CLEARVIEW Eye & Laser

My vision has drastically improved since moving my optical care AWAY from Clearview Eye & Laser (formerly West Seattle-​Highline Eye Clinic).
I went to Clearview/​West Seattle-​Highline Eye Clinic for the last several years. I decided to look beyond the patronizing and condescending behavior of the staff since I thought they were doing their best for my vision. Clearly that was my error.
Several years ago, I received an inappropriate prescription (can’t recall the optometrist at Clearview — I’ve seen several). I could see well at distances, but could not read close up at all… on my phone, books, etc. They told me this was due to aging (early 40s) eyes and sent me on my way. I should’ve got another opinion at this point, but instead took their word for it. After not being able to adjust to either the glasses or contact lens prescriptions, I resorted to using a very old pair of glasses. Months later, as insurance allowed, I went back, and asked for the older prescription for my contacts. Both the optometrist and opticians were quite condescending in accommodating this request, but I ended up with an older and more functional (though far from ideal) prescription. Tired of the condescension over several (probably 5 total) appointments, I knew I’d never go back.
At the next opportunity, I made an appointment with another clinic (Blink Optical, associated with The Polyclinic on Madison) and believe it or not — I have a contact prescription that allows me to see both at distances and close up. I do not need reading glasses at all! I’m astounded — my vision is great relative to my last several prescriptions from Clearview/​West Seattle-​Highline. And as an added plus, the optometrist and opticians I worked with at Blink were pleasant, helpful, and listened to what I had to say.
I don’t know what the heck they are doing there at Clearview, but I will never go back. I can’t believe my vision was so poor for so long!

This review is going to be pretty lengthy because I want to detail my experience (s) with my doctor and staff, contacts staff, and the eyewear clinic.
Clinic Overall:
Pros: Lots of free parking.
Cons: The hours are somewhat limiting (not open on weekends).
Clinic Staff:
All of the staff members that I have encountered at the clinic have been friendly and professional. They speak to you with respect and try to be as efficient and quick as the situation permits.
Dr. Marcus Meyer:
I was referred to this clinic by a friend of mine. He has been going to Dr. Meyer for years and says he is the best out there. I would have to agree. At first I thought that he was a little impersonal, but later I found out it is because he is concentrating so hard during your exam that there isn’t a lot of small talk. He does have a good sense of humor, I found out later. But more importantly, he is more than competent at his specialty and he told me things about my eyes that no optometrist has ever noticed. As a result of his findings, he quickly moved me from gas perm to SCL so that I could be evaluated as a potential Lasik candidate. He shows concern for your vision health and is upfront if he sees anything wrong. He also is able to tell you scenarios/​options that are for right now as well as long term.
Contact Lens Staff — Michelle and Julie:
If I could give these ladies 10 stars, I would. They are so friendly and nice. The best way to get a response is to email either of them. I was having a hard time adjusting from gas perm CLs to SCLs due to the flattening of my cornea as my eyes reverted to their natural state after being in gas perms for 20+ years. It took several appointments, like six different trial lenses, and like four months to actually find the right lens. They were patient, kind, and empathetic the entire time. They have a lot of knowledge about the lenses that are on the market and they will answer each and every question that you have. If you have a question that they don’t know, they will find the answer for you and get back to you.
Eyewear — Andy:
There are a lot of frames to choose from in the shop, however, they carry mostly name-​brand frames, which means they are pretty pricey and that you will be paying a portion out of pocket. So, if you are looking for budget frames, this may not be the place for you.
It was determined that I needed to get updated lenses in my glasses, but it was determined that my insurance would cover a full set (frames and lenses). I have a difficult time finding glasses that fit my face as well as my head — not sure that it is funny shaped, I just think I’m picky. Plus, because of my high prescription, my options (like rimless frames) are limited. Andy knows his inventory because he pulled out one frame for me that was not on display that he thought would be perfect for me. It was and that is what I ordered. They came in fast and they looked great. About a week later, I noticed that when I wore my glasses, that everything was a bit blurry. So, I called to make an appointment with Dr. Meyer because I was having the same problem with my contacts. They determined that they needed to make a fine tune to my prescription and that I could get a one-​time adjustment on my glasses at no charge. I took my glasses down with the new prescriptions and within 10 days I had my new lenses and have not had a problem since.
I will continue to go to Dr. Meyer, Michelle, Julie, Andy, and the rest of the staff. They are professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. I can tell that they all enjoy what they do. I refer anyone and everyone I know to them. Great job, Clearview Eye & Laser! I’ll be back soon!

