Vision Care of Maine

I had an overall good experience with my optometrist at vision care; However, when ordering contacts (which I have done for 10 years) it was not a smooth process with the optical department. The staff member took over 35 minutes to order my contacts and didn't provide me a full receipt which I needed in order to get a rebate. I hate to leave bad reviews, but this happened to me twice at Vision Care. Overall, the department needs to streamline their process to be more efficient and provide better customer service to their clients.

Administratively this place has gone downhill greatly. Besides having to deal with a third party billing company that was difficult to deal with and not being able to get a receipt from them and lack of call backs when you leave messages to schedule an appointment, I currently sit in their waiting room (and have been for over a half hour) while they confirm that I still have the same insurance that I have had for years. Arguing with me, even though it clearly shows on my ID card and on online, that I don't have coverage. Time to change who I see for my eye exams. Greatly disappointed after many years of being a patient.

My doctor, David Benes, was very sweet. He did a thorough exam and took the time to explain things to me. Staff/nurses were friendly and patient. My entire appointment only lasted 40 mins and I left with all my questions answered.

Sorry, but this location is not safe.nnThe first alarm bell started sounding when, while signing paperwork, it was clear the signature pad had not been wiped down since the last patient. In fact, throughout the duration of my visit, I only ever saw one thing wiped down, the plastic board you use to cover one eye. Otherwise, things were handled by multiple patients without cleaning.nnAfter waiting an hour in a rather crowded waiting room with absolutely no mask enforcement or social distancing (not so much as a sign, though there was one near the front door, a couple hundred yards away) I was taken to an exam room. We got halfway through the preliminary stuff, and then I was taken to another exam room because it was “better.” Fine by me, except then someone else was immediately taken into the previous room, with no time for any kind of sterilization. It went downhill from there.nnMy doctor’s mask was down around his chin, and he insisted I remove my mask as well. I protested, and he said nothing. I, foolishly, decided he was the expert, so it must be okay/necessary. There was absolutely no need of removing my mask, and absolutely no reason he shouldn’t have had his on properly.nnThere were three other people in the very small room with me, the doctor, an assistant, and an assistant allegedly being trained, although at no point during my appointment did she receive any instruction. The furthest of these was maybe 4 feet away away from me. At no point did the doctor wash his hands. Not when he walked in, not when he began handling the machine near my face, not before he left, not when he came back, not before he began checking the fit of the contacts with his hands only a couple inches from my face.nnNothing was wiped down in front of me, although to be fair maybe they cleaned the room before I got there. (Doubtful, given the time between the previous patient and me.) Nothing even smelled like disinfectant.nnOn top of the safety issues, I was given a contact prescription with absolutely no follow up appointment to ensure they were fitting correctly or to confirm the prescription. And it is definitely not correct. I made a comment about how different the new prescription was compared to my old, no explanation was given. It also seems weird to me that I was given the same prescription for both eyes, when there was a pretty significant difference between how far down the chart I could read with one eye compared to the other.nnI pretty much paid $200 to get a piece of paper I can’t use and significantly increase my risk of catchingnnSo yeah, I don’t recommend this place.nnEdited to add: I also left with A LOT of medical information about a woman who was on the phone trying to set up an appointment. The conversation was happening very loudly, and very close to the waiting room, so despite the fact that I couldn’t hear the woman on the phone, I could clearly hear the staff member who was repeating a lot of the info back to the patient, including personal info. Probably usually not a big deal because it’s an eye doctor, but she had medical issues that complicated her appointment that I now know a lot more about than I should.

staff was kind but doctor was very rude, very little COVID safety precautions taking place including enforcing masks. I paid $200 for a visit... last time I saw an eye doctor in Ellsworth the same exact visit was $90. So I guess I'll be driving to Ellsworth from now on.