John P Fitzpatrick, OD FAAO

I give Dr. Fitzpatrick and his team 5 stars! He shows genuine concern for me as a patient and offers state of the art vision care for me and my family. Jan runs the office efficiently so the appointments are right on time. She is great about calling me immediately when glasses come in.
I am at ease knowing that I am in capable hands with Dr Fitzpatrick.
Carla E
Carlsbad

They get one star because they take my vision insurance and it was quick to get an appt. Now, though, I am sure there’s a reason it was so easy to get in after reading these comments! Wish I’d have read them BEFORE! First, let me just say that this office smells. Like, literally smells. It has this «grandparents house/​someone croked in here» scent to it. It’s funky and nasty and it’s pretty dark and dreary in there considering it’s a vision place! Terrible lighting! Nothing like my last place that was light bright and cheery. Parking is not the greatest, either. It should’ve given me a hint to get out once I got a whiff of the strangeness lurking in that office. I get into the exam room and a Dr comes in emphasizing about 10 times that he is NOT Dr. Fitzpatrick. He told me that that Dr had «surgery» (not sure if it was on himself or he was performing surgery) and that he was filling in. It was very strange that when I booked the appt they did not advise me that I wouldn’t be seeing the Dr I was supposed to see. Generally, that’s something I would want to know. That said, again, after reading these comments it sounds like I got a fairly nice guy compared to the «actual» Dr. The office help — in particular Jan I believe (if she’s the taller older one vs the young girl with the accent) kinda scared me. She had me feeling as if I was in trouble or something because apparently Dr Fitzpatrick no longer dispenses or carries Acuvue Oasys lenses and I have used them for many many years and that’s what I wanted to stick to. The Dr (Moffitt was his name which he kept repeating to me to make it known he was not Fitzpatrick) adjusted my prescription down .25 in each eye. No problem I thought. So Jan brings me some other brand I’ve never heard of as a sample and he puts them in my eyes. Once I told her and him that I use Oasys and prefer to stick to them, she actually told me I had to IMMEDIATELY remove and THROW AWAY the samples of the lenses I had just put in! It made no sense to me. The prescription was the same — just a different brand. It seemed like such a waste to me! Then when I went to put on my lenses I came in with that were stored in the case they had given me, one of them had torn somehow during storage. I was scared to even ask her for another lens! She obliged but would only give me my old lens strength. I believe she was completely pissed that I told them I order from 1 – 800 Contacts. When I did finally pay and leave, they failed to give me a prescription for glasses (or even ask me if I wanted to get glasses there — which was lame because I did have a new prescription that could be filled even though I came in with existing glasses). I called about the glasses prescription later and they told me it would be a few days until they would have it ready for me. I ended up making another stop another day over there to pick it up. I do believe that was my last trip to that office… thanks, but no thanks! Too many options out there to choose from and mediocre medical care and customer service is not okay in this day and age.

As professional as they get, Dr. Fitzpatrick fitted me and my 6 year old with glasses. He always has appointment availability and Jan is really good about advice over the phone. He seems to have a lot of experience working with kids.

I have been coming here for at least 10 years and I am amazed at how knowledgeable and friendly the staff is. Time and time again they have worked with my busy schedule, even going as far as staying late to teach me how to use my contacts. John truly cares about his patients, and as a result the price for contacts has remained unchanged since I’ve been going to them. He gets to know the patients and really is thorough with his checkups, all while remaining prompt and courteous. This place is amazing, if you are in need of eye care this is the place to go. Absolutely nothing but positives here!

I will echo the sentiments by Fern & Meg B’s previous comments. I’ve never had issues with my eyes. But I work on a computer a lot and recently have noticed I’m straining at the end of the day. Since I’ve never had issues with my eyes, or had to get glasses, I asked a number of questions so that I could learn about eye care and feel confident in my knowledge of the process of ordering glasses correctly. He said, It’s not my job to teach you about Optometry. Add this to his gruff attitude towards me, a handful of other complaints, and that he threatened me with a lawsuit after I made a request to my insurance company to see a different doctor because I was dissatisfied with my experience with him, and I will not be going back to this Optometrist.

I always feel comfortable and well cared for when I see Dr Fitzpatrick. I can’t comment on his views of gender but I can say that I have always seen him treat his staff with respect. His office is professional and friendly and I would (and have) highly recommend him to my friends and family. Great prices, good selection.

