My wife is an optometrist and I told her this story. In her practice she doesn't get involved with the eyewear end leaving that to her opticians and it's up to the customer if they want to buy from her or go elsewhere. A good eye doctor cannot expect all patients to also buy eyewear from her and it's in her best interest to seperate her job and the eyewear portion to avoid this type of conflict. She has no problem if her patients go elsewhere and the majority stick with her. The minority go elsewhere and most end up coming back due to issues. She even has a few customers that aren't patients (see another optometrist) but buy eyewear from her. Business is good even being on maternity leave and in a recession!
She does see where the eye clinic is coming from as they put in the time and effort but again they shouldn't expect that all patients will also buy eyewear from them. Her advice is that since you've already paid the fitting fee, buy a few months of contacts from this eye clinic to find out the brand then buy after that online, buyer beware. After that switch to another optometrist if you still have a bitter taste in your mouth. She doesn't think it's worth the hassle to fight with these guys.
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