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Bad customer service at Florence Eye Center has gone viral on Facebook with a boycott group.

I have heard buzz about this all over town.

Apparently the bad service came from a mother of a patient waiting on the status of the order and when she did not get an answer she posted the same question on their site on FB and it was deleted so she posted in her status she was praying for the sales staff and got a call from the office manager to tell her to stop talking about them and that no she want not help her complete order and to pick up her files.


The customer only wanted an apology from Dr Basden for the conduct of his employee.


This is ridiculous. The patient was a young minor girl.

this is a bad example of customer service and a lesson for people who do not value every customer in the age of the internet.

that fancy building wont pay for itself with this conduct.
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from facebook


Boycotting Florence Eye Center
When a business allows an employee to behave so irresponsibly, the customer should not be intimidated for speaking out and wanting the situation corrected. The use of social media by others to express their outrage at this behavior is not a reflection on the customer as a "trouble maker". Collectively, society will not allow the perpetuation of such an outrage to become the natural default setting
" The simple fact is that when she posted on your fan page, a simple I'm sorry for the error or misunderstanding, we are doing what we can to correct the situation would have saved your business a lot of embarassment and frankly probably saved a lot of your patients. The way she was treated was uncalled for and beyond ru...de and honestly I think Heather owes her a PUBLIC apology.
This was taken from an e-mail that I sent the Dr. 2 days ago. How well swallowing your pride sometimes could really help you in the long run. When I feel this patients wrong has been righted, my statements about Florence Eye Center will change. However, I still will not be a patient there."

excerpt from facebook boycotting florence eye site
" Issue two I see, to follow up on #1:

(2) It seems pretty irresponsible to me to refuse to see a juvenile patient who has just received a new medical device (glasses) from your practice. I sure hope this child has no eye or head aches or placement discomfort from new frames. If so, I would consult with an attorney as to whether malpractice has been committed."

from FB
Boycotting Florence Eye Center The doctors have defended at all costs the unprofessional behavior of the office manager.It was NOT the customer who called to complain after hours on a Sunday evening.It WAS the office manager who called the customer late on a Sunday night to discuss posts on FB which the office manager took offense.(posts were not mean-spirited or defaming.)The doctors should apologize for the action of THEIR subordinate.

I would also add that the post didn't mention any of the staffs name other than the doctors.....and that comment was good!
Yesterday at 21:17 ·
quote:
Originally posted by sunshinesue:
This was posted on another site...it is also concerning the "care" recieved at the eye center:In addition (while I'm on a good rant,
why stop??!), another friend of mine went there the other day for her
yearly examination, and was told that her insurance wouldn't cover it
because it had not been long enough since her last... appointment. She
knew this was not true, but they insisted, so she left and went back to
work. As it turns out after further investigation with the insurance
company, someone in the eye center had called and got an insurance
authorization THAT MORNING for the appointment, and they were then
trying to call for ANOTHER authorization, hence the insurance company's
refusal to pay for TWO APPOINTMENTS in one day. So then my friend had
to make yet another appointment and get time off work, again. So it
would seem the office is incompetent as well.


Going to call it out right now.

As someone who used to have to deal with people on the phone, I'm willing to bet she called once that day and got the process started, and for some reason didn't wait to hear when the appointment was and hung up. She then called back later that day and started the process over again, not mentioning that she called before.

It's a small town, but you can't expect the receptionist to remember that you called before without being told.

The fact that it seems to be settled and you are keeping it going when you say it's not you is pretty telling and passive as well.
i am confused about what is settled?

these are two separate incidences within a week

the boycott is over the office manager calling a mother at 8:30 pm on a sunday over an online comment which was not defaming or hateful.

if it were so serious why not wait until mon. morning

the customer did not call the business after hours to complain THE MANAGER DID

and then refused to fix issue with child's new glasses then and fired them as patients


the doctor refused to speak to her on mon morning during normal business hours and then placed emails that violated HIPAA privacy


perfect storm of problems at this decadent location
I visited the boycott site on Facebook. I don't think I'll join to post this advice, but I can tell anyone who needs a good optometrist to go Dr. Ingle at Sears. He is very kind, very professional, great with children and young people, and the staff is nice too. I usually get my kids' eyes checked there and then get the contacts at Walmart. They are nice about that, too. I will NEVER go to Walmart for eye care again because the doctor there was horrible to me and my son once. I mean HORRIBLE. Ugh. Makes my stomach hurt to even think about him and I do honestly avert my eyes when I see him in the store because the very sight of him still upsets me.