I would give him zero if I could. He is arrogant, chauvinistic, rude and the only saving grace is his assistant Brenda. I made the huge mistake of bringing in my old prescription and a box from 1 – 800 contacts. He chewed me out for using them and told me that is «not how he does business» and that he «could be held liable» if I used 1 800 contacts again. WTF? That is like saying if a doctor writes a prescription he is liable if the pharmacy fills it. He then went on to make me more uncomfortable with his demeaning manner. I am currently trying to get my medical records as I NEVER want to return to this office. Do NOT use this optometrist!!!

I went to this office based on a referral from someone I know. I should have walked out as soon as I saw the interaction between Fitzpatrick & one of his assistants. While she was at a machine with me doing an exam he went by & told her, very rudely, that there was a message on the answering machine. It couldn’t wait until she was through with what she was doing??? He reminds me of the old attorneys I used to work with who thought it was ok to treat women in a demeaning manner. When he started my exam & I told him that I was having trouble with my left eye watering a lot & wondered if it could be the Bell’s Palsey I’d had years ago or if he could take a look at it, his response was that he wasn’t my doctor at the time I had the Bell’s Palsey & that I’d have to go back to that doctor! WHAT? Yes, I should have left right then & there! He was egotistical & sarcastic — not in the funny way — during the exam. It was one of the quickest exams I’d ever had & I didn’t feel like it was as thorough as I’d gotten at other optometrists’ offices. But, since my friend recommended him, I followed through. When it was time to order the lenses I told them that I wanted to keep my frames & just have lenses with the new prescription put in. They said their lab would take 10 days to get my glasses back to me. I only have a very old pair of glasses that I can’t use for work or reading so I needed to have the new lenses made up & returned sooner than 10 days. I asked the assistant a few times if there was any other thing they could do for me & was told no. There is no way that I can work on a computer for 10 days with the old pair of glasses I had. So, I told them I’d see what I could do about getting my lenses made up somewhere else.
I went to Andrews Optical in Carlsbad which has it’s own lab on site. I’ve gone there for years for sunglasses & extra glasses. They took lenses from another frame that was similar to mine & sent them out to have the new prescription made up. It took 1 day & they were back at & then Andrews cut the lenses to fit my old frame. When I got them back, the reading portion of the progressive lens wasn’t enough & Andrews had to keep putting the frame higher & higher on my nose to enable me to see. I couldn’t see my computer at all, it was all blurry, unless I held the glasses up higher on my face. Andrews looked over the lens again, verified the prescription from Fitzpatrick & said I probably needed a little bit larger magnification area. I called Fitzpatrick’s office, told them I couldn’t see & was told that I couldn’t see him until the next available appt. — a week away! It was urgent that I get these fixed because I couldn’t see my computer, but they refused to see me sooner. I had to work a week with a headache, blurry & strained eyes. I had trouble driving, reading & just seeing for a week!
When I finally did see Fitzpatrick & told him the issue, he got defensive & said it isn’t his problem since I didn’t use his lab & he wasn’t going to talk negatively about Andrew’s Optical. I told him I never asked him talk negatively, nor did I accuse anyone or claim it was anyone’s fault. I just wanted someone to fix this for me because I had already lost time from work running back & forth trying to get his matter fixed & someone, whether it was him or Andrews, needed to make this right for me, the customer. I was polite when I said it & he said back to me ‘I will re-​examine your eyes & then you can shake my hand & get out of my office’!! Yes, he really said that to me. I would have gotten up and left, but he owed me the re-​exam. He did the exam in about 20 seconds & I asked him twice to slow down because I couldn’t tell the difference on any of the slides if he went that fast — he just sped the process up after I said that. When he was through, he said to me ‘I’ll show you the written prescription & the numbers on the machine since you don’t trust me’!!! I NEVER SAID I DIDN’T TRUST HIM!!! He said that the numbers were off by .25 because «I (meaning me) couldn’t make up my mind on the slides»!! I told him if he had slowed down, I might have been able to discern things better. He also told me that he couldn’t check the prescription on the new lenses because it would be breaking the law & he wasn’t about to break the law for me !!! Who ever said anything about breaking the law?
I got up and walked out. He was rude, egotistical & demeaning. He obviously has no respect for women at all & thinks it is ok to try to intimidate them with his tone of voice & attitude. Fitzpatrick — its NOT OK to speak to your patients like that & its NOT OK to not assist a patient. What you & your office should have done is tried to fix the situation for me or assist me in getting the situation fixed WITHOUT YOUR DEMANING & RUDE ATTITUDE. You should have called Andrews and worked together on this for me, the patient/​customer! DON’T GO TO THIS JERK!

