Katzen Eye Group

Stay clear of this place if you value your time. Called to make an appointment for a routine exam and was told the next opening was in 3 weeks. I showed up at 12:50 for my 1PM appointment then sat in the waiting room till 1:30PM with no communication from anyone working in the office. When I went to the counter to verify that my appointment was for 1PM they said yes it was for 1 with no explanation as to why I hadn’t been seen yet and they could not tell me how much longer it would be. I was polite and asked that they refund the cash co-​payment I had made. They seemed stunned that I was actually going to leave like I should be thankful that I even had an appointment to be there. No apologies, no let us find out how much longer it will be, nothing. This place does not value your business or your time, I did my part, I showed up early and paid my co-​payment. All they had to do was keep to the scheduled times they picked or at the very least keep their patients informed about any delays. I only picked this office because I could walk to it during my lunch break, simply not worth it, take the drive to an office that appreciates your business.

Bought a Groupon for $ 50 values $ 385. Deal includes $ 200 worth of eyewear and a complimentary eye exam. Which means $ 185 is for the eye exam.
Katzen is more like a hospital environment than our regular day to day optical center like Walmart. I had to see a receptionist first then a person in nurse uniform took me in and examined my eye and eye glasses. Then I had to see another person and she did some more tests to my eyes. Then I had to wait 15 minutes to see my doctor.
Everyone I experienced were friendly and courteous.
There was no difference in the eye exams in Katzen and where I went before and they charge $ 185??? AND I wear contacts so they had me pay $ 80 more for contact lens fitting and prescription…
That’s outrageous.
So far $ 50(coupon) +$ 80(contact lens prescription)
After I got done with my doctor I was looking for frames for my glasses.
The ones that were included in Groupon were total TRASH. They seem like made with aluminum and very weak more like $ 5 value not $ 59.
I asked them how much my glasses lens were going to be. Guy said $ 126 for single vision and + $ 169 for Hi-​Index. wtf. $ 295 for just the lens??? and asked how much was anti-​glare. Guy said again additional $ 69. Another wtf…
For the frames… Except for the garbage weak ones, other selection’s cheapest were $ 139… I just chose $ 176 frame and got a lens which cost $ 471 and $ 200 were taken off from my Groupon credit makes $ 271. Luckily they didn’t charge tax.
That left me bitter taste in my mouth so I want to Costco and double check on prices. $ 100 for single vision+ anti-​reflect coating + Hi-​index lens. Also frames that cost $ 59 at Costco are around $ 140-​$ 200 at Katzen. Called Katzen right away cancelled my order. I’m just going to go with cheap frame + single vision which allows me from Groupon and buy a nice pair from Costco late on.
Also there’s no free parking space. It’s in Baltimore city so you have to A) street park which costs $ 4 per hour or B) in the garage which cost $ 7 – 8 per hour.
To sum it up. Excellent customer service.
EXTREMELY HIGH prices. If you don’t have insurance your pretty much getting ripped off.

I am very unhappy with my experience here. I was able to get an appointment in a timely fashion but was seen by so many unnecessary people that the appointment itself was far longer than it should have been.
I had checked with the group to get a quote for specific frames and was given one amount. When I came in two days later for my appointment and to order the frames, they were suddenly much more expensive than the original quote.
Furthermore, I was supposed to have received the frames already but still haven’t gotten them. I have called multiple times and have been told, they’re coming, they should be here by Tuesday… Wednesday…Friday…and nothing still. This is very disappointing and not forthcoming about what the actual schedule is. Had they been honest in the first place about how long this process would be, I would have taken my purchase elsewhere. At this point I am just hopeful that the glasses turn up and are what I ordered.

I made an appointment a few days in advance. New patient. Drove over an hour to get there, but I got stuck in traffic. I called ahead about how I was going to be late, and the receptionist put me on hold. She then said that the Dr. told her that I would need to reschedule.
Right then and there I knew this was poor customer service. As someone who requires an eye surgery, I’m not going to waste my time if this is their approach to customer service.
Needless to say I am not rescheduling with Katzen and I will be looking elsewhere.

