I'll start with the good: Dr. Gelner is a great doctor. She's friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable.
My complaint has to do with the billing department/way my insurance was handled. I've had vision insurance for about 10 years now. I've had United for 4-5 years. Dr. Gelner gave me some trial lenses since I'd been having issues with driving at night. Because of this, I didn't order contact lenses that same day. When I paid my bill, I was charged an additional $85 'fitting fee' for my contacts.
I paid it - I'm not sure why I didn't protest. I called my insurance company to ask about it and was told it was because I didn't order contacts on the day of the exam. The fitting fee is apparently part of your contact allowance. So, I was thinking they'd refund it when I ordered my contacts. Nope.
I understand why I was charged initially. The office needs their fees in case I don't come back and order lenses. It seems that it would make sense to refund me when I actually order the lenses, though. For 10 years, I paid $30 for everything - $10 exam copay and $20 materials copay. This visit ended up costing me $115 ($10 exam, $20 materials, $85 fee).
I feel like the employees should have been very clear with me that the $85 was non-refundable or that I had to order lenses that day. I would have never taken trial pairs if that was the case. $85 is a lot of money, at least for me. Very poor customer service, in my opinion. It's too bad because I like Dr. Gelner and I won't be going back. read more