Saanich Optometry

I’ve been a patient with Saanich Optometery for over 4 yrs now and I’m delighted with them they are friendly and thorough and the entire staff is so customer service minded! Exceptional is how I find them!

We have been coming here for quite a few years. The staff are wonderful and Dr Chin is very kind and patient without making you feel rushed! A selection of glasses and contacts as well as a great program for kids glasses

I have been bringing my family to Saanich Optometry for about 4 years now. I had previously been in different optometrists in the greater Victoria, but nothing comparable to the through examination and knowledgeable staff at Saanich Optometry. I really like Dr. Chin and Dr. Simmons (my kids are very found of him). It's not just about getting glasses but looking after my eyes health. I get all my questions answered. I keep going there even though is way out of my home.
Parking around there is easy and free. The place is super clean, and the staff is friendly and efficient.

Dr. Chin always makes me feel heard, respected and well cared for. The techs are kind, professional and patient. I’ve been going to Saanich Optometry for years and I highly recommend this office to anyone requiring an optometrist.

Great clinic, Dr. Chin and Dr. Tao are both very nice and smart. The staff are very kind, helpful, and professional too. Would definitely recommend.

Such a great office. All the staff are courteous and accomodating. No one makes you feel like the appointment is rushed. The office is very clean. Dr. Charles Simons is very good at his profession.
I highly recommend!

Very thorough, kind, patient and helpful. I found every member of the Saanich Optometry team went above and beyond to make my experience of an eye exam, search for the right glasses and the best contacts, amazing! Highly highly recommend!

Dr Chin was very nice, kind and knowledgeable. My son is very reluctant to get glasses and he took the time to be honest, and go through our options. Definitely will go back!

Professional, friendly staff and Dr. Chin is great! I’ve been very pleased with every pair of glasses I’ve bought.

Made an appointment here two weeks ago, sent them all my Blue Cross information a week before my appointment and received a thank you from the staff. Arrive at my appointment 10 minutes early and gave them my Blue Cross number and was then informed that they accept Blue Cross from everyone except Military, which I am. Never felt so much discrimination in my life. I would not recommend this place at all.

Dr. Simons is a lovely person. He is caring and patient, and takes the time to review results and explain things. My entire family has been seeing him for years.

Very professional and helpful staff. Dr. Chin is thorough, gives excellent advice and is "on the ball".

Dr. Chin was excellent. He provided a comfortable experience and was thorough with his explanations. The other staff were friendly and helpful. I'd definitely recommend this office if you need eye care.

Very positive experience. The eye exam with Dr. Chin and staff was thorough and all issues were covered, and choosing lenses and frames to fit my needs and budget was accomplished successfully as well.

Dr. Chin and his team are amazing! Professional, thorough, efficient, and very personable. I know my eyes are in good hands and look forward to “seeing” them for years to come!

I’ve had an excellent experience each time I’ve gone to Saanich Optometry. Dr Simons is respectful and professional, and takes the time to explain things thoroughly. He has also been great with my kids and made them feel comfortable throughout their exams. I highly recommend Saanich Optometry—the doctors and staff go above and beyond.

Dr SIMONS is our family Optometrist. From yearly checkups to our prescriptions for both my husband and myself. We are very happy with the service at Saanich Optometry. Dr SIMONS is thorough with his examinations, my kids look forward to going to see him every year. Price is great with a huge selection of frames for every budget. We have been really happy with our glasses and level of care. We would recommend Dr SIMONS!

Nothing but good things to say about Saanich Optometry. Dr. Simons is knowledgeable and professional, and also makes my kids feel comfortable having their eyes examined. Happy to have them as our family’s optometry.

Bad costumer service and rude workers. Waste of time and useless. NOT recommended. Go somewhere ells and save your self a hand full of time and money.

Updated review of Saanich Optometry: Still 5 stars!

I recently had a horrible irritation of my right eye and Dr. Simmons came in on his day off and after hours to have a look at my eye. He treated me with some drops and some special care instructions to heal up my eye. He was very thorough with the exam and followed up the next day and again the following week to make sure my eye was healing.

Their location in Saanich Plaza is also convenient with easy in and out of the plaza and plenty of parking both above ground and underground.

Thanks again Dr. Simmons!

Thanks for my recent eye exam and updated prescription. The exam went smoothly with all the important COVID protocols in place. I love my new glasses and prescription. Thanks Dr. Simons!

I got my glasses on September 2020 from them. The service was amazing, everything was organized. Also the optometrist was amazing. He explained all the tests and was patient with my questions. I moved to another city and asked for a prescription and they kindly mailed it to me. I appreciated it.

I highly recommend Saanich Optometry for your next eye exam or to pick out your new frames. Dr. Simons was very professional and knowledgeable and fully explained the exam process. They have a great selection of frames and staff was very helpful with frame selection and fitment. I received numerous compliments from co-workers on my new frames. I also felt very safe with the Covid protocol measures in place.

Overall, I had a great experience with Saanich Optometry and I definitely recommend them. I’m very happy with my new glasses and vision enhancement.

Worst experience ever had. Go somewhere else, doctor gave me a prescription and I got my glasses from Turkey to make it cheaper. Once I got the glasses it didn’t work at all and went to see the doctor again and he changed the prescription and asked me to get glasses based on the new prescription. I wanted to get a quote just for lenses. One of the employee told me that it is going to be about $600, I asked her if I got the right prescription in first visit, I wouldn’t be paying another $600. She told me that “this could happen”. Is this an apology? She also told me that if I purchased the glasses from their store, this would never happen.even if it is wrong, she said they could change it free. So keep writing the wrong prescription until they come back and purchase from you?

