UC Davis Eye Center

This is for my eye exam at the Roseville office on Douglas Blvd.
I have been wearing glasses for my entire life and that is, now, a pretty long time! So I have had them examined a lot. And, disappointed to say, this was the worst and least thorough exam I have ever had. I think Costco will probably to a better job. And rude… has anyone in that office (including the doctor) know the meaning of polite. Perhaps I was not of the money making client UCD EyeCenter wants: over 80, Medicare, cataract surgery moneymaker — doesn’t matter. If thats the case, dont do regular eye exams; dont waste our time so that you can get back to the geriatric crowd. Calm down and get a smile. You UCD people are really not that good or special or important. Just because I took advantage of my yearly eye exam by using my Covered California insurance doesn’t mean you have to rush me through without all the proper tests because you feel my appointment is not making you enough money. FYI: I have Western Health Advantage which is basically YOUR own insurance! Furthermore I have been with my UCD PCP for 15 years, so have some respect.
Furthermore, why don’t you train your front office staff about the rules for co-​pays since they have NO clue what co-​pay goes with what exams, I had to inform her how my insurance works. Again – WHA is your insurance!
If you want a really good eye exam. Probably the most thorough you will ever have: go to Dr. Fong in Fair Oaks or Schermer Eye Care on Hurley. Or I am sure many others. Those two places are wonderful. Pick any place but here if your wallet allows.
Next time I am going back one of them and will PAY out of my own pocket. In fact, I may go and get a second opinion. I am always up for a good complaint form.

Worst. Ever.
I should have cancelled my daughters glasses once we realized she got pink eye from the eyeglass shop. But it would have been too late anyway.
The glasses took about 3x long as I was told they would, and that’s only after I called for the third time to check on the status. Never got a call letting me know they were done as was told. Got there to pick them up, and they were the wrong color frames. They at least had the right ones to swap the lenses into. However once we left the store, we realized they didn’t have the anti glare coating they were supposed to, and I probably got nothing what I paid for, but I figured I’d just buy her a different pair since we were now at the start of a new plan year, from a different place of course, and these would be backups. That was just the beginning.
It’s now about 6 months later, and I STILL haven’t got uc Davis to stop billing me for her exam, that was supposed to be, and verified by them before service that it was, covered by our insurance. I’ve spent over 8 hours, probably more on the phone with them and my insurance company trying to resolve it. My scum Anthem insurer says it should be covered, but supposedly when UCD billing calls them its not. It’s been the most ridiculous back and forth Ive ever experienced in my life. It’s ultimately in my opinion the fault of the UCD billers to do their jobs properly, and my insurer making sure they do it right, exactly, so they can get out of as many claims as possible. Neither is my fault. But I didn’t have this problem at Stanton! I’ll be going ANYWHERE but here for my daughters next eyewear, and finding a new insurer at my next opportunity.

The word of the day is inquilinism: a type of symbiosis in which one species, the inquiline, benefits from use of a host’s nest or habitat without causing either benefit or detriment to the host. That perfectly describes the U.C. Davis Eye Center’s optometry shop – they are situated in the U.C. Davis Medical Group building and receive a steady stream of business from the practitioners in that building – although they do not damage the business of the practitioners, they do not benefit them either.
Why would anyone choose UC Davis Eye Center’s optometry shop? It’s not because of their prices, which are on par with any shopping mall optometry store. It’s not because of their selection, which is on par with any shopping mall optometry store. It’s not because of their customer service, which is on par with a resentful ex-​lover serving you in a job that they already hate but can’t afford to leave (ok, In fairness, people can do their job well even if they hate their work and hate you). It’s also not because they’re quick – plan to spend triple the time you would otherwise expect for any transaction. It’s because they’re there — location.
Guess what, optometry shop?
You need your customers more than they need you – so get your butts in gear, answer your darn phone, call me back the same day if I leave a message, call me when my prescription arrives like you said you would, hire more people to work the store so I’m not waiting for an hour to be serviced every time I go in, and don’t screw up my order so I have to go through the process twice. Either that, or lower your prices so I can justify putting up with your shop. You clearly scored a great location, because there’s no other explanation for how you’ve managed to stay in business, but even if you can’t respect your customers enough to give them decent service, have some respect for yourselves.
Nonetheless, I give this shop two stars because (1) they’ve never stolen anything from me and (2) the last time that I visited, they seemed to have extra people on staff, none of whom were in a bad mood, so I’m hopeful that they are making changes. I’ll reassess them again the next time that I’m in and upgrade/​downgrade appropriately.

