Specsavers... a little story about them...! Did I have any right to complain?

Xenomorhic

Hi everyone... It's a bit late to act on this one now but I'd love to know what you thought about my treatment by my opticians early this year, and whether I had a leg to stand on!

It was around February and I was working as a temp for an agency that also found me placements- a sticky situation as they had a chance to inspect my work close up!

I had been there less than a week and had an eye appt at Specsavers. I'm a contact lens wearer and on their lensmail scheme- D/Debits which I think were about 13:00 a month at the time and all after care included.

Anyway, I met a nice new lady at the opticians who was very concerned about how long I was wearing my lenses. It was a 1hr bus journey to my job each way, so early start and late finish for my lenses with a full day staring at a computer. I'd had similar situations in the past which made my opticians umm and ahh but they'd always found my eyes to be in good health and so had let things stand if I promised to try and rest my eyes for a short time each day, and take them out. I did but sometimes was very busy..!

This visit though this lady was so concerned about this schedule (on our first meeting) that she said she was not happy with my continuing to wear these lenses. She urged me to switch to night and day lenses. I agreed and I believe I got some on trial almost immediately. I checked repeatedly that I could wear these 24 hours, was reassured, and took them away. The first day or two it was great to just get up and go! I still took them out and rinsed them in cleaner at least once a day, I was told that my solutions were fine for this purpose.

Then disaster... I forget which night- 3rd or 4th- my lens felt a little uncomfortable overnight. I woke up with it irritating me, but fell asleep again.
In the morning I was in agony.

I was still temping for this agency remember, they were not kindly disposed to sickies I'd been told, and so I had more than one job at stake if I was sick, so I took myself to work with only one lens in. My left eye was so sore and sunlight made it run. My work was near the bus stop and also near a branch of specsavers so I hoped to visit them as soon as possible and get my eye looked at. I got into work and had a miserable early morning, tears running down one cheek and my eye so red people were staring and looking horrified.

I rang my home opticians mid morning, pretty upset and explaining what had happened and why I had to come to work. I said I was next to a spec savers branch and that I was hoping they could have a quick look and at least reassure me I was not about to lose an eye! They said they were sure they would.

I rang this town specsavers. I told them I was in desperate need and on the lensmail service with the company. After much fussing at the end of the phone, I was told I could not be seen.

I was appalled and almost lost my temper, saying that it was an emergency and I was in a real state- no exaggeration. I said I was scared about what might have happened to my eye.

The woman told me to go to A&E. A&E was miles across town, and of course it was a sunny morning now, the idea of trying to find my way over a mostly pedestrianised area, through busy crowds, in bright sunshine was worrying, and as I explained to her, I had no idea when I would be seen- I was at work and the boss was not a kindly lady who would just wave me off and tell me to come back whenever- specsavers branch was literally a couple of minutes walk over the road from my office and I would easily get back if they demanded I return!

No joy. Close to tears I rang my home branch and told them what had happened. They said that there was someone off sick at that branch which was why they would not fit me in. I was asking what I should do. They said they would fit me in if I could get there. I held on as long as I could at work and skipped lunch, finally getting up the bottle of asking to go home.

I travelled back and was seen at home, 1 hr later, where they found my eye had an small ulcer in it and I had to rush to Boots for medicines to solve the problem before they had closed! It was a near thing though!

It took them less than five minutes to diagnose what was wrong and tell me what I needed from boots. Both Specsavers and Boots were within very easy reach of my place of work and I could have visited both so easily.

I was so upset and angry that Specsavers had not even said I could nip over and wait to see an optician that I wrote a complaint letter. I was told the branch would contact me direct but they never did.

I've wondered since whether this was shoddy treatment of a regular customer in need or if I was being unreasonable. I did wonder what would have happened if I'd been on holiday elsewhere in the UK, told to go to a hospital again perhaps? Or maybe that's standard?

I've never forgotten that pain and though I now still wear night and day lenses, they never stay in overnight! I'm about to move to a new day wear brand of lenses and am still with them because my local branch is so nice... but I've certainly lost confidence in the company overall.

Sooo that's my story? What do you think?

RightRevBod

I believe that the Specsavers branches are franchises, so I can understand why the branch close to your work did not feel forced to see you.

