Northwest Hills Eye Care — Local services in Austin

DO NOT become a patient here if you value your time, money, or dignity. The location is admittedly nice, but the staff is surly and unprofessional, and also ridiculously unskilled. It's one of those dime-a-dozen places where they treat you terribly but do it with a "smile" so not only is your intelligence insulted but you feel patronized on top of it. Awesome, right?

I recently had a pair of so-called "custom made" lenses put into a pair of frames that I've owned for awhile. The prescription came from NW Hills, so I figure this is an easy ask. I make an appointment and bring in the frames and the prescription. Ebony, the woman working in the prescription fulfillment area, first off treats me horribly at the initial appointment, being short with me for no reason and creating no reassurance that she will be able to actually do the task I'm asking her to do. She is totally noncommittal as to whether she can simply tighten some screws on the frames I've brought her as a side item when filling the prescription. She even insults me by suggesting I go somewhere else to have the work done if I don't like her rude non-answers. Because I just want to get this done quickly and I'm already there, I cave and give her the frames. She very pointedly does not wish me a good day on my way out. A ray of sunshine!

A full 2 weeks go by before I hear back, via text. I'm given some options as to when to come pick up the frames. I pick a time and reply, but get no confirmation follow up. So I'm put in the position of having to just "have faith" now that someone saw my reply. Does the VIP treatment here ever stop? Talk about professionalism! So I show up, ready to be disappointed and hear that I need to come back some other time, etc. but miraculously the glasses are actually ready to be picked up. Not so miraculously, I discover after a few days that I can't wear them for over 5 minutes without dizziness and a splitting headache.

Now I'm annoyed. It's one thing to have rude customer service, but I can forgive that if you're competent. But as it turns out, these people are not only rude and dumb, but horribly bad at their jobs! I call them back, fully expecting the run around, but I figure I have nothing to lose by at least asking for a refund. I'm routed to a Joe Gonzalez (I think) who, very predictably tries to convince me that a) it isn't the glasses that are the problem, maybe it's just me (wrong answer, as I have other glasses with the same prescription that work just fine) and then when his lame attempt at a Jedi mind trick fails, ole thick-headed Joe decides to force me to b) waste more of my time by demanding I come back to their offices so that they can take the lenses out and send them back to the warehouse, or some such gobbledygook, before they can give me a refund. Does this make sense to anyone? I thought these were custom made lenses, how can they be returned? Are they going to be re-used or recycled in any way? How? Yeah sure, the old "warehouse" schtick - likely story Joe! When I tell Joe that I'm not coming back in and I want the refund regardless he starts filibustering and getting haughty and just generally acting like a jerk (seeing a pattern here?) and now, disgusted with the entire experience, I decide to just end it. And get this: the guy even has a smart aleck comment to say to me when I tell him I'm going to write a negative review. Hey Joe, here's a tip: you're not being paid to be a comedian, you're being paid to serve customers!

Overall, I can't say that I'm surprised. I could have escalated it to Dr. Miller, but really, if they can't see the dead weight that they are employing at this place they don't deserve the heads up. To summarize: NW Hills Eyecare is a fine place to have your eyes examined, if you don't mind a completely out-to-lunch and surly receptionist staff. The doctors working there are okay. However, if you want to buy frames, have prescription lenses fulfilled, or do anything other than get a simple yearly eye exam, RUN don't walk to another establishment.

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I went to NW Hill Eyecare for a little over 3 years. The service and staff for the first couple were excellent. This last year, unfortunately, has been a terrible experience in my opinion.

I agree with all the other posts about the staff being difficult to deal with. I had to regularly call 2-3 times and leave multiple voicemails to finally get a return call back. When you do FINALLY get the staff on the phone, they normally act like you are inconveniencing them by calling.

I ordered contacts this past January and found out that one box did not come in with the shipment after driving over to the office - a call to forewarn me would have been nice. When the missing box finally did come in, they expected me to drive back in and get it - for a 2nd time - even though this was not my fault. I asked the receptionist to kindly mail them to me, but she refused. At which point, I escalated the situation to Dr. Miller. It was only after this escalation to Dr. Miller that they agreed to ship my contacts. I should have just left after that point as the entire process was a headache and the staff made zero effort to accommodate or fix their mistake without an escalation to their boss.

The most recent episode is absolutely why I will be moving on. I ordered a pair of glasses, but after 3-4 visits, updates, check-ups, etc. - the team STILL could not get my glasses prescription right. Finally, I told them I would like a refund as I did not have time to keep coming in to fix their problem. It's unacceptable for an eye care company to not be able to get a glasses prescription right. The icing on the cake -- I had to call, email, and even send a tweet to FINALLY get a short, and unfriendly answer back from Dr. Miller that my glasses refund check was in the mail. Not even an apology for wasting so much of my time.

This place is going downhill fast. Dr. Miller seems to be pretty unaware of how her staff treats customers. I would have been a customer of hers for many, many years to come had her staff - and frankly had she - done the right thing. Do yourself a favor and find another eye doctor around town. I am on the hunt for a new eye doctor as we...

What an incredible practice! I have nothing but amazing things to say. I have been a patient of Dr. Meghan Schutte for several years however I was astounded by her new office. From the moment I walked in, the two receptionists, Leslie and Rachel, took a genuine interest in friendly conversation. They offered me coffee or tea and assured me that I would be seen very soon. I made a coffee and was admitted to the back exam rooms within 5 minutes of arriving, and 10 minutes early from the time my appointment was booked! The technicians who helped take my initial tests on the different machines, cleaned everything in front of me and made nice conversation while being concise and very efficient.

Dr. Meghan Schutte began our appointment right on time and spent time helping me understand my eye scans while talking to me with such care and attention to detail. I really appreciated having this level of explanation and care that I have yet to receive from any other doctor. She completed my exam, ordered me a trial pair of the latest and greatest new contact lenses to keep my eyes as healthy as possible. She assured me that if I enjoyed my previous contacts better, I'd have access to order either. From start to finish, 5 stars! Compassion, intelligence and quality time from the doctor in an immaculate and professional office. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Additionally, on my way out, I stopped to check out glasses and Ebony helped me pick out the perfect frames. Dr. Schutte even popped out to check on if I was enjoying the selection and compliment my choice.

Thank you to everyone there and I look forward to my next visit! Keep up...