Metropolitan Eye Associates

SO much better than their Chevy Chase (Wisconsin Avenue) location. I loved my doctor there, Dr. Garcia, but she left (and moved far), but hated the admin staff, so I chose another doctor within this practice. Dr. Barbor is experienced with contact lens fittings, evaluations, and dry eye, which is what I need.
This office is small and located in the tony Foxhall Square building. The receptionist was fantastic. The contact lens guy was great. And Dr. Barbor was very knowledgeable and answered all my questions. My only issue was with the assistant who was nice enough, but not super explanatory or friendly. At least she asked if it was OK to dilate my eyes – they didn’t at the other location. I’ll be returning next year.

Do NOT recommend this office, based solely on their office «procedures.» I had an exam with Dr. Barbour, who was pleasant and thorough enough. At the time, she had an incredibly grouchy receptionist, but seems to have hired much more competent and friendly front-​desk staffers.
The problem occurred after the exam, when I tried to reach her for another matter, I simply could not get through their automated phone system. «You are caller No. 212, Caller No. 211, etc.» No one ever answers the phone – and I actually stayed on hold once for 30 minutes to find out. There is apparently no way to directly reach the office by telephone.
In desperation, I emailed the office twice — and never received an answer to my email.
Only when I went over to the office on foot, taking a half day off work to do so, was I able to get my issue resolved.
This is a ridiculous way to do business and I have taken my business elsewhere.

There should be an option here that offers NO stars b/​c Dr Barbor & her office deserve just that — Zero.
I started my contact lenses ‘quest’ the first week of March (March 8). It’s almost August and I have not gotten my lenses even though i paid $ 250 for them in March before I left my first appointment (They asked for a deposit for trial lenses). Her manner is distasteful, her staff unprofessional and since she ‘merged’ with Eye Doctors of Washington it’s all gone further down the drain. She is not good at getting your vision corrected, has a bit of an attitude when you tell her you can’t see well as if you are inconveniencing HER by not seeing clearly. At one point I had to wait 5 weeks for a trial pair of contact lenses — they were supposed to arrive within 2 weeks, but her office kept telling me (when I could get a person on the phone that is) «they will be here today!»
Few other recent examples: I made an appointment to see her but had to cancel b/​c of work. So I called day or two ahead to cancel (definitely more than 24 hours before the appointment), but as usual nobody answered the phone. I left a message. Then the day of the canceled appointment I got call from the office asking me where I was. I told them I had left them a voicemail canceling to which they replied «oh… yeah, we don’t check our voicemail.» After months of this, that was it for me. I emailed Dr. Barbor and basically told her that even though my vision with these contact lenses was not good (it’s actually crap and probably the worst I have ever had), I just wanted to be done… wanted to get/​order whatever lenses I could because I was going away and needed to see. (doesn’t everybody?!) She said I was paid up for a 6-​month supply and I agreed we’d order as much. I told her I just wanted to get it over with. That was 2 weeks ago. I’ve since emailed her to check if the lenses have been ordered. No reply. I called the office today. Somebody actually answered the phone (Hooray!), but told me they had no lenses for me and they’d have to wait for her to be in the office (apparently tomorrow) in order to tell me if my lenses have been ordered. Don’t they keep track of that in each person’s chart?!
The front desk staff is either clueless or rude, or both. I have never seen or heard anything like that. Appalling. Run, don’t just walk away from this office.
Dr. Barbor was with Metropolitan Eye Associated but has since merged with Eye Doctors of Washington. Nobody bothered to tell us, her patients, about it OR that her email address had changed OR that she no longer has Saturday hours — which is what initially drew me to this office. I will now get up in the middle of the night and drive to the end of the Earth to see an eye doctor, but I cannot in good faith recommend this office or this provider to anybody.

I was initially able to schedule an appointment through ZocDoc, but then shortly after, the office stopped using ZocDoc and therefore, no more online appointments, which is really important to me. I just needed a simple check-​up since I had Lasik one year ago. I figured that I would be in and out in less than an hour… wrong.
I actually did like the self-​service check-​in kiosk, but the old guy who came in after me wasn’t having it at all. It charged me a $ 40 co-​pay, which I thought was pretty high just for a basic eye exam, but since I’ve never used my health insurance at an eye doctor’s office, I figured they charge the same as a specialist, and I didn’t think much of it.
I arrived at my appointment at least fifteen minutes in advance. I wasn’t actually seen until 45 minutes after my appointment time, even though there was only one patient ahead of me. Dr. Barbor was not apologetic about the wait at all, which rubbed me the wrong way. Is it so hard for doctors to understand that normal people value their time too? Dr. Barbor disappeared in the middle of my exam, claiming that I needed 5 – 10 minutes for my pupils to dilate. She went and did an entire exam on someone else and rolled back in about 25 minutes later. I initially had planned to go back to work after my 2 p.m. appointment, but I didn’t get out of there until after 4:15.
When I was checking out, Ashley, the receptionist advised me that I should have only been charged $ 10 for my co-​pay and that I would get a refund. She promised to call me the next day to confirm this since her boss was out of the office and needed to authorize the refund. I never received a call the next day, despite leaving a message. I finally reached her on Friday and she didn’t even apologize for not calling me back.
I doubt if I’ll return.

Should have taken heed of the previous Unilocal review. It has been 6 months and I do not have the contacts I have paid for. The office has repeatedly mailed them to incorrect addresses after I gave specific instructions that I would pick up in store. And I say repeatedly since my contacts had to be reordered after Dr. Barbor wrote my Rx down wrong and I luckily questioned the new Rx once they arrived. Very difficult to get anyone on the phone, and promises to follow up never happen.

Horrible customer service. The office receptionist is unhelpful with all simple tasks such as telling me a prescription. The office also ordered the wrong contacts and will not quote you a price without speaking to the doctor, which creates long delays. I recommend going elsewhere.