Pain Institute of Central California - Pain Management in Bakersfield, California

“I've had this happen twice to me but the most recent is absolutely ridiculous. The first time I was prescribed a medication for my back and waited days to hear back only to have my pharmacy tell me it's never been sent in so I called they gaslit me and said it was sent in, I accepted that answer sighed and hung up and magically the pharmacy got the script shortly after. Then this most recent time I waited a whole week and nothing so I called and nothing, then I called the next day and waited on hold for over 20 mins for them to tell me it was my fault the prescription wasn't sent in because I didn't hand over my old meds. I was never told this, they never called to tell me and I wouldn't have known unless I called, it also doesn't take 20 mins to come up with that. I will still come but have an advocate because these people DO NOT CARE about their mentally ill patients and have no accommodations for people like me. No communication and if you reach out it is absolutely horrendous. They weren't short staffed either so there's no excuse”

— Valentine

“**UPDATE: FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT** Prior to my mother's follow-up appointment, I called the office to confirm the time. It took multiple tries to reach the front desk, and unfortunately the same receptionist answered the phone and responded in the same manner, rude and dismissive. Not even a, "Have a nice day" at the end of the call. By this point I am contemplating not even coming back, but this isn't about me it's for my mother. While we were in the waiting area for her name to be called, the same receptionist had attitude with patients over the phone, like they were inconveniencing her by calling. This is difficult for me because everyone else in the office has a much better attitude than her. From the nurse who took my mother's vitals, to the doctor who gave her treatment. I am only continuing to come here until they can figure out my mother's condition. I would love to say this office is great and welcoming. Unfortunately, for the (heavyset) receptionist being there, it is not and I would recommend to look elsewhere. ---------------------------------------------- **This review is mainly for the (heavyset) receptionist at the front desk** My mother was referred to this office through her insurance, so this was our first visit. We received a text message stating to arrive 30 minutes prior to our appointment to fill out paperwork. As we are from out of town, it is often difficult to anticipate traffic in the Bakersfield area (I would also like to note that they had not given me the address, I had to look it up on my own). It was in an area where there are multiple clinics and offices, and I didn't realize they were located behind the building. Upon arrival the receptionist seemed annoyed and immediately stated that we were late and that the paperwork would take 30 minutes to fill out (we were AT LEAST 5 minutes late). I'm not sure if she meant anything behind her tone, but I was hoping she would not cancel our appointment at that moment, especially driving from out of town. I usually give everyone the benefit of the doubt, so she probably had a bad morning. She gave us the paperwork and reiterated how much we had to fill it out before her appointment. I noticed while filling out the paperwork, the same receptionist had a totally different attitude towards other patients that came in, much nicer more welcoming. Filling out the paperwork was fine, as I have done this plenty of times before, rearing the end all it needed was my mother's signatures. The receptionist then called us over again only to ask if we were finished filling out the paperwork and stated how much time we had left (again we had at least 5 minutes left before her appointment, minutes wasted calling us over). We finished just in time with minutes to spare, and they even called her 5 minutes after her appointment. I understand how important keeping an appointment is, it definitely goes both ways. However the way we didn't feel welcomed and somewhat chastised by the receptionist was very discomforting. I will make sure in future appointments to ask for someone else.”

— Mercedy Eublera

“Doctors Wilson is great but the office staff could use some work on dealing with patients. It's made known on the voice message when calling for refills that they won't contact about your refill so I guess if problems arise you're out of luck. There's also about a dozen different mailboxes to choose from for requesting refills via voice mail. I can see how messages can get lost in the shuffle. The receptionists seems to always have an attitude. I used to bring my father here years back and noticed a really inappropriate Willy Wonka meme taped to the window where you check in with a caption to effect of "so tell me know how you running out of your meds is my problem." I see that's gone now but that pretty much sums up the process of dealing with this staff. I recently contacted them via voicemail to refill my pain medication. For the last four months I had to call monthly for every refill and never had an issue. I noticed a few days later I had a refill available from the VA website (I am a VA veteran referral) so I requested a refill from there and of course it's the VA so it's late. I don't know if an extra refill was called into the VA or if they noticed I had a refill and just ignored my request. Either way I flunked out of the Jedi mind reading academy so if I hadn't noticed this extra refill, I'd still be waiting on medication that was apparently never ordered. Better late than never I guess. So now I'm off meds that are starting to cause headaches and insomnia from the withdrawals but like Willy Wonka says, how is this their problem?! It'll probably be up to another week for the VA to deliver. It's bad enough having to deal with the VA but adding another VA level, or worse, third-party into the process and I'm done. I'll just wait the withdrawals out and save the tax payers some money by not returning.”

— Nero Ezio

“The staff were very kind and helpful. Dr.Palencia and Jacob Osborne FNP were Amazing!!! I Never knew how caring someone in this field could be. He took the time to explain my injury like no other Dr has before. Best service I ever got from pain management! I definitely recommend this place”

— Tamara medrano