Prescription glasses for £8.50 inc delivery, anti-scratch/glare and UV

scotsbob

daveboy wrote: »

My results from the test were as follows:

SPH: Right +0.25 Left +0.25
CYL: Right -0.50 Left -0.50
Axis: Right 125.0 Left 100.0

From what I've been told by others this is an easy one to sort...nothing special. I could order online or just find a shop and get a cheap pair.

I haven't yet done anything, so am open to anyone to suggest where I should go.

As for my employer contributing - on the paperwork that will be sent to the head office of my employer they ticked that it isn't solely for display screen use (will help with TV etc). I think employers will only cough up if it is solely for display screen use. I'd also have to have them from Specsavers.

So where should I go...I've held off on Selectspecs because whilst they are cheap they may not be the best place to go.

Let me start the ball rolling. Mark Bowden at www.spex4less.com I have been a satisfied, repeat customer for the last three years. I have compared many others but his helpful and friendly service has won me over

nedmundo

scotsbob wrote: »

Can you please provide statistics or a reference to support your comment that hard working professionals are going out of business?

If anything, more employment is being created.

Most of the opticians who provide online services supply branded lenses, mine are Pentax, so please don't perpetuate the myth that online equates to cheap and nasty.

You also talk of "price matching." I take that to mean that you will initially ask me to buy lenses for £100 but if I tell you that I can get them for £90 you will match that. Why not sell them for £90 to begin with?

That's why people buy online, transparency in pricing.

Hopefully this will explain the situation.

By the time overheads such as equipment, rent, staffing, fixtures, fittings, utilities and consumables are taken into account. the average eye exam costs at least £50 to provide, whilst the NHS (in England) pays a paltry £19.80. Most private fees aren't a great deal more. The argument given by the NHS has always been that we can subside it from dispensing - which is what we have to do as judging by this forum, most people begrudge paying £20 let alone £50 or £60 for an eye exam. The simple reason that some companies offer free eye exams is to tempt people in the hope that they will order some glasses (or contact lenses) there (you can draw your own conclusions from that).

Couple the overheads with the fact that the average independent practice doesn't have the buying power of online retailers or multiples then yes - we are more expensive than online retailers, but I can assure you that we (at least the majority) are not ripping people off. I'm sure you would be the 1st to complain if the practice was poorly staffed, inadquately equiped, shabby in appearance, inconvenient in location and didn't spend enough time to examine your eyes thoroughly.

So, if patients take their prescription elsewhere (which they are legally quite entitled to do), the optician makes a loss. If enough people do that, the optician will have to cease trading. Also, if there is not enough income generated from dispensing, there will not be any money left to reinvest in new equipment, training and services, which consumers rightfully expect.

Folks may think they are doing themselves a favour by buying glasses online, but ultimately, it will be they who suffer as either there will not be the choice in opticians, care and time taken with the patients and back-up should any problems arise, or eye exams fees will rise dramatically. Which way do you want it?

Oh - and I thought 'Pentax' lenses were exclusive to Specsavers. I can't see any mention of them on Spex4less. Incidently, you may interested to know that Specsavers own the rights to use the brand name 'Pentax' and can legally rebadge any lens they want to as 'Pentax' - things are not always what they seem.

scotsbob

nedmundo wrote: »

Oh - and I thought 'Pentax' lenses were exclusive to Specsavers. I can't see any mention of them on Spex4less. Incidently, you may interested to know that Specsavers own the rights to use the brand name 'Pentax' and can legally rebadge any lens they want to as 'Pentax' - things are not always what they seem.

My apologies. Within the last week I bought some photographic equipment with the Asahi Pentax brand name and must have had that in mind. I have amended post number 63. It should be Varilux.

I live in Scotland and am over 60 so I qualify for a "free" eye exam on two counts. However, I choose to go to an optometrist and pay her fee. This means I get no hard sell.
If you are telling me that the fee she charges doesn't cover her costs that is her problem not mine. Maybe she should take a course in business management.
Having paid her fee and got my prescription the deal ends there. I am perfectly free to have that prescription dispensed wherever I choose.

The fact that I, and others, choose to divorce the examination from the dispensing seems to irritate you. Well I was irritated in the 1960s and 1970s when dispensing opticians wouldn't advertise prices and fought to prevent them being advertised. Looks like the public have long memories.

nedmundo

scotsbob wrote: »

The fact that I, and others, choose to divorce the examination from the dispensing seems to irritate you. Well I was irritated in the 1960s and 1970s when dispensing opticians wouldn't advertise prices and fought to prevent them being advertised. Looks like the public have long memories.

