Kaufman Eye Institute Review: Bad Customer Service Experience

See better live better?  I don't think so!

Kaufman Eye institute Website

updated: 3/19/15

This is a report detailing my multiple experiences with the Kaufman Eye Institute with offices in Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills Florida.

I visited the Kaufman Eye center for a full eye exam and to purchase new eye glasses.  My exam was with Dr. Parker.  I explained to him that my prior visits to other eye doctors revealed that my astigmatism would not allow a lens change that I would be able to adapt to, and thus, I’ve been using the same prescription for roughly 6-7 years.  Visionworks identified that I simply could not adapt to any greater differential in prescription between my left/right eyes.  Dr. Parker claimed he never heard of this and proceeded to dial in my prescription to “improve” my eye sight.  He ordered two pairs of glasses, one for long distance and the other for reading.  I trusted his decision and proceeded forward by ordering two pairs of glasses.  The eye glasses were very expensive ($700+ for two pairs) which is more than I’ve ever spent on glasses at any other place but I was assured that their lens quality (Crizal Lenses) was of higher quality than anything the chain stores like Visonworks offered.

After a few weeks my prescription was ready and I came in to pick them up.  I immediately noticed the distance glasses made me feel disoriented.  I informed the optical person Anya and she advised it would take me a few days to get used to.  I waited it out for several weeks enduring horrible headaches and disorientation, especially in my right eye.  I was unable to adapt.  In addition the frames I chose had wide side arms which were interfering with my peripheral vision.  Anya suggested I change my frame over a prescription change.  She also had Dr. Parker retest my vision and he claimed the new prescription was correct and refused to change it back to my old prescription.

I told Anya that I didn’t think changing the frames alone would resolve my issue but I proceeded with her advice and chose different and incidentally less expensive frames.  They would not issue me a credit for this difference which was disappointing as the amount was substantial.  At no point was she ever rude to me.  I could see she was actually frustrated by the rigidness of their company policy.

When I picked up the remakes, I noted the peripheral issue was resolved with the new frames but I was still experiencing disorientation from the distance glasses.  In addition the new readers seemed to be of much lower power.  I had them check the prescriptions and they claimed the lenses were done correctly.  I again tried it out for several weeks with no improvement in my situation.

I then requested a re-evaluation which they were reluctant to offer me.  I finally got in to see Dr. Jon Kaufman.  He seemed nervous and somewhat incompetent just by the way he was speaking to me.  I didn’t get the confidence that he was very knowledgeable.  His solution was for me to ditch my glasses with NO refund and start all over again with contacts.  I had to tell him several times that I did not want to have contacts.  I’ve been wearing glasses for 35+ years and have no desire to change.  He didn’t even give me an eye exam and left the room saying he had other patients to see.  I felt this visit was incomplete and unprofessional.  I even received a bill for $125 for essentially a useless exam that should have been a courtesy for all of the problems I was having. 

I had to call the Kaufman Eye center several times to see what resolution they would give me. They completely refused to remake my glasses with my old prescription.  When I called their office back they suggested I go see a Neurologist for my headaches and that they were unable to change my lenses again.  I then got Dr. Kaufman on the phone to get him to verify that my glasses were guaranteed against scratching for 1 year.  He confirmed my guarantee and I then told him my glasses were scratched and that I was coming in for them to remake them per my original, time tested prescription. The Optical director Larry at Kaufman center called me back and agreed to change my lenses one last time but this would be a permanent change and no warranty would be offered from this time forward.  I agreed and brought in my old lenses for them to read. 

A few weeks pass and my glasses were ready.  I tried on the new distance glasses and immediately felt disoriented just like I did with the other two pairs.  Nothing changed.  I asked the Optical Director to read the prescription to confirm it matched my old glasses. He was very rude but eventually checked it and claimed they were exact.  Again I took the glasses home and wore them for two weeks straight and experienced the same disorientation and headaches. 

I decided to bring my new glasses and old glasses into Visionworks to have them read it. They discovered that the two pairs of glasses were NOT identical despite what Kaufman Eye center told me.  The new pair made by Kaufman had a 2 deg angle shift of both lenses with a ¼ change in strength on the right eye which made sense given the symptoms I was experiencing and the eye strain which was most prominent in the right eye.  Visonworks told me the prescription is off significantly enough to explain the vision problems I was experiencing with my new glasses.  I got Visionworks to write up their findings on their letterhead to bring to Kaufman.  My wife called Kaufman and spoke to Larry about this. He was extremely rude to my wife saying that Visionworks doesn’t know what they are doing and he wanted the license # of the optician that read my script over there.  He refused any resolution with my wife.  So I then proceeded to Lenscrafters and they verified the readings of Visionworks.  I called back Kaufman and spoke to Larry again.  He wouldn’t even allow me to speak citing that they did everything they could for me and that those eye centers are incompetent and don’t know how to read prescriptions. The Kaufman Eye Institute was unable to make my eye glass prescriptions correctly and refused to acknowledge third party analysis confirmation.

I finally had enough of his rudeness and let him have a piece of my mind; which of course accomplished nothing and now brings me here.

I informed my primary physician of these issues since she originally referred me to the Kaufman Eye center.  It took her multiple requests to even get my eye exam results.  She had to threaten to NEVER refer patients to them again to get it.  When she finally got my charts, they were disordered and the text was garbled and scribbled with notes like “we did everything we could for this patient including a 45 minute additional exam”.

So now I am left with two useless pairs of glasses and $700 less to my name.  In my lifetime experience of wearing glasses, I have never met a more incompetent, rude and discourteous group of people in the medical field than the staff at Kaufman Eye Center (sans Anya who is a sweet lady and deserves to work at a better place). 

After experiencing the treatment I received at the Kaufman Eye Center, I can attest to the fact that I am NOT " seeing better or living better " like their motto states.

I do NOT recommend using Kaufman Eye center for any sort of eye examinations or prescription fulfillment.