Vision Optical at UCSF

I’ve had a great experience with the Vision Optical Shop at UCSF Millberry Union on Parnassus. I’ve had several eye glass prescriptions filled and the staff has always been pleasant, helpful and knowledgeable.
I would highly recommend Joyce Hsieh, O.D. for eye exams. She is very professional, eager to answer questions, and one of the best optometrists or ophthalmologists I’ve visited in many decades of eye care. She is located in close proximity to the UCSF Medical Center where she can arrange many types of testing in conjunction with regular appointments.

I don’t get the reviews of the reception staff. I think they are super nice. Not super talkative off the bat but they are typically swamped with people. The wait list for open appts is massive and given their proximity to UCSF and the amount of people from UC who go there, I think they do a damn good job.
Glasses take a while to get, after you order them, but it ain’t lens crafters. And that is not on the vision place. And for what they do in such a small area, cheers to them.
I don’t get the hate, I like the place. Been going here for 8 years.

I went to Vision Optical to buy a new pair of glasses because of its convenient location, in the Millberry building on UCSF’s campus. Three weeks later, I still don’t have my glasses. Note: I already had a prescription, so I will not speak to the optometry services here — instead, my review is about the process of purchasing glasses frames.
— They have a high end selection of frames here. Not many cheap frames, more of the designer kind, for the working professional who cares what he/​she looks like. It’s not a particularly extensive selection, like say LensCrafters, just a few shelves of frames. But they are quite nice.
— Like some other reviewers mentioned, the service here is pretty terrible. The reception staff didn’t seem to care much for service or treating me like a valued customer. They were kind of there, and not particularly welcoming of me, and it felt like I was really bothering them to get them to engage with me and answer my questions.
— After I ordered my frames, it took a week and a half for them to arrive, which is longer than I expected. The lenses that arrived didn’t have the anti-​glare coating, and so they took my frames back and told me to come back 7 business days later, with scarcely any apologies or any kind of effort to make it up to me some how. I understand that mixups happen and it’s not necessarily the fault of the receptionists, but I wish they could have offered me a discount, or allowed me to wear the glasses while the new pair of lenses arrived.

I went in for a prescription for new reading glasses and saw Dr. Joyce Hsieh. She was good, and I have no complaint about the service I received. I paid the receptionist on the way out, all good. That was in July 2013.
In December 2013, I received a notice from a collections agency asking for payment. I called Vision Optical, and they said there was nothing they could do, that they have no control over that aspect of the billing. I mailed proof of my payment to the collections agency and that was that.
Now in September 2014 I received a notice from a second collections agency. Really? Who has time for these shenanigans?

Good service, kind people.

This place is awesome for eyeglasses. Jackie the optician was really helpful in fitting my eyeglasses. The selection of eyeglasses is also good — a lot of Calvin Kleins and Coach (eyeglasses + sunglasses), and some European brands. It’s right in UCSF on Parnassus as you go through the Millberry Student Union and down 1 floor across from the Subway.

This is a small office located on the lower level of the Millbury student Union, but the selection of frames is quite good and the service is excellent.
Dr. Forester, who is congenial and pleasant, performed the most thorough eye examination I’ve ever been subjected to.
Unfortunately all the extra care should have told me something. She discovered something unusual about one of my eyes and asked me to make an appointment with the Eye clinic at UCSF. She suspected glaucoma. Thankfully it turned out I’m special — my optic nerves are not a perfect match — and it’s not anything degenerative.
Only downside to this place is they’re too small for walk-​ins — an appointment for an exam is a must. Usually it’ about a week for a spot. They take VSP plans.