The worse experience ever. I made an appointment due to some discomfort on one of my eyes. When I went there, I needed to wait several minutes to get in. Once in the clinic, while the person at the front desk was taking my personal information, DR. Chin came out. He was looking for me to tell me that they were not taking appointments in person at the moment. However, I was able to see other people in the clinic. He invited me to go to my car and have an appointment on the phone. He argued that I had a possible eye infection. However, there was no concrete evidence to support what he was claiming. Also, no one from the clinic mentioned anything about a video call when I made the appointment. I felt very offended and left the clinic.
While I understand that we are under exceptional circumstances due to COVID, I firmly believe that these places should either communicate clearly about what they can do and cannot do or close until the situation is better. As customers, we cannot allow these types of unprofessional behaviors to happen under any circumstances.
This visit was a total waste of time at a personal and professional level. The worst part of it is that I lost critical time to get appropriate treatment.
Having said this, please think twice before going to this clinic.

Dr. Victor Chin is who I see. Dr. Chin is a huge nerd about his job and that is definitely who you want taking care of your eyes. He is extremely detailed and thorough. However he is also very laid back and a good conversationalist. He takes an interest in your lifestyle and overall health and how it can contribute to your eye health, explains why they do each test and what they mean. He even explained some of the research behind his recommendations. As he was writing things in my chart he explained why he was writing each item. I have been to a few places and did not like any enough to return until I went to Saanich Optometry. Now I go back here even though I have moved and it is out of the way for me. All the office staff are also extremely nice. Too nice. It's almost suspicious. COVID protocols were also very tight. I appreciated the attention to safety.

We having been having our eye care done here for a few years. Staff is always friendly and helpful.

I would like to that Dr. Simons for the greatest Christmas gift I've ever gotten, the gift of site. We were hone for a quiet Christmas with Dad when I started losing peripheral vision on the drive up. Sannich Optometry was open the Saturday before Christmas and Icrushed in. At 2pm Dr. Simon's diagnosed a badly detached retina, located a superstar doctor in Vacouver which saw me at 6: 39l0 pm and started treatment which ultimately saved the vision in my left eye. Thank you Dr. Simon's!

It would be nice if I could go to this clinic without being ridiculed for being on my phone (not making calls) whilst in the waiting area. Very unprofessional to comment on. The last time it happened I was looking up information pertaining to my insurance information and the second time I was messaging my family. My optometrist is otherwise friendly and very competent, but definitely needs to work on being more sensitive so as to not offend clientele.

I should also mention that when updating my personal information that when I was sharing the name of my new doctor with the receptionist, that she cut me off after the first name and interjected with a completely random Asian last name. I don't know whether she was making a snap judgement based on my appearance or whether she was trying to insinuate something about a lot doctors belonging to any one culture, but I wasn't impressed. Especially because the combination of first name that I mentioned with the last name that she mentioned does not belong to any existing doctor in Victoria?

Dr. Chin really brings focus, honesty and kindness through his sense of humor while looking after your eye care needs. He has invested in ongoing office upgrades. The office makeover and purchase of top of the line diagnostic equipment only serves to make for a careful eye care optometry. Been a patient for 10 years or more now. Way to go Dr. Chin!

This was my first visit to Saanich optometry and my experience was a positive one! Dr. Simons was very knowledgeable and thorough with a caring, calm manner. They were also very attentive/helpful to me while I was trying on frames and I liked that I did not feel pressure to buy right then. I will be back for sure.

Took our whole family to see Dr Simons at Saanich Optometry. Great service and kind, insightful staff. Will be taking my family there for our yearly check ups again.

I love visiting saanich optometry! The staff are so friendly and they don't charge to put new nose pads on or replace screws. They make you feel like you're part of the family not just another patient.

Our family couldn't be happier with Saanich Optometry. Dr. Charles Simons was really great with our three children. My son has a fear of doctors so I was expecting the worst when we went for our first appointment. Dr. Charles Simons was so patient and really made my son feel relaxed. My daughter had to get glasses and the staff in the office were really great at helping her pick out her first pair. We live in the Westshore and are happy to drive to Saanich for the level of care we receive. We will be back again soon!

I would highly recommend Saanich Optometry. They are a very welcoming, friendly & professional Optometry clinic. Dr. Simons is excellent, he has seen both my children and I for over 3 years. Dr. Simons and staff are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. My son keeps on asking when he gets to see Dr. Simons again!:)

I won't come back to this place. The eye exam appointment takes over 2 hours! The part makes me angry is that most of time, we were waiting. The endless waiting, and waiting and waiting! For test results. We have our eye exams done at other multiple locations in the past. We never were asked to wait 30mins and more for our results. In the meantime while we were waiting, the optometrist was with another client. I think the clinic has double booking issues. We've been there twice only for 1 regular annual eye exam. First time took us 1 hour and half then was told there was still 1 more test not done yet. Second time took us another 1 hour and half just for 1 test. It's such a waste of time.

Great customer service. Kindly lent me a set of frames to last me the week between my old pair breaking and my appointment.

I used to go to FYI Doctors and I hated it. I found their service to be lacking in consideration and consistency. I felt pressured and sold to instead of cared about. Saanich Optometry is a completely different environment. They remember me, they don’t lose my details or forget about my requests. They are prompt, professional, courteous and have gone the extra mile for me on more than one occasion. I can’t recommend them highly enough; from their front desk staff, to the office manager to the doctors. Everyone is wonderful. Do yourself a favour and just use them. They’ll save you a world of headaches!