Alderwood Vision Therapy

Deceptive business practices, STAY AWAY! I have been taking my son to this business for almost six years but I’ll never go back! We got a referral to Dr. Torgerson due to my sons eye condition, in all these years I have never seen or met Dr. Torgerson. It’s always a Dr. That has time to see him because it’s at least a one month wait to get an appointment at this place even if your a patient of record. The most recent appointment I had in July has caused me to take a stand against this place. The Dr. That we saw was SO heavy handed with the vision therapy recommendation, using shame as persuasion that I agreed to schedule it, what they didn’t mention was the ‘hidden cost’ associated with it. I was emailed the vision therapy agreements and what I learned was it was incredibly EXPENSIVE and a big portion was NOT covered by insurance and the verbiage in the agreement is such that you are responsible for EVERYTHING at ALL times. You can’t miss appointments or they charge you, there is a start up fee, there is a fee for each session and all fees are to be paid up front and any fees they deem that you owe them will be charged to your credit card that you are required to keep on file and you agree that they can charge your card at any time they feel like it.
They recommend expensive and unnecessary testing, ALWAYS recommend vision therapy and don’t disclose costs associated with that. They break appointments into two so they can double bill you and your insurance and they withhold your eye presecription until the double billed appointment has been paid. Most insurance companies will only pay for one visit per year leaving you helpless if you need a prescription for corrective lenses. You end up spending a lot of money unnecessarily… SO frustrating!
There is nothing good or great about this place, not one reason to go there. They employ tricks and use deception as part of their everyday business practices and I’m sure there are places who actually care about their patients… this place is NOT IT!

We have been going to see Dr. T for several years. We originally were seeing another provider when our OT noticed that our sons eyes didn’t seem to be working together, even though I had just had an eye exam 4 weeks before. Our OT recommended Dr. T and we were so happy that she did. Dr. T is very personable and works great with kids. She not only checks the standard ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision, but makes sure the eyes are working together and a lot of other things that others did not check. She even helped us with our son’s IEP. I would give Dr. T 5 stars *****
The reason that I only gave 4 stars is, we did attend vision therapy for over a year. The therapy portion of the office is very hard to get into and is fairly expensive ($ 100+ per session not normally covered by insurance). I was not in love with our therapist and thought she didn’t relate to our young son. However, I do have to say the therapy worked.
I have never had a staff member be rude or inconsiderate, just busy. But I have never had to cancel an appointment for being sick as some of the other reviewers have noted.
I have recommended Dr. T to several of my friends and they have all had great experiences.

The treatment so far has been unique and creative, the vision staff seems to really be invested in their work.
However, I believe the vision center maintains unethical business practices. I became quite sick during my treatment (unrelated) and although I was told I gave the staff enough notice for at least one of my cancelations, I found full charges for both missed appointments on my credit card bill, both of which they refused to refund. I was told I would have to make up the appointments, which they asked me to do at the time even though I was still sick. When I called to make up the appointments later I was told that my therapist had no free openings and I would have to keep trying to find them with him (by calling up the office repeatedly) or I would forfeit the money charged from the missed appointments. I had to prod the receptionist myself to make appointments with other therapists.
While their billing practice may be according to an agreement I signed, I feel their lack of flexibility or empathy towards a difficult situation I faced is both unethical and unprofessional. I have never been to a doctor who has been so callous before. Although their treatment seems to be professional, their handling of my bill has me not likely to return to this practice or recommend it to others who have financial restrictions as I do.

We took our 2 and 3 yr olds here in February, upon the recommendation of our neighbor who had a great experience at Alderwood Vision Therapy with her 3 children. She wasn’t wrong, it’s really great. Dr Murphy is so caring and worked very slowly with the girls, ensuring they weren’t too overwhelmed with all of the machines and gadgets she used to test their eye sight. She had special butterfly sun glasses and a whole host of cool items for the kids to wear /​look at, to make it easier for them to relax. At the end of the appointment, she even suggested waiting 4 – 6 weeks before dilating their eyes so that they went away from the 1^st appointment with a positive experience — how great is that?!? When we returned, she quickly checked the girls again and our 3 yr old had complete trust in Dr Murphy that she wouldn’t hurt her and sat really still allowing the drops to go in her eyes. This says a lot about the Dr, in my opinion. The 2 yr old, who is quiet shy, was reluctant and Dr Murphy wasn’t phased but said to wait until she was more confident. I would definitely recommend Dr Murphy and AVT to my friends.

They are great. The care and therapy my son received here was awesome! He now enjoys school, reading and can focus normally. The staff were wonderful to work with. It does take time and hard work to correct the eye problem but will worth it. Would and have recommended others to have their eye needs done here.