eeneR 3 #1 October 6, 2004 No im not talking about you! unless you work at my eyedoctor...or I should say soon to be past eyedoc. [rant] At what point did customer service go out the window? when did it become ok to just say what ever on the phone, have the patient come in and change the story? Due to a change in my insurance company, I had to switch eyedoctors so I didnt have to pay out of pocket. Called them up knowing it would be a month before i could get in, no problem. While on the phone explained I had a deadline to make with getting my new contacts (2 months from the original phone call) etc, and asked what if anything they needed from me to make this happen. They asked if i had my old boxes, which I didnt. They said no problem, we will take care of it and assured me that there will be NO problem getting me my contact before mid/late Oct. They scheduled my appointment for a month later (last week). I show up, go thru the normal steps giving them the information. As they begin the normal tests in the begining, I request the blue light test for glaucoma, as the poof test annoys the shit out of me. The lady, obviously clueless says " I have never heard of that, I dont think it exists, im sorry you just have to do this test, My kids can handle it, why cant you? and I will ask the doc after word" Then goes on to ask me about my contacts...I tell her the brand...she says never heard of it...which I then tell her they are torics...and I have been around the block the last few years, and these work best...tried several kinds already. She looks at me and says well we never heard of those lenses...we have focus torics...you will just have to get those. I looked at her and said NO, like I just said, these are the ones that I have found that i like...tio which she tried arguing with me again. It was obvious she knew nothing about eyecare. In the 20 years I have been going to the eyedoctor I have never had to deal with suck incompetent assholes. The eye doc himself was cool...didnt have too many problems with him, said he would place the order for that brand, just needs me to come back in to have them checked with them in my eyes, and also have my other eyedoc send over the info on the brand so he can order them once he ok's fit...no problem. I sign the doc to get my records send over...go to the front desk to have the bill paided etc...they tell me another month to get an evening appointment I was livid, i had asked on the phone if they needed me to bring anything they said no, i could have very easily brought my contacts with. But NOOO ,now they are putting thigns back further. So after ripping them up a bit...they give me an appointment for a week later..... I call today (contact appt is tomorrow) to make sure they got the information from the other eyedoc on the brand etc of the contacts...she says no...faxed it 3 times never got anything back. At no point did she take the initiative to call and verify numbers etc. So I say let me call you back. Call the other eye doc...they say no problem, gave them the fax, and they said they would fax it right over and that there was no request for my records in my file How friggen hard is it for people to fucking think ahead and be proactive????? how many fucking times was she gonna fax before picking up the phone and verify the info???? Those women in that office were the most incompetent bunch I have ever seen. If I wasnt strapped for $$ with training coming up, I would have told them to shove it and gone elsewhere...but going thru them I dont have to pay upfront for most of it. I am however limiting what I get thru them.... From the moment I walked into that office I was treated with 0 respect..and yes I dished it back out. But for christs sake, this behaviour is unacceptable, i have NEVER had a problem like that ever. [/rant]She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway." eeneR TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumper03 0 #2 October 6, 2004 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> You can punch me too if you want if you think it'll make you feel better....just don't knock my contacts out..... -----------------Scars remind us that the past is real Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peregrinerose 0 #3 October 6, 2004 Damn, I'm glad I'm not that eye doc Insurance sucks, but in the end you are the boss, us eye docs work for you. If you don't like us, fire us and go elsewhere. Your general as well as eye health should be important, if keeping your old eye doc is important, it is worth it to pay out of pocket. A lot of insurance companies will pay you what they would have paid your eye doc. Eye docs (and other docs) don't take all insurances because some pay crap. There's one out here that pays $16 per exam. To meet overhead alone, I'd have to see 10 patients an hour, which works out to something like 6 minute eye exams. This is why taking it isn't feasable, I spend 30 minutes with a patient. The puff of air test is crap. I can invent a number and be almost as accurate. The blue light test is the gold standard to measure intraocular pressures with, so is always the best to have done if you have an option. Focus torics are ones I almost never prescribe, they are expensive, handle like crap, don't have the greatest oxygen transmission, and vision is often shaky. They were the first disposable