I also had a bad experience with a Nationwide, at 75th and McDowell. I have an uncommon vision insurance provider, which makes it really difficult to find providers that accept it (I am not complaining, because it is better than no insurance, which I know a lot of people have!) Nationwide happens to be one of the only places that accepts it. I arrived 20 minutes prior to my check-in time, just to make sure, and the place was packed full of people. I waited about an hour and a half past my appointment time for them to take me in to do the preliminary tests. They dilated my eyes and told me not to put my contacts in. I went back out to the waiting room and waited another 2 HOURS to see the doctor. They took me back to an exam room, and then I waited almost 30 MORE minutes to see the doctor. When he finally came in, he was extremely rude and short when I tried to greet him and ask a question. I understand sometimes we catch people on bad days or in a bad moment, but the way he was speaking to me made me feel like an idiot. I told him I needed a glasses exam and a contacts exam. He said, well you know the contacts exam costs 50 dollars. I replied, "I was told by the receptionist that it is covered by my insurance. It isn't?" He sighed, exasperated and said "Well how would I know?? You have to ask the receptionist" The exam took less time than usual, and when he asked if I liked my current brand of contacts, I said yes, I have been using them for the last 8 years or so. He replied, well you should use XX brand, you'll like them better. I said, well I'd really like to stick with the ones I have, he literally threw his pen down on the desk and snapped, "Well can you at LEAST try a sample pack?" So I tried the sample pack (which I ended up hating; they dried out my eyes after about an hour). I went over to Wal Mart, who takes my insurance for lenses and contacts, and they looked at my prescription and said that the combination of numbers was actually not possible. They had to call Nationwide and ask what the correct prescription was, and they had to find the doctor, which was taking too long, so they hung up and I had to call them later to order the contacts. I had to leave and call them for updates. This was last year, this year I had the same problem trying to find a place that takes my insurance, so I ended up going to a Nationwide here in Peoria. My experience was much better, although I'm still waiting for the contacts to come in...I'm sure it depends on which one you go to!

I finally ended up going to the corporate office in Chandler. The person in charge was very friendly and understood my situation. He credited me the amount of the eyeglasses per my vision insurance coverage, because he couldn't change the insurance's end after it has been sent. So, to update everyone my experience, all is well. Hopefully, my glasses will arrive as promise in a few days or days.

Nationwide Vision totally riped me off. I ordered my contacts in Dec of 2009, but the people in the office didn't actually put the order through till Jan of 5th 2010. I broke my eyeglasses and found out that I couldn't use my benefits because it renews every year on Jan 1st. I send an email to NWV and never got a response back. What the hell?

Well, I just learned my lesson with Nationwide Vision, only this one is in Glendale.

They didn't have the courtesty to even call up the insurance company, but instead told me to be the middleman with benefits that both my insurance and I understood, and Nationwide somehow "didn't understand". They wanted to take $400.+ "off my hands", sure enough, but didn't want to make a phone call to realize that half of that was covered under my plan. It's a PHONE CALL.

So I had my insurance company call THEM. Guess what? "My specialist was on the floor helping customers and couldn't help". You've GOT to be kidding me.

I did ask for my money back when they refused to do basic customer service, and I did get my money back. However, they did send a claim for the insurance, and guess what? They got paid! So now that I'm trying to take my business elsewhere, I can't because they won't refund the claim. Every other glasses outlet thinks that I already got my glasses.

Last time I ever darken their doorstep. Thanks for posting, Jay.

The public can respond to poor health care to the state board responsible for oversite, in this case the State Board of Optometry. Nationwide owner/doctors have had several problems with the state board. This problem would not qualify as violation of state rules and regulations, I'm afraid. I previously worked for Nationwide, also. They force doctors to schedule a patient every fifteen minutes. I have it in writing from the head of professional relations. Mistakes are made. Charting is incomplete. Patients' needs are not known, nevermind addressed. Very bad for the public and the optometry profession.

The public can respond to poor health care to the state board responsible for oversite, in this case the State Board of Optometry. Nationwide owner/doctors have had several problems with the state board. This problem would not qualify as violation of state rules and regulations, I'm afraid. I previously worked for Nationwide, also. They force doctors to schedule a patient every fifteen minutes. I have it in writing from the head of professional relations. Mistakes are made. Charting is incomplete. Patients' needs are not known, nevermind addressed. Very bad for the public and the optometry profession.

Tim is right.

