Crazy patient of the day!

[Craig]

How did this become my financial responsiblity? I will offer the lenses for 1/2 off.
Then the patient and the Doctor can
all complain about the cheap optician.

Any way they will blame me.

[idispense]

if the Dr dispenses, then the Dr will say: "if you had bought them from us then we would have done it free"

I wonder if pharmacists are treated like we are. ?

Note to self: petition all governments to mandate no free redo's

[Barry Santini]

Ok so a customer calls and it's been six or seven months since we made the last Rx. They now have a new Rx with minimal change. Dr says it might help or not as the real issue is cataracts and they are not scheduling extraction yet. Patient tells Dr they don't want to pay for a new lens if its only marginal improvement. Dr tells patient to ask the patient to ask their optician about free Dr's. redo for Rx change.

facts: The patient does not want to spend their own $ to improve their own eyesight
The Dr does not want to spend his money on the patient

Question : What's your response to the patient ?

Whether or not the doctor had prompted the "free redo", the situation remains that amrginal improvements in acuity are often subjectively not important enough to warrant the expense of new lenses where contrast loss from cataracts is significant. Trila frame the Rx and let thye patient decide. dicuss with the patient that this is NOT a DR Redo...that is reserved for correcting an Orig Rx situation within 60 days of the original delivery of the eyewear. After that, either offer a accomodation discount, or not. Your call.

B

[fjpod]

Long story, not really about money, but here goes...So we have a foot of snow Friday night, but we manage to get shoveled, get to work and open at 8 AM on saturday as usual. We have one 78 year old doctor in our practice. He called in and intelligently said he wouldn't be coming in. No problem, as we figure our other two doctors will have tons of cancellations and will be able to cover.

One of his longtime patients that was scheduled that morning calls in to make sure we were open. Fine...we tell her yes. She never asks if her doctor is in, and our staff never thought she was asking that either. Woman drives in quite a distance in a foot of snow, crossing a bridge from NJ to NY, before most streets are plowed at 8 AM, and makes a huge fuss when she gets to the office because her doctor is not in. We offer her immediate service with another doctor. She says no, turns around and goes home.

This doctor also happened to have two, one-day post op cataract visits scheduled this day also. What are we supposed to do, call everybody and tell them to stay home?

[Barry Santini]

Long story, not really about money, but here goes...So we have a foot of snow Friday night, but we manage to get shoveled, get to work and open at 8 AM on saturday as usual. We have one 78 year old doctor in our practice. He called in and intelligently said he wouldn't be coming in. No problem, as we figure our other two doctors will have tons of cancellations and will be able to cover.

One of his longtime patients that was scheduled that morning calls in to make sure we were open. Fine...we tell her yes. She never asks if her doctor is in, and our staff never thought she was asking that either. Woman drives in quite a distance in a foot of snow, crossing a bridge from NJ to NY, before most streets are plowed at 8 AM, and makes a huge fuss when she gets to the office because her doctor is not in. We offer her immediate service with another doctor. She says no, turns around and goes home.

This doctor also happened to have two, one-day post op cataract visits scheduled this day also. What are we supposed to do, call everybody and tell them to stay home?

Short answer: Yes.

B

[uncut]

Take this answer from "snowmageddon" prone Canada.

Any staff member arriving at work during, and after an event, becomes "manager" and has the responsibility to:
a) ensure the premises is safe, and has adequate heat, light, and power, and coffee, and donuts.
b) all attire is acceptable.......because you may have arrived at work by snowplow, snowmobile, or by police patrol car......touque hair is optional.
c) the surviving staff is responsible for contacting any and all possible shows(appointments) and snow shows(people unable/unwilling, too dangerous to)................even those non appointments, repair pickups, dispensing anticipates, etc.


The over all safety of staff, and their patients/clients is paramount. We don't want to read about anyone we know, in the newpaper........following the storm Stay safe, and be a hero!

uncut

[uncut]

back to original thread..........@op:

My answer would have been: "The manufacturer's defect warranty, and our store additional warranty has long expired, unfortunately. We would be willing to repair your chain for $00.00. which I believe is worth the financial effort, or alternatively, I have a new, stronger replacement for $000.00. It is your choice, ma'am, $00.oo or $000.oo.........."

