Advanced EyeCare — Local services in Sanford

This review was written based off my experience while the covid-19 pandemic was happening.

EDIT #1 7/01/2020: The office did reach out to me and I wasn’t available. In the meantime I got glasses somewhere else. I will be picking up my glasses on July 3rd while I wait for my other pair. Again I think the pandemic caused my experience, but it was still bizarre I couldn’t get to pick from the shelves. Imagine buying a car, but only the sales person picked the cars. You’d feel like you could get ripped off. That’s how I felt. Still recommend getting the eye exam here though!

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This was my first visit to this office as I normally go to Target Optical. This office got me in the quickest. As a customer looking to have a routine eye exam and to purchase new glasses, I consider three things when writing a review: the appointment experience, the shopping experience, and the staff.

Appointment Experience:

The appointment itself was quick. Normally this would be a great thing, because eye appointments can take forever. I think it was borderline rushed, but they were limiting people in the building due to the pandemic. (This is also understandable because they had other patients waiting in the car.) I more-so felt rushed during the glasses selection, but I’ll get to that later. The transition from intake, to the tests, to the optometrist and everything else was seamless. The office has a weird calmness to it. It almost looks like a high-end spa!

Shopping Experience:

This is what is causing my review to be 3 stars. Due to the pandemic, I was unable to pick out my own glasses. The retail associate took my glasses and picked 3 pairs “closest to what I was currently wearing.” He didn’t even ask me questions on what I wanted. He picked them at his discretion. Two of the pairs he picked were ugly and not even close to what I was wearing. One pair, the pair I settled on, wound up being the most expensive. I was not given another opportunity to look at other glasses.(which is why I settled on the pair I did.) I haven’t received my pair yet, but I’m thinking of cancelling the order because I could have found a better pair so I didn’t feel like I settled. This whole shopping experience rubbed me the wrong way. I understand it’s during a pandemic, but as a customer I should be able to choose my glasses.

The staff:

Optometry staff was great and friendly. The doctor was very thorough. Honestly I’d probably come here for my future eye appointments and go elsewhere for my glasses. No complaints with the staff. I believe the retail experience was more-so a temporary store policy so I don’t blame him for the awful experience except picking...

I will start by saying I've been a patient of Dr. Ben Larson for over 20 years. My experience with technician Sam was WONDERFUL, get service, makes jokes and was not pushy at all. I ordered my lens to be put in my old frames because they did not have anything I liked in my price range and my old frames were perfectly fine. Went to pick them up, put them on and could tell immediately the lens were not exactly the same shape/size as my current ones, which I was told they could match exactly. I took them off and showed the girl they were not the same as my previous lens (which they gave back to me), she immediately agreed with me and stated, yes I can definitely tell the new ones are more round then my current one. No problem she said, we will redo the lens. I go back a few weeks later to pick up the "remade" lens and the guy Mike was absolutely the RUDEST, UNPROFESSIONAL person I have EVER met! He brings my glasses to me and I tell him, they are still not right and they are round and my previous lens were square. He was extremely argumentative stating they were exactly the same as my prior lens. I held them up, one in front of the other and said see, they are not the same. He continued to argue with me, said his "machine" cuts them exactly as my current lens. I'm sitting there now with 3 lens, my "square" ones, the first new set I got "round" and the girl agreed and now my 3rd set "round" which Mike stated were exact. I told him why would the previous girl agree with me they were more round and these 3rd ones are as well. He RUDELY said, I don't know what she saw but I say they are exact. He RUDELY stated, there is nothing else I can do. No apologies, not "is there anything else I can help you with", nothing. Just sat there, staring at me waiting for me to leave, I had to have him adjust my glasses, that made him more rude stating the rim of the glasses should not sit flat on the table, one was lifting off. I finally took my glasses and l said since obviously there is nothing else your going to do or offer to help, I will take these and I left. To pay almost $400 for single vision lens (only) and be treated so BADLY by Mike and not even get the same lens shape/size as promised it not acceptable. I will be finding a new eye...

This place is an absolute fail. Save yourself the hassle and go elsewhere. I’ve worn contacts my entire life and get annual exams, so I’ve been to plenty of eye clinics. This was by far the worst, and I regret trusting the positive reviews.

The staff is neither personable nor helpful. The technician was cold, and while the optometrist was better, it still felt less than friendly. If they ever make a live-action Pet Rock show, this place would have some top contenders to audition. And I wouldn’t take them for granite.

They're ridiculously stingy with trial contacts, like they're hoarding the rarest Pokémon or clinging to lenses like toilet paper during COVID. I wear multifocal lenses and needed to compare strengths in real-world conditions, but they only gave me a few days of one strength and made me come back for a few days of the other. Alternating days for a fair comparison? Forget it.

The front desk is a disaster. I called three times, got put on hold forever, and was promised a callback that never came. It took four days just to place an order, only to find out the contacts would take 7 to 9 days to arrive. I asked for trials to hold me over, but they claimed they had none. When I mentioned the alternatives we'd already tried—options that would’ve worked fine until my full order arrived—they didn’t even bother checking.

I canceled my order, got my prescription, and ordered contacts online. They arrived the next day. If I can get next-day delivery as a single customer, why does an eye doctor’s office—dealing in high-volume orders and knowing their patients can’t walk around blind—ship everything the cheapest, slowest route possible? I’ve heard of snail mail, but I didn’t think it was literal. On my way out, I’m pretty sure I saw some contacts taped to the back of a garden snail inching into the parking lot—but I can’t be sure, since I didn’t have any contacts to wear!

This place is an absolute fail. Save yourself the frustration and...