DR Joel N Zaba

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I have been attending this eye doctor for about 3 years and never had any problems until now. I had an eye exam on June 1 and chose glasses afterwards. It's been about 5 and a half weeks and I still haven't gotten my glasses. When I called a few weeks ago, the staff told me that the company who makes the glasses had a question about the order. The staff at Dr. Zaba's took several days to answer their question because the Norfolk office isn't open every day. It's been another 3 weeks so I called on Monday (today's Wednesday) to ask about my glasses and they still hadn't shipped. It's completely ridiculous and no one should have to wait this long for glasses. I would take my business elsewhere except for I already paid for them. Once I get my glasses, I am switching eye doctors immediately.

I don't know why I've been going here the last few years. The staff is rude. The review before me is accurate. They've lost my appointment before. It really is a hassle and most of the issues start as soon as you walk in the door. I found another eye doc and absolutely do not feel bad walking away from this place.

If I could rate this place a ZERO, I would. I scheduled an appointment at this office for both my daughters and I 3 weeks ago. The gentleman I spoke with on the phone was extremely polite and considerate although he did put me on hold for most of my lunch hour. I was impressed with his thoughtfulness at my daughters' ages and he suggested a late afternoon appointment so I didn't have to take them out of school too early. I was actually excited to see what this place was all about. I knew it was too good to be true.



We showed up for our appointments and were already turned off by the over crowded super tiny waiting room. So crowded that the three of us had to squeeze through a door we could only open a few inches because someone was standing on the other side. I maneuver through the way too narrow walkway to the way too small hallway that the front desk is situated in (probably not even 10 feet back from the front door) and signed in. After standing and waiting for 20 minutes the receptionist (or whatever he wishes to be called) calls us back to the desk. He says we don't have an appointment. He said that he could see me in the system but I did NOT have an appointment there at all, any day whatsoever. He was a little rude about it and treated me like I was just dumb and disorganized. He told us to have a seat and he would see if he could "accommodate" us since we were already there.



We waited another 25 minutes and he asked me to come back to the desk. He said that they would see us as a "favor" but I would need to come back another time for my contact lens exam.



After waiting 45 minutes in a stuffy, over crowded waiting room, crammed up against a wall behind a door, being kicked by the woman who was lucky enough to score the 1 out of 4 chairs, while another 6 people stood smashed against one another (which is probably a fire code violation of some sort), I decided that this place is too disorganized and utterly ridiculous and is not deserving of my hard earned money.



I would NOT, most definitely NOT recommend Dr. Joel N. Zaba's office to anyone. Worst experience I have ever had.

My sons and myself saw Dr. Falsetta, and I was very impressed with her. She was professional, thorough, and great with my kids. I also did eye training sessions there and was very pleased.



However, I took our entire family's business elsewhere because of how completely incompetent and rude the billing office was - Elizabeth in particular, but I spent 4 days leaving various messages for billing and getting no responses from anyone.



When I called to see why my insurance company was billed only $40 for an exam, but my son for whom we self-payed was charged $106, Elizabeth in billing not only couldn't comprehend such a simple question, but spent 10 minutes being belligerant about why I only valued the doctor's time at $40. Nevermind that *they* arranged that price point with insurance; I'd been perfectly happy paying the higher self-pay price until I learned there was different prices for insurance vs. individuals.



If this is the office's policy on value of their patient's funds, I have no interest doing more business with them. I've closed the files and will take everyone in my family's business to another eye doctor. They've lost a lost income by Elizabeth not working with the $66 difference for one appointment.



That's not a business model I respect, where insurance has more value than the actual patient.



My suggestion: Keep the doctors, lose the billing coordinators. Or set new self-pay policies. I'm not going to stick around while they work that out, however.