I had used this practice for the past couple years - ever since they changed to be part of the larger practice the service has steadily gone downhill with the Raleigh location specifically. I would recommend anyone who needs an eye Dr to either visit their Cary location where they truly understand customer service or find another eye doctor in the area. This is not to say the Drs in the practice arent good - that said you are only as good as your office staff.While I just moved out of state, had I still been in the area I would never use or recommend this facility to anyone until they change out their office staff.

I have been a patient of Dr. Hayes since 2004. He is superb in his profession and takes pride in his work. He is accurate, professional, timely and holds his staff, office, and practice to a high standard. His office visits are always a joyous occassion and Dr. Hayes takes time and patience with you. He will meet you with a smile and Ive never felt rushed. He recommended me for Retina surgery and provided recommendations. I will be so sad the day he ever decides to retire!

I am a long-time contact lens wearer and chose this practice from a google search after relocating to North Raleigh. Dr. Hayes and all his staff are phenomenal people! Because they are, I will not identify the exact issues I believe cause a breakdown in the success of this practice, although I previously worked in a college of medicine for seven years and am quite knowledgeable about medical offices. It unfortunately took me 8 months of unbelievable hassle with them to finally get a full pair of workable lenses for everyday wear. Please be sure to choose another eye care center if you are looking for a new provider.

Dr Hayes is great and we have gone to him for 26 years and I would recommend this practice to everyone. Hope this helps anyone who is looking for a good eye doctor.

After trying to make an appointment for two days with no success, I finally spoke with Lisa. She is so helpful and kind.

After my mostly positive first appointment, I had originally thought I might change to Contact Lens Institute as my permanent eye doctor, as it’s more convenient for me. After everything since, not only will I never go there again, but if anyone asks for an eye doctor recommendation, I will strongly encourage them to NOT use this one.I was recommended to Dr. Hayes by my regular eye doctor. Once I had an appointment scheduled, they warned me that the appointment would be 2-3 hours, which I said was fine, as I assumed it was standard for a new patient consult and exam.At my appointment, I waited for 30 minutes in the waiting area. I was taken back and then waited at least another 45 minutes in the exam room. I will say that Dr. Hayes was professional and knowledgeable.As my appointment was in mid-December, Dr. Hayes graciously agreed to hold off on ordering my contacts until January when my insurance would reset so I could purchase a new pair of glasses that I desperately needed before the end of the year. The following week, I went back to my regular eye doctor to pick up the glasses that I had ordered and was told that there was already an authorization on my insurance, which was placed by the Contact Lens Institute. My eye doctor suggested that I call the Institute and ask them to cancel the authorization and reorder them in January as they had promised to do. I called and explained the situation, and the office manager said she would cancel it. When calling back the Institute for a THIRD time to follow-up, they said that they could not cancel it after all.By the end of January, I was concerned as I had still not received a call to pick up my contacts (but I had received the bill). I called and was told that the contacts were in, and I scheduled an appointment. The next day, I received a call from another member of the office staff saying that they needed to schedule me for my contact fitting. I said I had called yesterday and scheduled an appointment for the 9th, and she told me that it was actually the 10th. I KNOW I did not write down the wrong date, so they made yet another mistake.The week of the appointment, I didn’t think I would be able to make the originally scheduled time due to work, but I called to see how long the appointment would take just to make sure I couldn’t make it work out. I was told it would take another 2-3 hours. When I asked why it took so long for a fitting, I was told “it’s Dr. Hayes.” I was told that there were no more appointments until MAY, and this was in February. After I asked why they had no appointments until May for a fitting, she somehow found an opening for later that week.When I had met with Dr. Hayes in December, he had told me that he would order the right one in blue and the left one in gray instead of ordering the right with a black dot as I had typically done to allow me to tell them apart. When I arrived for my fitting, they were both blue and neither one of them had a black dot to allow me to differentiate. Then, the worst part was that after waiting 2 months to get these contacts, THEY WERE THE WRONG STRENGTH. And when I say they were the wrong strength, I don’t just mean they were off a bit. I mean that I could not see with those contacts in. After waiting for 20 minutes in the exam room, the technician came back and said that Dr. Hayes would be with another patient for at least 45 more minutes. She told me that she would order the new ones and would call me the following week (I am not sure why the first pair took 2 months to come in when they could apparently have arrived within a week). I told her that when I came back, I did not want to wait to see Dr. Hayes again. I wanted to simply come pick up the contacts and leave. To her credit, she apologized for the error. I waited two weeks and heard nothing from their office. I finally heard back after I called them and got an appointment scheduled to pick up the correct pair.

Dr. Chin no longer works here. She is at Fox Eyecare at Crabtree. The offices at the Contact Lens Institute tried to put me with a new doctor and had the gall to lie to me and tell me that she retired.