Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/22/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have had numerous difficulties in having a correct eye exam prescription and lenses from Dr. ******* *******, an optometrist in ********* *** ****** She owns the business, Redlands Optometry, **** ****** ******* *** ***, ********, CA *****.
  
  First I had an appointment with her in July 2022 to have an eye exam. The prescription didn't seems correct as I had one earlier from an ophthalmologist and it depicted different numbers. So, I asked for a redo appointment
  in August. She redid the exam and tried different lenses and calculations based on the ophthalmologist's prescription. Then in August 2022 she created a new prescription. When I received the lenses back they were ****** lenses not the Essilor lenses that I usually have had in my glass frames. Also, for my prescription I should have had a High Index lenses which is thin and that was not done. I paid $390.00 for these lenses not the frames.
  
  In addition, I found that my eye sight was not as good as it could be with the new lenses, so I contacted another optometrist in October 2022 and she gave me a new prescription. However, I always had noted an astigmatism
  in other eye my prescriptions that I had and it was not noted in this prescription. So, on January 17th I had a prescription from Dr. *********. He said that I did not have an astigmatism. Dr. ********* gave me a prescription and then told me my left eye had a high pressure indicative of glaucoma and told me as soon as I could to have an appointment with an ophthalmologists. I did and the ophthalmologist gave me a prescription for eye drops.
  I traveled to an optometric company in Yucaipa a few days after my March 7th appointment with Dr. ****** the ophthalmologist. However when I was there that the prescription might not be correct as I had an elevated eye pressure in my eye. I called Dr. ******** office and they said that I should have a redo with Dr. *********. Redlands Optometry gave me Feb 17th as a deadline to return lenses to them and receive a refund. I would like my refund of $390.00. I could not help that I was diagnosed with Glaucoma and needed another eye exam.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/03/2023

  
  March 1, 2023 
  Dear ******, 
  This letter is in response to a complaint filed against my company on 2/22/2023 with ID ********. Please see my response to her complaint below. 
  I did see this patient for an exam on 7/13/22 where I prescribed glasses which she did not fill on that day. She called back the next day wanting to discuss the prescription and how it was different from the last prescription that she had. We scheduled another appointment on 8/15/22. At this appointment, she insisted that the prescription that I wrote was wrong without even trying it. She wanted me to write a letter to the Ophthalmologist that she last saw to tell him that he did the prescription wrong. I told her that I would not do that. I adjusted the prescription on this visit to make the patient happy. She did not return to order the glasses until 10/07/22. This was after 3 visits for quotes on making the glasses which she was quoted for the progressive lenses in polycarbonate each of those times. On 11/18/22 she came in complaining about the glasses. On 11/22/22 I spoke to her and told her I would remake them into the Varilux brand. She did not return to have this done until 1/30/23. Which at this time she wanted a different frame and hi index lenses. She was not nice when we told her that was not what we had discussed, and I would only change the brand. She continued to make a scene in the office over the next 3 days and was making harassing phone calls. She barged into the patient care area and had to be escorted back to the optician's area. We told her that if she didn't want the remake as discussed, then there was nothing else we could do for her. She dropped off a letter on 2/3/23 and mailed one also stating she wanted a full refund by 2/14/23. We emailed back on 2/8/23 saying we would give her a refund, but she needed to return the lenses by 2/17/23. She agreed by email that same day that she would bring the lenses back by 2/17/23. Then every couple of days she would email saying she would be there on the 12th, then the 14th, then the 16th. The afternoon of the 16th she emailed saying she couldn't make it because she needed to get another eye exam and couldn't get that for a couple more weeks. I responded that she had till the end of business on the 2/17/23 to return the lenses like we had agreed upon or there would not be a refund. She did not respond until 10:40pm on the 2/17/2023 insisting that she needed MORE time to get a new prescription from yet another doctor. I called her on Monday, 2/20/23 to let her know that I would not give her anymore time. She said she couldn't return the glasses because she needed to wear them until she got a new exam. I asked her if she was wearing them this whole time and she said "Yes." I told her I wasn't going to refund them because she went past the time we agreed upon and that she was obviously able to wear the glasses since she had worn them since November 2022. 
  We have tried to handle this patient, but she has been difficult to handle. She is demanding, curses at the employees and upsets other patients while she is in the office. We have had to ask her to leave on many occasions because of her behavior. Because of this behavior we will be officially dismissing her from our establishment permanently. 
  Thank you, ******* *******, OD

  CEO/Owner 
  
  
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/04/2023

   I am rejecting this response because: It consists of inaccuracies and also the point was that Redlands Optometry gave me a February 17th, 2023 deadline for me to have the lenses removed from my frame and given to the company to receive my $390.00. Below are the numbered inaccuracies in her response and noted time line through optometric documents I have inclosed in my original email to the BBB attesting to the reason why I needed more time to return the lenses and should receive $390.00 back.