But that's another story, and I won't start a Facebook group about it! Just wanted to put in a good word for Dr. Ingle.
sunshinemom -- have you contacted the BBB to lodge a complaint? If you have not, then you have not "exhausted all proper channels" to get the issue resolved.

No offense, but at this point, I am beginning to think of you as "one of those" that complains so often when you come in people expect it from you because you never deal with it and let it go and you throw everything that's ever happened out there over and over and basically we roll our eyes and think "here we go again..."

At first glance I thought you had a legit complaint, but the more I read the more I hope you never come in my office.... Wink
I worked in customer service for many years.

Working with the public is very challenging and the old saying of "You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time" holds true.

I have visited Florence Eye Center and did not have a problem with the service at all.

I am a "Fan" of several businesses on FB but that's just simply to receive updates. If I have a question or need information, I pick up the phone and call. I don't expect businesses to address individual inquiries made through FB.

I think its ridiculous that just because someone was rude to you, that you would start campaigning for a boycott. Grow some thicker skin, get over it and find a new doctor.
Sorry for the confusion

Most of the posts I made were from the facebook site and were posted by more than one person.

I the detail were the patient had a legitimate issue and it was not only dealt with inappropriately, it wasn't dealt with at all and the patient was told that since they were not making a profit off the childs insurance they were not going to fix the problem.

The patient or the parent DID NOT start the boycott, other outraged people did when they heard the details. Many of them have never even met or have any connection to the patient other than the outrage of inappropriateness.


I do not want to give the wrong impression of the patient or parent. If you have seen or were aware of the FB posts, the ones made by the patient/parent were not out of line or line "one of those people".

they fact that this has grown is because the details were fundamentally wrong.
This post was meant to go onto the Facebook page of Boycotting Florence Eye Center but it is not allowing posts at the moment. I am furious at a comment that was made about my sister and absolutely cannot keep quiet about it. Here is my rant and it will be my last on the subject. The people that have started this don't even deserve this much of a response but as I said before... I am angry.

"Ok, i've held my tongue as long as I can on this crap.
As i am sure you will see through your mindless internet stalking, Heather Davis is my sister. She is not only the greatest sister I could ever dream of having, she is also the hardest working person i have ever known. I look up to her in every way, especially the way she conducts business and always takes care of customers in a professional and courteous manner.
Attacks on her business I can tolerate. Some people are impossible to satisfy. But attacks on her as a person are completely unacceptable. She does everything in her power to satisfy every patient that walks through those doors. Referring to her as Joan Kautz Ellis has is moronic and immature. Honey, you sure as heck don't look 15 so i suggest you stop acting like it.

I may not be able to recite Optometry Board Certification rules on this post but I can tell you that I would trust Florence Eye Center and its ENTIRE staff with anything. The entire staff is wonderful and I have never met better doctors than Dr. Basden and Dr. Kachelman. I have not yet met Dr. Brewer but I am sure he would not have been hired without posessing the same qualities of knowledge, professionalism and consideration of patients as all the staff does. They are all good people and they do not deserve these slanderous posts. I expect this to be deleted, just as Cassy Farley's post was, and thats fine. People that have the tendency to start boycotts such as this one prefer that they remain one-sided."

This post is directed towards The creator of the facebook page and directly towards Mrs Ellis for her rude and inappropriate comment on the facebook page. Grow up and let your kids (if you have any) take care of facebook quarrels, Joan.
I felt compelled to post here after watching the childish drama regarding this incident unfold on Facebook. Ordinarily, I would keep my opinions to myself, but I was so affected by the unreasonable mob mentality that sprang to life on the "Boycotting Florence Eye Center" page that I decided to respond. I had originally intended to lambaste the posters in question for their over-eagerness to vilify an individual who possesses the means neither legally nor ethically to defend themselves publicly, and their leveling of impertinent, ad hominem attacks toward said individual. Rather than waste my time and that of the readers of this forum however, I will proceed under the assumption that the cretinous nature of their posts is apparent and evidence enough to sufficiently call into question whatever validity they may have.

Instead, and on a much lighter note, I'd like to share my rather exemplary customer service experience at Florence Eye Center.

