Eye Encounters

In a word, awful.
Horrible customer service, the optometrist and the optical techs seem indifferent and confused. If you do need to get your glasses here, give yourself a couple of extra hours to get anything done.

It appears that the facilities and service at this location have recently been improved.
I came here for an exam only — $ 50, which is a pretty good price. I walked in and waited about half an hour for an exam. The examination room was clean and neat.
The prescription part of the exam was done with a digital keratometer and phoropter. I did think that the number of «better-​or-​worse» reading tests was somewhat low. Nevertheless, the prescription I ended up with through the phoropter was very good.
The PD measurement was done with a PD ruler by one of the clerks, not an optician.
I opted to skip the glaucoma/​dilation parts of the exam, but the optician did offer to do them. All in all, the exam lasted about 25 minutes and the prescription (applied to a pair of glasses I ordered online) is working fine.

I came in for a contact lens fitting and general exam. I showed up ten minutes early for my appointment and filled out the new patient paperwork. I wasn’t seen until about 45 minutes past my scheduled appointment. Whatever, that is unfortunately only slightly worse than par for the course, in my experience.
But then– the exam room…
It was straight up dirty. Tumbleweeds of dust and hair in the corners dirty. Please believe me, I am not a princess about these things. I actually cannot think of another time where I was horrified by the state of a commercial establishment, but this place was unambiguously nasty. In the corner, above the handwashing sink and mirror, there was a gaping hole in the ceiling tile. Some wires were spilling out of the hole, draping halfway to the sink, and they were festooned with tufty, fuzzy dust. I kid you not, there was broken ceiling tile half ground into a powder on the floor surrounding the sink. I should have taken it as a sign, but I had already sunk the better part of an hour into this appointment on my day off, so I didn’t.
The doctor was odd and brusque. She fitted me in 3 minutes flat, then found samples for me to try on. She also left the room when I went to go put them on. I go to the sink to wash my hands (since, ya know, gonna be putting my grubby fingers on my eyeballs), and there wasn’t any soap or hand sanitizer. Or paper towels. Or anything to dry my hands. Eugh. I fished some sanitizer out of my purse. When the doctor returned, she was completely unfazed when I mentioned there wasn’t any soap. She literally said, «Oh,» and left it at that.
Whatever, I got my prescription. It was much more expensive than my last set of lenses, but I chalked it up to my worsening astigmatism. After a couple days, I really felt like it wasn’t a good fit. The lenses hurt and my vision was not sharp. I called to see if maybe I could be reassessed since the trial lenses weren’t working out, but they told me I’d have to pay full price for a whole new fitting. So I, being a poor, decided to suck it up and wear them.
This was maybe 6 months ago. I stretched my 3 month supply because I wear glasses half of the time. Online, I found my lenses for less than half the price. Money is tight and I cannot afford getting a new fitting right now. But Eye Encounters did not verify my prescription with them, and their voice mailbox is strategically full. I will have to go in person to obtain my prescription from them, which is just another irritating chapter in this story.
Avoid.

The eye exam literally took 5 minutes. Kind of makes me question the thoroughness/​accuracy of the work. For one, they only went through 2 or 3 «read-​this-​row» and «better-​or-​worse» tests, whereas other places I’ve been to have gone through more than twice as many. They also didn’t do any glaucoma tests — no air puff or pupil dilation/​blue light. While I (and probably every other person ever) detest these exams, it would have been nice to at least be offered an explanation of why neither was being done. I think maybe they were just trying to cut costs/​save time. I was seen 20 minutes after my appointment time, and saw two other people go in for an eye exam before me. On the upside, their eye exams only took 5 minutes as well. If you’re terrified of the more invasive eye tests and don’t care if you have glaucoma or not, then sure, give them a try. Otherwise, I would go somewhere a little more thorough.
The frame selection was pretty terrible. Maybe this was partially a function of my insurance, but all the frames in the back upper level that were $ 130 or under probably should have actually cost about $ 5 each, if that. The quality was pretty crappy, most of them felt cheap, and the styles were mostly hideous. Maybe if you have an awesome insurance plan and/​or can afford the fancy designer frames in the front, they wouldn’t be so bad.
The kicker though, was that I only went for an exam and told them I’d hold off on getting glasses, and MAYBE come back for them another time. They went ahead and authorized lenses and frames with my insurance company anyway, tying up my benefits until I called them to void the authorizations. Kind of annoying.
Meh. I’ve been to (much) better eye places.

I have to take one star away from Eye Encounters because of the wait… I arrived early for my 11am appointment to get insurance info, etc. out of the way. The doctor arrived at 11:15. Otherwise, it was great! The exam/​contact lens fitting was awesome, and the people working in the front are super friendly and helpful (and willing to offer an honest opinion on your glasses choice).
This is the 3^rd location of Eye Encounters in the city, and I think it’s the best one in terms of the look and feel of the space — it’s bright and clean and there are plenty of mirrors in between the rows and rows of glasses. I used to be the sort to buy designer frames, but now that I have a pretty strong prescription, the cost of my high index lenses and disposable contact lenses makes that seem silly. So, I love the EE has WALLS of «2for» frames. (2 for $ 79 for a basic prescription, though I paid 2 for $ 199 for my special lenses). The selection of cheaper frames is always varied and trendy, which I think reflects a nice attention to detail on their part. I walked out of there a few hundred dollars poorer, but I didn’t feel like I’d been robbed!