Fromer Eye Centers

I came here years ago and it was great. I returned this year after several years and they are so disorganized and frustrating. I called and asked for an annual eye exam, they checked my insurance and said I was all good. Then when I arrived they said it would be the first of three (!) visits I would need in order to get a prescription and no one seemed to know which part of this process my insurance would cover and what wouldn’t. The nurses (?) the women in blue smocks all seemed clueless. They run late and I never get a clear answer from any of them. I would never, ever return.

I recently had eye surgery on both eyes. The first eye was done at the Eye Ear and Throat on 14^th Street in Manhattan. The second eye surgery was done at the Frommer Eye Center in the Bronx. Both experiences were outstanding. The staff at both faculties were very supportive they constantly conferred with me to make sure I was comfortable and that my concerns were addressed.
To date, I no longer need to wear glasses, contact lenses, non reading glasses. For me this is a milestone because I had worn glasses, contact lens etc. for more than twenty five years. I see the world with new eyes. Three cheers to Dr. Mark Frommer and his team.
I have and will continue to recommend Dr. Mark Frommer to others.

Well, I’ve had thoughtful, careful care for more than a dozen years – and that more than compensates for the wait time, which can be a bit long. Susan and Mark Fromer are simply terrific at what they do.

This place has the potential to be good but the customer service is terrible!!! They do not value the patient’s time at all. Five minutes after walking in, they eagerly took my co-​payment. After waiting for 45 minutes without seeing a doctor, I asked if I could come back at a later time and I was told «Yes» but I would have to pay another co-​payment the next time even though no service was provided to me.
Not wanting to pay an additional co-​payment, I waited and waited and waited for a total of 2.5 hours and finally left without seeing a doctor. Wish there was an option for no star.

11:30 Appt– I was brought back to see the doctor at 1. At 1:45 I was seen for 15 minutes…
Waiting rooms are crowded, they don’t say your name loud enough for you to hear so you miss your first call… Everyone was really nice but that doesn’t exactly make the wait bearable. Who has time to spend 2+ hours at the doctor? They get your co-​pay before the appointment which is weird to me.
I understand you wait at doctor’s office however, I have never in my life waited 2+ hours. To me, that says there is a flaw in the way their offices are being run! Adding another eye doctor or two would easily alleviate the backup…
Even though it is close for me, I will not be going back. Too many qualified NYC doctors around!

You will notice all the negative reviews are about waits, overcrowding, and confusion. Yes, you will encounter all that at the Fromer eye centers. You will also encounter what have to be among the very best technical staff, optometrists, and ophthalmologists in New York City. i am a physician myself and i consider it totally worth my time and the aggravation factor (yes, I get to sit there endlessly too) to get taken care of by the best.
One of the reasons these offices are so crowded is because, while the Doctors Mark and Susan Fromer could go the «we are not taking any new patients» routine, they see everybody rich and poor and give everybody superb care.
So it you can’t take the hassle, by all means go elsewhere. But if you want to see one of the very best, most compassionate, most experienced, most skilled ophthalmologists anywhere, go.

Oh such an awful experience. The only reason I came here was because I had an eye emergency and this was the only place the City MD could get me in. I waited an hour and fifteen minutes for my first apt. The doctor saw me for like ten minutes. He was nice, but nothing special. Gave me some medications which it turns out were WAY Too strong. The prescription was wrong the first time and the pharm. had to call them back and then they refused to call back until after 6, which meant I was waiting in AGONY while I got my medicine.
The second time I came I had an apt. for 2:45 and I was not seen until 5:15. The office was incredibly rude, one of the women, brown hair, glasses, middle age, long island accent, actually said «You suck,» when I told her I did not have time to wait two plus hours for my apt. The front staff was horrible, just horrible, refused to help. Were completely inconsiderate. The doctor was OK, again, nothing special. She asked to see me again in a month. I told her I wouldn’t go back if my eye were falling out STAY AWAY from this place. They care nothing, nothing for their patients and their front end staff is awful.

Horrible! The WORST experience ever with an eye care company. Called them up to get prices on contact lenses, and was told after ten minutes of them talking in circles about some exam for some disease that I would need to come into the office to get prices. Yeah, right, I have nothing better to do than spend money and commute to your office, just to get a price. NO THANK YOU. The people were not knowledgeable and something so simple should not be so complicated. First and last experience with this place.
And thank you Dr. Fromer for the follow up message and for educating me on contact lenses — which I have worn now with the same prescription for over thirty years. I was wondering what these pieces of plastic on my eyes were…
And contrary to Jim R’s post — There seem to be a lot of negative reviews. I have advanced in life. A bad experience is a bad experience, it’s that simple.

