Business ProfileforUniversity Physicians

I had an extremely negative experience with this health services provider, specifically with the ***** *** ******. I can't believe how negative my experience at ***** *** ********* **** has been. I needed to book a simple vision exam to renew prescriptions for contacts. I was new to the Columbia area, and called about ten clinic that offer this service, ranging from bigger chains to independent providers. All of these clinics quoted a price between about $100-250 for the exam, including the staff member answering the phone at the ***** *** *********. The Some of the clinics also added that there would be an additional fee for a contact fitting, and other clinics specified that the contact fitting was included in the exam fee. Every clinic except Mason was able to tell me if they would offer a traditional dilation or the newer retina map, but this omission didn't seem like a big deal. Some clinics were booked several weeks in advance, but Mason had an appointment the next day, so I assumed the University of Missouri would be a safe choice, and chose Mason. However, My first appointment was overbooked and moved to an exam room with equipment that fell apart during the exam. Trying to call managers and scheduling a time to return to have the exam completed correctly without broken equipment was not easy - one manager, "Kayla", seemed extremely helpful at first, but finished the call by saying she would call me back and never did. Once I returned to have the procedure done correctly, the assistant forgot to do part of the vision test on one eye -- when I asked if there was a reason she didn't do all of the steps on the second eye that she had done on the first, she laughed and said "oops, I forgot". I also made sure to ask both the administrative staff and the optometrist if the contact fitting was included with the initial clinic fee -- I was told very clearly by the optometrist that it was included. The administrative staff told me "I don't know how to use the new system, so I can't check." I did not want to pay for a contact fitting (because I was planning on using a contact vendor that offers free sample lenses -- and I clearly mentioned this to the optometrist.) I assumed that the optometrist wasn't going to just lie -- but that assumption was incorrect. As a result, after spending over a month just trying to get the actual exam completed correctly, I have been stuck spending over another month calling both the management at this awful clinic and the "customer support" office, having 20-minute conversations over and over and over again about why my bill is either $400 or $800 instead of $190 (as quoted by phone and affirmed by multiple receptionists every time I stopped by in person). Their statements are not even labeled with any explanations or terminology - a bill for $500 simply says "health services", a charge for $200 says "additional services". I think the absolute worst thing about my experience at ***** *** ****** East is how proud every administrative staff member and manager is that "they have a new system and they don't know how to use it". This wording is what multiple receptionists have said in response to questions BEFORE service about what charges are applied to my account. I can't understand why inability to use one's professional software is considered an acceptable reason for making huge mistakes. Frankly, I am concluding that being unprofessional, poorly trained and unable to do basic tasks like correctly look up the cost of a very simple service/policy is part of their business model and a point of pride. I am so profoundly disappointed that I came here instead of any of the ten or more clinics I had almost gone to instead. I am a victim of extreme consumer fraud.