By far the worst experience I've ever had at an optometry office…read more
The doctors themselves were just "eh." I felt rushed during my exam. The staff was also not very welcoming or professional. They would stand around talking amongst themselves as if patients weren't even standing in front of them, and only acknowledge you when they were ready.
The billing experience was by far the worst part.
After my exam, I was left waiting for the biller to come speak with me. When she finally came out, she told me, "You don't have vision insurance. You have a discount rate. If you buy frames from us, your exam is only $25. If you don't, it's $95."
I explained to her that I had specifically called the office before making my appointment because I had just gotten new vision insurance and wanted to make sure I found an office that accepted it. I had also printed my insurance card. When I made the appointment, I was told that they accepted my insurance and that my copay would be $25.
After looking at my card, she said it looked like EyeMed or VSP but that she couldn't find me in the system. She then asked me to call my HR department or insurance company.
So I did. I had an insurance representative on the phone and handed the phone to her. The biller told the representative that I didn't have coverage. The representative then confirmed that I had Spectera coverage.
The biller responded, "That's all we need," and then turned around and told me, "There's the problem. You have Spectera and we don't take that."
I explained again that I had called in advance specifically to confirm that they accepted my insurance and had been told that they did. I even asked her to spell the name of the insurance company because I had never heard of Spectera before.
Her response was, "It's Spectera. I already told you the name. It's not my team's job to know the patient's coverage. It's the patient's job."
I reminded her that I had done exactly that--I called ahead of time to verify my coverage, and I was given incorrect information by the office.
Throughout this interaction, staff members in the background were smiling and smirking, which made an already uncomfortable situation even worse.
The biller then told me, "Fine. You can pay $95, or just walk off clean, but you get no prescription. And good luck finding someone who takes your insurance because no one in the city of Monrovia takes it."
That statement was especially frustrating because I later found that Spectera is accepted at LensCrafters and by multiple optometry offices in Duarte, Monrovia, and Arcadia.
I completely understand that mistakes happen. What I have a problem with is the lack of accountability and professionalism when the mistake was made by the office after I had specifically called beforehand to verify my coverage. I even asked them to pull the recording of my original call to confirm what I had been told.
I work in customer service myself, and I understand that difficult situations can happen. I am also a very patient person and rarely leave negative reviews. In fact, I sat with this, thought about it, and prayed about whether I should even leave this review.
I ultimately decided to share my experience because I sincerely hope no one else has to experience what I did.
This was, without a doubt, one of the worst customer service experiences I've ever had. The lack of professionalism, communication, and accountability was extremely disappointing. I would not recommend this office based on my experience.
