* This review is based on my consultation experiences, not the actual procedure. *…read more
I had been thinking about lasik eye surgery for a few years but recently started really looking into it because wearing my contacts and glasses were becoming unbearable. I began my research last month and also asked some friends for recommendations. One of them suggested TLC and said he had a wonderful experience. I scheduled my consultation appointment via their website for the following Monday 3:30pm. I scheduled that appointment after another appointment at another company, since I figured do two appointments in one day.
Come Monday, my eyes were dilated from the first appointment, which I did not predict was going to happen. I figured TLC would not be able to check my eyes due to the dilation but I went anyways so I could ask some questions and schedule another appointment.
The entrance to office was a bit tough to find for me, it was a very narrow road that I missed the first time and almost the 2nd time I went. The building was small compared to the other building next door. I parked and went inside the office. The waiting and reception area was small as well. The receptionist was pretty nice and had me fill out some paperwork.
I waited a while and almost watched an entire show of Ellen DeGeneres talking to Bieber and then Shonda Rhimes. Finally, I was greeted by the Patient Consultant, Luisa, who seemed to be in a hurry. I explained to her what had happened and that my eyes were dilated from another appointment and apologized. She said they would only be able to do a simple screening then and that I had to be out of my contacts for 2 weeks prior to the consultation, which I did not know. She told me that she felt bad that I waited a while and I offered to come back another time, I just wanted to ask some questions since I had the appointment anyways. I went ahead and started asking her some questions, and was ready to jot down notes, but she said she'd be giving me a folder with the info later.
Luisa went ahead with some tests and then had me watch a video on the computer monitor, which repeated for 4-5 times. Then Dr. Stelzer showed up to talk to me about coming back again in 2 weeks for a more in-depth exam because my eyes were still dilated and I haven't been out of contacts long enough yet. He went over the difference between Lasik and PRK, talked highly about Dr. Aran, and just spoke so fast that I still hadn't process the information. He said so far, I am a candidate for lasik, but they won't know for sure until the next in-depth exam.
Afterwards, I was back in Luisa's office. She spoke really fast as well, seemed to be bothered by something, gave me a folder with some info in it about the center and doctors, and showed me a small brochure of Wells Fargo finance option along with the cost of the procedure:
$2395 p/eye
$4790
-$400
$4,370
After finishing, she closed the folder and was ready to send me out the door. I said, "Wait, I still have some questions to ask." She said, "Oh, sorry," but didn't seem sorry in my opinion. I felt so rushed and disrespected. I get it, it was close to their closing time, but let me ask my questions and don't rush me. My appointment was at 3:30pm and it took them a while to get to me. I was on time, I was polite, I waited, and I deserved some quality time instead of being rushed.
She then told me to go to the front desk to make the next appointment. I left with such a bad taste in my mouth about TLC, but I still gave them a benefit of the doubt since one of my friends had gotten his custom lasik done here, and Cassie from Yelp as well. The receptionist scheduled me for 7/5 Tuesday. Days later, I got a call saying their doctors will be on vacation, so the center will be closed, therefore, they have to reschedule my appointment.
At that point, I was annoyed. I canceled that appointment. Even though my gut feeling told me not to go back, and I had gone to another place for consultation during the 2 weeks, I went back to TLC anyways to give them another chance before my final decision. I called back and got an appointment for 7/11 Mon at 1pm.
I arrived early, waited to get called. A staff led me to the room next to Luisa's office and did some quick tests. She was nice. Then she showed the results to Dr. Stelzer, who came by really quick, asked if I rubbed my eyes. I said, maybe when I woke up, but other than that, no. He said something about one of my eyes being funky, so I would have to come back in another 2 weeks to get tested, and not to rub my eyes. I was scheduled to come back in 2 weeks.
When I got home, I made my final call of where to get the lasik eye surgery done and I am happy with my decision. Today I called TLC twice as a courtesy to cancel my next appointment, but was put on hold for more than 10 minutes each time. Overall, I did not have a great experience, but maybe you will :-). Definitely do your research.
