STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
stylethread site home page -> stylethread forum -> beauty & health -> Contact lens fitting?
Post Info TOPIC: Contact lens fitting?
Andrea Julia


Coach

Status: Offline
Posts: 1811
Date:
Contact lens fitting?
Permalink Closed

I have been wearing contacts for 13 years and have been wearing the same brand and type for the last 3 years.  Everytime I go to the eye doctor, they charge me my regular fee of $25 plus $35 for a contact fitting fee.  I always thought that was kind of a weird thing to be charged for and have even questioned it in the past.  I just ordered some contacts from 800contacts.com and was reading through their site and found this.  Pay special attention to the sentence that I bolded:



Some eye care providers may tell you they can not release your prescription to you because you have not completed the fitting process. This is normal for new wearers or when getting fitted with a new type or brand of lens, but it is not normal for consumers who are wearing the same lenses as before and only need a refill. It is also not supposed to be used as a reason for withholding your prescription. Under the new federal law your prescription is good for a minimum of 1 year. Most importantly, this one year time period is from the date your eye care provider gives you a copy of your prescription - not from the date of your examination.


Am I correct in thinking I am being erroneously charged or even being flat out scammed?  Do any of you pay a contact fitting fee every time you go to the eye doctor?



__________________
janey831


Kate Spade

Status: Offline
Posts: 1064
Date:
Permalink Closed

i'm not sure what you mean but i have been fitted for contacts once, and use the same brand of contacts.  my insurance vision plan wont do fittings, only prescription, so i got fitted somewhere else, then i just bring back my contact lens boxes when i get my eyes rechecked about every two years.  so i have a new prescription but my old fitting and lens brand, which doesnt change. i hope that helps, lemme know if u have any questions!

__________________
Andrea Julia


Coach

Status: Offline
Posts: 1811
Date:
Permalink Closed

janey831 wrote:

i'm not sure what you mean but i have been fitted for contacts once, and use the same brand of contacts.  my insurance vision plan wont do fittings, only prescription, so i got fitted somewhere else, then i just bring back my contact lens boxes when i get my eyes rechecked about every two years.  so i have a new prescription but my old fitting and lens brand, which doesnt change. i hope that helps, lemme know if u have any questions!
I just don't understand why I keep getting charged for a fitting every time I go to the eye doctor when I use the same size and brand contacts.  My prescription may change, but the size never changes.  My insurance doesn't cover it either.  That is why I am charged this fee over and beyond my insurance co-pay.  I go to the same doctor every time so he should know I've already been fitted 800 times and it is always the same.

__________________
Tati


Chanel

Status: Offline
Posts: 4658
Date:
Permalink Closed

Where do you go? I've never heard of that (been wearing contacts forever). But then again, I never ask what the $65 yearly exam includes in it, other then knowing I get my contacts later from Sams Club for only $22.

__________________

Andrea Julia


Coach

Status: Offline
Posts: 1811
Date:
Permalink Closed

Tati wrote:


Where do you go? I've never heard of that (been wearing contacts forever). But then again, I never ask what the $65 yearly exam includes in it, other then knowing I get my contacts later from Sams Club for only $22.


My total comes to $60 with the fitting and I get $100 credit toward contact lenses(this is with my insurance) so maybe this is normal?  Do you have vision insurance? 


Maybe I should be asking how much people are paying for their eye exams because it is possible that not all eye doctors break the costs down like that.



-- Edited by Andrea Julia at 19:38, 2005-07-15

__________________
esquiress


Marc Jacobs

Status: Offline
Posts: 2053
Date:
Permalink Closed

last time i paid $65 and it was w/ a new doctor who i'd never visited before and her name's lucy liu, isn't that funny?  she's really cute too, and supersweet.


but anyway, that is shady of them to be saying they're fitting you when you've already been fitted.  maybe they're checking for astigmatism or something?



__________________
janey831


Kate Spade

Status: Offline
Posts: 1064
Date:
Permalink Closed

they should not be charging you for a fitting if you do not want it.  in fact, my vision care insurance people always tell me to bring in my old contact lens boxes for the fitting.  you should tell them you don't want it, maybe they just assume that you would need it to get contacts.  next time ask if you can just bring in a box that has your specific fitting information on it.  that doesnt sound right though, i don't think that they have to fit you once you have already been fitted, they just need to know what your fitting information is.

__________________
Tati


Chanel

Status: Offline
Posts: 4658
Date:
Permalink Closed

Andrea Julia wrote:

 Maybe I should be asking how much people are paying for their eye exams because it is possible that not all eye doctors break the costs down like that.-- Edited by Andrea Julia at 19:38, 2005-07-15
I have no eye insurance........

__________________

lynnie


Chanel

Status: Offline
Posts: 3612
Date:
Permalink Closed

maybe that fee is just some nominal fee and they simply call it a fitting fee when really it is a chat with the eye doctor?  Or do they actually measure your eyes each time?

__________________

my fashion/style thoughts www.poetryofpause.com 
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
stylethread site home page -> stylethread forum -> beauty & health -> Contact lens fitting?
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard