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

suki1964

I would say ask locally for reccomendations, we couldnt possibly know whos good or bad in your area

~*Plushroom*~

wishiwasarichgirl wrote: »

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?

I'm in Hertfordshire. I did think of family and friends, but other than my dad (Who hasn't been back since specsavers same as me) and my OH (Who is in the air force and of course has to use the on-base optician!) I don't actually know anyone with glasses in the UK or who actually goes for eye check-ups. Which thinking about it seems a bit weird!

~*Plushroom*~

cornerstone13 wrote: »

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

I completely forgot boots had an opticians!

lolarentt

Have had major disagreements in the past with Specsavers (more than once) and Vision Express. Large Asda with optician section opened near us a few years ago - tried them and had brilliant service, and excellent personal attention from the optician we see there.

~*Plushroom*~

lolarentt wrote: »

Have had major disagreements in the past with Specsavers (more than once) and Vision Express. Large Asda with optician section opened near us a few years ago - tried them and had brilliant service, and excellent personal attention from the optician we see there.

I'm really amazed at how many others have had problems with specsavers. I thought it was just me and my father. Oh god Vision express, I remember when I first went there at 13 they showed me to the childrens glasses - an entire rank of glasses that had teletubbies and the like on the arms of the frames - I was rather unimpressed.

timestar

I steer clear of places where the focus is on how fast they will do things - as far as my eyes go I would much rather they did it right. Can be hard to see the same person as several opticians save money by having a limited number of optometrists who rotate around different branches. I have been going to the same place now for about 20 years and always had good service - Scrivens if you're interested. But as a chain, the branch I visit is good but diffferent ones may be not so good. I'd go with a personal recommendation from somewhere.

schmutz

Sorry to hijack your thread but I'm also in Herts and have decided I need to try contacts (I have a "thing" about eyes and even thinking about it is making me feel funny) but am having the same problem in deciding where to go. I'm going to need someone who is extremely patient and ideally with free return visits as I have a feeling I may need to be going back alot!:o
I've had a quick look but can't seem to find any particularly brilliant offers for trials/assessments at the moment, have I missed them or is there nothing around?

Running_Horse

suki1964 wrote: »

I would say ask locally for reccomendations, we couldnt possibly know whos good or bad in your area

Exactly. When I started in optics in 1984, optician advertising was more or less banned. It was drummed into me that happy patients would say nothing, but unhappy ones would tell everyone they knew. Just because Specsavers have the best advertising, does not mean they are the best, and they have numerous ASA judgments against them for misleading adverts. Build up a long term relationship with a qualified independent you can trust.

Running_Horse

schmutz wrote: »

I'm going to need someone who is extremely patient and ideally with free return visits as I have a feeling I may need to be going back alot!:o
I've had a quick look but can't seem to find any particularly brilliant offers for trials/assessments

If you think you will need long term care, why are you looking for short term offers? When I worked at Boots, we used to laugh at the offer chasers, who could not understand the free pair was subsidised by the more expensive first pair.

schmutz

I was more looking at trials or free assessments as I'm really not sure I'll be able to cope with contacts and didn't want to spend a fortune trying them only to find I'm hopeless. And I need an eye test, so again a free one of those would have been handy. Sorry I didn't really explain myself properly! Again, the patience would be more when I was first trying them as I have a "thing" about eyes but would probably get used to them pretty quickly after the initial put in and taking out session, rather than long term help, well so I hope. I'm more than happy to stay with an optician and pay a slight premium to have the help on hand for the first year or so whilst I'm getting used to them etc but would rather cut the initial upfront costs if possible. Mind you I guess they're squeezed in somewhere else so you're still paying them!
And I agree with the BOGOF glasses, I'd rather have a discount off just one pair but everywhere would rather up the price and seem to be offering something for nothing...

Running_Horse wrote: »

If you think you will need long term care, why are you looking for short term offers? When I worked at Boots, we used to laugh at the offer chasers, who could not understand the free pair was subsidised by the more expensive first pair.