**Extremely Disappointed -- AthenaHealth Took My Deposit Even Though They Could Not Deliver What…read moreWas Promised**
I have been in practice for 29 years and have worked with over 60,000 patients and clients. I do not write reviews like this lightly, but my experience with AthenaHealth has been one of the worst experiences I have ever had with a company.
My team and I were outgrowing our current software, so I spoke with AthenaHealth's sales representative, Henry Schupp. I explained in detail exactly what our practice needed from a new software system. Henry repeatedly assured me that AthenaHealth could meet those needs -- either directly through Athena or through one of their third-party partners.
Based on those assurances, my team and I were excited to move forward. I paid the required deposit of **$3,675.00** because I believed AthenaHealth could do what I had been told it could do.
Then onboarding began. We worked with Diann Gilbert, who was fun, informative, professional--not being sarcastic--she was really great! The problem was that during onboarding, Diann kept explaining that AthenaHealth could **not** do several of the things that Henry had specifically been told it could do.
After several weeks of back-and-forth, the issue became so obvious that during our final onboarding appointment, Diann actually asked us, **"Why are you using AthenaHealth?"**
My office manager's response was, **"I don't know."**
At that point, it was clear to everyone involved that AthenaHealth was not the right fit and could not deliver what we had been promised so i requested the return of my $3,675 deposit.
That is when Stephanie Kammerer, Henry's manager, became involved. Unfortunately, Stephanie and AthenaHealth's finance team refused to return my **$3,675.00 deposit**, even though the company could not provide the solution we were sold.
That is the part I find completely unacceptable and in truth absolutely disgusting!
AthenaHealth accepted my money based on representations made during the sales process. Then, once onboarding revealed that AthenaHealth could not actually do what we needed, they still kept the deposit.
To make the situation even more disappointing, Stephanie Kammerer did not personally respond to my concerns in a meaningful way--she used AI. She forgot to remove the AI prompt so the beginning of my email read:
"Here's a version that maintains a professional tone, reinforces the contractual position, and addresses the threat without escalating it." (see attached photo's below)
That made the entire situation feel even more impersonal and dismissive. After taking my deposit and refusing to return it, AthenaHealth could not even take the time to respond to me in a thoughtful, human way.
Now in truth my gut tells me that Henry and Stephanie are not bad people they just work for a really, really, really, really, really bad company.
This company sold us on a system that could not do what we were told it could do, took a **$3,675.00 deposit**, and then refused to return that money after the truth came out during onboarding.
So please do yourself a big favor and run, run, run, run (don't walk) away from AthenaHealt!
After 29 years in practice, I have never had an experience like this with another software company.
My recommendation is simple: stay far away from AthenaHealth.
This experience was frustrating, disappointing, expensive, and, in my opinion, completely unacceptable.