Customer Service Dilemma
The Ender
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright; I've been seeing an opthomologist (no idea how to spell that properly) for follow-up eye care after having PRK surgery done on my right eye. It's been going really well.
I finally have my post-surgery care prescription and had planned to take it over to the local Iris optometrist & pay him for the lenses; he did me a real solid and helped me out with an infectious eye ulcer after I'd received horrendous treatment & a misdiagnosis at a local hospital, so I wanted to give him my business when it came to buying glasses (already bought a temporary pair from him a couple of months back & did a redundant eye exam through him).
I dropped off the prescription last week, I believe on Wednesday, and was told by the doctor's assistant that they'd order the lenses and then do a trace for my frame at a later date. She said she would be sending the order out that same day. Everything sounded good to me.
Suddenly, today, I receive an unbelievably rude phone call from their office. They want to know why my prescription is so different (I explain that I had just had surgery), why I wasn't doing follow-up care through them (I went with the doctor recommended by my surgeon. Pretty simple. Also it's none of their Goddamn business, but whatever) and effectively said that they wouldn't order my lenses until I had another eye exam through them (at full cost, of course).
Maybe I would be okay with this if the receptionist was polite, but Holy God she was pissy & terse, and plainly angry that I had dared go to the doctor recommended by my surgeon rather than their office. Also, she fucking lied to me on Thursday about ordering my lenses that same day, which is infuriating.
I am a pretty harsh stickler for customer service because I've been involved in it for most of my life, so normally this would be it for me: I'd just go get my lenses from my opthomologist instead (who has been totally cool with me going to Iris for the prescription, after I explained to them why I wanted to give them my business) and never darken an Iris doorway again. But...
Their office helped me out in a very, very big way, when nobody else would. I could've completely lost vision in my left eye if it wasn't for the optometrist at that little clinic (and I was in a lot of pain, which nobody aside from that optometrist seemed to give two shits about). So, I feel like I owe them (I sent the doctor a thank-you e-mail, but obviously that's not much in terms of material thanks).
What would you do? Would you pay for a redundant eye exam (85 bucks) & just forget about the rude receptionist, or would you say, "Fuck it," save the 85 bucks and get glasses from a place with better customer service? It's difficult for me to express how much it meant to me that the Iris optometrist helped me out the way he did, unfortunately (which is why this, to me, isn't a clear-cut answer at all): but it meant a lot.
I finally have my post-surgery care prescription and had planned to take it over to the local Iris optometrist & pay him for the lenses; he did me a real solid and helped me out with an infectious eye ulcer after I'd received horrendous treatment & a misdiagnosis at a local hospital, so I wanted to give him my business when it came to buying glasses (already bought a temporary pair from him a couple of months back & did a redundant eye exam through him).
I dropped off the prescription last week, I believe on Wednesday, and was told by the doctor's assistant that they'd order the lenses and then do a trace for my frame at a later date. She said she would be sending the order out that same day. Everything sounded good to me.
Suddenly, today, I receive an unbelievably rude phone call from their office. They want to know why my prescription is so different (I explain that I had just had surgery), why I wasn't doing follow-up care through them (I went with the doctor recommended by my surgeon. Pretty simple. Also it's none of their Goddamn business, but whatever) and effectively said that they wouldn't order my lenses until I had another eye exam through them (at full cost, of course).
Maybe I would be okay with this if the receptionist was polite, but Holy God she was pissy & terse, and plainly angry that I had dared go to the doctor recommended by my surgeon rather than their office. Also, she fucking lied to me on Thursday about ordering my lenses that same day, which is infuriating.
I am a pretty harsh stickler for customer service because I've been involved in it for most of my life, so normally this would be it for me: I'd just go get my lenses from my opthomologist instead (who has been totally cool with me going to Iris for the prescription, after I explained to them why I wanted to give them my business) and never darken an Iris doorway again. But...
Their office helped me out in a very, very big way, when nobody else would. I could've completely lost vision in my left eye if it wasn't for the optometrist at that little clinic (and I was in a lot of pain, which nobody aside from that optometrist seemed to give two shits about). So, I feel like I owe them (I sent the doctor a thank-you e-mail, but obviously that's not much in terms of material thanks).
What would you do? Would you pay for a redundant eye exam (85 bucks) & just forget about the rude receptionist, or would you say, "Fuck it," save the 85 bucks and get glasses from a place with better customer service? It's difficult for me to express how much it meant to me that the Iris optometrist helped me out the way he did, unfortunately (which is why this, to me, isn't a clear-cut answer at all): but it meant a lot.
With Love and Courage
The Ender on
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I'd guess you're dealing with the worst thing in customer service: a hardass bureaucrat with misconceptions of all the rules.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I bought the frames from them already; they're just fitting lenses to them.
personally I'd look for a place that can perform the basic fucking service of filling a prescription without giving me grief, but if you really like that particular office then give them another shot.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I will do that tomorrow.
Thanks for the thoughts.
...this. You have no idea how meaningful stuff like that is to providers. Material thanks is whatever. He's an ophthalmologist, he's getting plenty of material compensation for what he's doing. Getting direct thanks from patients after the fact is a pretty rare occurrence though, and it feels fucking awesome. Good on you for taking your time to personally contact him and let him know.