Glasses Buying Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

nico26

Sorry posheyes I have to disagree with you Opticians do a very good service in my opinion. My mother and brother both had eye conditions picked up by the opticians which needed hospital treatment. I now have to have my eyes tested every year because of their problems. I do not pay for this service.As for the price of varifocals.there are different qualities. I have just purchased new ones. I had the choice of lenses and different qualities.Different prices. Do you think you are going to get the top of the range lenses for £99 dont think so. I paid £380 for mine and in my opinion worth every penny I could have got them cheaper but I chose an expensive frame.I tried on about 20 different pairs before.I found the right one.Can you send yours back 20 times before you get the right ones? My choice is my optician Okay if you want to buy online your choice but dont knock your local optician.You need them..They just might save your sight some day.

nedmundo

posh_eyes wrote: »

I think you have missed my points from earlier. Opticians should charge for the services they provide, including eye tests, not offer these services at a discount, often below cost (sometimes free!) and then load all the cost of providing these services on to the products they sell. If they provided a service which people value people will pay for the service. Steve_xx, you seem to feel that somehow the public owe opticians a living.

That's all well and good Posheyes and to a degree you are correct. The problem comes in thet 70-80% of our patients are NHS, whom we receive £19.80 to perform an eye examination of a strict minumum standard on. Unless the NHS starts to pay us a realistic fee, then the situation cannot change. The profession as a whole have been trying to get this for years - perhaps you would care to lobby parliament on our behalf.

The other point you fail to make is that the Optician is legally responsible for the prescription which even if technically correct, may not be tolerated and may need to be changed. Online suppliers don't have this responsibility along with many others, hence they don't need to factor this into their pricing structure.

nedmundo

posh_eyes wrote: »

My point is that consumers have been paying far too much for their glasses and contact lenses, including varifocal lenses. There are online companies which can offer the same products as high street opticians, provide a better service and at a lower price. If this were not the case why are there so many thousands of happy consumers who have bought online? The optics profession has shunned internet suppliers but its the consumers who will have the last word.

Care to elaborate how an online supplier could provide a better service? Perhaps it's the accurate measurements of 1/2 PDs and heights, or it could be discussing the various options of lenses tailored to a patients particular needs/occupation or even in the accurate adjustment and periodic servicing of the specs later.

nedmundo

posh_eyes wrote: »

The price of varifocals is totally excessive by high street opticians - the mark-up on these lenses beggars belief.

I would recommend ordering online only if you are able to visit the company selling the glasses for the necessary measurements to be taken. Type in "varifocal glasses" in google and give the companies listed a call to ask to arrange to visit. Some online companies sell varifocal lenses for £75.00 including taking all the necessary measurements.

It's a bit rich to point the finger regarding excessive mark-ups. Why are your Varilux lenses the same price as the majority of High St Opticians? I'd bet you get significantly superior trading terms compared to small one off practices? That would make your mark up even greater, and your overheads would be lower! Pot, black & kettle spring to mind!

posh_eyes

nedmundo wrote: »

Care to elaborate how an online supplier could provide a better service? Perhaps it's the accurate measurements of 1/2 PDs and heights, or it could be discussing the various options of lenses tailored to a patients particular needs/occupation or even in the accurate adjustment and periodic servicing of the specs later.

I let customers be the judge on the quality of the service they receive.

I came on this forum to offer users a more balanced view of purchasing optical products online as it appears that is dominated by those who appear to have a vested interest in guiding people away from online purchases. This is despite the thousands of satisfied customers who make online purchases of optical products. The fact that the online sales are growing so rapidly, says much more than words on a forum about the service and value for money received by the public.

Frankly I doubt if there is anything I can add that would change your view on the subject of online optical sales. I just hope that people who are making purchasing decisions are provided with a balanced view before deciding.

nedmundo

So you didn't come on here for commercial reasons then? If your claimed motivation was genuine, maybe you would have joined under an anonymous moniker.

I have no vested interest in guiding people away from online purchases - it's not a problem for me. I do have an issue with being accused of ripping people off when there are good reasons why high street opticians are more expensive - not something online opticians are very keen to point out.