Last October, on the eve of a week long vacation to the Caribbean, I had an accident that left two small pieces of glass lodged beneath my upper eyelid. The pieces were small enough to be an extreme irritant without constituting, in my opinion, a medical emergency. Due to the hectic nature of my business and the proximity of my date of departure, scheduling an appointment with an eye doctor became difficult. The staff at Florence Eye Center agreed to see me immediately and outside of normal business hours so that I could attend to my other affairs without being delayed for my upcoming trip. The single customer service representative that I dealt with was extremely friendly and accommodating and the doctor was professional and engaged in light and sometimes funny conversation. The attitudes of these individuals were surprising considering that they were working on what I can only assume to be their off time, and that I was a first-time patient of their facility. The glass was handily removed, and I was on my way.

I don't currently require any type of vision correction, so I don't regularly see an eye doctor. However, if in the future I should require such, I would return without hesitation to Florence Eye Center.

PS- sunshinesue, your case could likely be strengthened if you would clean up the grammar of your posts. Without the luxury of following this incident on Facebook, I would probably have found them incomprehensible.
This is not Facebook in case you forgot where you were posting. You won't "win" anything by posting here anymore than you will there. I, again, stress that if you truly want resolution to your issue that you contact the Better Business Bureau or WHNT that takes on cases such as this and see if they can get you answers. Otherwise, you are just whining and creating more drama than this situation warrants. However, I doubt very seriously that anyone was told "becasue we aren't making money off your insurance" or anything of that nature -- please be careful what exaggerations you believe of stories. Told "insurance won't cover it" yes. Told "you'll have to pay out of pocket" yes. Told "we have done all we can" yes. Remember, most doctor's office know exactly how to "make money off insurance companies" and if not, they know how to get it out of the customer's pocket without too much trouble. Eye care is no different I'm sure. Just been my experience, but being told that would still not be grounds to launch a boycott against this office. I've had far worse things said by doctor's here in the Shoals, but none enough to create this much drama over......Surely you have much more important things in your life than to stay stirred up over something like this.
quote:
Originally posted by eastside:
This is not Facebook in case you forgot where you were posting. You won't "win" anything by posting here anymore than you will there. I, again, stress that if you truly want resolution to your issue that you contact the Better Business Bureau or WHNT that takes on cases such as this and see if they can get you answers. Otherwise, you are just whining and creating more drama than this situation warrants. However, I doubt very seriously that anyone was told "becasue we aren't making money off your insurance" or anything of that nature -- please be careful what exaggerations you believe of stories. Told "insurance won't cover it" yes. Told "you'll have to pay out of pocket" yes. Told "we have done all we can" yes. Remember, most doctor's office know exactly how to "make money off insurance companies" and if not, they know how to get it out of the customer's pocket without too much trouble. Eye care is no different I'm sure. Just been my experience, but being told that would still not be grounds to launch a boycott against this office. I've had far worse things said by doctor's here in the Shoals, but none enough to create this much drama over......Surely you have much more important things in your life than to stay stirred up over something like this.


BINGO! The Hammer hits the Nail!
My daughter is a patient at FEC and we are very happy with them! If this person has a complaint she should handle it like an adult and leave all the internet bickering out of it.

Do people not realize that the negative comments they leave on the internet can be used as evidence against themselves if the person being talked about decides to sue them for slander or defamation of character?
As an Employee at FEC I can honestly say that I LOVE working with Heather Davis. She is an AMAZING person and one of the hardest workers you will ever meet!!! EVER!!! I also know from working in this field for almost 9 yrs that FEC employees care MORE about OUR patients' wellbeing than making any amount of money! Everyone who works with the facility are very well trained in every way possible to take care of our patients in every situation. In the state of Alabama an Optician does NOT have to be ABO/NCLE certified to be and Optician. As long as an Optician works under an Optometrist and has the skills and knowledge of their job they can assist patients. If there isn't a Dr. present in the facility there MUST be a certified Opticain on hand. (Just because WE, as Opticians are NOT ABO/NCLE certified doesn't mean we aren't trained in the same manner as the surrounding states that are required to be certified.) Dr.Basden, Dr.Kachelman, and Dr. Brewer are ALL outstanding Dr's who are very caring for their patients. I am VERY proud to say that I am employed at FEC and LOVE my job and people I work with!!!
I checked out the FB page.