I stopped going to the Forest Hills office a year ago because the last visit was a horror. After waiting 4 hours i was still not seen. The receptionist asked if I wanted to schedule another appointment. I said. I was going to Dr Fromer every 6 months for a few years, with hours of waiting and several separate tests. i now question whether this was really necessary. I have been two too there ophthalmologists including a retina specialist and have never had to wait for hours or take numerous tests given by technicians.

I am flat out stunned by all the negative reviews. Stunned.
My theory is this — the majority of people who write reviews are people who like to piss and moan about things. These are people who don’t advance in life and always look for reasons to complain.
Here’s the situation — it’s a doctor’s office. You’re going to wait a while. That happens. Life happens. Emergencies happen. So like everyone else we had to wait a while. Tell me the last time you went to a doctor’s office and didn’t wait.
Thought so.
I simply can’t say enough wonderful things about the staff at this office. From the moment I arrived to the moment I left I felt as though my girlfriend was in very safe hands.
I wish I could remember everyone’s name I really really do. But I was more concerned with my girlfriend’s well-​being at the time!
Deirdre and the ladies at reception are wonderful. Friendly. Bubbly. Great ladies.
We saw four doctors — Both Dr. Fromers (who in my opinion are two of the friendliest people, doctors or not, that I’ve ever met.) Dr. Bonneta (who’s name I am certain I spelled incorrectly but who could not have been sweeter) and one other doctor who’s name I can’t place but was also wonderful.
We saw several technicians as well. I’ll never remember their names and that is awful because they were amazing. One of them was a young lady who never wore white socks and showed off her snazzy ones and the other was a kind young man. Great staff from top to bottom.
We are both Canadian so we had to pay out of pocket, but when the option of an expensive surgery came up Dr. Bonneta made sure to discuss all options with the other doctors to make sure it was absolutely positively necessary. Turns out it wasn’t — and they ended up saving us thousands. I don’t believe these people went into the «business of being a doctor» to make money — I firmly believe these are wonderful people who just want to help.
Dr. Fromer — if you read this — know that you run a wonderful clinic, and if you are ever interested in seeing my comedy show (maybe you could learn a thing or two) please feel free to reach out. And please thank your tremendous staff from Tamara and myself.

fromer eye center is a good place to get eyecare. what’s NOT good is the fact that they double charge you for co payments months down the line; long after your visit has ended. what’s even odder is that you can never leave or get past a doctor without first paying your co-​pay. that in itself is proof solid that you’ve paid your co-​payment. if you’ve paid cash and dispose of the receipt you are unlucky — this has happened to me a few times already. if you have no proof of payment you have to pay AGAIN. Advice to clients: please pay by credit card or take a photo of your cash receipt. i have an outstanding bill right now. they say i owe them 2 copayments from 2014.

I have been going here for the past 3 years and yes the fist time I want the wait time was extremely long but now IT IS NOT!!!
They have expanded their waiting room and their Office so it is a quicker turn around time and I did not hear any one complain about the wait.
Front desk people were friendly and the staff very professional.
Appt was at 9am and saw me at 9:05 and was done with everything in little over an hour (had to dilute my eyes)
If you have not been there, try again you will be impressed!

The most important thing I can say to you is that I will never return here. I wish I had read the reviews before booking my appointment and now I am very upset with my experience and will try to help anyone else that is considering going here.
Plan on waiting a very, very long time. They definitely care more about the bottom line and making money than they do about patient care. My first visit I waited over tow hours to be seen and they couldn’t finish my appointment and scheduled me to come back at another time. I waited almost two hours that time as well. But that isn’t even the worst of it.
I’m looking at the bill they sent to my insurance and I have never, ever seen such a ridiculous bill in my life! I have contact lenses and was told that on top of my co-​pay I would have to pay $ 150 because my insurance wouldn’t cover the contact exam. Fine. Now they are asking me to pay an ADDITIONAL $ 215 out of pocket (not including what my insurance already paid them). The obvious padding of insurance is out of line here. The charges included a New Patient Eye Exam ($ 240) Special Eye Exam ($ 175) Right Eye, Special Eye Exam ($ 175) Left Eye?, and Eye exam established pt ($ 140).
I’m going to have to assume that the two Special Eye exams are because I had a contact lens exam but I wouldn’t know because the lady I just talked to on the phone was incredible rude and just kept repeating that these are their charges without actually explaining them to me. Also, I paid $ 150 during my exam because they said it wouldn’t be covered by insurance. So why am I paying again???
I was referred here because I thought it was affordable. I go to the eye doctor every year and have NEVER paid this much. STAY AWAY!!!

