NOOOO! You already know that eyeglasses are the biggest scam since college textbooks, right? I mean, you can buy a cheaper textbook, an older edition, and learn just as much as you could with the newer editions (unless we're talking several decades, and if it's Math, you can go that long without buying a new one!). Eyeglasses are stupidly expensive and here's my rant. Yes, you'll just have to forgive me. If you don't want to listen to me, you can skip the entire blog. This blog is just about me ranting about the cost of eyeglasses and the way I was treated at the vision center in Oklahoma City. I'll let you figure out from that clue who they are.
I truly (and I do mean TRULY) believed that I was being treated super well at the vision center that is located in Oklahoma City; but as it turns out I was being (in my opinion) used. I was just another number, and the number(s) are so very very "off" if you ask me. Here's the situation: My daughter was with me in the exam room, and in the area where you pick out glasses. She was with me when we spoke with the lady who orders the glasses for you, and puts the little dot on the glasses to show where the center of your pupil is so the guys who cut and grind the lens will have an idea as to how they will fit. EVEN when the lady was marking them I remember asking her if she was going for the center of the lens or my pupil. She said to the pupil. Not so.
My eyes are not bad in the first place, but there the doctor was testing my eyes, saying I had astigmatism and that I needed correction. He used a really cool steam punk-looking device to add and take away lenses so he could tell exactly what I needed. He called out to his assistant and told her what I needed. She apparently either wrote it down so very very incorrectly, or he gave her the wrong information after I left the room. I have NO idea, but when the glasses came in (and I'll talk about that in a second) they were way off. They were close to being 3x as strong as my reading glasses, and I see perfectly well with my 1.00+ readers. He had the lenses at 2.75 and get this, he didn't have ANY astigmatism correction whatsoever in the lens! NOPE. They added the blue-light filter. They added the ultra-lightweight plastic, and something else, I can't remember, but there was NO actual correction and they thought I was going to pay $117 out of my own pocket plus the $175 that the insurance paid. Are they nuts? They must be nuts.
My daughter wasn't with me today when I picked them up. Had she been she would have given them an ear full as well. As it was, they saw my face. I smiled. I was quite quite polite. I could even say overly cordial. I looked at the man in the back who thought I was going to be pleased, and I handed him my not-so-worthy pair of overly prescripted readers. I told him I would like to have the $117 returned to my card, and the $275 returned to my insurance company. I appreciated his help in the matter, and I began to leave. Naturally, (you guessed it) he called me back to discuss the matter. That's the wrong thing to do when I'm pissed. The right thing to do is to smile, nod, and agree with me. Never, and I do mean NEVER ask me to come back and discuss something that YOU (they) have royally fudged.
I turned on my heel. I took a deep breath. I walked up to the man and I said with the most reserved voice I could muster "Sir, please don't ask me to say it again. I didn't order 2.75+ readers for $392.00. I'm not an idiot. These glasses don't address either of my issues. I came in with the need to see close-up without blurring, and I have slight astigmatism. These are overpriced, and they are also misprescribed. I don't want them. Please return the money immediately." Because I am the way I am, I didn't yell at him in public, it wasn't his fault. He is trained to save the deal. I told him I was also in sales, and I understood his position. I assured him that there was NOTHING he could say to me outside of saying he would return the money immediately, that I wanted to discuss. I left.
Earlier in the day, I called to see if the glasses were ready for pickup. I was told they were. I arrived after work, and went to the back, I waited the customary 10 minutes or so, and I was informed that they were being "cut" as we speak. It would be about 30 minutes. That is so not what I was told. I was told they were ready for pickup. Now, I don't know about you, but I am not in the habit of lying to folks. If they were not, or are not ready, someone should have told me that before I took the time to drive to the store when I could have been reading my book. I could have been doing my dishes. I could have been picking my nose! It's MY CHOICE what I do what my time. Let me know if something is ACTUALLY ready when it's ACTUALLY ready, or say it will be ready after a certain time. Is that so hard?
Knowing that absolutely all of this situation can be categorized into First World Issues, I do try not to be so blatantly rude or over-the-top upset when there's little to nothing that can be done. However, let me tell you what could have been done. From my point of view, and keep in mind, I'm JUST the customer, the doctor could have told the assistant the ACTUAL prescription. There's NO WAY in HECK that he would have said 2.75+ when I read perfectly at 1.00+. He could have said something along the lines of 1.25+ with a stigma correction of XX. I found out from the guy in the back that the stigma was so small that the higher level of the reader would fix it. It didn't fix a damn thing. I couldn't put them on my face without going cross-eyed. They could have used a better selection of glasses within the $175.00 limit that my insurance paid. The ones they had STARTED at $169.00. Go figure.
Unless you wanted to look like an idiot wearing the standard military thick black hornrims, you paid extra for your glasses. I paid $117 over the price and you know the frames I picked were middle-of-the-road priced. I don't do really expensive anything. I was livid that I had to pay out of pocket when I could just go to Target or Walmart and pick up a really good pair of readers with blue-light filter for $20! That is exactly what I thought about doing, but I remembered that I can go online to Amazon and get the same set in a box of 5 for $15.00. NOT JOKING. I just ordered a box of 5 reading glasses, I went up to 1.25+ after trying them on at Target to be sure that would be a better choice than the 1.00+. I decided to blast the vision center because they could have been so much more professional. If it's happening to me, it's happening to dozens if not hundreds of others.
While I was there politely taking it out on the poor man in the back, but trying to remember that he really isn't responsible, there was a man standing behind me who said (and no, I'm not kidding) "You know, I was just about to come up here and tell you what I think about this place too. My wife and I picked out these glasses for me and I don't think they're the ones I picked out. I remember I wanted the blue set." The man I was speaking to spoke past me so he could address the man behind me. He said something to the tune of "Oh, yes, I'm sorry, your frames did break when we were setting the lens. The only set left in that grouping were the brown ones." OK, CALL THE MAN and tell him so! Why should he have to drive up to the store to find that out? What if he HATES the color brown? (Though I can't imagine anyone actually hating the color brown.)
Anyway, that's my rant. I ended up just ordering a box of 5 readers that are slightly stronger and since the ones at Target gave me a bit of confidence that the new ones will be just fine, I ordered them. I think $15.00 is so much better than $117, and I can keep my insurance money intact in case I do decide to try again at another place. The ONLY other time I've ever gotten a real Rx for glasses was three years ago and they didn't listen to me either. They added a bifocal to the outer rim and it drove me crazy! I couldn't use them to read or drive or anything without having depth perception issues. It's a thang. I like to see when I drive. I know, I know, I'm so selfish.
I hope you have so much less drama when you or if you go get your eyeglasses. It doesn't need to be this eventful. I decided to just bear with the fact that I'll use readers until I can't use them. OH...wait, I forgot, I mentioned to the guy in the back (I don't want to give his name) that if the doctor was wrong about the Rx and my a stigma (because he didn't add it to the Rx) then maybe he was wrong about possible cataracts I had. I told him I may get a 2nd opinion. The man in the back said, "You're more than welcome to do that, I would if I were you, but you'll find that it is so very slight that really, Dr. so-and-so shouldn't have even mentioned it." Wow...just yeah, wow. Insurance much?
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