[Mizikal]

1. I would most likely just give the lady her money back because it is not worth arguing about.

2. I would explain the patient they have a 60 RX change warranty and the problem is cataracts. If he insisted I would most likely do 50% off. I would rather not though because in situations like these they always say things like I thought I would see better then this. It will lead to more problems.I think sometimes that not giving customers what they want can be considered better customer service. Then again it may have convinced him to have the cataracts removed.

3. On days with bad weather we always call patients anyway to make sure they are going to come in and I would have told the patient Dr. X will not be in. I have been in nearly the same situation and questions like Dr.X will not be in but Dr. Y will be in have saved me. Customer service all about doing a little extra.

[pseudonym]

Changing the subject from snow to another kind of demon: kids.

What do you say when you discover that the lenses are scratched on the INSIDE and not on the expected side and the kid says he "fell." Because I can tell you what I said did NOT turn out well. In fact, I'll most likely receive an unpleasant call from the DM this week.

So what do you do when you see such things? Twisted bridges, temples completely pulled apart? Do you rat the little vandal out or keep your mouth shut?

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[NCspecs]

Changing the subject from snow to another kind of demon: kids.

What do you say when you discover that the lenses are scratched on the INSIDE and not on the expected side and the kid says he "fell." Because I can tell you what I said did NOT turn out well. In fact, I'll most likely receive an unpleasant call from the DM this week.

So what do you do when you see such things? Twisted bridges, temples completely pulled apart? Do you rat the little vandal out or keep your mouth shut?

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I always rat on the little vandal. In the nicest way possible. Thankfully most childern are terrified of me. As well they should be....Mwahahahaha!

The way to do it is to ask them questions until they either crack because their tender little conscience is weighing heavily on them or to trick them into admitting guilt. Most often trickery is needed. ;)

[eyes4u]

My response would be : I'm sorry this change is not covered under any kind of warranty or remake at no charge. This is not the Dr changing the prescription because of an error that he might have made at your initial visit. This change is due to the fact that you have cataracts and they are getting progressively worse. I'm sorry but this is not covered under a Dr's change. And even it was, Dr changes are only good for 30 days..........not 6 months!

[becc971]

Long story, not really about money, but here goes...So we have a foot of snow Friday night, but we manage to get shoveled, get to work and open at 8 AM on saturday as usual. We have one 78 year old doctor in our practice. He called in and intelligently said he wouldn't be coming in. No problem, as we figure our other two doctors will have tons of cancellations and will be able to cover.

One of his longtime patients that was scheduled that morning calls in to make sure we were open. Fine...we tell her yes. She never asks if her doctor is in, and our staff never thought she was asking that either. Woman drives in quite a distance in a foot of snow, crossing a bridge from NJ to NY, before most streets are plowed at 8 AM, and makes a huge fuss when she gets to the office because her doctor is not in. We offer her immediate service with another doctor. She says no, turns around and goes home.

This doctor also happened to have two, one-day post op cataract visits scheduled this day also. What are we supposed to do, call everybody and tell them to stay home?

Absolutely you should have called all of his patients. people get very attached to their doctors, they should never be switched to a new one without their consent.

[eyes4u]

I rat the little rascal out!! I'm not going to hear about how this is a horrible frame and its always falling apart! I show it to the parent or adult with the child and explain that the lens didn't just pop out, it came out bcuz of the frame being bent or the screw came out because the frame is twisted out of shape. I then look at the child and ask them how did that happen. They usually shrug their shoulders and say I dont know!!

[optilady1]

In answer to the kid question, I would say it depends on your store's warranty policies. I'm sorry, but some places have a very "kid friendly" policy that covers everything for 12 months, so if you work for one of those places, then you may need to stay quiet and maybe give some tips on how to prevent that sort of thing from happening again.

One place I worked had a kids package direct from the lab, that covered EVERYTHING for one year solid, no matter how many times little Timmy used his glasses to launch a G.I. Joe across his yard. It was built into the price of the package, and the average kid only needed to use them once.

If what's broken isn't covered, then I would just explain that "Somehow these were broken in a way that is not covered under defect warranty." My own opinion, being the mother of two children, it's a tricky line to walk chastising a child for being a turd.

[fjpod]

Absolutely you should have called all of his patients. people get very attached to their doctors, they should never be switched to a new one without their consent.

