EDIT: Dr. May acknowledged + addressed the experiences I had 2019-2021 in the Loop office (during my latest eye exam, 2022). I'll write a new one when Yelp allows a review update. Leaving this one up as I still feel accountability for the issues I experienced should be held somewhere.
// Original
While the eye exams have been good, and Dr. May is professional and helpful with vision questions, the office has made multiple mistakes regarding my prescription and insurance coverage, costing me a decent glasses wearing experience + causing me to not take advantage of my coverage.
The first mistake was when my high index lenses were ordered to be the second thinnest (1.67) as opposed to the thinnest (1.74), *even though my insurance covers the highest index lens completely with no copay* -- see attached photo. The office never admitted to the mistake, and blamed the thickness on my choice of frame in 2019 when I asked about it, upon receiving thinner lenses for a similar frame shape in 2020, and comparing the two. I took them in two years later in 2021 to have the lenses updated to the highest index (which confirmed my suspicions that the first ones were ordered incorrectly!)
In fact, the optician/office staff member (who ordered them in 2019- avoiding naming names) had the nerve to tell me I "probably didn't want to pay for the better ones", and that's why they were thicker (although my insurance has always covered the thinnest ones, and I confirmed my coverage had been the same in 2019). In short, she gaslighted me and implied it was my financial choice to receive the thicker lenses, rather than an office error.
Later, a new front desk worker/optician took over the office and was much more kind and professional, however still mistakenly told me my primary insurance had downgraded to only covering one pair of glasses per year (in 2021). Toward the end of the year I went and read over my 2021 benefits and there was a line for "second pair" coverage. If I had known, I would have been able to get contact lenses partially covered that year. Instead, I didn't end up using all my vision benefits (and utilized my secondary to make up for what I was told was my primary downgrading).
Lastly, until the newest optician started working there, it was like pulling teeth to ask for combined insurance coverage to be applied at all. It felt like a major burden on the front desk/clerks to ask for combined coverage to be applied vs just paying copays out of pocket, and I've never met such resistance to my use of dual insurance in any other optometrist or dentist office.
Why do I keep going? Why not ask for compensation? 1) Convenience in not switching office, and not confirming their mistakes until too late. I trusted what I was told + didn't know better until I had other glasses for comparison + only later confirmed that the first lenses were wrong and that the benefits info was wrong. 2) Conflict avoidance and being totally gaslighted by that first optician (who told me I probably couldn't afford the better ones!!!) when I did raise the issue in person. I received an apology for the error from the newer clerk when I finally got the newest lenses, and was able to compare and confirm without a doubt that the 2019 order was incorrect. But again, no investigation or offer to make it right-- I just fixed the issue myself by using my coverage for the year.
I would recommend checking your insurance benefits on your own time, standing up to condescending attitudes about using dual insurance to cover copays (the point of vision insurance is to use it!), and double checking your lens order, since I was stuck with overly thick lenses that dug into my face for a full year due to the first optician, who never admitted to the office's mistake + implied I had been too poor for better lenses (when it was *her* mistake in applying my insurance coverage, which has remained unchanged each year in lens coverage-- and yes, I can pull up the VSP info). I had to fix those thick lenses myself by using my insurance coverage two years later (after I became suspicious of the error). I had pimples/irritation at the contact point for the whole year (2019) when those were my only glasses.
I give three stars because my issues have only been with the front desk clerks' mistakes (and condescension!), and the doctors themselves have been very sharp, kind, and helpful (and in fact came out to correct/guide the clerks once or twice). Consider only doing exams here and buying your frames/lenses elsewhere. Or just be very knowledgeable about your benefits + don't get squashed when you suspect sth is off.
Alternatively, to Loop, please train your clerks to be more detail-oriented in handling insurance coverage + being unbiased toward customers. (I was fresh out of college when the first clerk treated me with condescension, denied ordering mistakes, and insinuated I couldn't afford the better lenses-- lenses I later ordered with the exact same insurance). read more