Unacceptable Behavior From Wilma Kriel at the Clearwater branch

Good day i would like to make a complaint regarding an optometrist at Clearwater branch, by the name of Wilma Kriel.

To start off with I (54yo) went in for an eye test on 29 July, and also took my son (11yo) with for an eye test, I needed to get Glasses as well as contact lenses, and based on my sons eye test glasses for him as well.

However she picked up an issue with my sons eye, and decided it was ok to, in not so many words blame me, this whilst not knowing the history, this still would've been okay had she not decided to "blame" me and say in all her 34 years she has never seen this, in the presenceof my son. Thus forcing me to ask my daughter(30yo) who works in the same mall to come and fetch my son to explain to her a brief history. She had a very condescending tone and made me feel like a naughty child.

In the process of the eye test before we started i advised wilma that under no circumstances can i have any lights or flash images, as this triggers my photosensitive epilepsy, that can be as bad as previous seizures that included that my heart has stopped and needed to be restarted with adrenaline injection into the heart and resuscitation, she still processed and said ah its fine i will yse a different color light, but was still a high risk to take, as she does not know the severity of my epilepsy nor my triggers but, as she was still condescending i sat and hoped for the best outcome, and felt overwhelmed and unheard as a patient, as my epileptic seizures can be very traumatic and even be deadly

I still needed my glasses and contact lenses and my sons so proceeded with a purchase and spent R13000 cash.

In the following week i received a call to say that my trial pair of contact lenses have arrived, i asked if my daughter who works in the mall there can just collect the pair for me as my car is in for a service, the lady advised that unfortunately i have to collect because the optometrist needs to show me how to use the contact lenses, I told the lady ok, but I know how to use contacts as i have been using them for 20+ years, wilma then takes the phone and again in a very condescending tone and belittling tone tells me that she is not going to negotiate with me regarding the collection of contact lenses. I said okay i will wait for our glasses and contact lenses to arrive and come to the store.

I asked my daughter to please accommodate me to go and collect my parcel, as I felt overwhelmed, judged and belittled.

When we got to the store we fitted the glasses and we went to the back office for the contact lenses, she moved into my private space and was already about to put the contact lenses in my eye when i stopped her and asked please can i do it myself as i can't have sudden flashes or movements close to my eyes, due to my epilepsy, (and please note i have disclosed my epilepsy even before my eye test the week prior)

She then again in a condescending tone said, "well are you hands clean? I told her no, but i can clean them. She said to me, come here and let me show you how to wash your hands( i am 54 years old i know how to wash my hands) after washing my hands she says ok. Now you need to dry you hands.

Again feeling treated like i am a school child.

Then she starts pushing lenses infort of my eyes, which i understand ins necessary, but at a fast pace which can trigger my epilepsy.

I kept my cool and we finished the process.

When we were done my daughter asked another lady on the floor for head office details.

We left and about 5 minutes later wilma decided to blow up my phone and called about 6 or 7 times my daughter answered .wilma asked to speak to me, she told her I am not available ( as my daughter knows i get upset easily and that too can trigger my epilepsy) she asked why we want to complain and said we must come to her in person we MUST sort it out with her, my daughter told her no we will deal with her manager and contavt head office she argued with my daughter and my daughter dropped the call, she called again and in a belittling tone yet again says to my daughter, "listen little girl i dont want to speak to you i want to speak to your mommy" my daughter told her in crude language to go ***** herself we wont deal with her, we will deal with her head office and dropped the call, she called *Again* at this point i answered and tried to tell her why we want to complain, she spoke over me the whole time and I struggled to try and explain to her, as i decided enough i said to her you know what, this is why we will contact HO she doesn't listen to her patients and give people the opportunity to talk, She tried to guilt trip me by saying "its fine lay a complaint. let the Head office strike me from the role, and take my license" then she says to me your daughter was very rude, and she must remember i know where she works so she should be careful. I told her not to threaten my daughter as i will not take this lightly, and i dropped the call. My daughter spoke to her store team and told them what happened and just to be mindful of wilma in the mall, as they would havr no clue why she might go into the store, a few minutes later her work called her and told her that wilma had gone into her store demanding contact detail for her head office the team member asked why she needs the details wilma said that because of an incident that happened the team told her that unfortunately if its not related to her work they cannot disclose the contact information, she then **** and said it is something regarding her work, the team already know its nothing related to her work declined to give the information, she then said its fine she will get the informsation herself. Another branch of my daughters work has since i formed her that wilma has called them to ask for the information

Wilma is condescending, belittling, zero empathy, and has very poor work ethic, and if you dare try to complain she becomes obsessive and threatening, as well as lie

I want torga optical head office to contact me so that i can in more detail to explain my experience, i tried to tell wilma that as an optometrist shes good at what she does in terms of how great my glasses and contact lenses are and my son is happy with his aswell, but her personality is what ruins the whole experience