First time getting glasses from specsavers

toastiest

At the beginning of the month I ordered a couple of pair of glasses from Specsavers for 125 and I thought that as I don't need two pairs of glasses I would get one pair tinted as sunglasses.

The eye test was fine, but I found it strange how they get really up close at the final stage of the exam to see the back of your eyes. When I had a test at tesco, they used a contraption rather than having face to face contact. I have heard from others that this is standard practice?

In any case, near the end of the test the optician pressed the wrong buttons and ended up at the desktop and did not know how to get back. This was fine and the optician was apologetic and friendly, but it took quite a long time before I eventually got my results printed out so had to spend some time walking around the shop. Once they had my results, I was told by the optician that this salesperson will help me with my order. The salesperson said to pick up the pair of glasses I wanted and she would be back with me shortly.

I already knew which pair I was interested in so I stood there and waited. What I see is that she has sat down with another client and I was just left there waiting for a long time without acknowledgement holding my pair of glasses. I eventually got fed up and asked someone at reception to give me my results then walked out.
As I did not want to shop at a place with bad customer services, I went to vision express, but their prices were higher and I have already spent so much time trying on glasses that I gave up and went back to specsavers.

Eventually, I chose two pairs of glasses and sat down with the only decent staff member there, but for some reason they had to call back the original salesperson who was rude and had a strange attitude - someone I absolutely did not feel comfortable talking to.

As they were not sunglasses type glasses I was not sure about getting one of them tinted and I wanted to have a look at the light blue tinting, but I felt rushed to make a decision and felt pressured even though there was hardly anyone else in the shop.

I picked up my glasses today and very unhappy with my tinted pair of glasses - they look absolutely ridiculous. Even though it is grey tinting it still looks slightly brown and look terrible. I feel so angry at myself for getting them as straight after making the order I had doubts about it and wish I called to cancel the tinting.

Has anyone had experience of asking for replacement lenses? How much do you think I will be looking at?
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

uktyler

Selectspecs.com can reglaze your existing glasses cheap, and it might be worth buying your glasses from them in the future, have a look.

itzmee

If you are unhappy with the quality then take them back! I have done this before with prescription sunglasses as the tint wasn't to my satisfaction and was giving me a headache.

Mandy11

I'm afraid you get what you pay for to some extent (within reason of course). My brother-in-law is an optician and has actually spent a year at Specsavers - and the way they work is volume processing so that they can earn a living. Just having your eyes tested and not having glasses or lenses does not give the optician the money for their examination time they've actually spent. They then have to sell as many actual specs and contact lenses as they can - and the cheaper they are, the less careful they can be with both your testing and fitting of the glasses.

I'd be very wary of getting specs by post if you have anything other than very standard lenses - the frames should be marked up before the lenses are ordered to make sure that they fit the shape of the lens to how the frames sit on your face - you could end up getting headaches as a result. You might be lucky - but you might not.

Personally I'd go to a better optician and get one pair of glasses with photochromatic lenses - do you really need two pairs?

Also if you can afford it get better quality frames - they work out more efficient in the long run as you can alternate two pairs for quite a few years wear.

If you decide to reglaze it shouldn't be much cheaper on the internet than at your opticians - if it is, it could be you are comparing inferior lenses as opticians charge only a very small mark-up on lenses - with a bigger mark-up on the frames (with the profit percentage actually decreasing on the more expensive frames as consumers will only pay so much).

I wore the cheapest glasses I could get for years - but there really is a big difference if you get good frames which suit you.

kazzah

regarding the Op's question about getting very close to look in your eye - I have extremely poor sight ( -9.50 and -10) and my optitician ALWAYS gets very close ( our noses almost touch) to see the back of my eyes
I have had this done by a machine also, but the optician says he can actually see any changes much better with his eye than the machine
my hubby and I have used the same guy for about 15 years - I now wear contacts as my specs were getting too heavy to wear but DH still wears specs and last eyar we couldn't afford the specs at our opticians as they were quite expensive and he was out of work
DH went to specsavers and he has NEVER been happy with the 2 pairs of specs he has and this year he will be going back to our own chap
yes he is expensive, but I do feel with some things you do get what you pay for

bothways

I've noted the consensus opinion here that it's unwise to buy varifocals from an online optician, even tho they're cheaper than the high street. I can bear that out. I've had very prompt & freindly service from one of the better known online UK spectacle retailers. And their prices were about half of what Vision Express and Specsavers wpould charge you. They ask you to take a picture of yourself wearing the frames and holding a ruler over your eyes, so they can make the varifocals accordingly. But to be honest the varifocal glasses I got back were only so-so compared to my previous ones from Vision Express and Specsavers. One pair was barely useable.