I'm Obama, and I approve this mesage.

regarding your pledge@ http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/blog-wars-and...
now thats what I like- time well spent! hope it works for you

i have to sympathize with your plight "Guy" but i guess my question is this: if its that bad, why are you still waiting? i'd be long gone with my money in hand, not complaining about it. why live it over and over and over. like i said, ive been there many times and even had trouble getting used to a new brand of contacts once. no problem! i wore several prs of lenses before i gave up. it wasnt even their problem so i didnt expect full refund. they gave it to me anyway. and with a smile too! im sure you've got this problem "Guy" but it just doesnt gel with what i know. anyone reading about unfortunate experiences with a company should call the BBB if they really want to know how a company operates. our company has nationwide as its primary provider and we all go there because of the dozens of employees we have that are very satisfied. if there are issues, they always solve them to our satisfaction. they even do health fairs at our company to assist our employees with their coverage questions. you should get your money back "Guy" but i'm sticking with nationwide, they're awesome with everyone i know. good luck in your current problem though.

Tim -

"try a little courage though and ask for the boss. everybody has one."

Been there done that. Talked to the regional director too. Did it help? Not one iota.

"advice-trust yourself and your own experiences not some crybaby blogger who could say anything (true or not)"

Why would I make something like this up? Leave an email or fax and I'll be happy to provide you with receipts and photos.

"knowing a health care place cant defend itself against complaints in a public forum."

They are more than welcome to come here and leave a comment, just like you did. They are aware of the post. (I told the manager and regional director. You know, lack of courage and all)

I'm glad you had a good experience with Nationwide. I'm sure many do. I did not.

By the way, it's now one full month to the day and I still don't have the frames I paid for. Their response? Blame it on the factory (which is Nike by the way, not some fly-by-night manufacturing company). No one yet has taken any responsibility for a practically complete failure on their end.

You know, a simple "I'm sorry" would suffice.

Thanks for stopping by and providing your opinion.

face it. bad service is bad service. no excuses. try a little courage though and ask for the boss. everybody has one. i think they have something like 50 stores and Im sure each has their horror stories from time to time. food for thought though- I checked-no outstanding negative remarks with the Better Business people. they are members. nice comment Lane- a funnier blog would be about nightmare real estate clowns! ok maybe not, (who would care) but ive been to several nationwides and wont go anywhere else. advice-trust yourself and your own experiences not some crybaby blogger who could say anything (true or not) knowing a health care place cant defend itself against complaints in a public forum.

I had a truly terrible experience here also. I got to the office about 10 minutes late. They made me wait for another 5 minutes, then said "I'm sorry, we've canceled your appointment because you were 25 minutes late." I said "Seriously? There's a clock behind you, take a look." Then--I kid you not--they tried to convince me that I was seeing the clock wrong. SEEING THE CLOCK WRONG! Holy jesus. Worst customer service I've ever received.

Also, I quit cause it was an embrassment to work for a company who doesn't give a shit about there employees or customers!

Get a life!!! If you want to talk shit about me why don't you say who you are?!?!?!?!?!

What does the truth hurt!!!!!!!!!! I left cause I had and still have serious medical problems!!!!!!!! So eat sh*t loser!!!!!!!!!!!

I work for nationwide too. It must be easy for "April" to slam the company, considering the way she left the company.

I use to work for nationwide Vision!!!! They do this kind of shit all the time to there customers!!! I worked at the Corp. Office for a little over a year. I heard complaint on a daily base!!! The owners do know what goes on there but all they care about is making money!!! Not customer service!! They motto is get the customer in the door and get there money!! They don't give a shit about there customers!!!

Did you talk to Mike Oppat? He would be the District manager of that store (at least he was when I worked there) I quit cause I didn't like the way they treated there employees and customers!!! All they care about is making money...bottom line!

Thanks Dru. Francy's arms are no longer long enough for her to read, so she's looking. Needless to say, she won't be going to Nationwide Vision. We'll try Dr. Bacon!

Jay, We have a GREAT optometrist in Chandler. Howard Bacon on the SE corner of Dobson and Elliott. (480) 963-8833 Tell him I sent you!

Friday update:

Called at 3:00

Me: "Hi I was calling to see if my glasses came in?"

Them: "Oh hi Jay. No, sorry they didn't come in today."

Me: "Umh, do you know when they'll be in?"

Them: (I swear to God, I am not making this up) "I really have no idea".

We'll be headed down there today to have a little face-to-face quality time with the manager.

So did you get your glasses? Enquiring minds need to know!

Sorry for your experience Jay, but I really enjoyed the reading - it's almost like a comic book, just lacking pictures... I'm looking forward to Friday's issue and if it wasn't a real life story, I'd wish to see the order cancellation and of course details on the fight :) But since it's not a comic book - good luck on getting your glasses ;)

Lane - excellent point. It is easy to slam the bad and just accept the good quietly.

