Advanced Eyecare

We are in town for 5 days for a diving meet, and my daughter forgot to pack her contacts with her. I googled this place up, which is close to our meet location, and they not only have the exact brand, prescription, and size she needs, they gave them to her for free. They knew we won’t become returning customers but they were still this nice and generous to us. This is what I would call «outstanding customer service»!

Long time resident of Iowa City and lifetime member of the glasses club, I decided to try a new optometrist simply because of the slightly more convenient location.
Never should have even bothered, what an exceptional waste of time.
The front desk staff was less than helpful when I first tried to schedule my appointment, nevermind rude and abrasive with a distinct lack of interest to say the least. I’ve worked customer service before, I mean at least pretend you want to be there, right?
I managed to schedule an appointment, but upon walking in I was promptly asked whether I would be interested in a contact lens exam. As this was my primary reason for scheduling the exam, which was also stated during my initial scheduling attempt, I replied yes. I found this confusing initially, because this was never considered a separate exam at my previous optometrists. Upon further discussion I was informed that there would be an second fee of about $ 70, in addition to the $ 115 regular exam fee. Why this would be the case simply boggles the mind, especially considering I’ve had contacts for years and the only reason I need an exam anyways is the legal requirement mandating a renewed contact lens prescription every few months in order to purchase new contacts. Keep in mind that these exams, even my initial contact lens consultation at my previous optometrist which one should expect to be more expensive, did not exceed $ 120!
Now I’m a reasonable person and I didn’t really need a normal exam, only the contact lens exam. Thus, I asked if it was possible to only have the contacts exam, rather than both. I was promptly told that no, this would not be possible, because «That’s just how we do things here.». At this point I figured there would be some sort of justification for the radically overpriced exams and asked as much, but was provided no explanation beyond «These are just our set prices.»
I’m sorry, but charging almost double what similar optometrists charge and leaving a customer feeling practically tricked into twice as large a bill as expected is not how I, nor other Americans I believe, expect an honest organization to conduct business. I suspect this office has become complacent and comfortable with ethically questionable business practices after years of taking advantage of unaware, poorly informed undergraduate students that walk in off the pentacrest across the street with no coherent idea of what a reasonable price for an eye exam is.
If I could give you a ⁰⁄₅ I would. What an inordinate waste of my time and at the end of the day I am still left without contacts and now must reschedule with my regular optometrist for weeks from now. I wouldn’t be surprised if «Advanced» Eyecare tried to charge me a cancellation fee for my appointment, though if they do I’ll be sure never to pay it on principle and to update this review accordingly.
I can’t believe I even bothered to write a Unilocal review, but that is how bad my experience was. Thanks for nothing.
P. S. «eyecare» is 2 words. Your profession does not give you free reign over the English language in addition to preying on unsuspecting college students. Looking back, I should have taken that as a clear indicator of my likely experience the moment I saw the sign.

While my appointment was quick and painless (although I hate that puff of air that they’re still using to test for glaucoma), and the optometrist I met with was perfectly nice, the customer service offered by the front desk staff was less than stellar. They didn’t seem very knowledgeable, and it felt like if they didn’t NEED to help you, then they just weren’t going to do it. I think they might have a high turnover rate at the shop, which probably contributes to the bad customer service. Hopefully, it’ll improve.