The eye doctor is amazing. He's wonderful, gentle, and kind. The staff is... Different. They tell patients that they take walk-ins, and I've seen them happily take patients who need a full eye exam and new patient paperwork completed on a walk-in basis a few times without question. Other times, they will try to humiliate and shame patients who come in as a walk-in--after being told on the phone by them to NOT make an appointment and walk-in instead! This lack of consistency points to a management issue on top of unprofessional staff, among other things. The staff had to order trial contacts for me after an eye exam appointment and follow-up appointment and I was told that the office would call me when they come in. 2 weeks go by so I called. They were not in. I was assured AGAIN that they would call me. 3 weeks goes by and they still hadn't called, so I called again to check on my trial contacts. After doing some digging while I was on hold for several minutes, they were found. My trial contacts had been there the whole time waiting. The woman on the phone said that I can come by any time to pick them up, that was it. Upon arriving to pick up the trial contacts I was asked for my tray number!? I was not given a tray number. I was not even notified for weeks that my trial contacts were ready for pickup, even after being told twice that they would call me. Moving on, I had to order different contacts. I called to make a follow-up appointment the third time and the staff member told me to come in as a walk-in any day between 10am and 2pm instead of making an appointment. We already know that it will be a simple "I'll order this other brand of trials next" visit because they have not had any of them in stock, then I'm out the door and have to return AGAIN to pick them up later. (It's been a lot of driving and back and forth!) No additional exam. I said fine, so I did not make an appointment, as I was instructed by the employee at this doctor's office. And yes, I correctly called the O'Fallon Walmart optical center. It's the only one where I've been a patient. Upon arrival this time, I informed them of the reason for my visit. The woman at the desk asked me to make an appointment!? I informed the woman of what I had been told on the phone. This is the point when the 3 employees were LOUDLY talking about me in front of other patients, accusing me of lying about what the staff told me on the phone!? One staff member told a story about clearly a different patient she spoke with on the phone who she told to come in to check for cancellations but definitely not to just walk in; She must have assumed that was me but I did not call today so clearly that person in her story was not me. There were so many assumptions being made and none of them asked me follow-up questions for clarification. The staff's only goal was to get me to leave. I couldn't believe they were doing this to a patient publicly! Other patients in the room were looking wide-eyed in disbelief at this staff behavior! The two dark-haired female employees were very unprofessional in doing this. This behavior was intentional and right on front of me as they looked at me while speaking/yelling to one another. I've never ever been a problem for anyone here, I don't know any of them personally, I only do what the staff tells me to do, I couldn't believe this! All 3 employees did not believe me, when I called first to make an appointment in the first place to avoid this mess! The woman on the phone was one of the dark haired girls, I recognized her voice... Because I've been here so often just trying to get some contacts after an exam over a month ago. It's a shame because the eye doctor is SO GOOD, but I will straighten out finding a contact that works for me and I'll have to move on to a different eye doctor's office. It's such a disappointment when the staff completely ruins things for an excellent doctor. These employees are shameful. Do yourself a favor and go to a professional, mature, and reputable eye doctor's office. This one isn't worth the stress.