The FB page is not clear on exactly what happened. I was only able to piece the story together from the various comments on the page. So I don't know if I have it pieced together accurately.

As I understand from reading the page, the person who is at the root of this 'controversy' didn't create the page. Friends of this person created the page out of anger on her behalf.

IMO, the page comes across as vindictive especially with one poster resorting to name calling. Apparently, the angered friends are demanding an apology.

I do not know anyone who is associated with Florence Eye Center and again, I'm not sure if I'm clear on what started this but after reading that FB page, my sympathies lie with Heather Davis and I think she is deserving of an apology for what is being posted on that page.
It's pretty bad when you get customer service like that. I would report it to the BBB and quit talking about it otherwise you could run into some legal matters of defamation.
quote:
Originally posted by sunshinesue:
Bad customer service at Florence Eye Center has gone viral on Facebook with a boycott group.

I have heard buzz about this all over town.

Apparently the bad service came from a mother of a patient waiting on the status of the order and when she did not get an answer she posted the same question on their site on FB and it was deleted so she posted in her status she was praying for the sales staff and got a call from the office manager to tell her to stop talking about them and that no she want not help her complete order and to pick up her files.


The customer only wanted an apology from Dr Basden for the conduct of his employee.


This is ridiculous. The patient was a young minor girl.

this is a bad example of customer service and a lesson for people who do not value every customer in the age of the internet.

that fancy building wont pay for itself with this conduct.
I as well have been curious about the issues at hand and the most underlying one seems to be about a retaliation on the part of FEC toward a minor patient over a simple expression of customer satisfaction on the FEC fan site. Apparently, the patient's mother posted that her child was unhappy with receiving the wrong frames. After calling to receive the status of the correction and not getting an answer, the mother posted the same concern, very politely on a Facebook site controlled by FEC. The comment was deleted by FEC with no response to the mother or patient. Then justifiably so the mother posted in her personal status that she was praying for the staff at FEC. This prompted a call from FEC OM late on a Sunday evening to tell her to stop posting and since she took her complaint public they would no longer see the minor child as a patient.

It was a gross mishandling of customer service.

I don't think the subsequent personal attacks on Ms. Davis were called for but an unfortunate result of a mob mentality that erupted because of the lapse in good judgment by FEC.

It was more of an issue of trying to silence a legitimate complaint and sweeping it under the rug that completely blew up in the face of FEC.


We are all here because we want to voice an opinion. We should not have that right taken away. It does not involve attacking the person.
It is unfortunate what was said about her on a personal level, but on a business level they were dead wrong.
That's just it though -- private names have been posted of people that were involved. That moved this to a personal issue and could result in defamation of character and libelous statements -- all of which are now public knowledge thanks to Facebook and now the Times Daily Forums. If this woman really wanted a resolution she would not have made it personal and she would have taken the advice offered instead of letting it boil in a pot like day old stew. Her credibility is lost at this point.

And yes I'm sure family members get the royal treatment, but then again, great customers tend to get great treatment because the Golden Rule does still apply so if you aren't getting the treatment you think you deserve you might should look at how you are treating others because that is your first clue................
I would just report it to the bbb like others suggested. I don't like to see anybodys business be hurt but sometimes you got to stand up against stuff like this. Be as nice as you can about it.
When I see somebody getting their family and people they work with to start coming on here and saying how great they are it makes me suspicous. I would tell my friends to ignore it if it isn't true.
I'm not speaking about FEC, but I know that outrageously bad customer service can come like a punch to the face. I know, I have received it from a local cable provider that many people praise. It can be a very bitter pill to swallow.

I work in a medical facility, and we have had to dismiss patients before, and it is process that we have worked with our attorney to fine tune. Calling a patient at home on a Sunday evening due to a posting on Facebook is not only unprofessional, but unacceptable.
quote:
As an Employee at FEC I can honestly say that I LOVE working with "HD." She is an AMAZING person and one of the hardest workers you will ever meet!!



Perhaps a little high strung but I would generally agree. Unfortunately, he high strung-ness resulted in the maltreatment of a customer. I'm sure she will learn her lesson.