I have been seeing Dr. Meyer for nearly 10 years, so obviously I have a very high opinion of him. If you want a doctor who cares deeply about your vision and is an excellent surgeon, Dr. Meyer is it. Dr. Meyer performed surgery on me for a serious eye condition several years ago. When I awoke in the middle of the night in a lot of pain, he got out of bed at 2:00 in the morning to meet me at the clinic and check my eye, to ensure that nothing was wrong. It turned out that all was well, and he was able to reassure me of that and send me on my way. Having had the same surgery on both of my eyes, I can say that his work was outstanding, and both surgeries were highly successful. Every time I visit him, he always shows concern for how my eyes are doing; I always feel that he cares a great deal. I have also had nothing but great interactions with the technicians and front desk people in both the Burien and West Seattle offices. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Dr. Meyer to any of my friends or family.

DR. MULLIGAN is the worst DR I have seen in a long time. After waiting 30 mins in the room, there was no «hello,» or any greeting whatsoever. He then had his back to me (while updating my chart on the comp) the entire 10 min appt. He was more concerned with updating my chart and less concerned for my questions about my vision, or why I was getting dizzy wearing my reader glasses. After I told him that I don’t have insurance, and needed to be really clear on my options before I spend a bunch of money, he mentioned surgery was an option for me. Seriously? I only need readers!!!
He got frustrated with me not being able keep my eyes open while he shoved my head into the machine to check my eyes. At the end of my appt. there was no goodbye, just a rude «good luck.» I went downstairs to wear they sell glasses and just started balling to the nice guy at the desk there out of pure frustration. Needless to say, I’m never going back there!!!

This review would have been better if I wasn’t waiting for 35 minutes for an «open room.» Granted, it was busy but people who came after me, got called back before me.
Other than that, the service was wonderful. I saw Dr. Casimir for my exam. She was bright, bubbly and very knowledgeable. I had some questions re: lasik and she made me feel really comfortable about it. I also saw Michelle who was also great.
I guess I lucked out and did not get crappy/​snide service like a lot of the other reviews said. I just wish I didn’t have to wait half an hour to be seen.

I give Michelle a 6 star rating. She is one kick a** superstar.
I was in desperate need of contacts for my wedding day. After a couple of failed attempts to get a 3^rd party to ship contacts to me (not clearview’s fault), she would not give up! She tried to get the shipment made to my destination hotel. When that didn’t work out, Michelle located another eye clinic in the area and worked with them to get me a couple of trial pairs! She saved my day!
Not only that, but she got my contacts shipped to me anyway, and refunded my money.
I wish I lived closer to this eye place, because I would never think to go anywhere else if I did.
Best customer service I’ve had in ages!
Thank you Michelle!

Worst eye doctor place yet The nurse was rude and wouldn’t help answer any questions The doctor wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to educate him on my history of my eyes and things I’ve done before. My opinion do not go here. He gave me a bunch of drugs and drops and don’t know how to take them because no one knew how. I am so mad right now

STAY AWAY! my 85 year old mother told me the care she has been receiving there the past few appts was not very good, so, i decided to join her today for her appt… staff is friendly enough, but, DR MULLIGAN IS THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL PERSON I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED AS A DR., he is snide, rude, unprofessional. he didn’t say hello, he didn’t look at my mother, (except when doing the eye exam and he had to) he stared at the computer and told her she had dry macular degeneration. when we both asked what that meant he snapped at me… asked me if i had ever heard of macular degeneration getting better with glasses. i told him i didn’t know ANYTHING about it… and i told him he was snide. He got up and looked me up and down and made a disgusted sound and left the room! HE IS A TOTAL (bleep…bleeping…bleep_)

My experience with this clinic was pretty good. Dr. Casimir was very friendly and really tended to my needs. Always asking if I had any concerns or questions. Also, the staff was very friendly. Overall, I had good service and since I was a new patient, they took care of me well.

I went here recently to pick up my glasses and had a great experience!
I was warmly and promptly greeted when I came in. I was that super dumb customer who knew very little about her vision insurance, but they helped me navigate like a pro. I was SO impressed at how quickly they accessed my benefits and explained them to me.
Another thing I liked is that they were helpful, but gave me space to explore and shop. The very nice lady behind the front desk gave me a good run down of how things were laid out and pointed me towards who to go to when I had made a selection.
They had a really decent selection of high quality frames, and when I made my selection, the person who helped me out was also great. While they told me about special lenses/​lens coatings, they weren’t pushy about it at all, which was SO nice. Again, the whole time, there were quick, efficient, and effective.
My glasses came in earlier than expected, yay, and my return experience was just as quick and friendly.
I would strongly recommend this place; thanks for a great experience!

