I will start by saying that I've been wearing contacts for 25 years and glasses for 26. I have also moved a lot so I've also been to numerous optometrists and ophthalmologists in my lifetime. I had a visit today and it was the worst experience I have ever had at a doctor of any kind. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the actual doctor I saw, Dr. Dikopf, but everything to do with the rest of the staff. I should have known things were not going to go well, when I called to make an appointment and had to deal with one of their rude receptionists. When she asked for my insurance I told her I had an HMO and she said I needed a referral and I said I had one. She hurriedly snarled well bring it with you when you get here for the appointment. When I said I have a referral I'd number, is it possible for you to look it up? She said I don't have time. Well okay. I chalked it up to she's probably having a bad day. When she asked for the reason for my appointment, I said I need a contacts and glasses prescription as well as a general check up because I'm diabetic. Okay, appointment made.
Now it's the day of the appointment. My appointment was at 4, but since I'm a new patient, I know to get there earlier for paperwork, so I get there around 3:50. I check in with a pretty nice receptionist. Seemed like she was helping out for a bit because it was crazy busy when I got there. Then I get ordered around a bit by the other 2 receptionist. They were so catty to the nice receptionist, rolling their eyes at her. I'm told to fill out some paperwork in my car and come back. So I hustle out to my car, fill out the paperwork, and come back, where I'm told to take a seat and wait. While I waited, I had the wonderful experience of listening to the receptionists be rude to people on the phone and also watched them be rude to many of the elderly patients that walked through the door. Again, I should've known things were not going to go well for me.
Well, after about an hour, my name finally gets called! Yay! I'm on my way to a new prescription! Well, so I thought. We go through all the metrics, my eyes get dilated, etc. I see the doctor, everything looks good, yada, yada and he says I just have to go back up front and they will give me new prescription. Yay! I try to be friendly to the receptionist and she's not having it. Okay, seems like she's not having a good day again. My eyes are dilated so I finally look at my paperwork in the car where I can sit for 2 minutes and focus. Well, I only have a glasses prescription. So I go back inside and nicely tell the receptionists that I was supposed to get a contacts prescription and never got one. The girls say let me go tell the doctor. I wait and maybe 15 minutes later the doctor comes out and says oh you're still waiting? The receptionist tells him no, I told Ricky. So I continue to wait. i wait 15 more minutes and Ricky comes out and asked me what happened so I tell him. He says who was your technician so I tell him. He takes my glasses and goes to the back. Ricky comes back and proceeds to tell me that I'll have to come back for another appointment and that I will be charged $100 for that appointment because they didn't take my measurements for contacts. Excuse me? What the hell were you guys doing for the last 2.5 hours that I was here? He also proceeds to tell me that they never take these measurements in one sitting and it's always 2 appointments. Again, I've been wearing contacts for 25 years and it's always been one appointment to get prescriptions for contacts and glasses. I say I may have the prescription from my optometrist that I went to last year and he says why don't you just go there? Because I needed to see an ophthalmologist for my diabetes Ricky and since he can give me my prescription too I thought I'd save myself time and money by doing everything in one trip! And then a Ricky tells me he couldn't possibly use the information from my optometrist because he can't use someone else's measurements, he has to take his own, and I should just go back to my optometrist. I couldn't argue with him anymore because he just wasn't understanding what I was saying, nor was he looking for a way to rectify the issue. So I left to Ricky and the 2 receptionists cackling behind me. I will NEVER return to this office again. I will also be talking to my general practitioner about my experience so that he knows to no longer make referrals to this office. It's a shame because the doctor was actually a great guy. If only his staff was nicer. read more