I don't go to the eye doctor often. I usually go when I run out of contacts and I need a new prescription. So I usually get my new prescription and order three times the amount that I need from an outside vendor, ensuring that I won't have to come back for some time.
The visit started out fine, testing for the usual things like corneas and retinas (I still don't know which is which). I told the doctor that I was here because I had run out of contacts and that I needed a prescription to order more. She asked me when I dispose of them and I told her I kept them usually a week or so longer than was suggested by the manufacturer. It took a turn when she told me that she wanted to fit me for new contacts because the old ones were killing cells in my eyes. Killing cells? I must have cancer I thought. How can cells be dying in my eyes? She said that because I left the contacts in too long I was doing damage to my eyes. The same contacts that were prescribed to me by this office only a year or so ago. Ok I thought to myself. This sounds dangerous. I will get fitted for new contacts or risk my eyes falling out of their sockets.
I was approached by the "contact fitter" who walked me into the waiting room so there were enough people around that I couldn't hear her too well. She spoke swiftly about a co-pay ans circled some things on a sheet, including some arrows to make it look very legit. My eyes had been dilated not too long before so I really couldn't see a thing. What gave it away for me was the manner in which she was selling me. Wait. It wasn't so much as a sales pitch but an order to do this. She mumbled something about a fitting fee but nowhere was I able to see fitting fee on the page ( I had pasted the paper on my face to compensate for the dilation). I told her that i was confused and to tell me what I would be in for. She said it would be $300 for a "fitting fee". Ahhhhhh. There it was. The bait and switch. I asked her if I could have my old contact prescription (no fee) and she told me I couldn't because it was too dangerous. Amaaaazing. So I am forced to pay $300 for the prescription for my contacts (in addition to the actual contacts) or go elsewhere and encounter other "fitting fees". Have these doctors been forced to do this because of their deteriorating relationships with Medicare, Medicaid or Major Medical? Why would a licensed professional be trained to do this? This wasn't some TBTF (too big too fail) bank slapping me with additional fees because their investment banking business has gone away, right?
How is this different from a mechanic who tells you that you need a new Johnson Rod immediately or your car won't make it out of the repair shop? This is blatant stealing and industry coercion and I'm sure I'm not the first victim. I will file a complaint and call the Better Business Bureau but in the end she is a professional and I am just an irate consumer.
Hold on some will say. She is trying to help you. She is a doctor with plaques and diplomas plastered all over the walls of her office. You are being paranoid, little mag. To all of you who think this, you are wrong.
What she is trying to do is bill me for something I don't need, generating revenues for her practice and hoping to one day get tenure and some sort of partnership so she can have younger doctors who need a job prey on people who have $300 to spend on "fitting fees".
In the meantime, does anyone know where I can find Rec-Spec sport goggles?
