I have been coming here for years, first with Dr. Peek, then Dr. Lam. I am actually quite happy with Dr. Lam and the whole eye exam process, but everything else in between fell short.
First off, I made an appointment and still waited for over an hour before I was called into the exam room. The I waited for another 20 minutes before I went back outside to inquire when Dr. Lam would be seeing me. Upon seeing me in the waiting room again, the staff suddenly ran over to check my charts and said, "oh my gosh, you're still waiting," then they told me the doctor would be seeing me soon. I don't know if they had forgotten about me, or if the doctor was just running late. But I waited another 10 minutes before Dr. Lam showed up. The exam itself was fine.
The contact lens I needed were $30 a box if I purchased them for the doctor's office, so I figured I'd shop around and see if I could find better prices online. I found them for $19.99 per box, which was a significant price difference. So I called the doctor's office and requested that they faxe me a copy of my prescription because I wanted to buy my contacts online instead.
They faxed my prescription within 30 minutes, but it was the wrong one. Let me explain. The doctor wanted me to try a new brand of contacts, and if they were comfortable, then I could either switch to the new one or stick with with my original brand.
They were horrible. I couldn't take them out my eyes. When I was struggling to get them out, I thought I would either scratch my cornea or have contacts stuck on my eyeballs forever. Eventually I did get them out, but needless to say, when I called the doctor's office for my prescription, I asked them to fax me one for the original brand.
They faxed me a prescription for the NEW brand. So I called them and asked for the correct prescription. They never got back to me.
I called again the following day and made the same request. Nothing happened for the rest of the day.
I called yet again the next day, and this time, they faxed me a prescription of the original brand, but my prescription was wrong.
So I called again, and no one got back to me. By this time I was getting the strange feelling that once their office were finished with the eye exam, they could care less about any follow-up care with the patients.
Then I had to wait 2 more days before calling because they weren't open on Sundays and Mondays. When I called again and told them that the prescription I received was wrong, they asked me,"What IS your prescription?" What? Why would I know that? Isn't that supposed to be in my eye exam charts/records, which they have on file? I asked them to check my charts or to double check with the doctor.
Then I get another prescription faxed to me, and this time, the base curve of the contacts were wrong. I called again, and this time I finally got a correct prescription faxed to me. So I ordered my contacts online, and got a great deal.
But a couple of days later, I receive an email update from the website that I bought my contacts from, saying that my doctor had changed my prescription, so the online store waws trying to verify if I would accept the new prescription, which my doctor had changed, even though they faxed me a supposedly correct prescription themselves.
I had to call the online store and tell them, "No, keep the original prescription, because that's the corrrect one, and I have no idea why the doctor changed my prescription." They said they would call my doctor and verify with them again.
Several days later, I got nothing. So I emailed the online store to inquire about my order, and they told me, when they contacted the doctor's office, no one ever got back to them. They said they will wait another day to see if anyone gets back to them, and if not, they will ship my order.
No one ever got back to them? I thought the optometrists' offices are obligated to verify prescriptions so their patients have access to contact lens (or glasses), no matter where they choose to order from? I guess that's not the case with Dr. Lam's office.
Another day went by, I get an email from the online store, saying that Dr. Lam's office never got back to them, so they will take my original prescription and ship my order.
So I got my eye exam, and I got my contacts. But with all the trouble I had to go through, I can't help but wonder if their office just didn't want to give me a correct prescription so I would have to purchase my contact through their office, at a premium price.
Not something I want to go though again! read more