NEVER AGAIN! We sent one of our employees there from an MD referral for an eye injury. The Ophthalmologist was rude to our employee. He had questions and the Ophthalmologist refused to answer him and for some reason took the questions as a challenge to his knowledge. Our employee is one of the nicest people you could meet. He is not a challenging person, he just wanted to know what all of his options were. When he suggested maybe a second opinion, the Ophthalmologist told him to not come back. I have never seen such unprofessional behavior. I would not ever go there myself nor bring any of our employees there again.

I had Lasik surgery performed by Dr. Marcus Meyer at the Highline Eye Clinic. Everything about the experience was exceptional. The staff were very helpful, the technicians were supportive and professional and Dr. Meyer did excellent work. I was well informed through all the phases and the follow up just as good. No issues, no side effects and great vision. I’ve already recommended him to two of my friends.

The receptionists at this office need to take a course in customer service. I called to simply find out what my prescription was so I could order contacts. This should involve a simple trip to my chart about 10 steps away from her desk, but no, she passed me off to someone’s voicemail. Still waiting for that call to come. This is indicative of the service I usually receive there, I’ll be looking for another eye doctor.

DO NOT GO TO THIS PRACTICE!
My story: I have been experiencing pain in my eye which I believed to be some sort of an infection so I called to make an appointment. The soonest available appointment was with a Dr. Meyer for the following day.
My eye hurt so bad that I put a prescription eye drop to treat the pain from a previous infection a few years ago. That seemed to do the trick! My eye was no longer blood shot by morning and the pain was alleviated.
I called the office to let them know what happened and that I probably didn’t need to be seen. They told me there was usually a $ 50.00 rescheduling fee, but that it was fine, and «taken care of.»
Over the weekend, my infection came back like wildfire. I called first thing Monday morning to make an appointment. A very rude and unsympathetic phone drone told me that I wouldn’t be allowed to be seen by ANY doctor there until a $ 50 rescheduling fee was paid.
I reiterated the above story. She said she couldn’t do anything for me. I asked to speak with Dr. Meyer. She said he was at the Highline Clinic. I asked to speak to her manager. She put me on hold, came back and explained her Manager was going into a meeting and would call me back tomorrow!
I asked, «24 hours from now?» «Would she be in a meeting all DaY LONG?» «I don’t know my Manager’s schedule, MA’AM!» She blared. Then she said in her robotic voice, «have a nice day, Ma’am» and hung up the phone on me!
My eye is throbbing, inflamed, bloodshot and in major pain.
THANKS WEST SEATTLE STY CLINIC. I WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU CARED FOR ME AND WILL LET THE WORLD KNOW EVERY CHANCE I GET!!! YOU ALL SUCK THE BIGEST ONE EVER!

I’m giving 1 stars rather than 0 if I could because of Julie, the optician, and her great customer service. I had an appt on ⁴⁄₄. Service was friendly, but when I got my eyes examined, I never got to test the nearsightedness of the final prescription before I left my appt. I mentioned to my doc that I have had no nearsightedness, and possibly may need bifocals. He said I should be fine for a few more years.
I then ordered my glasses online and a week later, i got them. So I took them into the west Seattle location and discovered that the PD was off because it was never given as part of my prescription like other clinics do, for free. So I had my PD measured and then reordered the glasses. Unfortunately when the second pair came, I could see fairly well, but I still had no nearsightedness, and distance was a bit blurry. So I returned the glasses to meet their return policy standards.
I called to make an appt to get my eyes reexamined for a proper prescription, and it would be ⁵⁄₂₁ before they could get me back in. 3 weeks later, the day before my appt, I was notified that they have canceled my appt because they said I would need to have my glasses with me, and if I didn’t, I’ll have to have them remade before the doctor would see me again. Furious!
So I called and got the very unfriendly receptionist again (ugh!), and she told me that she couldn’t help me and that she’d have Julie call me. Julie called me immediately and said that she’d see about getting me an appt to recheck my eyes. That is what I had requested from the short and curt receptionist 3 weeks ago. WTH?! Julie was pleasant, but after not hearing right back from her and checking reviews for other opthalmologists covered by my insurance, I made the decision to call another doc who my BF goes to, and they can get me in tomorrow!
So happy that the receptionist there was so pleasant and happy that I called, treated me like I am a valuable customer, unlike the receptionist/​scheduler at WSEC who needs to work on her phone manner and customer service skills. If only the communication of the doc and the receptionist met customer service standards, the back and forth could have been avoided.
My advice is that your blunt and cold receptionist get more training in dealing with customers. As a lead of a customer service team, I find your receptionist a liability if that is not how you wish to represent your clinic.

