Smith Vision Center

Dr. Smith is a very good, mellow Doctor. He has been seeing my whole family for about 15 years or more. He’s very informative, and he does not try to up sell you, or even change your prescription if you do not wish too. (Which I don’t if the change is subtle.) I would recommend him to anyone. I’m always able to find nice sunglasses and glasses with my preference of plastic frames. The prices are reasonable, and most of my glasses are covered by insurance.
Appointments are usually pretty fast, about 15 or 20 minutes, and then another 30 so I can find frames that I like.

Dr. Smith gives an extremely in-​depth vision exam. He is excellent with children as well as adults. My family has been seeing Dr. Smith for over 20 years now. My son has been seeing Dr. Smith since he was 2. I highly recommend this vision doctor.

Dr. Lowell Smith had been our family optometrist for many years and I’d actually been going to him since I was in high school (I’m now in my 30’s), but definitely not anymore. The fact that my brother had stopped seeing him years ago wasn’t a big enough hint for me, until I finally realized for myself how unsatisfactory their customer service and practice have become.
I called the Dr. Smith’s practice on 9÷19÷08, to set up my annual appointment and the female assistant on the phone informed me that I was ineligible to come in for a visit until Jan. ’09 because I had supposedly already been seen for the year. I explained to her that she was mistaken and that I was not actually seen in 2008. What had happened was that in Dec. ’07, I had broken one of the lenses on my glasses and asked for a replacement pair, which I then picked up in Jan. ’08. Therefore, while their records indicated that I came in on 1÷14÷08, it wasn’t for a check up, but simply to pick up the replacement pair of glasses that I ordered back on 12÷28÷07. But regardless of how logical my story was, she just kept on repeating, «I’m sorry ma’am, you’re not eligible to come in.» Fine, so I didn’t, and she even made me doubt myself until…
I finally came in for my annual visit on 3÷27÷09. And ironically, on that visit, the male assistant of the practice said, «Hey, we missed you in 2008. You never came in for your check up.» I was so livid at his comment that I immediately told him that I attempted to make an appointment last year, but his coworker shot me down saying I didn’t qualify because she thought I had already exhausted my visit for the year. His lame response was, «Oh well, it wasn’t me.» I didn’t care if it was him or not who gave me the phony information. The fact was, I was gypped out of a visit that now results in more out-​of-​pocket expenses for me because I couldn’t take advantage of the allowances in ’08 ($ 110 goes towards contacts). In addition to the glasses I bought this year, I also have to buy contacts. I coulda purchased the contacts last year and saved the money. Thanks incompetent staff!
Now in regards to Dr. Smith… well, let me give you some background info first. In 2008, I had seen a reputable Lasik surgeon (per excellent reviews on Unilocal) and was informed by that surgeon that my eyes had accumulated a lot of blood vessels (I was bad about allowing my eyes to breathe from my contacts). While everything else about my eyes made me a decent candidate for Lasik, the fact that I had too many blood vessels in my eyeballs meant that it would be a very bloody procedure if I had decided to do it. Ok, I accept that, but what bugged me was when this surgeon said, «Your optometrist didn’t tell you about this?» I told the surgeon that Dr. Smith never really made a big deal about it and that I’ll ask him again during my next visit. And so I did. On my 3÷27÷09, visit, I coyly told Dr. Smith that I «might» be interested in Lasik surgery, seeing what he’d say and if he’d mention anything about the formation of blood vessels in my eyes. But rather than mentioning what I already discovered from the previous Lasik surgeon, he says, «Oh, I was wondering if you might be interested in that. Actually, we contract with a Lasik surgeon… You should contact him. He does the surgery and we do all of the follow up visits.» So I asked him, «my eyes seem ok with you? Nothing to be alarmed about???» He said no, and continued to peddle his Lasik friend. Oh, how convenient and lucrative for them! Um, no thanks Dr. Smith!
So from then on, I lost all respect for Dr. Smith and his practice. As it was, his employees were incompetent, but him not being forthright worsened my experience.
Oh yeah, one more anecdote. On my 3÷27÷09, visit I was told by the male assistant (by the way, there’s only one male assistant and two female assistants) that the polycarbonate lenses I purchased were NOT indestructible. He said, «even though these are polycarbonate lenses, they can still break. Don’t listen to anyone that says they’re practically invincible.» However, when he was pushing me to buy the polycarbonates weeks earlier, he rambled, «Polycarbonates are great. I’ve tested them myself and it really takes a lot to break a polycarbonate lens. They’re practically indestructible, believe me.» So are they practically invincible or not? Get your stories straight — what a joke! Anyway, bottom line is, no one is to be trusted from Dr. Smith’s Optometry — assistants and all.
Ok, now I’m off to research a reputable optometrist that I can go to in the future.