Whatever he case, her actions should not reflect on the excellent care provided by Dr. Basden and his excellent staff. The person who started this thread definately took this a little too far. There was better ways to handle disagreemens like this.
This "boycott" did not become a huge issue until the office manager said this to the mother of the child who was attempting to correct her eyesight: "You apparently are a poor person, so you should be thankful for any glasses at all." The situation got worse from there...Ms. Davis, who I am sure is a loyal employee (after all, she did go way out of her way to become a mother hen when she saw a mild complaint concerning FEC on face book) saw the post when she was at home, got in her car and went to her office to get the patients cell phone number to call her at eight thirty pm on a Sunday. She went way above and beyond the call of duty...So, her loyalty to her employers is not in question. Only her ethics, morals, and professionalism are in question. If that had been my child, she would have not gotten off so easy.
IT appears that FEC has decided the 1st amendment does not apply to people who are critical of their services.

Today it has been reported that many of the posters who were expressing their OPINIONS and sharing facts about what transpired have been reported by FEC for violating the rights of FEC.

What about the rights of the child?
Why did they hire a lawyer when they told the mother she could not come in and purchase another pair because the office manager was going to have to wait on her?

Why would anyone want to do business with such an unprofessional staff?

A pretty building wont make up for other shortcomings.

Probably just means you and/or insurance is being overcharged and then we wonder why health care is unaffordable.
according to the FB posts, (some may have been removed and some may have been on a private site)

the patient had 2 insurance providers. The mother offered to buy a second pair and was refused to be waited on and was also told that the originally ordered frames did not exist. It was FEC who REFUSED to settle it in a private matter. It was not until AFTER public posts were made that the frames appeared as if God himself (or OM's who like to pretend to be) had intervened.

You BANDMOM are the only poster I have seen to bring Medicaid up as an issue.

IMHO it appears that FEC is still without clue as to what the public can and cannot say. It appears that instead of letting this go as apparently others were trying to do, they have hired a lawyer and have begun to attack people for expressing their right to free speech.

Just take this forum for example, what if every business that gets mentioned here were to start attacking the people who made those comments. HURTING someones feelings is not the same as slander or libel. How do people think that tabloid magazines stay in business.

As long as FEC and its buddies go around making this a bigger deal with legal threats because they FAILED and REFUSED to treat a CHILD in the proper manner, then this doesn't look as if it will go away any time soon.

Case in point regarding this forum, I did not see ANY names mentioned until the sister of the office manager posted her name. The audience here is not the same as FB and if she was trying to help her sister, she just caused her more negative attention.
quote:
Originally posted by sunshinesue:
" The simple fact is that when she posted on your fan page, a simple I'm sorry for the error or misunderstanding, we are doing what we can to correct the situation would have saved your business a lot of embarassment and frankly probably saved a lot of your patients. The way she was treated was uncalled for and beyond ru...de and honestly I think Heather owes her a PUBLIC apology.
This was taken from an e-mail that I sent the Dr. 2 days ago. How well swallowing your pride sometimes could really help you in the long run. When I feel this patients wrong has been righted, my statements about Florence Eye Center will change. However, I still will not be a patient there."

excerpt from facebook boycotting florence eye site


is sunshinesue the office manager's sister? because she mentions heather by name in this post and Dr. BAsden by name in the original post on page 1 of this thread.

Again, this is not facebook.
i apologize. I did not read that post so closely.

I do find it interesting that the exact frames which did not exist anywhere in the country according to FEC magically appeared less than 24hours after the issue was posted publicly.

If it was, in fact, an issue of "you are poor go away" Then FEC validated that argument when the said they could not get the frames UNTIL they were ridiculed publicly.

They still get a big SHAME ON YOU FEC!!!!
BandMom

I respect your opinion on this matter and I am sincerely happy that your son got the excellent service you described.

I think what got lost and it gets really confusing but what I have been able to reconstruct from various sides of this story is the customer DID try to attempt to exhaust other methods of complaint and was dismissed.

AND the customer/mother/patient DID NOT create the fan site on FB. It appears that many of the posters on their have no personal connection to the individuals involved but were outraged at the EXTREMELY poor handling of this incident.

I personally have used FEC in the past and have had both positive and negative experiences there. I have also used Tomsik Eye, Jody's, McLendon, Target, Sears and Shoals.

FEC is the only office I have ever had a poor experience and in light of this incident and the bad gut feeling it has given me, I think I will go somewhere where I have had a better experience. I don't need to feel like I am at an amusement park to get an eye exam. The new location is a little over the top and I don't like thinking I am being charged extra to help pay for THAT.

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