What's the best high street optician - opinions please!

~*Plushroom*~

I haven't been in a couple of years since a terrible experience at Specsavers (They gave me an incorrect prescription and refused point blank that it was wrong - did the same to my father too :mad: ) but I know I need a slightly stronger prescription now, so where would MSE'rs reccomend going to?

I'll be going for both an eye test and contact lens appointment so all opinions would be greatly appreciated!

wishiwasarichgirl

level of service and other peoples' experiences will vary from store to store so best to ask friends & family for their recommendation...

what area are you in?

cornerstone13

I wasn't impressed with Specsavers either. I've been going to Boots for about 3 years now and no complaints - and Advantage points too

noonesperfect

Dolland and Aitcheson get my vote. You can quite often get cheaper eye tests (printable vouchers) and nectar points too.

lindsey_toffee_girl

~*Plushroom*~ wrote: »

I haven't been in a couple of years since a terrible experience at Specsavers (They gave me an incorrect prescription and refused point blank that it was wrong - did the same to my father too :mad: ) but I know I need a slightly stronger prescription now, so where would MSE'rs reccomend going to?

I'll be going for both an eye test and contact lens appointment so all opinions would be greatly appreciated!

I hate spec savers too they treated me like I weas a twelve year old girl the lady in there said to me "whos been a naughty girl" As I had been over wearing my lenses, oh but trust me she was not messing around!
Had other problems with them so I swapped to D&A too thry are ok it depends if you just want glasses if you wear lenses you get 50% off your glasses though they are not that cheap to be honest. They are good at doing the eyetest though and helping you choose some glasses and fixing them when they break!!!

Pssst

Go to an established independant. I have had experience of specsavers and Boots for contact lenses. Both were lamentable.

dieselhead

I have had good experiences with Boots, although suprisingly they were very uninterested in selling me glasses.

However I feel that they have looked after my eyes and my contact lenses very well, on their contact lens plan I have had on occasion monthly and then 3 monthly appointments when they were monitoring a potentional problem, all free (well included in my package!)

Loopy_Girl

When I left school I worked in opticians, first as an optical advisor and then as a dispensing optician.

I'm trying to think but I must have worked in about 5 different ones. 4 were high street and 1 was a small independent.

Without a doubt the best is Boots. The amount of training we received both optical and customer service was outstanding and I only left as I moved away from the area. I still go to Boots all these years later and I stopped doing the optical stuff 16 years ago.

wishiwasarichgirl

at the end of the day though, it doesn't matter how much training the optical assistants have had, you need to find an optometrist you trust and are comfortable with. All optoms have had the same training, but like any human beings, you will "click" better with some than others.

take recommendations about individual optometrists, not stores, as experiences will vary dpending on who you see.

and remember "cheapest" is not always best. those who charge more for their time will often have more time to spend with you, discussing your past problems and making sure you get the best solution this time

nedmundo

Agree with WIRG. There are good, bad and ugly to be found amongst all chains and independent Opticians - go for reputation.

noonesperfect

My local D&A were good and quite "high tech". Vision Value I also found excellent, though less high tech (lots of lens slotting and a book to read!).
Both have tested me as good as I can be for my age :rolleyes: ,though there's some inevitable deterioration.

Asda, however, announced me to be borderline short-sighted (though still eligible visually for police and army :eek: ) and sold me glasses which gave me headaches!!

Once I proved to Asda that their optician had made a mistake I got a full refund, but would never go again.