Anyone had good/bad experience with Saragas Eye & Laser Center?

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Anyone had good/bad experience with Saragas Eye & Laser Center (on Highland)?

I started going there because it was close by. They have been having me come in for 2 appointments every 6 months. I don't have anything especially wrong with my eyes (needed reading glasses). When I have asked why 2 appointments - can't I do both tests in one visit, I have gotten huffy treatment, like I was being a creep or something. I was in there today for an eye exam and then the first of these two tests - and they had me sit at the machine and told me they were only going to do one eye - that I had to come back for another appt to do the other eye. Huh? That's a new wrinkle. When I asked, I again got the huffy treatment but someone mentioned something about what insurance would cover (and made some crack about me being paranoid). Well... my co-pay is $35. x 2 visits so I'd uh...kinda like to do both eyes at the same time...since I am sitting in the chair and we always did both eyes before.

Does any of this sound like standard operating procedure? They also got kind of huffy when I didn't want to buy their designer frames for my reading glasses. Sorry if this is or sounds like a rant - and I don't want to malign the place but it seems kind of weird.

Comments

[ceo]

One eye at a time? That's insane. I've been wearing glasses since I was 8 and have never run across that.

[syntheticnature.livejournal.com]

Same here. Sounds rather fishy to me. I go to General Optical (across from Elephant Walk on Mass. Ave, north of Porter Square) and I am very happy with Dr. Scott Sylvia. If anything, he gives me too many tests! :-) (It's all good, I just find the peripheral vision test to be really annoying.)

He hands me my prescription at the end of the exam, and it wouldn't be an issue at all to walk out of the store without getting it filled there.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

Same here, and I've been wearing glasses for over forty years. Something is very wrong.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

And two appointments every six months?

If you're an adult, you don't need more than one appointment every three or four years, and even then only if you notice blurred vision. Your eyes aren't going to change much between the ages of 20 and 45.

These guys think you're a pigeon.

[taxine.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of only doing one eye at a time either. And if you only need reading glasses, twice a year sounds a bit excessive as well. I've found the place at Porter Square mall/shopping center to be decent(I forget the name), and they didn't care that I wanted to buy the frames elsewhere.

[ron_newman]

Parrelli Optical, in the little mall with Pizzeria Uno and Blockbuster Video?

[taxine.livejournal.com]

That's it, thanks.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Were you getting laser surgery?

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

No laser surgery (ew ...scary) just a standard eye checkup.

The tests that they have me come for two appts:
#1 glacoma test (I think) - field of vision, press the button if you see the pin point of light
#2 look at the green dot while they take a picutre of the back of the eye.

That's the one they want to do one eye at a time (though we always did both before)

[arcanology.livejournal.com]

I've been a lot of different places and always had both those tests done on both eyes at once (well, one at a time a few minutes apart). These guys are either scamming you or smoking crack.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

There's three tests you're listing: glaucoma (there are several different tests), the peripheral vision (light-button), and the retinal exam. I've had them all done in the same visit on both eyes on many occasions.

I don't have an eye doctor around here yet, so I can't recommend one, though.

[nalz.livejournal.com]

I've had lasik and didn't have to go back twice for each eye for an exam.

And in the 18 or so years prior to lasik..I never had to go back for each eye.

Sounds like they want to gouge $$. You are a customer and they should never be huffy with you for asking simple questions.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

That's weird. Try Parelli Optical in Porter instead.

[shu-al.livejournal.com]

I've been wearing glasses for over 25 years, and I have *never* had two separate exams. Weird and suspicious if you ask me. I suppose you could ask your insurance company if this is acceptable practice (not that they'd be helpful, but it might not hurt).

[glowroper.livejournal.com]

I agree - call the insurance company.

And check out the Lensecrafters optician in the Galleria - Dwyane Smith. Very nice guy - and he does both eyes in one visit!
;)

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

I know it's out of the way, but the New England Eye Institute on Boylston is really great - very nice and helpful doctors.

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

I don't think you have to call your insurance company to know that this place is scamming you. They are. Maybe they are getting paid by the insurance company for one visit or one procedure but want to get the extra co=pays from you to earn more money. Stop going to them and go somewhere else. The Porter Square one is a convenient choice. I've been there and they are nice (although they recently stopped accepting my vision insurance). Generally I get everything done on one visit. One time I had my exam, but couldn't do the glaucoma test that day and they did have me come back another day to do it, but they did not charge me a second co-pay for that second visit. It was counted as part of the first.

Another thing is that they should not be treating their patients in any "huffy" way under any circumstances.

How long has this been going on? How often has your prescription changed and have they sold you a new pair of glasses? When they said the prescription had changed, had you previously noticed that your glasses hadn't been as clear as when you first got them?

You might consider calling the insurance company and reporting them. You might consider calling whoever regulates Eye places and reporting them.

If you only need reading glasses, and aren't having problems using them and don't have glaucoma or a history of it in your family or diabetes, you might only need to go to the eye doctor every two years.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Wow, and to think I thought my childhood optometrist was bad because he didn't listen to me closely enough to figure out I had astigmatism for two years! The rudeness is unacceptable, and the 2 (or is it 4?) exams a year sounds completely absurd to me -- gouging, in fact, which is not an adjective I want to have associated with my eye care people.

Plenty of eye care plans only cover visits once every two years after age 18. Once a year is obviously better, but unless there's something wrong I can't imagine having to go more often than that.

The best eye doctor I had in my whole life was the independent optometrist I had in college -- but if you don't know an excellent independent, chains aren't necessarily a horrible way to go. I had a good experiences with the eye doctor at the Lenscrafters in Coolidge Corner (what a revelation it was to have someone who asked me questions and listened to my answers). And I didn't see the eye doctor, only the... er... the one who helps you pick frames (I've evidently forgotten the proper title -- is that the optician?) at the Pearle Vision in Arsenal Mall, but that seemed like a fine experience as well. When I came back after 3 weeks complaining that my new antiglare lenses were all scratched up, they showed me how I had been cleaning them wrong but still replaced them for free.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

This thread needs to go into the memories under con-artists.

[docorion.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm not an optometrist, but I am an emergency physician, and wear glasses, and am fairly conversant with the standards of care in this area.

You're being scammed.

Drop them like a hot rock.

(In person, I'll be happy to discuss my personal (non-medical) experience with Saragos Eye Center. It was unpleasant, although it fell short of the unethical behaviour you describe here. But I mention it because I *don't like* Saragos for personal reasons as well, disclaimer and all that).

The standard of care is an exam every 12-18 months for a person with fairly healthy eyes, even if you have a refractive error (need glasses or contacts). The bit where they do each eye separately? Crap, designed to bring in more of your dollars. Like I said - hot rock.

thanks for all the fish... I mean helpful feedback!

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

I appreciate all the replies and comments.

I guess I've kept going there, despite my misgivings, because they kept scheduling me for appointments. How stupid is that... lol. I never wanted to think that Saragas Eye & Laser Center was scamming me and I still find that hard to accept: for Saragas (or anyone) to risk his reputation for little insurance games seems bizarre. He's a pretty arrogant guy but I put up with that because... because?

I have a *great* dentist though... (Moose Zylber in Central Sq. at Stiller & Zylber)

Re: thanks for all the fish... I mean helpful feedback!

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

Go to CVS and get some $15 reading glasses. If your eyes don't have any astigmatism and are about the same prescription, that should be all you need.