Uc Berkeley School of Optometry

I first came here as a student, and now I return as a parent and non-student. My 10-year-old had an excellent eye exam here. The office has been nicely renovated, and we were seen quickly. The exam was thorough and never felt rushed, and the eye doctors were amazing and very friendly. Optical service can be a little hit or miss, but the quality of care from the optometrist more than makes up for it.

I have been a patient here for over a decade. About three years ago, I had progressive lenses filled, but the prescription was incorrect—specifically, the axis number was off. After picking up the glasses, I wore them for a few hours and they seemed normal, but I then suddenly developed a severe migraine and spent the night vomiting. I missed work the next day because of the error. There were no apologies or follow-up calls, though they did eventually correct the prescription. Fast forward to a few months ago: about 10 to 14 days before my prescription expired (which I did not realize at the time), I requested a copy so I could get a backup pair of glasses for a trip. After receiving no response to my email, I followed up. The day after my prescription expired, I finally received an email stating that since my prescription was now invalid, I would need to schedule an appointment. Consequently, I decided to leave Morgan Eye and requested to have my records transferred elsewhere. While my records were faxed to the new provider, I never received the personal copy I requested, so I called back. I clearly asked the representative for an application to have my records and images sent to me directly. The man on the phone promised to email the application and consult his team regarding the images, but I have yet to hear back. He also interrupted me, telling me to let him speak and insisting the process would be "very easy," yet he failed to follow through. It should not be this difficult. I would like my records and images from 2023- present.

The main thing to know is that your eye exam is done by a student optometrist. A licensed optometrist signs off at the end, but the bulk of the exam is handled by someone still in training. That means the appointment takes way longer, and you’re basically a practice case. Fine if you’re a Cal student nearby or want to support a teaching clinic, but not ideal otherwise. Before I got LASIK, I had my prescription messed up more than once by inexperienced students and had to come back to fix it. It’s time consuming. The exams also drag on with bright lights constantly in your eyes longer than they need to, because the students don’t know what they’re looking at. It was sometimes uncomfortable enough to cause migraines.

My wife has an emergency where she couldn’t open her eyes and we frantically tried to contact this center at 2am as they advertised to open 24h a day but the receptionist just coldly said new patient would have to call back at 9am. Not sure what kind of emergency center only sees existing patients.

I gave up on their optical center years ago as the quality of lenses always came back subpar. I decided to try again and it has been an absolute mess! I asked for the highest quality lenses, paid a hundred’s of dollars even after insurance. The glasses have come back from the lab poorly executed twice. Nobody there seems to be in charge or following our order. I’m getting calls saying the glasses are ready but in fact they are not. It’ll be 10 weeks before they’re ready and who knows if they will be accurately made or if the quality will be good. Definitely our last time doing business with this eye wear center. Will order my son’s glasses from a different optical center in the future.