i wrote a full review at the downtown location as that is where i went, and even though my experience with the staff there was poor, i don’t know how the staff at this location operated and feel it would be unfair to include that. however, because the doctor goes to both locations, i feel inclined to outline at least that experience on this locations review.
the doctor often talked down to me, and if you go, be prepared to spend 1+ hour there each time, as he would continuously talk for that long, including conversations that were, at best, right wing adjacent, ie saying things to the effect of “doctors in 2020 didn’t know what they were doing”, etc.
that being said, for a while i dealt with the less than stellar conversational experience because i thought i was working with a doctor who specialized in hard to fit contacts.
at the beginning, he asked for my Rx records, i asked that he contact my previous eye doctor, he said he would and then later said “well this would be easier if you had given me your records”, but we’ll get there.
i have an astigmatism, & told him that i have struggled with getting stable contacts. we ended up doing 3 refittings, & on the last one (4th pair), i was able to read the chart at 20/20, however the contacts were so unstable that i could only read it 1% of the time.
when i expressed this, i was essentially told that since i could read the 20/20 line, that was the best we were gonna get. i explicitly told him numerous times that the vision wasn’t consistent enough to be safe for daily use & i was dismissed or ignored. i also told him that i would trade a sharp 20/20 for a consistent less than 20/20, but again, was dismissed or ignored.
ultimately, i decided to just not get contacts through here. i was sent a bill for the exam co pay, plus a $108 fitting fee, which was NEVER mentioned until the last appointment, when we spoke about doing gas permeable lenses instead of soft lenses, & i was told in order to do that, i’d be charged another $50 fitting fee (so why it was $108 is beyond me…).
at my previous eye doctor (who i only left b/c location), i was never charged a fitting fee, so maybe it’s my own naivety, but as far as i knew, any “fitting fee” fell under the contact eye exam. i understand now that that is not the case, but that is something that needs to be told to patients. i had no idea i’d have to pay an additional fitting fee outside of what my insurance would’ve covered until it was too late because technically services had already been rendered. tell me the cost BEFORE the service. to add on to that, i also was told that i’d only have to pay for anything once we got the right fit, which never happened.
i ended up paying $80 total to not get sent to collections and have absolutely nothing to show for it besides for hours of my life wasted sitting in the office. no contacts, no contact Rx that works (they did give me a Rx for the last pair after i was told they couldn’t do any better), nothing
also, at my 1st appointment, he put dilating eye drops in my eyes & did not say a word about it until i was walking out to the lobby & said “wait are things supposed to look weird right now?” & they confirmed that yes, the drops they put in altered my vision & then they asked if i had brought sunglasses. thankfully, i wasn’t driving as my fiance drove me there, but i can’t imagine if i had to drive. not telling your patients what you’re doing until they ask, especially when it impairs them, is not only unprofessional, but also ethically wrong & DANGEROUS. what happened to informed consent??
the tldr: while i can’t attest to whether or not the UA office’s organization is as poor and its staff is as rude, i can attest to my experience with the doctor, and it was ultimately uncomfortable, lacked communication and highly ineffective, yet still eager to charge you even when he leaves you dissatisfied.