Will not be going here anymore. Had my eye exam and decided that I was going to purchase my new glasses online instead of this place as it will save me about 1000%. So I ask to get my PD measurement from them and they said it would cost $ 35 to do that for me. I said no thanks and will go elsewhere.
I instead went down to West Seattle Optix and asked the nice girl behind the counter if they could measure my papillary distance for me and how much would it cost. She said «of course we can and we won’t charge anything for that.»
From now on I will be getting my yearly exams that my insurance covers at West Seattle Optix.
So not only did WS Highline lose me from buying glasses from them that are marked up by 1000%, but now they won’t even get the money from my insurance for the annual exam.

After having my second exam in two years at this clinic I will not be returning. This first doctor insulted me when I asked about wearing contacts, by telling me I was TOO old! This year I went again, making sure I had a different doctor. I was early for my appointment and waited nearly 30 minutes with no one telling me why I was still waiting. When I finally asked the receptionist, she said she had no idea. I had to ask her to find out what was going on. I waited another 10 minutes and was finally taken to an exam room, by an assistant to never introduced herself. I told her I was not happy about my wait time or by being ignored. She had no response
When Dr. Weingeist finally came in I told him that I was not happy with the customer care for the second time. I did not like having to wait without any kind of information or explanation and that my time was no less important than anyone else in this clinic.
He told me he was running late. I was his THIRD patient of the day, which speaks volumes! My appointment was within the FIRST hour the clinic opened for the day. I told him I found that worrisome that they would be nearly 45 minutes behind in the first hour of the day. His response was to tell me that I should plan at least 90 minutes for my appointments at the clinic.
MY response to that was… I will not be returning to this clinic for my eye exams in the future. I can go back to GH for my eye exams without any problem at all. I came to this clinic out of convenience and a friends told me about them. It did not work out for me and I would never tell anyone else to come to this clinic. The customer care at every level is completely lacking.
On a good note the dispensary downstairs in top notch and I will continue to have them fill my prescriptions in the future.

One star is too many for this hellhole. My wife just left here in TEARS.
She’s had appointment for over a week to deal with a painful eye issue that’s interfering with her ability to drive, work, and function. But apparently the eye doctor with whom she had the appointment decided to retire. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, except that the West Seattle-​Highline office staff didn’t do anything about it. They. Did. Nothing. At. All.
The office staff never reached out to my wife to inform her that the appointment they set just over a week ago was cancelled, even though they had her phone number and contact information. So she showed up expecting to have an appointment and solution for her pain and left with… nothing! The office staff couldn’t transfer her to another doctor and said that the rest of their doctors were booked through the end of next month. WTF?!
My wife had to stop work to come to this appointment, and that’s the least of her concerns since she’s in constant eye pain right now. What’s wrong with this place that they treat their customers this way? The worst part is that my wife’s been to this clinic before and had a good experience the first time. Well, she’s not going again, that’s for sure.
DO NOT GO TO THE WEST SEATTLE-​HIGHLINE EYE CLINIC. I refuse to support any business that FAILS so hard on customer service, especially for people who are in pain and need help the most.

Had my eye exam here (first one in 3 years, so I was nervous about finding a good place in West Seattle), and then purchased my glasses Rx downstairs in the eyewear shop. Had a great experience on both counts. Caring, friendly staff in the clinic AND in the shop. Dr. David J. Lechner is wonderful, really took his time, had a great «bedside manner» (rare these days w/​MD’s), and I felt confident in his exam assessment. Will definitely go back!

I never went here before even though I live just down the street because there wasn’t a lot of reviews but let me just tell you — they were totally awesome.
Got me in for a same day appointment and every single person I worked with was great, like a real person you could talk to. Everything was explained clearly, they were on time (faster than they’d told me to expect actually), the place has plenty of parking, it’s very clean and professional, and they’ve got it all right there.
I just went in because I ran out of contacts and my last place (that I didn’t care for) wouldn’t send new ones because my prescription expired. But I can see if I ever need more than just a renewal they’ve got it all.
I have VSP insurance and it covered all the office fees and my first boxes of contacts and all I ended up paying was $ 17. Win.
So glad they are close to home!