Complaint Review: Dr. Bizer's Visionworld

On August 2, 2006, my 79 year old Mother went by herself to Dr. Bizer's Visionworld in Elizabethtown, Ky. to have her glasses adjusted. She bought the glasses (trifocals) in Louisville, but thought that she could go to Dr. Bizer's locally when she bent her earpiece the morning of August 2nd. She took the glasses in to be adjusted, signed in and waited her turn.

The technician" who tried to adjust the frame broke the earpiece completely off using two pliers. She heard a sound but thought nothing of it. He then tried to superglue the earpiece back onto the frame. It didn't hold.

At that point, he told her that he had broken her glasses, and that he would just pull her folder to make her some new glasses. She told him that she had not gotten her glasses there, but they could get the prescription from her Dr.in Louisville.

She was told to "go over there and pick out some new frames". She tried to pick out a new frame, but not having her glasses on it was difficult to do. She could not see without her glasses. No one assisted her in the selection or even offered to help her. She picked out one frame and brought it to the "technician" to see if that frame would accommodate her
tri-focal prescription, to which he replied that it "looks almost like your old glasses".

The glasses were made (no one contacted her eye Dr. to get her original prescription) and given to her that afternoon. They were not adjusted for her, or even measured to make sure that they would fit her face, etc. Nothing was done, except merely handing them over to her.

When she got home she found that she could not use either the bi-focal part of the lens for reading or close work, and that the tri-focal part was also unusable. Since she was going to be in Louisville later that week she thought that she would wait to let her original Dr. make the adjustment that she thought and hoped would correct the bi-focal and tri-focal problems.

When she went to her original Dr. she found that the glasses' frame was too small to accommodate her bi-focal prescription and that the $190 special uv coating had not been put on the "new" glasses at Dr. Bizer's. This coating was required because of the macular degeneration that had started in her eyes. It was an attempt to shield her eyes from some of the sun's harmful rays. In other words, the glasses were not useable because of the missing coatings and the incorrect bi-focal lenses.

On August 16th,when I accompanied my Mother to Dr. Bizer's Visionworld to get this problem addressed, I was met with rudeness and contempt. I talked first to the "manager" of the local office. She said that they (Dr. Bizer's Visionworld) are not liable for breaking my Mother's glasses and that we "were lucky to have Dr. Bizer's make her glasses to replace the broken ones".

She also said that there was a sign at the front of the store that said Dr. Bizer's Visionworld was not liable if they broke glasses. I never saw the sign, not did my Mother. The manager said that furthermore they were not going to remake the glasses with the correct prescriptions nor would they give my Mother the money to replace them at the original Dr.'s office.

I then asked for her boss which as it turned out was the "technician" that had broken my Mother's glasses in the first place. He was introduced as the General Manager of this particular store. His name was Justin Smither. He said the same things, but adamantly denied that he was liable in any way for correcting the problem that he had caused.

At this point my Mother has a $553.00 pair of glasses with the right earpiece broken off, a pair of "free" glasses that are not useable because they are not the correct prescription in the bi-focal part of the lens, and the prospect of having to pay another $553 for a new pair of glasses all because the management at Dr. Bizer's Vision world in Elizabethtown chose not to do the right thing.

The "technician/General Manager"- Justin Smither knew that he had made a mistake when he broke my Mother's glasses because he did make her "new" but unusable glasses even though "Dr. Bizer's doesn't do that". He should have tried to make new lenses with the correct prescription, but apparently Dr. Bizer's policy is to treat the customer with as much contempt as possible and simply take their money any way they can. He took advantage of an elderly woman who was by herself and that is wrong!

I have since heard of others who have had problems with this business and I strongly advise everyone to find another place to handle their eye care needs.

Wilma
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
U.S.A.