Francis Kuo, OD

I recently moved to Santa Cruz and instead of commuting 2+ hours to go to my original optometrist, I decided to try a new place. 5mins into my appointment, I automatically regretted my decision.
First off, Dr. Kuo is a rude optometrist. Since I’ve been wearing glasses, I have never met an optometrist as rude as him. I came for my yearly check up but he barely even looked at my eyes. He was more focused on the computer. When I expressed my concern about a bump I had on my eye, he did not even look at the bump but just said to put a warm cloth on it. He automatically just assumed it was a cyst but I knew it wasn’t since I have had multiple different eye cysts. When I asked about a prescription for contacts, he rudely said, «Do you expect to get the prescription for free?» Uh. No? All I asked was if he could write me a prescription, nothing about a free prescription. I told him that I wanted to get contacts for a cheaper price somewhere else but he insisted that he’ll only write me a prescription if I got my contacts from them since the prices are the same everywhere (They’re not!).
For the staff, they’re friendly but they do not know what they’re doing. Usually, if they are going to help choose glasses, they should know what glasses type fits what type of face. What happened was that she picked glasses that were too narrow for my face even though I’ve told her that I needed glasses that won’t fall constantly because they’re being stretched. When I came to pick up my glasses, I had to explain to them how to adjust it.
I did give this place one star though because of the nice staffs but I recommend that if they want to actually learn something, they should go work for another optometrist.
As for the glasses options, it was poor. There were barely 4 small shelves of glasses to pick from. From the other optometrists that I’ve been to, there was always a room full of glasses or more to pick from. Furthermore, the glasses were cheap brands. This is good if you’re on a budget and you’re not picky but if you have good insurance to spend like I did, you’ll be disappointed. I felt like I was picking my glasses from Wal-​mart or CVS.
On the topic of insurance though, they do treat you differently based on your insurance. They thought I didn’t have insurance (even though I repeatedly offered to give them both of my insurances’ info) and I think this is part of the reason for Dr. Kuo’s rude remark about giving me a free contact prescription. At the end of the session, the staff couldn’t stop commenting on how great my insurance is and how I can get any glasses I wanted.
I DO NOT recommend this place to anyone. You’ll be better off getting your service somewhere else. If I could get the Money I spent here back, I would.

Rude staff who lack all attention to detail.
Mind you this is not the first time we have had issues with Kuo’s staff.
Family member went in for annual exam. Got new Rx and wanted new glasses. Two full weeks went by and no call. Family member calls and low and behold the glasses are there and have been there who knows how long. When questioned if they called «I called. I called 837−555−1212» (our number except wrong area code).
1. 837 does not exist (clue the da, da, da… the number that you are calling) AND we have 2 other phone numbers on record for them to call us at.
2. Handed over the Rx sunglasses without so much as a fitting and obviously no inspection since the glasses were clearly missing the brand logo’s on the temples (oh yea that bad of attention to detail)
3. Got home showed them to me and within a minute I saw the issue.
4. Went in and showed them and low and behold the logos were missing. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there wasn’t a circular indent where they belonged in the frame.
5. Asked if they would call us when they are ready. Answer a curt «of course».
6. Low and behold they got the phone number right this time and called to let us know they were ready.
7. Entered the office and was ignored by the optician and by Dr. Kuo. Not even a hello, I will be right with you. Just looked at and ignored.
I have to say that with 16 years as patients my family and I are of the rude and ignorant front office staff. This begs me to wonder about Kuo himself for hiring them.
From insurance billing issues to sending out pre-​scheduled annual exam post cards forcing us to call in and cancel or change the appointment why would anyone pay money to be treated badly?
Today was the straw that broke the camels back. Not even a hello. What kind of small, horrible people are you who think you can make mistakes, treat people badly and then they will just keep on coming?

I had an appointment today for a eye exam along with my five-​year-​old son. The staff was really nice and Dr. Kuo was also kind and patient. I also had my six month old along with me and in the middle of my eye exam he started crying because he was hungry, which escalated into screaming. Dr. Kuo never made me feel uncomfortable and finished my exam while my 5 year old played with some of the cool toys he had in his office. He was also nice to my very curious and inquisitive son. Overall, my experience was great and while this experience could have been very stressful I left their with my nerves still intact. As a Mom this is priceless. Glad I chose this place.

Interesting the retort of Dr. Kuo’s staff below. ‘Dr Kuo has a different opinion of what was said’. Dr Kuo. wasn’t even there when things were said between the staff and I. I just happened to run into him in the parking lot afterwards. A simple apology would work instead of trying to defend your selves. That could go a long way!

I’ve been going to Dr. Kuo for around 10 years now. I’ve been wearing glasses and contacts since I was 15 and been to quite a few different doctors. My experience at his office is always fantastic.
Dr. Kou has a soft spoken manner that gives me complete confidence in his skills. He has had a couple of different staff over the years, and they are always wonderful. I never have any problems scheduling. They always greet me by name when I walk in. When I am picking out frames, they are always offering good suggestions, what looks good on me, stuff like that. On one occasion I found a pair that looked great. They said, «If you like those, maybe you’ll like these even better?» Indeed, the frames they pointed out looked even better, and cost a little bit less. They were more concerned with me finding a nice pair than making a sale.
The reasons I won’t shop anywhere else are because:
1. I moved away from Santa Cruz for about 5 years, but continued to get my eyes checked there. Whenever I purchased new frames there was never any hassle mailing the frames to my current address. When I was living up in Alaska, my lenses were all scratched up. They let me know that the lenses were still under warranty, even though I was ready to purchase new lenses. I mailed them my frames. They got the lenses replaced and mailed back to me, all the way up in Juneau! No hassles at all.
2. In the past year I have bought 2 pairs of glasses. One from Dr. Kuo, and one from somewhere else (I really liked the frames). When you buy glasses there are lots different options you can get for the lenses. I always get the best everything, warranty, high index materials, scratch resistance. The pair I got at Dr. Kuo’s was $ 200 less than the pair I got at the other office.
I always feel I am getting a fair price at Dr. Kuo’s office. I felt the other office had really gouged me with all the extras. At Dr. Kuo’s office I always get great service, and the best value. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Dr. Kuo and his staff are extremely kind, considerate and knowledgable. I’ve been a client for the past 2 years since moving to Santa Cruz from the SF Bay Area. Dr. Kuo’s kind mannerism and thoughtful explanations are great when I have questions. I have pretty poor eyesight, so when I run out of contacts, I just have to call the office and they are able to order and sometimes receive my prescription in one or two days. When I broke my glasses, Freddi was able to find an alternate frame that could fit my lenses so I didn’t have to buy a whole new frame and lens combination. They are extremely knowledgable about fitting frames to the shape of your face, so you know you are properly aligned with your glasses. They offer a good array of frames from designer to inexpensive options as well as sporty frames. The eye testing equipment (for lack of the technical names they are called) are clean, well kept and up to date. I am extremely happy with the quality of service and the attention I receive there.