When I started coming here a few years ago, I’d seen all the negative reviews about rude and/​or poorly-​trained staff, ridiculously long wait times, general disorganization, and an obvious focus on padding the insurance bills. I went anyway, hoping those reviews were wrong. They are not. I’ve experienced all of these things, up to and including feeling heavily pressured into accepting even minor, optional procedures – and finding it difficult to question these decisions without an evasive or even passive-​aggressive response. Be warned!

I find the staff to be nice enough but they really don’t care about your time; I showed up early to my appointment to fill out insurance stuff and had to sit in a waiting room for an hour after my appointment time before I decided to just leave. Come here if your time is worthless.

I have been a patient of Fromer’s for 2 years and each time I go I say I am going to find a different office — however life gets busy and all of a sudden I’m out of contacts, etc. Today motivated me to finally walk away after waiting over an hour for my appointment yet again (unbelievably, this happens more often than not). The staff makes no apology for this practice. Additionally it appears they are expanding and had construction proceeding directly next to the waiting room. Though the construction workers were all wearing ear plugs to protect against all the noise, those of us in the waiting room had to resort to covering our ears. How disrespectful to your patients! My search for a new eye doctor starts now.

I agree with most of the reviews! This is a terrible office! Staff rude, owner rude!
Two hour waits. Never go back.

Dr Frommer saved my vision when I suddenly had a retinal detachment and appeared in his Park Avenue office as a walk-in…I was seen immediately and Dr. Frommer used a laser procedure to save my right eye… That probably caused some additionally waiting for some people waiting in the office. Things happen in a medical office. He’s a doctor not a salesman, and he deals with the unexpected. His office is busy (and organized + friendly.) He’s the best that there is, and that’s worth waiting for…

Wait here is always incredibly long and the support staff is poorly trained and often rude.

This office is unbelievably unorganized. They overbook their entire day. I arrived ten minutes prior to the start of my appt. Two hours after the start of my appt. time, I still hadn’t been seen and was told that I was third in line. I asked who I could be behind and they said that I was behind a person whose appt. was supposed to start a half hour ahead of mine and fifteen minutes ahead of mine. In order words, these individuals were waiting 2.5 hours to see their eye doctor. The office staff really doesn’t care that people wait that long. Totally inconsiderate of people’s time. Highly recommend avoiding at all costs.

The doctors are competent but the wait here is ridiculous and the office staff needs training. When I arrived I was told they are running 1 hour behind. When I asked why they didn’t call they said «This is a very busy practice, we don’t have time to call all our patients»
Find a different eye doctor

This office is not well-​run at all. When I arrived, there were people complaining at the desk that they had been waiting for hours. I waited for so long for a basic eye exam that I had to opt not to be dilated (standard practice for a check-​up). While the doctor who saw me was extremely nice, I felt badly for her because she began every patient greeting with «I am so sorry you have been waiting for so long.» Beyond this, I was not notified of the high out-​of-​pocket fee for a contact lens fitting prior to my appointment. While the care was okay, I will not be back because of the office management.

This office is a real nightmare. I completely dread coming here. Its a torturous experience. They NEVER run on time. My last visit, I waited over an hour to be called back and prepped for a laser procedure. In total, the appointment was 2.5 hours — the laser procedure and the exam that followed took about 10 minutes TOTAL. It was absurd. And it doesn’t matter what time of day, I’ve tried different options to avoid the wait, it doesn’t make any difference.
Their waiting room is tiny and really crammed. People are standing in the hallways and they don’t have enough seats. So, they make you wait, yet there’s nowhere to wait. nowhere to hang your coat. Yet, they take your co-​pay the very minute you walk in the door. It is honestly the classic example of overbooking and then a complete disregard for anyone else’s time. It’s a co-​pay processing factory.
While waiting, all you overhear is people complaining about how long they’ve been waiting. The guy next to me has been waiting 75 minutes. We all work for a living and don’t have time to wait over an hour for an eye doctor appt. once finally called «back», it’s then another waiting game in the next set of queues. I need to find a new doctor, there is no lack in this part of town. I warn you — unless you enjoy standing or sitting (if youre lucky enough to get a chair) around for hours in an tiny, overcrowded space with aggravated people (the bonus being when they start coughing on each other) — do not come to this office with any hopes of having a good experience.
I also question if they properly clean the equipment in exam rooms in between patients. They put things directly in my eyes (during my exam) that I do NOT see being cleaned.
It is a shame b/​c the doctors seem very capable, but there are many choices and I will be exploring others due solely to the way they schedule and treat their patients in this practice. Unbelievable.