With very short notice that the doc was not coming in, with over sixty patients in the book for three doctors, with the phone ringing off the wall with patients cancelling or rescheduling, with very limited staff in due to the weather, with the fact that it was barely 8AM on a Saturday morning, with the fact that some of these patients had medical needs like first day post-op cataract visits, or red eyes...you don't think the patient was better served by having a willing team ready to help her?

Had she asked specifically about her doctor being in, we would have told her...but she only asked if the office was open and did not identify herself.

Ours has been a group practice for 50 years. Our patients are used to the concept of doctors filling in. We do not have transient doctors, or opticians for that matter. The available doctors that day have been with the practice for 35 and 25 years. C'mon, give us a break here.

[becc971]

With very short notice that the doc was not coming in, with over sixty patients in the book for three doctors, with the phone ringing off the wall with patients cancelling or rescheduling, with very limited staff in due to the weather, with the fact that it was barely 8AM on a Saturday morning, with the fact that some of these patients had medical needs like first day post-op cataract visits, or red eyes...you don't think the patient was better served by having a willing team ready to help her?

Had she asked specifically about her doctor being in, we would have told her...but she only asked if the office was open and did not identify herself.

Ours has been a group practice for 50 years. Our patients are used to the concept of doctors filling in. We do not have transient doctors, or opticians for that matter. The available doctors that day have been with the practice for 35 and 25 years. C'mon, give us a break here.

To me its just about good customer service. Especially if there were only three patients on that particular doctors schedule, it would have taken about five minutes for one person to call them to see if they wanted to R/S, or at least to let him know that he would not be in. We work in a 5 doctor practice, an incredibly busy office, and if a doctor isn't going to be in we always call their patients to give them the option to see someone else or to come in a different day, especially in inclement weather. Like i said, a lot of patients get very attatched to their doctor and don't want to see anyone else, even if they've been with the practice a long time. A quick question from whoever answered the phone call ("do you already have an appointment today? Dr X could not make it in today, are you on his schedule? Would you mind seeing someone different or would you rather reschedule") could have saved a patient complaint, she would have been happy she did not have to drive in on poor weather conditions and been seen a different day. We may have to agree to disagree :)

[opty4062]

My response would be : I'm sorry this change is not covered under any kind of warranty or remake at no charge. This is not the Dr changing the prescription because of an error that he might have made at your initial visit. This change is due to the fact that you have cataracts and they are getting progressively worse. I'm sorry but this is not covered under a Dr's change. And even it was, Dr changes are only good for 30 days..........not 6 months!

+1

[opty4062]

Back to the snow question for a sec, let's be fair. Fjpod didn't say only three patients for the doc for the day, it was only specifically mentioned that there were the frustrated lady plus two one day p/o which would need to be seen regardless of their doc preference. I am sure with the circumstances they did the best they could.

[uncut]

Ok so a customer calls and it's been six or seven months since we made the last Rx. They now have a new Rx with minimal change. Dr says it might help or not as the real issue is cataracts and they are not scheduling extraction yet. Patient tells Dr they don't want to pay for a new lens if its only marginal improvement. Dr tells patient to ask the patient to ask their optician about free Dr's. redo for Rx change.

facts: The patient does not want to spend their own $ to improve their own eyesight
The Dr does not want to spend his money on the patient

Question : What's your response to the patient ?

Alrighty then.........here's a list of charities that help the needy for eyewear, and here are some applications, to see if you qualify!


Buhbye!

[fjpod]

Back to the snow question for a sec, let's be fair. Fjpod didn't say only three patients for the doc for the day, it was only specifically mentioned that there were the frustrated lady plus two one day p/o which would need to be seen regardless of their doc preference. I am sure with the circumstances they did the best they could.

Thankyou. The absent doc had twenty booked. The other two had twenty each also. And typically, we could get six or eight medical emergency calls, as well as dozens of walkin eyewear pickups, repairs, selections, etc. Many appointments did not show, but other patients that knew we would have cancellations just showed up. It was a very fluid day. Oh well. You can't please everybody.

[SeaU2020]

I had a patient a few days ago that came in MAD because his new trifocals fell off the TOP of his bald head while he was outside doing yardwork, and guess what???!!!! THEY SCRATCHED!
How dare me.