…if only I could give less than one star. Do not go here for a regular eye exam. You will receive two bills. One for professional services (the doctor) and one for technical services (the office, the chair you sit in, their equipment etc) The technical bill for my regular eye exam was $ 232.00 and the doctors bill was $ 322.00. ($ 554.00 total) With Health Net insurance I still paid out of pocket $ 171.41 for a normal eye exam.

While my in-​office experiences are usually okay (read: not good, just okay, since wait times are always ridiculous), everything else about this office is horrendous.
In early May I called to make an appointment and had scheduled it for the beginning of July. Two days before my appointment they call to tell me the doctor I’m supposed to see is on vacation that week and can I come back at the end of July? First of all, this is not even close to being accommodating. A whole month to wait because YOU messed up? Not okay. Secondly, I play sports, and contacts are a necessity.
I agreed to the late-​July date because there was nothing else I could do and finally went in for the appointment. I was given 9 pairs of contacts and was told to make a follow-​up appointment. The doctor I saw said she would be on vacation for two weeks but it would be fine to see another doctor for the follow-​up, which was scheduled for August 9^th (yes, today). The appointment was supposed to be at 3:30 and they called me at 2pm to tell me that because I saw a specific doctor, I cannot see another, even though the first doctor said it was fine. They offer to reschedule to SEPTEMBER 26TH. Nine pairs of daily contacts definitely do not last more than 2 weeks. And they don’t even TRY to offer anything even slightly accommodating to the crappy situation that they’ve put me in.
I’m officially done with this place and will be finding a new eye doctor.

This review is specifically about their billing department which is completely incompetent. They do not even deserve 1 star.
First had an issue with a billing from May. It has taken until December to resolve it. First they billed the wrong insurance (my previous insurance company even though I had provided them with the new card and had paid the new copay which was higher at the time of visit). After I called, they billed the incorrect one a second time! Then they finally billed the correct one, but they did not update their records. After calling a several times and constantly getting rebilled for the wrong amount, I finally was able to get it resolved by faxing a copy of my explanation of benefits from the insurance company and explaining in that fax what had happened.
Fast forward to my next visit in October. This time they bill the correct insurance. However, they send me a bill for the incorrect amount. I call them to talk about it, and they claim that the insurance company reprocessed the claim and I now owe the whole amount. However, I had not received an updated explanation of benefits from the insurance company. So I called the insurance company to find out what was going on. The insurance company claimed that UC Davis has re-​billed them. However, since nothing had changed in the claim, they had just rejected the new one (i.e. the old claim still stands and I owe them only what was stated in that explanation of benefits). So now I’m trying to call them to get this one resolved as well.
I have wasted so much time trying to get this resolved. Each time I call, I wait in the queue for several minutes, then go through the process of validate (name, address, date of birth, account number, date of service), and still the issue keeps going on and on. Someone at UC Davis Eye Center billing department needs to look into this. If this is what they spend their time doing, then it’s no surprise that the cost of care is escalating. Some one out there does not know how to correctly interpret and process explanation of benefits from insurance companies.
I am pretty careful with my bills and reconcile everything and hence notice these discrepancies. If someone doesn’t pay attention to their bills, they’re probably getting over-​billed by them.