They Actually Did the RIGHT thing!

When I saw my Doctor in December, he sent me for an xray of my spine/hip. He gave me two separate referrals, saying the he really wanted me to go to place A, but he wasn't sure they took my insurance, so to call and if they wouldn't see me, go to place B. Well, of course, place A was not contracted with my insurance, so I went to place B. I've been there before. I had no problems. They took my insurance card, had me fill out paperwork, did the xray, the end. Until last Wednesday, when i got the EOB from my insurance saying they were denying the claim, as place B was not a contracted provider. I had to make a call to the referral specialist at my Dr.'s office anyway, (and she and I are great phone buddies by this time!) so I ask her to look into it. She calls me back today finally and says that place B had not been contracted with my insurance since October. WHY did they take my card and see me then??? She has no idea, but has been having some problems with them anyway. As I have no out of network benefit on my sucky insurance, and it was place B's fault, I had no recourse as far as the insurance paying for it. The only thing that could really be done would be for place B to file an appeal with the insurance, but it was unlikely to be granted since they knew they were not contracted when they saw me. My referral coordinator was going to call Place B and talk to them, but she really wasn't holding out much hope and it looked like I was going to be stuck with the $285 bill for my xrays.
BUT, when she called Place B, they miraculously claimed FULL responsibility and are writing off the bill in full!!! Thank goodness!! I won't go back to place B in the future if I can avoid it, but at least they did the right thing!