It took me 24 minutes to check in for my eye appointment. I arrived at 2 o'clock and it took until 240 to get checked in and then I had to wait to see the doctor. read more

Definitely not recommended. I went there for a simple cataract surgery and came out blind in my right eye. Further, they refuse to make it right with me. Very sad. If you value your eyesight, I strongly recommend you go elsewhere for your surgery. read more

Wife and I had to switch eye docs due to insurance changes. We chose this group because they were in network for Health Alliance. Today was our first appointment with them, and our last. I must have been the first person they've ever encountered who didn't have his insurance card - well that's how they responded. My wife is the primary insurance provider through Memorial - no one at Prairie seemed to have any clue how to go about looking me/us up through Health Alliance or Eyemed. I eventually called Health Alliance myself while sitting in the exam chair as I definitely had the feeling by then they simply didn't trust I was even telling the truth - good grief. Whether they did or didn't? My point is I was definitely picking up, strongly from them, they had concerns about my whole "story". I was able to get my Health Alliance ID and give that to them. But not before they wanted my driver's license - for what? To prove I am who I say I am? Dr. Nickelson was the O.D. who saw me. She wasn't going to do the routine eye exam that has a whopping $40 out of pocket even if it's NOT covered until I pressed her to do it. Who has the time to make multiple appointments for these things - and for $40? Come on. I should have been given the option first before I had to press her to do the exam. I don't know if she WAS in a hurry? But wow did she seem pressed for time. Also, if you're going to put drops in a patient's eyes you might want to warn them if the drops are known to burn instead of the patient being unpleasantly surprised. As it turns out - my wife had an appt one hour after me. About the time I was done, she had arrived. I was there when she was checking in. The look the front clerk gave her, and then the second look the other clerk gave the first one when my wife said she didn't have her Eyemed card - whoa. Let's put it this way - my wife hadn't been clued in on my poor experience but the looks she was given evoked a natural "Oh I'm sorry" from her to them. At least they are consistent in their poor customer experience delivery. Life's too short and there are plenty of eyecare professionals in Springfield to deal with what we got at Prairie Eye & Lasik. read more

My actual appointment and exam were fine. However, when my son and I went to check out and set up our appointment for next year, this awful, unprofessional woman scoffed at my asking for an appointment after 3pm, acting like it was a ridiculous request. This was followed by her taking forever to determine a time, fumbling around her computer and asking follow-ups about my son's school schedule that were none of her business. This woman was incompetent, rude and disrespectful--some refreshers in manners and patient service would serve her well. read more

I had cataract surgery at Prairie Eye Center 4 weeks ago and everything was fine until Friday. I woke up with a very red and watering eye. Called them and was told I could have an appointment in April. I replied that she did not listen to what I said about the recent surgery and then she said that everyone was busy and they would call next week. To me that is totally unacceptable for a medical practice. I ended up deciding not to go to the ER and turned to Google and there were several bits of info on there that stated that sometimes the eyedrops that I received need to be continued longer than the prescription states. I resumed with both and the eye is cleared up after 2 days. I will be looking for new eye doctors. I am wondering when the bill comes through, if I tell them I am busy and will pay in 2 months, if that will be acceptable to them. read more

I've gone here all my life & was just told by them they're booked for the day & won't see me even for an eye emergency. The lady I spoke with couldn't have cared less about trying to help me get in to be seen. I'm never going back there. I'm sitting at Gailey Eye Clinic right now, my new place. I explained my situation to them on the phone & they were booked too, but still got me an appt within 45 min of my call ! My name is Jeff. My email is jeffjava2022@outlook.com if anybody at Prairie cares enough to get in contact with me. And of course, I'll let everybody know of my experience. read more

Update your website or something to tell people you are on holiday, everything says you are open but apparently you have a holiday break from over 27th-30th. Nothing I could find says anything about that, and the other half dozen people I saw in the parking lot clearly had the same issue. read more

I had cataract surgery in both eyes and then got glasses (because I needed a place that could bill Medicare for post-cataract exam & glasses. It was one issue after another, starting with them forgetting to call in the prescription I was supposed to start the day before surgery, to my glasses not having the Transitions coating I ordered and paid for (and then not returning my calls about the glasses). Their glasses are so overpriced I'm not even sure Medicare saved me that much. read more

I was admittedly late getting my last bill paid. It wasn't huge, a couple hundred dollars and as I was disabled and was still waiting for the SSDI approval, so it wasn't as fast as I normally would have paid. I called to pay by phone, full amount. I was told my bill had increased by $300 for a "collection fee". I explained my situation and asked if I could just pay the FULL AMOUNT with no fee. Nope, extra $300 or nothing. Yeah they got the "nothing" option. read more

