A Real Eye Opener
NEW VIDEO! We’ve been eyeing allegations of fraud in one of the county’s biggest eyeglass chains. Now we learn the Texas Attorney General is getting dozens of complaints from Stanton Optical patients who say they were cheated as we learn more about eye doctors who write prescriptions without ever seeing their patient.
This investigation is A REAL EYE OPENER.
A Real Eye Opener
“I’ve worn glasses since I was twelve years old because my vision sucks. But enough about me, I can still see plenty good enough to be able to call out a company. Especially when I see growing complaints to the office of the Texas Attorney General. A Dolcefino Media Alert: Stanton Optical the cheap eyeglass chain. This story is a real eye opener,” Wayne Dolcefino told the camera.
“Hi, is Mr. Stanton here, please?” Andrea Palacio said.
“What for?”
Daniel Stanton clearly doesn’t want to face our camera. The last time we tried, we even got banned from a Houston Airport Marriott Hotel.
“You guys are hereby banned and trespassing at our hotel,” Duane Davis said.
“Oh no, my folks thrown out of the Houston Airport Marriott, my life is ruined,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“Because whatever footage that you’ve got, I need you to delete that,” Duane Davis said.
“No, we’re not doing it,” Carter McCormack said.
By the way, we checked the hotel security jerk out after we met him just for fun. I get it.
Stanton is a bit of an eye magnate.
His corporation, Now Optics, makes its money hawking cheap eyeglasses and eye exams all over the country.
And he’s got a lot more problems than trying to hide from public scrutiny.
Based on what we now know, the dam for Stanton may be soon breaking.
“I wanna see them close down in Houston,” Johnita said.
“More and more, we get our medical visits done over telemedicine. I do it, but when I do it I always get to see my doctor. That’s not the way Stanton Optical does it, and there are growing allegations that the way they do it is illegal,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Accused of cheating customers.
“Even though it’s in a bold print, I still can’t make out what it is,” Johnita said.
Insurance companies, even companies that operated Stanton franchises across the country.
“I was livid. I was livid. I felt played,” Latisha Lanclos said.
What could finally break the dam, a flood of complaints to state agencies that have the power to end Stanton’s eye game.
A dozen complaints to the Texas Optometry Board.
More than 50 complaints to the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Fraud Office.
“I’ve been investigating companies for like fifty years. So when I see fifty complaints to the Attorney General on one company, well that’s a bunch and it’s a problem,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“The only reason I came to this company is because of this deal that they initially said that they have, only for them to just hit me with the good old bait and switch,” Lanclos said.
Latisha Lanclos has just one of the active complaints. She expected the advertised deal.
“When we got to the register, he’s like $1,500. I’m like $1,500 for glasses? That doesn’t make sense. That’s like my mortgage. I’ve never in my life heard of that,” Lanclos said.
Johnita paid $283 for glasses that she says she couldn’t even see out of, and then couldn’t get a refund.
“They said we have to let the branch manager decide on whether you’re going to get your refund back. I said like hell,” Johnita said.
Johnita called all the way up to Palm Beach, Florida, to the top dog himself, Daniel Stanton, the refund still never came.
“I never did talk to the CEO. Never heard any response back from him or nothing,” Johnita said.
So she did what more consumers should do. She called the Texas Optometry Board.
“I called to have their license taken, and they told me that the Texas Optometry Board did not control the retail licenses part of Stanton Optical,” Johnita said.
Johnita’s complaint is one of 46 active complaints at the Attorney General’s Office against Stanton Optical and its now defunct other company, My Eye Lab.
Bait and switch, deceptive trade practices, false advertising.
Stanton accused of using every excuse in the book when consumers don’t get that advertised price.
But complaints over cheating customers are just part of Stanton’s growing issues.
“They didn’t have like an actual optometrist. They had like a robot doing the exam,” Lanclos said.
Stanton’s business model is based on telemedicine.
In most cases, their exams are done by technicians in other countries, like this one, Nicaragua.
This is what happened when we called a Stanton location in Sherman, Texas.
“Uh, we don’t have an in-person doctor. We don’t contact our doctors directly because we’re telehealth.”
At least two Stanton-contracted doctors have been sanctioned by the Texas Optometry Board individually, for what looks like a corporate practice.
Dr. David Mei was sanctioned and fined $2,000 after failing to have contact with a patient during an initial patient exam.
Dr. Anthony Nguyen has been sanctioned twice.
“Is Dr. Nguyen there, please?” Palacio said.