I do have to say, that if things got that bad, I would either have got a taxi to A&E, or called for an ambulance.

sockospice

Don't specsavers usually advise that you also have a pair of up to date glasses if you wear contacts, so that if you do have problems, you can take the contacts out immediately? That's mentioned in the paperwork I have with my contacts from them. I would guess that if there isn't an optician available, and they genuinely have no way of fitting you in, then the advice to go to A&E was probably reasonable.

If Specsavers are a franchise, then is it possible that records are not shared between branches, so they would have had no proof that you were in fact a customer?

rchddap1

I use to wear Night & Day lenses and my optician told me that although it does say '24 hours' I should still take them out at night and give my eyes a rest. This was from a small local opticians not linked to the big optician companies.

However, no matter what the description of the lenses I would never wear them during my sleep. Afterall, I'm not doing anything so they don't really need to be in. It only takes a couple of minutes to take them out, clean them, and store them.

I have also made the mistake in the past of walking around with 1 lense in....bad idea I was told later...whoops. Also, having a pair of glasses is important too...so that if you do have problems with the lenses you can use them instead. Its important to give your eyes a rest and having a pair of glasses allows you to do this. Contacts essentially sit over a part of your eye and so restrict the amount of oxygen that it can obsorb directly from the atmosphere. Wear lenses too long and too often and blood vessels will grow to give the eye the oxygen it needs. This can cause problems.

i am very self conscious about wearing my glasses out of the house, but if I was in your state I certainly would have.
I have to be very careful with my eyes as I have 'complex lenses'...in otherwords I'm blind without either my glasses, or my contacts.

financial_filly

My experience of Specsavers has been nothing but positive. I went for a routine check up only to be told they could see a problem at the back of one of my eyes and i had to immediately go to my local hospital's eye depart. Anyway to cut a long story short I had a detached retina and had to have surgery . So if it wasnt for specsavers then i wouldnt have known anything until it had detached completely and my eyesight suffered.

Re contact lenses though..I was always told that it is best to give your eyes a break from wearing contacts and tbh i cant see the point in sleeping in them? it does only take a few minutes in the morning and at least your eyes will have had a break during the night. specsavers always got in touch if i hadnt had regular check ups and checked that i had an up to date glasses prescription so should anything go wrong with my contacts i could wear my glasses until i could sort out the contacts.

Having had the problems recently with my eyes (& thinking your sight might deteriorate very badly) it makes you realise just how precious they are and i will wear my contacts again but not all the time and if i had a problem then my glasses would be worn in a flash (vanity or not!;))

Hope your eyes are better now

Xenomorhic

Oh yes, my eyes are good, they're pretty tough. That was the first time I had a problem with them in ages.

I hated the idea of having lenses in all the time. I discussed it extensively with this new optician when she urged me to make the change. She said that it was best to leave them in as handling them would cause infection.

Also, dunno about anyone else, but when I was on the Night and day they don't send you any cases or lens solution! It's sorta discouraging you to remove them really. I was on Night and Day for a while, Lensmail, but I always had to travel down to try and get solution or cases because after this incident, they were not staying in.

When I got my lenses this time I had no new case for them. I dispose of mine regularly so only had an old case for them, which I boiled. Also was nearly out of solution! So I just did as they said and left them in.

I love my local branch. I prefer the other optician there though!

That said I'm still shaken by the thought that I BELIEVED I was paying a national company for my lenses and aftercare. I'm often up and down the country and have stayed weeks in East Anglia. Am I to understand that if I needed help with my lenses I have no right to see an optician at that branch because of this set up? This is a worrying discovery!

Re ambulances/A&E. I would have had to walk several streets to get to a road where I could find a taxi. It's a pedestrianised area where the office is, on top of a shopping centre. I did not feel safe doing that because of how much pain the sun was causing to my eye...and I couldn't see properly and didn't really know the best way to head. I certainly did not think I could call an ambulance! I couldn't really leave the office and go so far away. The boss was a dragon and I'd been told she really didn't care what state you were in provided you came in and did your job. So she wouldn't have looked kindly on my leaving- remember I was only a temp and I had only been there a while, and actually I'd been unemployed before that and was desperate for money- you see the bind I was in.

LondonDiva

Not sure how Specsavers are set up, but if it was a franchise, rather than a chain, then you wouldn't really have a legt to stand on.

While I'm sorry that you had such a nightmare boss, I do beleive your health would have been a higher priority - the optician doesn't have a responsibility to make that side of your life easier. If you were a temp through an agency, check out what their position is on SSP - I would imagine if they had to pay you for holidays, that you should get some form of sick pay.

Hope your eyes are sorted.