Okay, thanks for the perspective, guys. I’ll downgrade my Moral Indignation to Simply Irked. (Well, I don’t think I actually reached Moral Indignation, but I’ve always wanted to.)
It’s just about the principle of the matter, not anything practical. I agree that postcards reminding you to schedule an appointment are Very Good. (Text messages, not so much.) It’s the fact that they went and scheduled an appointment - an actual appointment - without my consent that’s bothering me. I’m fairly sure I didn’t agree to an appointment during the last exam - I’m allergic to commitment, and would’ve swatted that suggestion down reflexively - but it’s possible that something ununderstood slipped by with a mumbled, “Uh, okay.” from me.
Anyways, I’ll give it some more thought and we’ll see if practicality bests principle. Practicality does have fuzzy eyeballs on its side, after all.
Are you positively sure they just scheduled the appointment without consulting you?
Because I can’t remember I conversation I had at the optometrist eight months ago. I’m impressed that you remember if they did or didn’t say, “Same date/time next year?” Maybe you weren’t paying attention and nodded and that was taken as agreement to the upcoming appointment.
Sorry, I didn’t mean ‘you’, specifically, I meant ‘you’ in a general sense. As in, the level of offense I took at the appointment being made for me was less of the off-to-the-fainting-couches-martha level and more of the damned-mosquitos level. I’m offended in principle, or trying to figure out if I should be.
Then I tried to make a meta joke about taking small offense. It made sense to me at the time. =/
I think I’d have been a little irritated too. I’ve even turned down free months of HBO and the like simply because they required me to call to cancel after the free period. Sometimes that call can be irritating; waiting on hold, being transferred to the “right” department, then getting the hard sell.
But, in this case, I’d just call and make it clear that I don’t want automatic appointments made for me. Well, if I was otherwise happy with them anyways.
I am a little curious how this policy has affected their bottom line though.
My eyeglass shop (named after a doctor whose name in turn sounded like a precious product of oysters) does the same thing, but the “appointment” as it were is really a sales technique, to psych you into thinking “I ought to call to change it to a real convenient time” so you DO make a real appointment. But, you don’t even have to do that, I just show up any time I feel like it in the general vicinity of the proper month and it goes completely unremarked. The one time I “met” the “appointment” they took just as long to dig up my records as every other time in the last 4 years (and to notice they *again *had the file for the wrong guy with the same name ).
It’s not like some of my other specialists who’ll* bill me* for a no-show – since I was not the one who asked and never agreed to the appointment, there is no actual commitment at the eyeglasses place.
It would annoy me, but if this were an otherwise stellar optometrist I wouldn’t let it stop me. I’ve been through some bad ones (screwing up the prescription then not being willing or educated enough to fix it) that I’d overlook it. I might say something, however.
The annual appointment is less for you and more for them. This way they can run a script that sends out reminders for everyone X days before the appointment. So, you get the postcard, and you are reminded, and you call and say whether you can make that day or not.
If they didn’t schedule your appointment, they would have to come up with some other way of reminding themselves, and you, that it’s been a year since the appointment. And some people do. My optometrist doesn’t schedule appointments, but sends out a reminder card. My gyno schedules the following year’s appointment right away.
Your place just does it this way. I don’t really think they expect you are guaranteed or bound to come in on that day. I think it’s their way of reminding you, AND, if the date/time works for you, now you don’t even have to call and make an appointment! It’s all set for you/.
I’ve never had a place automatically schedule an appointment, so I’d be very puzzled if this had happened.
Lots of places will offer to set me up for the following year, when I’m checking out - any chance they asked you when you in the middle of fumbling for papers etc., and you simply forgot?
In any case, that would certainly not make me break up with them given that you were otherwise satisifed with the place. Just remember next time to tell them don’t autoschedule!!
I would go again, but make it clear that you do not want an appointment scheduled. If it happened again, I wouldn’t see any reason not to shop around. Sure, you may wind up finding out that they’re still the best, but there may be someone out there that is good and will also listen to you.
if it is a good optometrist, it seems somewhat petty to leave because of this. It’s not like you can’t call to either change or cancel the appointment so that you have a pair before the old ones break.
