I have been going to Eyes On The Plaza since I moved to Baltimore in 2023. This March, 2025, was my third visit. I have had great service I the past, far above and beyond anything have experienced in the eye exam / glasses world. I have even personally brought 5 other people to them, who also are awed by their experience. This year however, there has been a lapse in complete explanation of amounts one would owe as was my experience. I received Medicaid and live paycheck to paycheck, so paying out of pocket expenses for glasses is almost impossible given my current income level. I went in to pick up my glasses today. I was very excited as my prescription changed and I would now be able to see better. When I had my exam and fitting appointment I had wanted frames that has springs on the arms. My current glasses have them and last year I was informed that I would need to pay for the springs and it was a minor amount, however, when my partner went to pick up my glasses last year he stated they gave them to him and he was not asked to pay anything. This year I asked how much the springs would be and was quoted an additional fee of $25.00 above what my insurance would pay. I asked my partner if that was doable as we would need to ask someone for the additional $25.00. Today when I arrived to pick them up, I was told it would be $125.00. I thought there must be some mistake and it would be remedied immediately. I was informed that when I selected the spring frames that the frames themselves were an additional fee, which at the time of selecting them had not been mentioned. I asked my partner if he heard any additional fee above the $25.00 for the springs and he said =, "no, they said that they had green frames with springs over in this area and that was where you selected them from." Unfortunately $125.00 is not something that is affordable for me. It might as well be a million as I equate them as the same (unaffordable). I asked if there was a way to change the order and was informed that they were already made. Since my Medicaid benefits only pays for exams and glasses once a year and that has now been used, I will need to keep my current eye wear for an additional year and deal with the slight bluriness. I will remain a customer, but be very careful in the future that I select eye wear completely covered by insurance, or if there is a fee for springs I will ask to make sure that is the only out of pocket fee I will need to pay. I would have never selected the frames I had if it had been mentioned that the fee would be more than the springs fee of $25.00. The lesson here is even if something is not mentioned upon selecting eye wear make sure to ask what is the complete out of pocket fee upon pick up so that one can avoid the situation I found myself in today.