I specifically created an account to document the abhorrent service at this place. There is no justification for how inefficient, incompetent, and generally moronic a group of adult humans can be. Seriously, if these people were stranded on a desert island, they’d die in like 2 hours from sheer ineptitude (point of reference: the average human can last up to three days without food or water… that’s how stupid these people are). Here a list of reasons why you should ever attempt to go there:
1. If you enjoy long waits, similar to that of a DMV, boy is this the place for you.
2. If you only read magazines of at least one year old, then all of their reading material would be acceptable.
3. If you enjoy receptionists who act like you’re wasting their time when you are scheduling an appointment, then you’d like this place.
4. If you like overcharges on everything from contact fittings, to eye exams, to contacts themselves, then spend away.
5. If you prefer technicians you don’t understand basic English commands like, «It’s too blurry, can you adjust the settings,» then this place is your heaven.
This place is bad and they should feel bad. Seriously, go to LensCrafter, or Sears, or even Ruby Tuesday. Because even a restaurant could be as effective as Katzen Eye Group. Honestly, outside of a black market organ harvester, I would recommend anywhere other than this place.
Also, if you see these stupid responses from their PR people, don’t think they’re trying to improve anything. They are just responding to look better. If they were legitimate about their responses, they would have done something already to curb the amount of complaints directed towards them.
My response to the below posted comment from Justin:
1. The fact that Katzen Eye Group has designated employees to respond to Unilocal reviews is more than enough proof that your reputation is justifiably below par. (People fill out Unilocal reviews for good service too.
)
2. I am well aware how contacts work, and the importance that they fit correctly. I also understand the importance of paying rent. Compared to others’ prices, you charge more than the average price for a contact fitting. A lot more. Just enough, in fact, to use up all of my insurance on just the fitting. I wouldn’t mind paying for a normally priced fitting.
3. When I tell a technician that the chart is very blurry and she doesn’t possess the comprehension to refocus the lense, I consider that stupidity.
4. The fact that you cross-​referenced my Unilocal username with my patient history and then disclosed information from my visit to the general public is morally and professionally unethical.

I recently visited the Lutherville/​Towson for a routine eye exam. Front desk had no idea how my insurance coverage worked for my visit. Even after explaining to them exactly what my insurance covers, it was as if they had never heard of this coverage and didn’t believe me. They just continued to tell me …“Here at katzen, we charge for…” Beware of contact fitting fees and fully understand what your costs will be before you proceed. I called my insurance provider during my appointment to confirm and had to relay the message to the front desk. Typical frustrations with front desk at the doctors office. Very few offices make this part easy and they stand out. I have several follow up appointments so we’ll see how those go.

Terrible ophthalmology group. I am a physician and have never been treated so poorly at another doctors office. They have numerous hidden charges and overcharge on their services.
Their staff also has poor customer service. They were supposed to call me multiple times regarding my contact lenses and I never received a call from them. I had to call over 5x to get them to give me a contact lens prescription. They charged me a fitting fee although my contact prescription did not change. They even tried to hit me with a higher fitting fee by minutely changing my prescription, which was not warranted.

Katzen Eye Group has sent me a few letters now reminding me to made an eye appointment — it’s that time of year again. However, the reason I haven’t been able to make an appointment is because every time I call I’m on hold, without fail, for at least 20 minutes, and sorry, I usually have other things to do BESIDES wait on hold for 20 – 30 minutes, as I am doing right now. They also have not answered the online form I submitted.

First time there today. When I went to check in, they didn’t have me down for an appointment, even thought I’d spoken to someone on the phone over 3 weeks ago to set the date/​time. Luckily, they were able to take me but I saw another doctor instead.
Waiting room was packed — was glad I had an early morning appointment, or I might have been waiting there for a while.
Everyone there was very professional and I had a good experience. Would definitely go back.

Long wait times (an hour after appt time for all three office visits) and rude, unprofessional receptionists.
Dr. Gormley, however, is a standout Dr. –very warm and professional. She almost takes the sting out of long waits and rude staff.