Do feel free to address the issues I have raised in previous posts!

Steve_xx

posh_eyes wrote: »

I let customers be the judge on the quality of the service they receive.

I came on this forum to offer users a more balanced view of purchasing optical products online as it appears that is dominated by those who appear to have a vested interest in guiding people away from online purchases. This is despite the thousands of satisfied customers who make online purchases of optical products. The fact that the online sales are growing so rapidly, says much more than words on a forum about the service and value for money received by the public.

Frankly I doubt if there is anything I can add that would change your view on the subject of online optical sales. I just hope that people who are making purchasing decisions are provided with a balanced view before deciding.

There is nothing wrong with purchasing spectacles online. There can be clinical drawbacks in doing so. There is no reason why online dispensers and high street opticians cannot co-exist. However, online suppliers cannot exist without the prescribing services of an opthalmic optician. It would not be good for online suppliers to drive high street opticians out of business. I mean, you don't actually kill the goose that's laying the golden egg for you, do you?

I will now deal with your comment regarding "vested interest in guiding people away from online purchases". I don't know of any high street optician who would dissuade anyone from making an online purchase, without good clinical cause. The optician may advise of the complexity of buying online, and this is a fair comment. I'm sure your own interests are "vested" in running your online business. I think you'll find that most people who run a business of any type will generally vest their interest in their own business.

Opticians owe a duty of care to their patients and that duty may well extend in advising certain customers that they might be unwise to opt for an online dispensing. I know of one optician who duly gave a patient their prescription only to receive a telephone call from the patients chosen dispensary asking the optician if he could tell him what a prism was. The optician rightly declined to answer.

sweetstudent

This is a copy of a previous post i made:

I have just paid £99 (it should have been more but i got a £45 CLBP and my works VDU voucher off) i am more than happy to buy them in person and "pay overpriced" for the frames, i know i am see a trained person.

In my case the optician explained to me that the length of the frame affects the thickness of the lens, and was telling me that even though the rimless ones had 1.6 thinness he advised 1.67 because they are clearer and stronger. the adviser even managed to get the lens made small as i prefer small frames and that way the lens would be thinner.

Now, i don't see any Internet opticians having that much service and the fact that i can go back and get them readjusted, you cant do that online can you?

he also told me, because i mentioned online, he was saying that they had a lady in who brought frames online and she had been to several places and no optician would help her!

I am in no way affiliated to specsavers or any optician!!!!!

BexTech

Problem I had with Specsavers (though with others too, though not quite as bad) is for the money they do little and the quality of their frames are cheap yet they charge an arm and a leg, get much better for less online.

posh_eyes

Steve_xx wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with purchasing spectacles online. There can be clinical drawbacks in doing so. There is no reason why online dispensers and high street opticians cannot co-exist. However, online suppliers cannot exist without the prescribing services of an opthalmic optician. It would not be good for online suppliers to drive high street opticians out of business. I mean, you don't actually kill the goose that's laying the golden egg for you, do you?

I will now deal with your comment regarding "vested interest in guiding people away from online purchases". I don't know of any high street optician who would dissuade anyone from making an online purchase, without good clinical cause. The optician may advise of the complexity of buying online, and this is a fair comment. I'm sure your own interests are "vested" in running your online business. I think you'll find that most people who run a business of any type will generally vest their interest in their own business.

Opticians owe a duty of care to their patients and that duty may well extend in advising certain customers that they might be unwise to opt for an online dispensing. I know of one optician who duly gave a patient their prescription only to receive a telephone call from the patients chosen dispensary asking the optician if he could tell him what a prism was. The optician rightly declined to answer.

I agree with this. I suggest that there is an opportunity for online suppliers and opticians (particularly independent opticians) not just to co-exist, but also to co-operate. The market for the supply of optical products has changed and purchasers now want both the benefit of local sight tests and dispensing and the convenience and value for money of online purchases. Perhaps this forum might spark a new business model where online suppliers and opticians work together for mutual benefit.