BEWARE!!! Completely unprofessional. I call Jan to get a copy of my daughters prescription and she hung up on me. I’m an active duty Marine and trying to take care of my daughters eyes and they are unwilling to provide me the requested prescription that was done approx. a month ago. Save yourself and go someplace else. I will never go there ever

Dr Fitzpatrick was very charismatic, but rushed through my eye exam much too quickly. When viewing letters and numbers with different lenses during the exam, he would only allow me to look through each lens one time — he would not allow me to look through the lenses 2 or 3 times to chose the best one like every other optometrist does. Afterwards, without any explanation or offer to repeat the exam, he stated that he was unable to correct the vision in my right eye. I ordered three pairs of glasses for a total cost of over $ 800. When the glasses were finished, I was unable to see at all with the right lenses, but was told to take them home anyway and try them out for two weeks. I went to another doctor immediately who did a second exam resulting in a completely different prescription for the right eye. I ordered glasses from him, and the glasses from the second office were fine. I then called Dr Fitzgerald’s office and asked to return the glasses they had made using the wrong prescription for a refund. My request was flatly denied. They said they would replace the lenses, but would not give a refund because they were willing to make it right. I believe they had three chances to make it right. Dr Fitzgerald should not have rushed through the eye exam in the first place. Second, when he discovered he was unable to correct the vision in one eye, he should have repeated the exam. And third, when I told the office that I could NOT see at all from the right lens of all three pairs of glasses, I should not have been sent home with them to try to get used to them for two weeks. I would never go to this office or recommend them to anyone. At the very least they should have allowed a refund for the frames and given me the lenses at THEIR cost instead of making a huge profit from their mistake. They were completely unwilling to work with me on any level, so I was out over $ 800 with nothing to show for it.

The line between a good business and a great business becomes clear when things go wrong, and my experience with Dr. Fitzpatrick’s was troublesome from the get go… Here is a short version of what happened and why they get five stars despite the mistake.
My wife and I went in for eye exams and to pick out new glasses on the 31^st of January. First impression of the office is clean, friendly, warm, and in a beautiful location with easy freeway access. The doctor is among the best I have had the pleasure of visiting. He took the time to explain everything as he was doing it, he seemed to be sincerely interested in me as a patient, and as far as San Diego eye doctors go, he is the best I have ever been too.
Once the exam was complete I picked out two pairs of frames, one pair of sunglasses and another for general wear, Brenda helped me and she was wonderful. After I made my selection I was told to expect them to arrive in about a week which was perfectly acceptable.
Three days later my wife gets a call from Brenda, she tells her that her glasses are ready but there was a problem with my sunglasses, they were on back order and would take longer than I was willing to wait. I was offered the same pair in a different color which actually worked out as I kinda regretted the color I picked, no big deal, I went with the red ones. As promised they arrived in a few days and they were perfect.
This is where things got all messed up. Brenda let me know that the other frames I had ordered had been melted by the lab and were not salvageable thus creating an even longer delay. Before i had time to get upset she let me know that a pair of glasses nearly identical to mine had been ordered for me to wear while I waited for the ones I wanted.
Being that Dr. Fitzpatrick’s office was at the mercy of the lab I understood that this was not their fault but boy oh boy did they step up to the plate. As mentioned I was provided with glasses while mine were being redone, Brenda offered to deliver them to my home because of the trouble, they stood up to the lab and got them to give my wife a free pair of prescription sunglasses for all our troubles, when my chosen frames did arrive Brenda drove them to the lab on her own time to assure they were completed correctly and in a timely manner, and once I did finally get them, they were perfect.
Yes, I had some trouble at Dr. Fitzpatrick’s office, but when trouble happened his entire staff went miles out of their way to make sure I was taken care of, you’d never get that level of customer service at any «in about an hour» place in the mall. As long as I live in North Country, Dr. Fitzpatrick is my eye doctor. If you are looking for an example of what a locally owned family business is supposed to be this is it, go see them, you’ll not regret it.