I definitely would have written about the good. I was just holding off until the transaction was complete. Unfortunately a great initial experience swiftly went south.

I've written about good service before (example 1, example 2, example 3. There are more).

Bad service often evokes a stronger emotional response than great service. Perhaps that's why there are far more examples of lousy service out there. But it's important to highlight the good too, IMHO.

I'm taking something a little different away from this...

When the writer had good service, they almost thought about a complimentary blog post. When they got bad service... KaSlam!!!

How often is that the case. We seldom see the good reviews, only the ugly ones. If you talk to a mechanic about a car brand, and you question them about something specific, they are almost all junk... they only see them when they have problems.

I'm certainly not going to defend the ... person... that delivered this horrible service experience, nor the company that lets her keep getting paid.

I just had that bit occur to me, and thought I'd make a comment about.

I always take my glass perscriptions to Lesco Optical, Scottsdale road just south of Thomas. Single vision $29.00 Bi-focals $49.00. Best deal ever. Done in 7 days!!!!

Amen!!- The last time I had my eyes checked-at the Power Rd store- they said I need to get further testing for glacoma or some other eye disease. They referred me to the Barnet Delany Eye Center- I never went as I thought they just wanted me to spend more money- I bet they are related.

Just had my eyes checked on Tues- by a real eye doctor- all is fine!! My recommendation- find a real optomolagist.

This is yet another reminder of why I'm so glad I got Lasik 7 years ago.

That's a pretty amusing post Jay - thanks for the laugh. I still am amazed that some businesses can't get the most important variable of their business consistently right.

“I think you are mistaken.” - LOL

Well that's not really what I wanted to hear Candice...

"At some point, you just resign yourself to what you’ve got."

Sad isn't it?

Hope your glasses fit better than mine did. I bought a pair there quite a while back, but went in numerous times to have them adjusted. Never did seem to get them right and I hated them the whole time I wore them. At some point, you just resign yourself to what you've got.

Jay, I doubt very much that the owners even know about what is going on. The chances are that some temps are handling the phone. It still does not take away the seriousness of such poor customer service, particularly for glasses which, I would consider very essential for someone who needs them.

Apart from the lady, I too am watching - with bated breath!

It always surprises me when businesses do this. If you make a mistake I think customers are happier if you just fess up and say "We are really sorry we are working on our ordering system. We will give you a discount on your purchase" Trying to blame the customer is just insane.

I finally ended up going to the corporate office in Chandler. The person in charge was very friendly and understood my situation. He credited me the amount of the eyeglasses per my vision insurance coverage, because he couldn't change the insurance's end after it has been sent. So, to update everyone my experience, all is well. Hopefully, my glasses will arrive as promise in a few days or days.

Nationwide Vision totally riped me off. I ordered my contacts in Dec of 2009, but the people in the office didn't actually put the order through till Jan of 5th 2010. I broke my eyeglasses and found out that I couldn't use my benefits because it renews every year on Jan 1st. I send an email to NWV and never got a response back. What the hell?

Took 3 months to get me glasses.... no joke! Horrible place. Blamed it on my RX. Go figure.

Well, I just learned my lesson with Nationwide Vision, only this one is in Glendale.

They didn't have the courtesty to even call up the insurance company, but instead told me to be the middleman with benefits that both my insurance and I understood, and Nationwide somehow "didn't understand". They wanted to take $400.+ "off my hands", sure enough, but didn't want to make a phone call to realize that half of that was covered under my plan. It's a PHONE CALL.

So I had my insurance company call THEM. Guess what? "My specialist was on the floor helping customers and couldn't help". You've GOT to be kidding me.

I did ask for my money back when they refused to do basic customer service, and I did get my money back. However, they did send a claim for the insurance, and guess what? They got paid! So now that I'm trying to take my business elsewhere, I can't because they won't refund the claim. Every other glasses outlet thinks that I already got my glasses.

Last time I ever darken their doorstep. Thanks for posting, Jay.

The public can respond to poor health care to the state board responsible for oversite, in this case the State Board of Optometry. Nationwide owner/doctors have had several problems with the state board. This problem would not qualify as violation of state rules and regulations, I'm afraid. I previously worked for Nationwide, also. They force doctors to schedule a patient every fifteen minutes. I have it in writing from the head of professional relations. Mistakes are made. Charting is incomplete. Patients' needs are not known, nevermind addressed. Very bad for the public and the optometry profession.

