Columbia River Eye Center Clinic

Worked my son in last minute and all the office staff was so nice. Would recommend this place to everyone.

Columbia River Eye Center is the best medical establishment in the Tri-​Cities. I have been to them for my last 4 eye exams and I have also gone in for a couple of different issues such as conjunctivitis and scatched corneas, and more recently complications with the skin around my eyes related to allergies. The staff are so professional and friendly, both the reception staff and the doctors and technicians. They have an optometrist and two ophthalmologists and I have been seen by each of them and they are all wonderful. They provided competent and caring services every time I have needed them. And they fit me in to their schedule within a day or two the times I was having acute issues, which is so nice, because walk-​in clinics are really not able to reliably address eye problems and have steered me wrong in the past. So I am very grateful to Columbia River Eye Center and their excellent practice.

My husband is a new patient at the eye center. We went in last week to pick up his contacts. We walked into the eye-​wear shop and stood there. No other customers were present. Finally the optician/​clerk looked up and said «Yes»? He then turned back to his computer. We were both shocked with his rudeness. I told my husband that I was going to wait in the lobby. I watched as the clerk gave my husband his contacts and pointed at a chair. My husband sat down and put his contacts on, while the optician/​clerk sat back down at his computer and proceeded to ignore my husband. My husband finally left the shop and told me the guy never looked up, never asked how the contacts felt and ignored him as he left the shop.
I would not return to that building. My husband is seeking a new ophthalmologist. The rudeness was overwhelming

Like Katie O, I have worked in the medical field and have been a patient. I know with each doctor’s office, there are both good and bad experiences. However, with the bad experiences, I believe that medical staff do care about their patients. Perhaps, there may be complications beyond their control.
Recently, I had an appointment at Columbia River Eye Center. I found the technician very friendly and professional. Likewise, I had a great visit with my doctor. I really appreciated how he discussed the health of my eyes in detail.
I will recommend Columbia River Eye Center to everyone!
Melinda M.

Ok so let me start by saying that I ran a medical office for 3 years so I may be a little over zealous here BUT I think anyone who has ever had any experience with the medical industry knows that customer service is still a VERY important aspect!
So about a month and a half ago I went to my regular doctor for a physical. I spoke with him about my night vision issues and told him that every optometrist I had ever been to had said my eyes were near perfect and had no other advise for me. He said that he was going to send of a referral to this ophthalmologist and have him dig a bit deeper into the issue.
After a week of waiting for this place to call me, I finally called them to schedule the appointment. Apparently they have 2 offices and they hadn’t been to the office that received the referral all week. While speaking to the receptionist, she had me explain the issue (since she didn’t have the referral) then proceeded to tell me that I should just go see an optometrist (even though I had obviously been referred to them) because «ophthalmologists are more medical and deal with more serious issues.» I was irate so I just said ok and hung up. Two days later someone called me from the office to schedule my appointment — they obviously finally received the referral…
They didn’t have any openings for over a month so I requested that I be scheduled as close to 9am as possible as I have young children in school that I take to and from school every day. So, my appointment was yesterday at 9am.
My mom took me to my appointment yesterday as it is never a good idea to drive yourself when you know they are going to be messing with your eyes. I walked into the clinic at 8:53 with my completed new patient paperwork in hand. I was FINALLY checked in at 9:07 (there were only 2 people in front of me in line, 1 of which was just finishing up as I walked in). Then I sat and waited to get called back…30 minutes worth of waiting!!! My first nurse was quite nice and very informative as she went through the first round of testing with me. 20 minutes later she took me to another waiting area where she said I would have to wait for about 15 minutes for the dilation process to complete itself. That was at 9:53… That 15 minutes turned into 54 minutes of sitting there with incredibly blurry vision (for the first time in my life) as the room was spinning and I was getting a headache. Finally at 10:47 a different nurse came and got me and took me back into the same room I was in to begin with, told me the doctor would be in shortly then left the room. About 5 minutes later the doctor came in, did some more testing, then told me my eyes were great and my optic nerves were «perfect» and that his brother didn’t like to drive at night because it is obviously going to be harder to see and that’s probably my issue too. He had 2 suggestions for me… 1. come back in 3 weeks to do a full field study test to make sure my peripheral vision was as good as the mini test said, 2. talk to Gary in the «glasses» section about which color tint I should have on sunglasses to wear at night to see if it helped. Then, I was done…
I went to the «glasses» area and told the 2 guys that the doctor wanted me to talk to Gary about tinting. The guy that responded stayed in his seat and asked what my problem was. I told him, and all he said was «you would want either an amber or rose tint, whichever.» And that was that. I tried to get more out of him but he was focused on something else so I left. I finally walked out of the building at 11:23.
My issues here are the obvious crappy customer service and the fact that I was not informed that this would be a two and a half hour visit! Personally, especially with my mentioning the child issue, I would tell a new patient that the visit could take 2 – 3 hours. That is just common courtesy. The first and third nurses I saw were nice, and the doctor was pretty nice but the fact that I was treated like a moron and SENT AWAY when I called the first time then wasted almost 3 hours of my day just to be shrugged off like a wimpy idiot, makes me want to give these people a negative rating. I will go back for my full field test, but that is only because I am not sure my insurance would pay for a different office to do it!