torics, at one time the only option, but there are better ones now. I love the company that makes them and fit a lot of their lenses, just don't like that one. I definitely think you did the best moving with insisting you keep your original lens brand. I'm sorry that the staff at the new place was incompetant. No matter how great the doc may be, if we have lousy staff that makes the patient's life hell, it reflects on us. So I bribe my staff with dunkin' donuts on a regular basis. When they are happy, everyone is happy If you don't like this place, maybe you can order your contacts from the old doc once the prescription is finalized? Save pennies for the next year so you have the cash to pay out of pocket for the old eye doc? Even call the old eye doc, most of us will work with you on payment options or making our fees as low as possible when we know you are strapped for cash but willing to work with us. We are not unreasonable creatures. Just some thoughts for next time. On behalf of eye docs everywhere, I really am sorry you got treated like this at that office. Write a complaint letter to the doc spelling it all out, maybe it can be prevented for another patient. Jen Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eeneR 3 #4 October 6, 2004 QuoteYour general as well as eye health should be important, if keeping your old eye doc is important, it is worth it to pay out of pocket If i had know it was going to be this much of a pain in the rear end....i would have bugeted to do exactly that I have never had this happen before. QuoteThe puff of air test is crap. I can invent a number and be almost as accurate. The blue light test is the gold standard to measure intraocular pressures with, so is always the best to have done if you have an option. Thank you, she argued with me telling me that this was the newest state of the art machine to test for glaucoma. Far more superior then the other test... the one she didnt know about. Every other eyedoc I have gone to gave me a huge grin when I ask for it..and tells me exactly what you just said. As for lenses I have been wearing the Sequence Softlense 66 for the last 3 years...happily. The doc told me there would be no problem for him to order them. Which is good, as he has final say. I will go ahead and get the contacts ordered...but I am cancelling the frames I have on order as I dont have the desire to give them any more $$ then I need to. I am in a time crunch as I have a training camp in 3 weeks that I need these lenses for. Next year, I will just go back to the other place and pay out of pocket, simple as that. They treated me respect, and were SOOO nice to me. If I had any idea it was going to be this much of a pain, i would have done it now. But due to time and funding constraints at the moment...it is just not an option. Im pretty sure there is no way the other place is going to be able to get me in the office in time, and contacts ordered. Such is life. I called the other office, and they litteraly had that info faxed to the new office in less then an hour One simple phone call is all it took.... The doc himself was cool...and I will have a talk with him tomorrow. He will loose business with staff that treat people that way. I think they dont quite realize that most of us have been going thru this for years....this would be the time I have had this kind of crap to deal with. The worst before that was having to wait 2 months to get into a place but then again....after I went there I was very very happy. Well worth the wait Chalk it up to lifes lessons....She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway." eeneR TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stacy 0 #5 October 6, 2004 I can't do the puff test. I've been having eye exams since I was 7, and never have been able to keep my eye open. They end up fighting with me for 15 minutes and wasting the puffs of air. Each time they don't believe me when I say "I can't do that, give me the eye drop test or another alternative." They continue to say "no, you can." Now, after 20 years, what do I know? I also find it hilarious when they take out my contacts to do the standard test and inevitable have to tell me to go to another room. I'm BLIND without my lenses. I stumble around the office like a drunkard. __ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peregrinerose 0 #6 October 7, 2004 Refuse to do the puff test. They can't strap you down and force you to do it. Tell them to do Goldmann Tonometry (using big words scares techs). Aka 'blue light test' As for stumbling around without contacts, take your glasses with you to the exam if it's a problem. If you don't own glasses, don't buy contacts until you get a pair of backup glasses. To not have backups is plain stupid. I'm sick of seeing people whine when I take them out of contacts because they have a festering nasty corneal ulcer that if not treated appropriately will make them lose vision permanently and they don't have anything to wear as backup. I even document in my charts 'px ed to have backup rx' so I can point it out when they are dumb Oh, I can't sit for that air puff test either. Hell will freeze over before I do it. And I'm a freaking eye doc. If I can't sit for it, how can I expect a patient to? Double standards in eye care are not my thing. Jen Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