The public can respond to poor health care to the state board responsible for oversite, in this case the State Board of Optometry. Nationwide owner/doctors have had several problems with the state board. This problem would not qualify as violation of state rules and regulations, I'm afraid. I previously worked for Nationwide, also. They force doctors to schedule a patient every fifteen minutes. I have it in writing from the head of professional relations. Mistakes are made. Charting is incomplete. Patients' needs are not known, nevermind addressed. Very bad for the public and the optometry profession.

Wow, Im amazed they are still in business. The mere fact that they take 3-5 days just to do a coating is outrageous. Even with shipping it would take you less time to order from an online retailer! I guess the wrong frames is just the icing on the cake. Goes to show that good help is hard to find.

Tim is right.

I'm Obama, and I approve this mesage.

regarding your pledge@ http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/blog-wars-and...
now thats what I like- time well spent! hope it works for you

i have to sympathize with your plight "Guy" but i guess my question is this: if its that bad, why are you still waiting? i'd be long gone with my money in hand, not complaining about it. why live it over and over and over. like i said, ive been there many times and even had trouble getting used to a new brand of contacts once. no problem! i wore several prs of lenses before i gave up. it wasnt even their problem so i didnt expect full refund. they gave it to me anyway. and with a smile too! im sure you've got this problem "Guy" but it just doesnt gel with what i know. anyone reading about unfortunate experiences with a company should call the BBB if they really want to know how a company operates. our company has nationwide as its primary provider and we all go there because of the dozens of employees we have that are very satisfied. if there are issues, they always solve them to our satisfaction. they even do health fairs at our company to assist our employees with their coverage questions. you should get your money back "Guy" but i'm sticking with nationwide, they're awesome with everyone i know. good luck in your current problem though.

Tim -

"try a little courage though and ask for the boss. everybody has one."

Been there done that. Talked to the regional director too. Did it help? Not one iota.

"advice-trust yourself and your own experiences not some crybaby blogger who could say anything (true or not)"

Why would I make something like this up? Leave an email or fax and I'll be happy to provide you with receipts and photos.

"knowing a health care place cant defend itself against complaints in a public forum."

They are more than welcome to come here and leave a comment, just like you did. They are aware of the post. (I told the manager and regional director. You know, lack of courage and all)

I'm glad you had a good experience with Nationwide. I'm sure many do. I did not.

By the way, it's now one full month to the day and I still don't have the frames I paid for. Their response? Blame it on the factory (which is Nike by the way, not some fly-by-night manufacturing company). No one yet has taken any responsibility for a practically complete failure on their end.

You know, a simple "I'm sorry" would suffice.

Thanks for stopping by and providing your opinion.

face it. bad service is bad service. no excuses. try a little courage though and ask for the boss. everybody has one. i think they have something like 50 stores and Im sure each has their horror stories from time to time. food for thought though- I checked-no outstanding negative remarks with the Better Business people. they are members. nice comment Lane- a funnier blog would be about nightmare real estate clowns! ok maybe not, (who would care) but ive been to several nationwides and wont go anywhere else. advice-trust yourself and your own experiences not some crybaby blogger who could say anything (true or not) knowing a health care place cant defend itself against complaints in a public forum.

I had a truly terrible experience here also. I got to the office about 10 minutes late. They made me wait for another 5 minutes, then said "I'm sorry, we've canceled your appointment because you were 25 minutes late." I said "Seriously? There's a clock behind you, take a look." Then--I kid you not--they tried to convince me that I was seeing the clock wrong. SEEING THE CLOCK WRONG! Holy jesus. Worst customer service I've ever received.

Also, I quit cause it was an embrassment to work for a company who doesn't give a shit about there employees or customers!

Get a life!!! If you want to talk shit about me why don't you say who you are?!?!?!?!?!

What does the truth hurt!!!!!!!!!! I left cause I had and still have serious medical problems!!!!!!!! So eat sh*t loser!!!!!!!!!!!

I work for nationwide too. It must be easy for "April" to slam the company, considering the way she left the company.

I use to work for nationwide Vision!!!! They do this kind of shit all the time to there customers!!! I worked at the Corp. Office for a little over a year. I heard complaint on a daily base!!! The owners do know what goes on there but all they care about is making money!!! Not customer service!! They motto is get the customer in the door and get there money!! They don't give a shit about there customers!!!

Did you talk to Mike Oppat? He would be the District manager of that store (at least he was when I worked there) I quit cause I didn't like the way they treated there employees and customers!!! All they care about is making money...bottom line!

Thanks Dru. Francy's arms are no longer long enough for her to read, so she's looking. Needless to say, she won't be going to Nationwide Vision. We'll try Dr. Bacon!

Jay, We have a GREAT optometrist in Chandler. Howard Bacon on the SE corner of Dobson and Elliott. (480) 963-8833 Tell him I sent you!