Robert Gander & Associates

Here’s What I Love: the convenience and the doctors
Here’s What I Hate: the assistants
It must reallllly suck to be an optometry assistant… At least that’s the impression you get from the people who work here. There is a total lack of empathy, they seem very ill informed, and nurture a lack of communication. They hate that you’ve come to visit them. Billing your insurance is going to be a big problem… for them. And anything extra, such as getting a prescription for contact lenses in addition to glasses? Yeah. You’re going to have to come back for a separate appointment for that. And pay extra. Warning: Don’t try to cheer them up or be nice to them. It will only mean they have to endure the extra work of saying additional sentences to you.
That being said, the doctors here are terrific. They are all helpful, knowledgeable, and personable. They understand that patients may not be familiar with the procedures related to eye exams, and have compassion for those of us who get nervous going to a doctor or are having a tough time facing the consequences of getting older. Dr. Gander himself is especially great.
I also want to say that the LensCrafters adjacent to the optometrist has good service, they are attentive, don’t seem to mind if you try on every frame in the joint, and are not too pushy when it comes to selling additions like anti-​glare coating.
It is only the assistants in the optometrist office that are so consistently bad. When receiving my first lesson in how to take contact lenses out, they actually showed me a way that could injure my eye (pinching the lens out when it is still over the pupil). When I asked if there was a different way to do it, she just shrugged and said she didn’t really know much about contacts. The doctor saw me struggling with this a few minutes later, and corrected the practice. (Moving the lens to the side, where there is a flatter area, before removing is much safer and easier.)
It is because of the doctors, convenience of location, and how fast you can get appointments that both my husband and I keep coming here, but I have to say that every time I’ve visited in the past four years, the assistants have been terrible.

Do not go here, unless you like being BLACKMAILED! I made the appointment here because when I called Lenscrafters, they automatically put you through to Gander’s office. I unknowingly made the biggest mistake… please don’t make the same one I did!
First of all, when I went here, the staff was entirely unfriendly and not helpful at all. I was also surprised to see that they don’t use electronic medical records. It was all done by hand.
So…I go through the entire exam and the doctor refuses to up my prescription even though I tell him several times that I’ve had blurry vision for months now… he says it’s must be because my eyes are tired at the end of the day. WHAT? I’ve had glasses/​contacts for over 20 years, I know the difference between tired eyes and needing a new prescription!!!
Then (and this is the worst part)…I go to get my prescription from the front desk. GUESS WHAT? If you don’t order your contacts from them, they will not release your prescription… unless you pay a $ 40 fee that isn’t covered by ANY insurance carrier. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP! Is this even legal?
Also…for my glasses prescription (which is nearly legally blind)…the doctor didn’t specify poly-​carb lenses, so when I ordered my glasses, the lenses were ½ inch thick… I had to return them. Thanks to Lenscrafters who take back glasses, no questions asked, otherwise I’d have been screwed there too!
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR… STAY AWAY FROM HERE!!!

I’ve been going to optometrists for 18 years all over the country. I have never been to one this bad.
I went in to get my contact prescription updated, as it had been a year since my last update. I had to wait about 10 minutes, which is no surprise. However, I was moved in and out of exam rooms back to the waiting area, then back to the same exam room, then back to the waiting area, then back to another room, etc… Over and over. I sat in the waiting area on 7 different occasions. I also had to repeat myself regarding simple things like:
If I had contacts in now?
If I had glasses with me?
What was I there for?
To the same person over and over again. I was told they needed to take photos of my retinas. I wasn’t told this would blind me for about 10 minutes. I also wasn’t told it was an extra fee.
It took about 2 hours until I was done there. Total time spent with the doctor was about 4 minutes. That cost me about $ 200 out of pocket.
I had to go back the next week to pick-​up a week worth of trial lenses. I asked when I was leaving if I owed them anything, and was explicitly told I didn’t.
I called in today to verify my prescription, and was told that if I didn’t order my contacts through them, I would owe them $ 40 for when I went in to pick up the trials. Their costs for the contacts are almost double 1800contacts.com’s costs. If I didn’t pay the $ 40, they wouldn’t give me my prescription or verify it on the phone for 1 – 800 contacts. They basically held my prescription hostage for an extra $ 40.
I will never go back. I advise you stay away as well.