I am not one to drag someone or a business through the mud, but poor customer service is poor customer service. Even if it is done with a smile. On the rare occasion I have a bad experience somewhere, but normally I just keep silent and never go back. In this case, I can't do that.
On 10/6/16 I had a bad experience with the office staff. I never met Dr. Shotwell, which I have been told is a very nice sweet lady. My bad experience starts when I had a 4pm appointment. I got stuck in traffic and arrived about 5 minutes late. I walked in and filled out my paperwork. Then I was told it was too late for me to have my eye exam. I was told that I should've been (but was never told) to be there approximately 15 to 30 minutes earlier than my appointment time to complete paperwork. (NOTE: It doesn't take that long to complete the paperwork) Once I completed my paperwork which took probably 2 minutes at the most, I was told that it was too late for me to have my appointment and that they would have to reschedule for another date. I told the staff that I left work early to make the appointment. Was there anyway to still have my eye exam? Basically in a friendly and smiling way, they said sorry you was too late. Yeah, like 5 minutes late. If I had been told to be there earlier I would've been. There wasn't another customer in the office so it wasn't like me being 5 minutes late allowed someone else to get in front of me. No one else was waiting to see the Dr.. They held firm and didn't make an exception under the circumstances to please a new customer. They wouldn't budge a bit. Honestly, they close at 5pm and I have never had an eye exam take more than 30 minutes max. So they did have time, but didn't want to help me or even budge. Sure I was late, but not so late to still get in to see the doctor. I honestly think that if I had walked in at straight up 4pm they would've still made the excuse that I wouldn't have time for the exam because of needing to be there earlier than my appointment time. After making another appointment, they told me to be there on time next time and laughed. They went on to jokingly say, well now you get to go home early. The whole experience was done with smiles, but I didn't like the fact that they wouldn't budge on the appointment time. I was really sad and disappointed when I left. By the time I got home I was really angry. I thought about it more and called back and cancelled, saying that I couldn't do business with a staff that would not be flexible with only being 5 minutes late. They lost a customer that day. In fact, they lost 3 customers that day because my wife and son both will not be going back to that office for any services. I wish they would've been just a little more understanding and made the exception or had told me to be there earlier than my appointment time.
Words to the wise..... If you do go there, make sure you arrive earlier than your appointment or they will send you away with a "tough luck" "too bad for you" attitude. read more