Patel Eye Associates

Reviews 4

TA

Tania Sigalas

Beware: NIGHTMARE!!! Patel Eye Associates is has an INCOMPETANT front desk staff, a DISORGANIZED scheduling system, and WEAK customer service skills. It is not worth the stress, waste of time or the headache... DO NOT GO HERE!!! My ordeal with Patel Eye Associates began two months ago when I had called to make an appointment for a new contact lense prescription at the Franklin Park office. I confirmed my date and time over the telephone. I showed up promptly at the office on Route 27 and to my surprise, the office was closed. I saw a light thru the glass door so I knocked. A young man answered the door and informed me that Dr. Patel rents out space within his practice for additional businesses. He also made it a point to tell me that these sorts of MIX UPS HAPPEN ALL THE TIME. He kindly called the office manager at the Edison office and was able to squeeze an appointment for me in a few days time at the Franklin Park office. I was satisfied, but annoyed. I had to arrange for a babysitter, twice, to watch my toddler son. I showed up promptly at my new appointment time. I waited about an HOUR in an office with NO AIR CONDITIONING. Everyone was sweltering and the front desk didnt have the smarts to prop open the door. The one positive was that I was greeted by a friendly male staffer who assisted with explaining my insurance benefits and my options. Option A- Less expensive but does not cover contact lenses. Option B- More expensive but covers 100% of contact lenses. (This comes into play a little later). I chose Option B. I had a brief, straight forward consultation with Dr. Patel- the standard "which one is better". I left with a pair of trial lenses and instructions to return in a weeks time for a follow up and to pick up my supply of contact lenses. A week goes by, I drive by the office- it is CLOSED. I drive by again- it is CLOSED, I drive by again- it is CLOSED. I wait patiently for a follow-up phone call announcing the arrival of my contact lenses. A month goes by with NO COMMUNICATION and not even a flicker of light at the Franklin Park office. I realized! Hey, maybe I should call them, I do need new contacts... I called and they had NO RECORD OF ME that they can find, and absolutely no record of my contact lense order. After HOURS of back and forth phone calls, they find me! I was transferred to the contact lense department, where I had to give all of my information, again, and I was assured that my lenses had been ordered. As a convenience they were even willing to mail them to me! I waited another TWO WEEKS and I still had not received my lenses. I called Dr. Patels office and I was put on hold and I waited... and waited. Then, like shattered hope, some one picked up and then promptly ended the call. Lovely. I called again and I was answered by a young lady with an infuriating habit of cutting me off at every sentence and disregarding any of my complaints. After a few more HOURS of back and forth, she was able to pin point the issue... " I HAD GIVEN THEM THE WRONG PHONE NUMBER." Verbatim. There was a discrepency in my insurance coverage, they didnt order my contacts and they didnt call me because I HAD GIVEN THEM THE WRONG NUMBER. How infuriating! She explained that even though I had gone with the more expensive option, it did not impact the coverage of contacts and I had to pay 95% out of pocket. I found this interesting because I called my insurance company and they cover 100%! What a scam!!! I did receive another pair of trial lenses to hold me over, but even after I DIRECTLY asked for a copy of my contact lense prescription, it was not given. I will never to return to Patel Eye Associates. I would recommend to everyone to follow suit and find an professional, organized optometrist office.

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TI

tinash boshin

terrible customer service, and very rude staff at the glasses selection area.And also some days they have a rude front desk. i was told to go to another store to buy glasses after my 2 hour eye examination. because the lady didnt know what the problem was on her computer to put the order through, and she was too lazy to actually put in the work to find out why, and so she told me to go to costco or any other place to buy my glasses. I never write reviews but i had to this time. I also was given a wrong prescription number for my eyes. i know for a fact that my left eye is worse than my right, but i was assigned the same number prescription for both eyes, and the doctor seemed as if he didnt care and just flipped through the lenses himself and decided on his own and gave me a prescription for my eyes without me having to read the letters . im assuming he assigned me a prescription number from my last eye examination which was 3 years ago. but my vision had gotten much worse over the course of 3 years and that is why i came in again to get a correct prescription.All in all, i wasnt cared for, and was also told to go somewhere else. This place doesnt know how to do customer service or even how to give a accurate eye examination. Please find another doctors office if you care for the health of your eyes.I will not be using a prescription that is incorrect for my eyes to make them worse, and will be throwing out that prescription i was given. This is a edit after reading many reviews from this page....Patel Eye Associates, instead of making an excuse and responding to customers who write honest unsatisfying reviews by saying "we cannot locate a patient name with this profile" take responsibility and own up to your actions. Also as far as im concerned, you are not suppose to reveal customer information like that to the public. And please acknowledge that online usernames do not have to match a persons name in real life.Ex:chocolate22

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A Private User

I really cant stress how awful an experience this was. Dr. Patels office was undergoing renovation. It was overcrowded (many people standing, no open seats), exposed, and half-finished construction. When we arrived and wrote our name down at 2p on a Saturday, there were two other appointments booked for the same time slot and the nurses were bragging how many patients they had "squeezed in" that morning. We then waited 1 hour for our name to be called. The receptionist only gave us paperwork after we requested and then only begrudgingly saying she wouldnt take our new patient information until all patients who had arrived before us had been seen by the doctor. After an hour, she called us up to tell us that our insurance company was not open on Saturday, so they couldnt verify whether or appointment would be covered; we might have to pay $90-$250 fee. Our insurance covers 100% of any in-network, full eye-exam, but by this point we were not feeling that Dr. Patel had garnered our trust. So, we walked out and made an appointment some where else. Dont go. Dont waste your time. Dr Patel, if you read this, please work on improving your service.

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UR

Ursa Khan

My first appointment, I had an amazing doctor who listened to my eye problem and after my routine eye exam she focused on my eye problem. She did some test and came up with the reason for the problem and possible ways of fixing my problem. I loved that! When I requested for the same doctor, the office told me she left. (It pretty much went downhill from there. ) I had another young Doctor doing my checkup, she did not ask me if I had any problem. So after my routine checkup she was getting up to leave and I stopped her and told her I have an issue with my eye. She took about 2 minutes, gave me medicine, and left. My next appointment was within a month and I got a new doctor with a new diagnosis. He later told me to come back within a month. That month I had a new doctor, new diagnosis, and prescribed a new medication. He told me to come back within a month but I cancelled. I never had an issue with the front desk service. The Staff in general are all kind but I did not have my eye problem resolved and I did not like my doctors being switched every time I was there because I had to repeat everything again and again.

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