  
  

  1. I called to have another eye prescription at Redlands Optometric on 8/15/2023 as the first one I found out didn't seem accurate as a prescription.Then, I found an ophthalmologist's prescription that differed from her refractive prescription. That is why I called her office to have another refractive appointment with her. That is the second refractive eye  document I enclosed from Redlands Optometric that depicts another optometric appointment with her. I handed the ophthalmologist's prescription to her at this second appointment and viewing it she dialed in new numbers for my prescription. When I viewed through the dialed in prescription numbers I could see better.  These prescriptive refractive numbers were different from the ones on the first examination that she gave me.  I never asked her to write a letter to the ophthalmologist as he had created the better prescription for my eye glasses and she compared his numbers with her own and changed her first refractive prescription to match his.

  
  

   2. I  came into ******* *******'s office to order the lenses for my frames ( bought frames at Designer Optics, ********* ** on 9/13/2022) on October 26th, 2022, not as stated by ******* on October 7, 2022 (view new document submitted with this response). I had a difficult time making up my mind which frames I wanted and what size so I took longer than usual making up my mind. It costs quite a bit to have lenses made and I wanted to make sure that I had decided on the correct choice. Also, as stated by Dr. *******'s office that they would not replace the ****** lenses. The assistant talked to the optician and stated that he didn't think I needed  high-index lenses, which I did. I said that I would pay for the high-index lenses.  The company would pay for the Essilor lenses but not would not place the high-index lenses into the frames even though I would pay for them. I never said that I wished new frames. I was satisfied with them. I only bought them recently and I like them a lot. I would not have said that I wished new frames since I just bought them.

  
  

  3.The lenses brand that was ordered for my frames was ******. It is known to be not as good as the ****** Lense when someone has a progressive lense as I do. I have usually bought ****** lenses for my frames. Also, when ordering the lenses the assistant should have told me that I needed a high-index lenses. That is not what I received. With a prescription like mine I should have had  high-index lenses placed into my frames. I wondered why they were so thick and discovered afterwards from another optometrist's office that with my prescription a high-index, thinner lenses are needed.

  
  

  4. I was becoming frustrated at this on going situation with this optometric company and may have raised my voice and acted angrily, but it was through frustration with the situation. There was another situation that was frustrating too. I needed to have a visual driving document signed by Dr. ******** and instead of her signing it the manager had another optometrist sign it as Dr. ******** was not in the office but at home on a sick leave.

   

  
  

  Now, the real issue in the conflict is the time-line that Dr. ********* office gave me to return the lenses by February 17, 2023.  I have demonstrated that through my time line that I was diagnosed as having high-pressure in my left eye with Dr. ********* on January 17, 2023. Dr. ********* only works two days a month, so I had to wait at least three weeks to see him. Then, he recommended that I have an appointment with Dr. ****** in Upland. He only works two days a week.  I was able to have an appointment with him on February 9, 2023. At that time I was diagnosed with glaucoma.

   I traveled to another optometrist's office to have my glass lenses removed to take to Dr. ********* office; however, I thought that maybe I needed to have another eye appointment with Dr. *********. I thought since I was  placing eye drops in one eye to reduce its pressure that my current prescription might not be accurate, that the drops would alter my vision. I called Dr. ******** office about the concern that I had. The office assistant talked to Dr. ****** and he agreed that I should have another refractive eye exam, since the eye now is stabilized with the drops. Also, the optometric appointment needed to be after my laser procedure that I was going to have on February 28th to drain the built up fluid in my eye. Dr. ****** only performs that procedure near the end of each month. So I had that laser procedure February 28th and now I am waiting for the appointment with Dr. *********. Dr. ********* only works two days a month. So, my appointment with him is March 7, 2023 to have a redo of a refractive prescription as recommend by Dr. ****** (view document signed by Dr. ******).

  
  

  I contacted Dr. *******'s office manager **** on February 16th about my new diagnosis of glaucoma and why I was late in bringing in the glasses lenses and then on February 17th I contacted Dr. ******* as to why I was late returning the lenses to their office ( laser procedure done at end of February when Dr. ****** was able to perform it).  On March 7, 2023 I will have an appointment with Dr. ********* to have a redo prescription now that my eye is stabilized taking eye drops and with having laser procedure that drains fluid from my eye to relieve the pressure.