Eye Appt

It's been a while since I've been to the eye dr and I'm always busy at work/school (never get time off). A few weeks ago I broke my glasses and found a VERY old (opened 6mo ago, purchased 3 yrs ago) pair of contact lenses that I used to tide me over to get the eye appt. There are no Vision Centers in Oklahoma Walmarts (it's illegal for some reason). One day I got off work early, and stopped at an eye office on my way home. I asked how much the appt would be since my finances are extremely tight right now (like qualify for foodstamps if I had time to stand in line for them). They said the eye exam for glasses and contacts would be $130-160ish, so I said ok. When I was done, they said the bill was >$200! plus if the contacts didn't fit right, there would be a $30-50 refitting fee for each visit! I paid the bill and cried all the way home.

To complicate matters, the dr said he wouldn't renew the prescription for the contacts that I'd been wearing for >10 yrs, but gave me a different brand that were >2-3x's in price! I should have been more forceful when I tried to explain that I couldn't afford more expensive contacts and I was happy with the ones I had always worn. (I did tell him that exactly, but he was very dismissive about it and flat said he wouldn't prescribe my Acuvue.)

I've never spent >$100 on an eye exam before, and tried to decide how to handle this, since I can't afford to go back to get the contacts prescription and now can't afford to go anywhere else. I totally understand them being a business and needing to make money, but if they'd given me a more accurate estimate, I would have gone elsewhere and not wasted either of our time.

Well, I decided to go back for the week later contacts recheck, since it was with a different dr. I explained the situation as professionally as I could, and he paused for a moment, then looked at his calendar. Turns out, the dr I'd seen had been up the night before my appointment at the hospital with his father who died. Shocking that he even came into work! Well the other dr fixed my bill and renewed my cheaper contacts prescription. I'm very glad that I didn't overreact.