Disputes Involving a Consumer or Administrative Issue

• Examples of this type of dispute may include:  dissatisfaction with glasses purchased from an optometrist, dissatisfaction with contact lens purchased from an optometrist, waiting too long in the reception area before a scheduled appointment, etc.
• For these types of disputes, we encourage patients to speak directly with their optometrist in an effort to try to resolve the dispute / concern.  In most cases, once the optometrist is made aware of your concern, he/she may be able to offer several resolution options that would be acceptable to both the patient and the optometrist.
• If this approach is not successful, we request that you contact the ACO office to authorize one of the specially trained ACO mediators to intervene as an intermediary and attempt to resolve the dispute on an informal basis.
• If your dispute cannot be satisfactorily resolved through either of the above two steps, we encourage you to submit a written, signed letter of complaint to the ACO Complaints Director to initiate a more formal process.

Please be advised that under the Health Professions Act (HPA), the ACO has limited jurisdiction in commercial and/or monetary matters (those concerning refunds, exchanges, etc.).  As such, depending on the circumstances, patients may have to look for other remedies beyond what the ACO can provide.