Last year I was in need of new eyeglasses, so did a bit of research and found what seemed to be a good optometrist - had an eye exam, got a new prescription, and new glasses. I was quite satisfied.
Cut to eight months later, and I get a postcard in the mail information me of my upcoming appointment - exactly one year after my previous appointment. Same day, same time, same bat place. I did not ask for this appointment, and I called to let them know I would not be attending it.
It’s now many months after that, and my glasses just broke (cue Milhouse), so I find myself in need of new ones. But I’m reluctant to go back to this place, simply based on principle. Never mind the rather silly assumption that I have the same exact free time as I had the year before, but the fact that they made an appointment for me without my asking, and they put the onus on me to fulfill the, I don’t know, societal obligation of not letting the appointment slide by unattended. It seems unethical and very self-serving to me, though I’m sure it’s dressed up nicely with lots of for-your-health rationalization.
Don’t they all do that? It’s annoying but it’s just the eyeglasses business. If you go back they’ll do it again, and you can ignore them again. You don’t have to inform them of anything, just don’t go.
Seems like a nice thing they did. It would have been nicer if they asked at the time of your last appointment if you wanted them to schedule you annually. Even if I didn’t want the appointment scheduled (and I probably would not have) I wouldn’t be angry about it. Just tell them to skip that service for you going forward
Weird that they set up a specific date and time for you.
Mine always send out postcards saying, “It’s been a year; why don’t you call us to set an appointment.” That’s cool. But “On July5th, at 3:00, you have an appointment with us,” that’s creepy.
However, I wouldn’t break with them for that alone. It’s a really minor sin. I’d take the card in with me and chat with the appointments secretary about it. I’d tell him, “Guy, that was creepy.”
I broke with one optometrist because he had a crappy office manner. Growly and gruff. He always sounded like he was angry. That’s a really shallow reason too, I know, but I just got tired of it, and there are so many to choose from.
Mine always makes my appointment and gives me a a refrigerator magnet with the appointment on it when I leave. It’s like “So, next January 5th at 10:30 okay?” and I say “yes” even though I have no idea if I’m going to be free that day a year in the future and that’s that. Dentist does the same thing. Dentist has a post card reminder a couple weeks before and text/call/email the day or two before. Optometrist texts a few days beforehand with a reminder/text-to-confirm or call-to-reschedule note.
My doctor and dentist both do that. When it comes up on that date if the time is inconvenient, I simply call and either cancel, and reschedule at a later date, or change the time of the appointment. No big deal.
When you were there did you fill out a little postcard? Did the postcard you got have your handwriting on it?
I’m just wondering if you did set up the appointment and don’t remember or didn’t realize it. Maybe even just in passing the receptionist said ‘see you next year, same time?’ and when you said ‘sounds good’ you didn’t realize you were setting up an appointment…or something like that.
OTOH, if the postcard looked like this one (it says We scheduled your next appt for date/time), there would be part of me that would be tempted to just not show up. When they call me afterwards I’d play dumb and then call them a few days later (when I got the bill for missing the appt) and say I found the card in my recycling bin, must’ve been mixed in the with the junk mail. I’d refuse to pay since I never set up an appointment and didn’t even know it existed.
I’m okay with them setting one up on their own, but that postcard should, IMO, be sent out like two months in advance and say ‘please call us in the next 30 days if you’d like to keep this date, otherwise it’ll be automatically cancelled’ not “call back if this doesn’t work out for you”.
I wonder how many people don’t show up to these appointments and then get billed for missing them.
I ordered a pair of tester contact lenses and discovered I can’t put them in my relatively tiny eyes with my gianormous fingers. The [del]salesman[/del] assistant insisted I continue trying for over an hour and when I insisted they just weren’t for me she demanded I set an appointment to [del]bludgeon the shit out of my eyes[/del] try again. I fired them.
But for suggesting a presumptive appointment after one year? Seems a bit much to fire an otherwise solid practice over. IMHO, YMMV, Etc
My ophthalmologist requires a one hour appointment for anyone that’s new to contacts to teach them how to put them in and take them out. I was frustrated as hell after that appointment. Then, even after that, it took me probably an hour+ for the first few days to get them in or out which slowly turned into 15 minutes and after about 2 weeks I was down to a minute or two. After a month or so I could pop them in or out in just a few seconds.
Wearing contacts takes a lot of practice (and it takes about a month to get used to them as well). It’s something you really need to stick with if you’re serious about wearing them.
And with that, I’ve seen some people that can pop them right in and wear them for 8 hour from the first day and some people that give it the old college try and give up after after a month because they really couldn’t tolerate them.
But my eyes, my eye lids, the whole area around my eyes were all red and puffy for about twenty minutes every time I had to put them in or take them out during the first few weeks because of how much I put them through poking and prodding and pulling and pinching trying to get them in and out. Eventually you get your technique down and they pop right in.
Worth it though. I hate having to wear my glasses. The smudges, not being able to see over/under/around them. Can’t wear my sunglasses. I love my contacts.
It’s like learning to drive stick shift. The first couple of weeks you’re so frustrated you’re ready to leave the car right there in traffic and walk to work because you see a small hill in front of you and a month later it’s second nature. Literally no more difficult than driving an automatic. You’re laughing at people that roll back more than an inch or two.
I always make my appointments at the same time, on the same day of the week.
Not the same day of the month (that might be a Saturday!). My life doesn’t change so much from one year to the next that I won’t be making the same decision next year.
Yes. I’d love it if my optometrist, doctor and dentist would do this. As it is, my dentist will actually send me an email asking that I schedule an appointment, and my optometrist has some kind of robo-caller that does the same. I’d just as soon they just schedule me ahead of time and let me know with plenty of lead time in case I need to reschedule. It would be that much easier.
My regular doctor is the only one that doesn’t, and I’m not fond of it- I have to dig into my emails (to find out when I got my lab results), or into my bank statements to figure out when my last checkup was, and reschedule.
Prescriptions for eyeglasses and contact lenses are only valid for a year, same as for medication. That being said, I *would *find it a little presumptuous to receive a card telling me they’ve actually made an appointment for me rather than just reminding me that it’s been a year and it’s time for another one. Presumptuous, and very impractical. Who can have their practitioner make an appointment for you without consulting you & your schedule first?!
I only wear my glasses at night and tend to keep the same pair for years, even if I’m off by a script. But regarding lenses, when I have an appointment, I’ll order my lenses right away, then I’ll put a reminder in my calender for 11 months out and if I don’t feel my eyesight has changed, I’ll order more…and considering I wear them for longer than you’re supposed to, this could easily last me 3-4 years.
It’s different from state to state and the states that argued that it should be one year have been accused of just doing to the money (take that however you want, that’s just how I read the reports).
The annual appointment is to check for cataracts or glaucoma, along with changes to your scrip. I don’t know your age or medical condition, but if you’re diabetic, they need to look at the inside of your eyes to make sure the optic nerve is healthy. If you have insurance, what’s the harm?
I am one of those evil people =) I originally had the rigid nonpermeable ‘glass’ contacts back in the 70s, I freaking adored them. I have to have toric soft because of the astigmatism and the freaking things just spin around and go out of focus all the damned time. I want my old hard nasty contacts back =(
[and maybe with something like the all black iris or red vampire look or something like that just for the fun of it =) ]