

  Sincerely,

  
  
  
  ***** ******