Eyecarecenter OD

I had a fabulous experience at the eye care center. From the moment my husband and I entered. We were greeted so nicely by Monica and helped with our paperwork. Then Jaliyah nicely and professionally did our eye exams in a very timely manner. Then Jaliyah connected us to Dr McDonald remotely. Dr McDonald was extremely nice and informative on our exam. After that we met with Laura Washington who was extremely knowledgeable and helpful to set us up with new glasses. My husband had a need for prescription glasses on a all day bases. So Laura suggested the Oakleys because of what he was use to. With Laura’s great assistance and guidance we were very pleased. The Oakleys were less expensive than a regular pair that wasn’t prescription. Overall a great experience. Thank you Ladies!!

This experience, in total honesty, was 0 stars. Extremely disappointed with my experience at Eye Care Center of New Bern. I was originally told my lenses would take 7–10 business days. That turned into almost TWO MONTHS of excuses, poor communication, and zero accountability. First, I repeatedly received automated texts saying my lenses were ready — only to find out they weren’t. When I questioned it, an employee told me they had no control over the texts being sent. Frustrating, but okay. After waiting two weeks with no actual update, I called and was then informed that the lab never even started my order because they were missing information they needed. No one contacted me until I reached out myself. The office manager then called to collect the missing information. Two more weeks later (now four weeks total), I got another text saying my lenses were ready. The office manager installed them into my frames and immediately discovered a scratch. At that point I expressed how disappointed and frustrated I was after already waiting a month. She assured me she would personally handle it and promised they’d be back within a week. A week passed — no update. I called and was told the package “must have been lost,” so they reordered and again promised one week. Another week passed — nothing. I called again and was told the lab said they’d arrive in two business days. Two business days later… still nothing. I finally went into the store in person, where the office manager showed me tracking and said the lab had actually only shipped my lenses the day before — despite previously saying they’d already be arriving. I explained that if they didn’t arrive, I wanted a full refund. Then I got a call saying my lenses were finally in… only to receive another call hours later telling me those lenses weren’t actually mine and mine still had not arrived. In the end, I finally got my lenses almost two months later. No partial refund. No meaningful attempt to make it right. Just a simple “sorry.” Mistakes happen. But poor communication, repeated misinformation, lack of follow-through, and making customers chase updates for two months is unacceptable.

I originally had an incredible experience at this office, and I still feel the same way about Harvey. He was absolutely exceptional from the very beginning. Professional, knowledgeable, patient, and genuinely caring, he went above and beyond to make sure everything was handled properly and that we felt comfortable throughout the process. It is rare to encounter someone with that level of professionalism and kindness, and he truly deserves recognition for it. Unfortunately, my experience with management was entirely different. After multiple ongoing issues that required repeated visits to correct mistakes made by the office, I finally reached a point where I requested a refund. Throughout that process, The Manager (the only one there right now; she knows who she is) was rude, dismissive, and extremely unprofessional in her communication. What should have been a respectful and solution-focused conversation instead felt unnecessarily confrontational and belittling, despite the fact that I remained calm, patient, and respectful during every interaction. It was disappointing because the level of care and professionalism Harvey provided set such a high standard, and I truly expected that same level of respect from management. I still highly recommend Harvey personally, but I do believe the office leadership and customer resolution process need significant improvement. **Also, the actual eye doctor in Jacksonville did my eye exam incorrectly so now I have a prescription for glasses that I can't see out of! YAY!**

As someone new to the area, I was nervous about finding a new eye doctor, but Eye Care Center in New Bern exceeded my expectations. Everyone was so sweet, professional, and caring from the moment I walked in. The staff made me feel comfortable, answered all of my questions, and provided excellent care. I’m so glad I found them and would highly recommend Eye Care Center to anyone looking for a welcoming and knowledgeable team!

I’d give negative stars if it was possible.. Now that I am completely done with this awful establishment, here’s my final review. Let me start by saying my initial appt was 01.09.26 and I finally picked up my annual supply of contacts today, 05.13.26. If that doesn’t tell you already.. I won’t have enough space to go into great detail but god I wish I did because your mind would be blown. Here we go with some of the highlights. 1. Don’t you dare leave a negative google review because not only was I pressured once, but FOUR times to edit or remove my google review and be prepared to be pulled aside by the OM and be told “we tried to redeem ourselves and its not right for you to go up there and say what you did”.. what? The truth? And the one follow-up appt of “redemption” was no genuine apology for my experience, just empty “I’m so sorry” and no changed practices. 2. I’ve caught the office manager Laura in several lies. Don’t believe a word she says. 3. Don’t EVER expect a phone call from this place regarding ANYTHING. Not when your order is ready for pickup, not when they say they will call you back, not even when the employee you’re expecting a call from (because the office manger wouldn’t take my complaint after I called corporate so she had her subordinate do it, which she then lied about saying she never asked that person to handle my complaint) goes out on maternity leave and no one follows up with her duties/patients. You’ll just get told by the oh so friendly front desk person, Monica “LIKE I SAID, you didn’t get a call because she out for having her baby”. To top it off, the manager being very aware that I’m fed up with this place told me last week my right eye contacts would be delivered monday, my left today, when I called today to make sure they were there before I drove over, the front desk lady Monica said “Yes, we had them ready for you yesterday, this is Mariah, right?” If I was told they would be there TODAY, but they were ready YESTERDAY why wouldn’t I get a call.. but it’s typical. 4. Make sure you know your insurance benefits because even when I told Laura what my benefits were the first visit, they undercharged me, and when I tried to pay the full copay, they said “they’d call me back”. yeah never happened. And even when I brought a printout of my insurance benefits provided by my HR, it was obvious Laura didn’t even read it as I’m sitting across from her because she took my copay and tried to say it was my allowance and said I had to pay $300+ for my contacts…. I had to point out it said copay right on the dang paper… Her and Monica then said they had trouble pulling my benefits because they had to call VSP to get a “special authorization code”, I can’t confirm nor deny that, so I’ll let them have it despite their history of lying to me. 5. The picture below is of a bag I got my trail contacts delivered in with the shipping label ripped off because thats how I knew the first time they had my contacts for DAYS without calling me- so this time they ripped it off and again, I never received a phone call and I had to call myself. This is one of the lies I mentioned earlier. The OM said “we NEVER rip the labels off, I wouldn’t allow it” and yet here we are, with a ripped off label and when I told her I had a picture she changed to “we rip them off b/c we save bags”.. lol what.. Not to mention, it was very suspicious that the tech who got my contacts for me from the back office had to go whisper to Laura, walking right past me, about a sticky note that was left on my bag, probably about ripping of the label so I couldn’t prove again that they had my contacts for days without calling me. 6. When Laura pulled me aside and said what she did about my review for the fourth time, I said I found it astounding that her boss never reached out to me considering my issue is with everyone in this office, she told me the owner replied here. I reached out like the response said to, sent an email Friday at 1:46pm, and it’s now Wednesday and no response from the owner either. I sent a follow-up email today.