“Uh… no ma’am, he is only here at our locations on Tuesdays and Wednesday.”
Nguyen works out of several Stanton Optical locations.
“He goes around to different optical stores that have a higher volume.”
Nguyen does have in-person patients, and apparently he’s a very fast worker.
Kind like Superman when it comes to writing prescriptions for glasses.
According to sworn testimony in a Stanton-related lawsuit, that can mean literally writing thousands of prescriptions in a single week, in minutes, for a patient he never saw.
One of his patients complained to the Optical Board that they couldn’t walk, read, or drive after getting glasses from Dr. Nguyen’s prescription.
“Virtually all the complaints are unresolved. Was Dr. Nguyen sorry, concerned for his patients? Well no. He was insulted,” Dolcefino told the camera.
He says he was “aggravated.” Called the patient a coward. Talked about his affront. And how his standing as an optometrist had been damaged.
The Texas Optometry Board disagreed with Nguyen.
The Optical Board found that no one did 5 of the 10 required tests before the prescription was issued.
Nguyen was fined $4,000 for not meeting minimum standards for an optometrist.
Nguyen appealed all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. He lost every time.
Dr. Nguyen was complained about again in 2024, sanctioned again, and fined $750.
The Optometry Board said Nguyen’s test assessments were “generic template wording and therefore worthless.”
“I’m just a board member, so I direct you to the office,” Mala Sharma said.
Houston attorney Mala Sharma sits on the Optometry Board.
So does Dr. James Oevermann of Cypress Family Eye Care.
But neither would talk to us about the Stanton issue.
Janice McCoy, the T.O.B.’s executive director, responded via email and gave us news Stanton doctors were getting in more trouble.
Quote: “The board is now in the process of settling 10 other similar cases.”
“A comprehensive eye exam has 10 points, not, you know, simply signing a prescription,” Dr. Allan Panzer said.
Dr. Allan Panzer is an optometrist who’s been practicing nearly 50 years in Bellaire, Texas.
And he’s been a buddy of mine since we were teenagers in Meyerland.
He says there are some eye visits that can be done through telemedicine, but not comprehensive exams.
“You’re not going to find many technicians that can conceivably do this,” Dr. Panzer said.
And that’s what Stanton Optical claims to do. Even to insurance companies.
“According to Texas law, the actual optometrist is supposed to look at the external structures of the eye, the internal structures of the eye, and determine the final prescription, not a technician,” Dr. Panzer said.
“Is it possible to do what’s required of optometrists by Texas law without ever seeing your patients?” Andrea Palacio said.
“I do not believe it is. That is a clear violation,” Dr. Panzer said.
In 2018, the California Board fined Stanton Optical $655,000 for various violations of state laws at 21 Stanton Optical stores.
It was reported by the American Optometric Association.
Stanton threatened to sue for defamation.
The AOA said it “would not be silenced.”
“Neither will we. Stanton Optical is trying to come after us. Well when did that ever happened before? They want to subpoena our records detailing our investigation of their company in a Florida courtroom. Good luck with that. In the meantime, we are going to warn people about what is going on but the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, can and should do something about it, sue,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Texas Congressman Wesley Hunt has called for federal investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for Staton’s alleged deceptive trade practices, possible insurance fraud.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to investigate violations of fraudulent billing and prescription practices.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office hasn’t confirmed a broader investigation yet, but with 46 active complaints, you kind of wonder, why not?
Right now, the Texas Optometry Board is seeking public comment on future guidelines for telemedicine, but so far it’s only dealt with complaints against doctors on a case-by-case basis.
“Only with a consumer complaint will the Texas Optometry Board investigate anything. They know that these entities exist, but the law is that a consumer must complain,” Dr. Panzer said.
“I always wonder about these state agencies that we set up to make sure people don’t screw up. And then they say well we don’t really have the power to do it. Then what’s the point?” Dolcefino told the camera.
“I feel like there should have been some sort of class action lawsuit on them by now, but it seems like they’re ignoring people’s complaints, and it’s a lot of complaints,” Lanclos said.
This good eye doctor believes customers at telehealth facilities are getting shortchanged.
“So these people are getting what I call left-right out the door. So they check their left eye, they check their right eye, and then they wave goodbye. I’m not fond of that having done this for many years,” Dr. Panzer said.
“I want the agency to get closed down if they’re gonna continue to have these unethical practices, to be honest,” Lanclos said.
“I think they should shut them down, all over Texas. Get them out of Texas,” McClendon said.
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