While we have had no real problems with actual doctor visits at Prairie, they are impossibly unresponsive when it comes to any dealings with anything outside that, such as calls about insurance, prescription refills. They do not employ voice mail, which I understand, but frequently calls that are made do not ever make it back to the doctors' attention. They need to take a hard look at where these gaps are occurring and try to address them. There is no quality checks in place in terms of post-appointment surveys that would catch this kind of thing. Robert L. read more

The staff is very nice but administratively this place is a nightmare. I tried for 4 months to get Dr. Bourn's assistant to fax in a prescription appeal with no success. I finally asked them for my paperwork and got another doctor at a different practice to fax it in for me. He was also supposed to contact me to make an appointment to give blood to mix up some sort of dry eye therapy and he never did. I would never go back here. Endless frustration. read more

Notes for Prairie Eye Center While I DID take part, both in the lazer eye scanning, and "Pin The Tail on the Donkey", what I am most opposed to was staff DEMAND to INVADE my PERSONAL SPACE, by INSISTING that they must TOUCH my eyes. I find it, openly, offensive, for the staff to have made this DEMAND. No one should DEMAND to INVADE a persons PERSONAL SPACE. Not for less than major surgery. No, Prairie Eye Center went completely beyond the definition, of health care, in DEMANDING to INVADE my PERSONAL SPACE. There was no reason for this DEMAND. NO call for needing to INVADE. This was nothing more than a group saying "We WILL do it to PROVE that we CAN do it." There is no way to justify such attitudes. read more

My wife and I both had our eyes checked back in March. The Dr. said she needed new glasses and that I needed new contacts and glasses. We ordered our glasses and my contacts and paid for them. When the glasses came in they made my wife's glasses fine but my glasses had her prescription put in them. So the remade mine and my eyes have been a mess every since. Ive told them several times they aren't right but they keep saying give them time. My contacts and glasses neither one our right I cant see worth a darn. I saw better before i ever went in. But they kept saying give them a chance your eyes will adjust to them my eyes never did and now they have had me wait long enough to were its to late to change them. Paid a lot for these glasses and contacts the glasses i cant even wear without getting terrible headaches. read more

I was immediately referred to an ophthalmologist at Prairie Eye Center from St. John's ER because of eye damage. After being given incorrect directions to PEC by PEC, and after I had to wait about 45 minutes, I was told they would only help me if I took a visual acuity test - for the eye that was not damaged! I explained that simply moving my "good" eye caused pain in my damaged eye, but that did not matter. They said I either get the eye acuity test, or I can leave! So I left. And went directly to Gailey Eye Clinic - and was immediately seen and treated - without an appointment. I think St. Johns Hospital should reevaluate their association with Prairie Eye, and certainly never recommend them to their hospital patients. read more

Since covid my spouse has been going into his appointments alone while I wait for him, his treatment and waits sounded sketchy. One time they text me their eyes were dilated and then placed out into a hallway to wait for over an hour. So I decided to go with them today and see. At the front desk the receptionist wiped her nose with her hand and handed them back their card, then touched the phone and several papers for coworkers no sanitizing. Wait time was decent and the pre screening went well. In the room though I watched the employee that checked the pressure put on gloves handle the doorknob and then touch my spouses eyes with the pressure reader without changing gloves. After the dilation we waited about 50 minutes to be seen by the dr. when I asked her why the wait was so long she got smart and said the wait would be as long at two other clinics she mentioned in town. I go to one and know its not true, when I shared this with her she said go there then. My problem is to get get a good view of the eye after dilation they eyes should be examined about 20 to 30 minuets after the drops go in. So my spouse was right they are making them wait to long. read more

I paid nearly $300 for glasses that break every time I am given a replacement as they will not let me pick out a price-matched new pair. I was told that with my warranty "we'll just keep giving you replacements until your warranty runs out" even though I have said many times that I no longer live in the area and to drive there would be a hassle and waste of money and time, and they are unwilling to work with me or help me on this. Finally, I went to Zenni online to get new frames (that weren't $300!!), and when I asked this center for my prescription they gave me the WRONG one, thus making my new pair inadequate. If you're new to the area, definitely try somewhere else who can actually help and remember their patients (as well as their prescriptions). read more

