"Optician Haggling" Discussion

Steve_xx

Howard_Bennett wrote: »

I just don't see this (perhaps I should have gone to SpecSavers).

High Street Opticians have very flashy premises to give you that 'special' (i.e. being fleeced) feeling. That and the armies of salesmen/women that prowl the shopfloor are what costs. Opticians charges are a fraction of what is being paid for with expensive glasses.

My experience is a 10-minute test followed by badgering and high-pressure sales tactics from commission-driven sales flunkies.

Last time I was in an optician, it reminded me of two other experiences:

One was arranging my mom's funeral - expensive premises, pushy sales people and, most of all, cynical badgering to get me to spend more.

The other was buying a mobile phone, years ago, before I learned better and bought on the web.

The professional costs argument doesn't wash, never has and never will.

So you are implying that you would prefer or be happy to have the medical procedure of having your eyes tested in a dump are you? Similarly you would be happy, I guess, to visit your local GP or dentist in unlcean premises, so long as the cost was low?

Do you actually know what equipment is required and what the cost is of the provision of the equipment that an optician uses to test your eyes?

Do you actually fully understand what an optician does when testing your eyes. Do you fully appreciate the myriad of conditions that an optician looks for when testing your eyes?

An average eye test in England costs around £20. Do you consider this to be excessive and would you consider it so if when you went for your eye test the optician discovered you had cancer and that as a result of this discovery, perhaps at an early stage, your life was saved. How much value do you place on your life?

Eye tests cost around £20 for a reason. The reason it does is that some of the actual costs of the test are recovered on the subsequent dispensings. If people choose to go to their local opticians for an eye test only, and then en-masse decide to purchase their glasses online, then this will fundementally change the business model that currently exists. The result of such a change will have to be a sharp increase in the cost of the eye test. Remembering of course that online providers of spectacles cannot provide an eye test.

spinybif_2

Well said Steve, maybe you should add if you want to shop around do so before you have your test, that way if you have a problem with the specs you have only one person to deal with. If you want to risk the internet thats fine but use a multiple for your test, Most independents will value a loyal customer and look after you if there is a problem, my optician has returned damaged coatings, broken frames etc well outside the guarantee period, to the multiples you are just one of the herd - attracted by pseudo 2 for 1 offers, 1/2 price test etc, when you walk out of their "shop" your forgotten until it's time to sell you the next pair of specs. I would love to know if there is a difference in "no change required " for shoppers who take the offer of a free test.

If you use an independent and then take your prescription elsewhere he will lose money, don't expect any sympathy if you subsequently have problems - commonly contact lens patients will be refused further professional time.

sweetstudent

adamdavid wrote: »

Sweetstudent. As for the cost of toric contact lenses. They cost twice the price of standard ones to you, because they cost twice the price of standard ones to us. They're a much more complicated lens to manufacture and fit, therefore they cost more. Simple as that.

Hope that's been enlightening.
Adam

Thanks for letting me know!

poi55on

spinybif wrote: »

Well said Steve, maybe you should add if you want to shop around do so before you have your test, that way if you have a problem with the specs you have only one person to deal with. If you want to risk the internet thats fine but use a multiple for your test, Most independents will value a loyal customer and look after you if there is a problem, my optician has returned damaged coatings, broken frames etc well outside the guarantee period, to the multiples you are just one of the herd - attracted by pseudo 2 for 1 offers, 1/2 price test etc, when you walk out of their "shop" your forgotten until it's time to sell you the next pair of specs. I would love to know if there is a difference in "no change required " for shoppers who take the offer of a free test.

If you use an independent and then take your prescription elsewhere he will lose money, don't expect any sympathy if you subsequently have problems - commonly contact lens patients will be refused further professional time.

Agree with a lot of that. However being an optician owner if one of our patients chooses to go to specsavers fair enough. Thats because we get Specsavers patients that will come to us. We are an independent and charge £10 for an eyetest for 2 reasons. 1. TESCO!!!! 2. We're a one practice business and can't afford to pay an optom each day, so we test 2 days a week. £10 more or less guarantees a full test day.

PS - Optoms get paid high wages, and rightly so. These are the things you need to think of when buying a £10 pair from net as apose to a £19 from my practice. Plus the part I read about taking your internet frames to an optician to be fit is a bit wrong. Saving money at Tescos etc is one thing going into a local one/two store business is tight. Rant over sorry.

kezzmas

In my experience SpecSavers are no better than most online suppliers, and you can pay less than half the price for one pair that SpecSavers are quoting for their 'buy one get one free'. Also I think I have found a site that has inadvertantly left a 'back door' open that means you don't have to pay P&P. I am going to test it out tomorrow after I have had my eyes re-tested. Can't give you the actual link directly but look up Optical Mail Order Ltd. and add a foward slash NOPOSTAGE.

embee_2

katiecoodle wrote: »

I used to buy my lenses from my optician until I discovered the internet prices were a lot cheaper so I stopped the direct debit for the opticians lenses. A few months later he asked why I'd stopped so I told him that his prices were £90 for 90 pairs but online they were £65. So he offered me at £60! Can you believe it?! I bit his hand off & was faithful for a while until I discovered Tesco.com do the same ones at £51 inc delivery....
I'm a lenses tart and will happily go wherever offers the best deal. Why not?

Hope you never need professional care - difficult to get that online. It's easy to sell a product at a discount when you don't have overheads; but who do you turn to if/when you have a problem? Not me.

cov_lad

I have had to wear glasses since I was 7 and I always look around and usually select specsavers never really had an issue with glasses made in there (not that I would trust them with my eye test).
I wanted glasses and sunglasses (as reactions are no good in cars) they only had 2 for 1 offer on I selected the glasses I wanted, they obviously tried to sell me thinner lenses, reactions, and the sunglass tint as extras.
My glasses £ 99
UV Filter £ 12
Reactions £ 49
Sunglasses £125
Tint £ 12
Thinner x 2 £ 80

Less 2 for 1 -£99

Asked for Price £278

I said it was too high and started telling them to remove the thinner lenses UV filter and reactions and even said I wouldn't bother if they going to charge for tint on the sunglasses as an extra
So the guy just if I wanted all of the above to hang on a second and started typing on his computer and came back with a print out the total at the bottom was £125 for all the above

So just the price of the sunglass frames not a bad discount it shocked me so much I forgot to try and haggle more off the price lol

Steve_xx

cov_lad wrote: »

I have had to wear glasses since I was 7 and I always look around and usually select specsavers never really had an issue with glasses made in there (not that I would trust them with my eye test).

What a ridiculous statement to say that you would not trust Specsavers for an eye test. Specsavers have thousands of fully qualified optometrists working for them.

Have a look at this news item and then after you have read it see if you can justify your crass comments regarding the calibre of Specsavers optometrists.

http://www.runcornandwidnesweeklynews.co.uk/runcorn-widnes-news/runcorn-widnes-local-news/2011/11/24/runcorn-hair-stylist-carol-brinkley-has-sight-saved-55368-29827644/

MSE_Sarah

Thanks for all your feedback so far. Please keep adding to this thread if you have any other comments or suggestions on optician haggling.

MSE Sarah