Studio Optix — Local services in New York

My visit with Dr.Cassel was very frustrating - he rushed the exam within 5mins and didnt really care about it. I was also taken aback by his remarks such has "I can't help you " "just try these two brands and pick one" "you are splitting hairs" "this should be a slam dunk...I don't know why it is taking so long" ","I got to see other patient" and telling his assistant "you got to help me...I have no time for this.."

To to fair, My first visit with Dr.Cassel was fine. I told him how I started to feel uncomfortable of my right eye and had blurry version when reading. Dr. Cassel gave me two different brand to try and asked me to lowered my left eye's power from 4.50 to 4.25 to lessen the stress on my right eye (even my test results suggested 450 for both). At the end of the appointment- He asked me to let the store know

After about a week, I still had the same issue so I gave Studio Optix a call and scheduled an appointment with Dr. Cassel again. I came in on time and was escorted to his office 10 mins later. This is where everything start to turn south

First, He clearly didn't recall my last visit nor did he write any notes down. I had to try to explain to him that I still had been feeling uncomfortable and why I was wearing a lower powered lenses than my exam suggested (4.25 vs 4.50) but clearly he was not in the mood of listening - he insisted that based on his record, which showed that 4.50 for both eyes, "You are confusing yourself" and "you are splitting hairs" and bluntly asked me to pick one brand and he would write a prescription and call it a day (i.e. he was also trying to prescribe 4.25 both for me, which clearly showed that he didn't know what he was talking about..). I declined and had to literally beg him to see if there is anything he can do to help me...his answer was plain and simple "I can't help you", period.

Given I was still feeling uncomfortable, I asked him again whether he could take a look at my eyes with contacts using the microscope to see if the ones that I was wearing at the time were well-fitted. He was reluctant and started to mumbled that "I will take a look but I'm telling you that they are fine..." without even looking at first...I asked a couple more questions and all I got was "this should be a slam dunk...I don't know why it is taking so long"

During the entire visit, he behaved like I was wasting his time and made clear to me that he needed to see the next patient, he even stepped out to ask his assistant to "you got to help me here" and questioning why they sent me in to see him in the first place within the first 5mins, which was unbelievable given I did make an appointment (at what point contact fitting becomes a one-and-done thing?)

At the end, he give me one more brand and said he can't help me and asked me to try both and call back next Monday to place a order and made it clear that he can't help and no more visit

Honestly, I've been wearing contacts for many years and I have never had issue before - so I agree with him that it should usually be a 15 mins one-time visit and be done with it. By no means that I am an expert as he is in his field - It could very possibility that there is nothing he can do but, as a doctor, how can you have such an ego that you don't even want to listen to your patient and don't care whether he/she is feeling ok? In addition, what doctor doesn't check his patient's visiting history for second visit? This just showed how incompetent he is

I know he probably didn't make any money for the second visit of a contact fitting but please, I made an appoint and the time should be respected at the minimum.

His ego and lack of sympathy as a doctor was...

Questions for the business manager/owner: How much $ have you guys billed for without your customers' knowledge? And out of that $, how much did you pocket without providing service/product for? I didn't realize you operated a SaaS company and booked deferred revenues - maybe I forgot to execute that contract your lawyers sent over?

Borderline fraudulent if not a VERY slimy front office (no issues with the optometrist - my doctor was friendly and good). The business had the audacity to tell me their billing practice was correct when I contacted them, so I was forced to call my insurance to resolve (which they did easily).

Issues

1. Billed my insurance for my full $250 annual allowance but I only purchased $140 of products. This was done without my knowledge/permission. I realized this 4 months later after checking my annual allowance. Studio Optix never told me that I had credit so they would have pocketed the excessive amount (just like your ex-gf that wants nothing to do with you, no email, text, or phone). This could have been OK if they agreed to refund me after I called, but they refused to and told me this was the correct method and I need to bring a new prescription to them if I want to use my credit (good try but didn't work this time for you). Ended up calling my insurance company to have them claw back my credit.

2. Did not provide OEM rebate on contact lenses until after I chased multiple times via email and phone (3 in total). Had this issue during my first purchase last year but I let it go because it wasn't a huge deal. But if you ever order from these guys just realize they don't care about their...

I've been going to Studio Optix for over a decade, and they used to be great. The last time I went to update my prescription, in the summer of 2022 however, the progressive lenses that I spent hundreds of dollars on had a super narrow field of view for reading, that didn't even align perfectly, and after a few attempts to fix the problem, I just ended up giving up and trying to make due with these lenses until my next prescription.

Last week, I dropped my very expensive frame and lenses from my bathroom counter, a fall of 3 1/2 ft, and found that one lens was chipped. After contacting Studio Optix, I was told that I would have to send the lens away to a laboratory to "investigate the chip", so I would have no glasses for a few weeks. Um, no thanks. What is there to investigate? What are supposed to be high quality lenses, that cost a lot of money, chipped from a 3 1/2 ft fall. I don't know what happened to Studio Optix, but the quality in my personal experience has deteriorated markedly...