I am sorry ...it is me again. The reason I am asking you this is that I went to XXXXXXXX for a two year eye test . They wrote to me asking that I book it. The eye test showed that one eye had increased by +0.50 and the other by +0.25. They persuaded me that I should go for a pair of varifocals and a pair for distance. They charged me £693.00. When I got them home I found they were not right so I went back last Thursday. The manager said maybe my eye test was incorrect since eye tests were "arbitrary" and depended on what you tell the optometrist on that day. I had a repeat test last Thursday which showed one eye the same reading as two years previously and the other eye +0.25. I said that I did not want the two pairs of glasses they made me buy because had I known the correct reading I would not have been persuaded to buy the two pairs. The manager said he would change the lenses in the two new pairs to comply with the new eye test. I told him my glasses, which I only need for reading were fine, and I did not want the two pairs. He would not change his mind so I left the glasses on his desk and out of pocket by £693. His parting shot to me was "its your call! " May I please have your comments?
Written answer:
Please accept that these are my own personal comments and the way I have always worked as an optometrist over many years, in both corporate and independent environments. I have removed the name of the Opticians as I cannot comment in this forum otherwise. I always feel that a change in prescription should be demonstrated to the patient as an improvement at the time of the test. If a small change cannot be demonstrated as better, then there is much less, if any benefit in that person changing the prescription. Personally I would find it very difficult to justify a 0.25 change in one eye and recommend a change in prescription. It is the optometrists job to get the prescription right! There will always be occasional patients who will not get on with their prescription, however good the eye test, and we have to accept this as part of the work. In the corporate environment I worked in for many years, we would always refund a patient who wasn't happy rather than loose a patient or risk adverse comments.
You have paid a lot of money and therefore your expectations should be high as to the service you should expect.