Anyway, in case it's useful to anyone else - I've just found a small one-shop opticians in a slightly seedy area of London (Clapham North) who were just brilliant. Really straightforward plain-talking knowledgeable staff, a good selection of unusual frames, and sensible prices. None of that ripoff penalty nonsense you get from the big chains if you just want a reglaze of your old frames. I've got no connection with these people other than as an extremely satisfied customer... if you just google the words Bromptons and Opticians you'll find their website

dmg24

bothways wrote: »

I've noted the consensus opinion here that it's unwise to buy varifocals from an online optician, even tho they're cheaper than the high street. I can bear that out. I've had very prompt & freindly service from one of the better known online UK spectacle retailers. And their prices were about half of what Vision Express and Specsavers wpould charge you. They ask you to take a picture of yourself wearing the frames and holding a ruler over your eyes, so they can make the varifocals accordingly. But to be honest the varifocal glasses I got back were only so-so compared to my previous ones from Vision Express and Specsavers. One pair was barely useable.

Anyway, in case it's useful to anyone else - I've just found a small one-shop opticians in a slightly seedy area of London (Clapham North) who were just brilliant. Really straightforward plain-talking knowledgeable staff, a good selection of unusual frames, and sensible prices. None of that ripoff penalty nonsense you get from the big chains if you just want a reglaze of your old frames. I've got no connection with these people other than as an extremely satisfied customer... if you just google the words Bromptons and Opticians you'll find their website

Anyone would think that you had an association with the noted business? :rolleyes:

Enfieldian

I wouldn't go to Clapham North for glasses. Might get shot.

sillyvixen

toastiest wrote: »

I picked up my glasses today and very unhappy with my tinted pair of glasses - they look absolutely ridiculous. Even though it is grey tinting it still looks slightly brown and look terrible.

i work in optical retail. and recently i had a lady interested in a quote for replacing lenses in her sunglasses following her test due to scratching rather than a change in prescription. the tint had a strange burgendy tinge and i thought it was deliberate as it complimented the frame colour - as we could not match the tint i suggested she took them back to the practice she got them from as i felt our tint range would not look as good in the frame ... imagine my supprise when she came back later saying the lab tech had told her they were tinted grey but the grey dye in the tint bath would have gone off to cause of the discolouration
as they could not match the tint either the customer came back to us.

augustsmummy

Take the glasses back if you are not happy with them.
I bought some designer glasses from my local optician, but when I got them home I noticed the frame was bent and one lense was slightly larger than the other. I took them back and complained the next day, the receptionist appologised and said she would sort them and they would be ready for collection in a week.
I returned to collect them, the receptionist took them out of the box, said they were now perfect (I could not see them clearly enough to see if they were bent) put them in the box and ushered me out of the shop.
I got them home and put them on only to discover they were even worse than before! :mad:
So back I went the next day. The receptionist said she couldn't see the problem. I said get me the practice manager, I'll discuss it either with her or with the optician.
2 minutes later the practice manager was appologising for the problems I had encountered both with the frames and with the attitude of her staff, and that she would be ensuring that from now on she personally inspected all spectacles before they were given over to customers, as the problem with my frames was very obvious!
She also wished to compensate me for my wasted time and inconvenience their error had caused, so gave me a second pair of frames free! :T And had the original frames replaced free of charge!

My last prescription, I had my eyes tested at the local optician as his service is fantastic, but I got my glasses from Boots, I was very happy with their service. Also I had a pair tinted, and they are perfect.

Go back and complain, best of luck!

foxy-roxy

I am not a fan of specsavers, last year i went to my local shop to have an eyetest required by my company as i work with computers and the service was terrible.
The actual eyetest itself was fine and professional, it was the staff on the shop floor, they ignored me, talking amongst themselves about where they were of clubbing that night etc.:mad:
My eye test results showed that i was ever so slightly in need of glasses for driving but they were useless helping me and couldn't answer my questions very well so i walked out and to this day still havn't got any glasses.
I am due another eye test soon but most definitley will NOT be going to specsavers.
i think you should complain though as i wish i had now.