The glasses department is a joke here. I bought $500 versace glasses from them. Where the frame was welded together came undone making the glasses completely crooked. I brought the glasses to get them fixed and they told me that the break was unfixable. I don't see how that is considering at one point the glasses were able to be welded when the glasses were originally manufactured. I was dumb and just tried to superglue it (apparently voiding any warranty I may have had), so they were unwilling to even pull my account up. The worker barely looked at the glasses, handed them back to me, and said "yeah I can't fix this, but you can order a new pair." He was so unwilling to help and only offered I buy the same pair of glasses from them again. Customer service does not seem to matter to the glasses department here. I will never buy a pair of glasses from them again. read more

I was referred here for a glaucoma check, I was given an appointment at 1:40pm and arrived around 1:30 because I knew they would want paperwork filled out. The reception people were friendly and efficient. The first assistant that took me back to begin my trip from hell lied to my face. Claimed the doctor I was there to see was not in the office. When I was taken for a retinal photo I asked if there was another doctor to see me and was told my doctor was actually there and had been all day. While in the waiting room, and this being my first visit to this office, I struck up a conversation with other patients that had been there before. They all said the same thing. Patients are treated like garbage in this facility. Well, after over 3 hours of waiting, I never saw the doctor and was shuffled from place to place to wait for nothing. This place is a disaster. Inefficient, unprofessional and half the staff had cold or flu symptoms. Prairie Eye center lost a customer on 2-20-20 and I will never return. read more

Do not see Dr Yang. I had surgery 5 yrs ago. I went back to have a film removed from cataract. They had no record of me ever being there. They only believed me when I showed them a card. Dr yangs response. Sometimes it just happens. They did nothing and I will never return. read more

I'm one of those consumers who rarely takes the time to review a product or place. I'm generally satisfied, and on the occasion that I'm not, I'll piss and moan about it to myself until I'm over it. But my experience with Prairie Center Lasik was so dreadful that I feel compelled to warn their potential customers. Based on the recommendation from a coworker, I chose Prairie City to perform my Lasik surgery. I filled out a questionnaire online and got a call the next day from a someone with the eye center to schedule a free Lasik consult. The consult took about half an hour, during which time someone explained to me what the surgery and recovery would entail. My mother and baby daughter were both present as well. The surgery was scheduled for two months from that time and we were sent on our way. A couple of weeks after the consult, the same person who had spoken to me then called me to tell me the doctor who would do the surgery had looked at the results of my eye exam, all was on track, and they would see me a few days before surgery for my eye dilation exam. I've had glasses since I was six years old, so to say I was excited about the procedure would be an understatement. I arrived at what should have been my last appointment before the surgery with high hopes. My understanding was that I would get my eyes dilated, be told what to expect, then be sent on my merry way until a few days later when I came back for the procedure. After my eyes were dilated and examined one last time, I finally met the doctor that would do the surgery. He asked me a series of questions, one of which was "are you breastfeeding," to which I answered affirmative. He stopped the questioning and explained why he could not do the Lasik while I was breastfeeding (hormones affect eyes, etc). I appreciated that he was cautious and honest. BUT WHY WAS THIS QUESTION NOT ASKED SOONER?! It was three days until my surgery, I had taken time off of work for these appointments, the trip to Springfield, the procedure, and the follow up appointment. Not to mention how heartbroken I was after being excited for something I felt I deserved. The doctor said that he would speak with the consultant about why this question wasn't asked during my first consult. Great, but WHY DIDN'T HE ASK?!?!?! My baby daughter was even there with us! Better yet, WHY WAS THIS QUESTION NOT ON THE QUESTIONAIRE THAT IS FILLED OUT BEFORE A CONSULT EVEN TAKES PLACE?! This surgery was months in the making and all of this wasted time and discontent could have been avoided. Worst of all, the doctor wasn't even apologetic about the fault. Instead, he suggested I visit his retina specialist since I had time to burn (must be finished breastfeeding for six months for surgery). I'll still get the surgery at some point, but certainly not by these people. I'll take my $5k somewhere else. If this place can't get their shit together enough to ask such an important question, I certainly don't want them near my eyes. read more

Center for Sight in Decatur has recently merged/bought out by Prairie Eye Center. I have been a client of Center for Sight for about 6 years now. All was good until this year - numerous problems with my prescription, numerous phone calls and poor service. I finally went to another eye doctor and will never go back to Center for sight/Prairie Eye Center at the Decatur location again! I was treated very, very poorly and some of the blame was placed on not being able to do anything since they had changed hands. The problems started way before hey merged so that is no excuse. They could have made things right with me far better than they did. Because of their incompetence I have now spent $1,340 for ONE pair of glasses that are the right prescription. read more

Even before they merged and was Center for Sight, I have always had A+ service, staff and doctors! I will never go anywhere else. I have the utmost confidence in Dr. Alward and all doctors there. Plus his staff is very professional and friendly. read more