As a profession (well before my time), we were not allowed to advertise prices - apparently it would bring the profession into disrepute!. If anything, the profession fought for the right to advertise.

emlou2009

i feel i should point out that they are offering anti reflection coating, not anti glare.

i'm a dispenser at specsavers and can confirm its totally possible to make up a totally accurate pair of single vision glasses with just the prescription and the pupil distance. not many optoms take the PD though they tend to leave it for the dispenser, which is fine, if a dispenser cant use a ruler then its a real worry!! if you ask the optom to take it at the time of your eye test, then providing the prescription is accurate and the online company make up the correct prescription, then the glasses will be fine. however, aside from the obvious fitting issues, why on earth would you want to order a pair of glasses without seeing what they look like first?! some glasses are wider than others so without knowing it you could end up with hugely wide glasses that completely dwarf you or you could end up with narrow glasses too small for your head!

i would never reccommend someone with a high prescription to order online with no fitting though, as i've found with a high prescription patients do find the end result beneficial when further measurements are taken, such as heights. i myself am a -4.00 which isnt particularly high yet i absolutely have to be looking through the centre of the lens at all times, if i look through the sides or top then the vision becomes instantly blurry.

LizzieG_2

nedmundo wrote: »

Hopefully this will explain the situation.

By the time overheads such as equipment, rent, staffing, fixtures, fittings, utilities and consumables are taken into account. the average eye exam costs at least £50 to provide, whilst the NHS (in England) pays a paltry £19.80. Most private fees aren't a great deal more. The argument given by the NHS has always been that we can subside it from dispensing - which is what we have to do as judging by this forum, most people begrudge paying £20 let alone £50 or £60 for an eye exam. The simple reason that some companies offer free eye exams is to tempt people in the hope that they will order some glasses (or contact lenses) there (you can draw your own conclusions from that).

Couple the overheads with the fact that the average independent practice doesn't have the buying power of online retailers or multiples then yes - we are more expensive than online retailers, but I can assure you that we (at least the majority) are not ripping people off. I'm sure you would be the 1st to complain if the practice was poorly staffed, inadquately equiped, shabby in appearance, inconvenient in location and didn't spend enough time to examine your eyes thoroughly.

So, if patients take their prescription elsewhere (which they are legally quite entitled to do), the optician makes a loss. If enough people do that, the optician will have to cease trading. Also, if there is not enough income generated from dispensing, there will not be any money left to reinvest in new equipment, training and services, which consumers rightfully expect.

Folks may think they are doing themselves a favour by buying glasses online, but ultimately, it will be they who suffer as either there will not be the choice in opticians, care and time taken with the patients and back-up should any problems arise, or eye exams fees will rise dramatically. Which way do you want it?

Oh - and I thought 'Pentax' lenses were exclusive to Specsavers. I can't see any mention of them on Spex4less. Incidently, you may interested to know that Specsavers own the rights to use the brand name 'Pentax' and can legally rebadge any lens they want to as 'Pentax' - things are not always what they seem.

Thanks nedmundo i did write a reply yesterday trying to state this but then the website cleared it coz i wasn't logged on! Doh!

yeah unfortunately something has gone wrong somewhere and scotbob might be right maybe it stems back from the 60s. But if we have to compete with deals like this, which will consequently reduce our income, then there ends up being more pressure on us to sell sell sell so at the end of the day we can be paid therefore if you don't buy then we can't test. One big cycle! And I didn't train to be an optician just to become a sales person.

shelly

emlou2009 wrote: »

however, aside from the obvious fitting issues, why on earth would you want to order a pair of glasses without seeing what they look like first?! some glasses are wider than others so without knowing it you could end up with hugely wide glasses that completely dwarf you or you could end up with narrow glasses too small for your head!

99% of the spec sites I have browsed offer a service where you can order frames with clear lenses in to 'try before you buy'. Usually this is for a few £££ then when you make your decision you send them all back and they make up the ones you want.
Again 99% of frames I have looked at online have all the measurements listed and I only ever choose frames that are within a mm or two of my current frames as then I know they will be ok.
I have to say hubby and I have ordered nearly 10 pairs of specs from online between us over the years and I have only complained about one pair that to me looked nothing like they should have done. I got a satisfactory result on complaining so all is well

lawsofnature

High street opticians seriously need to buck up their acts - stop blaming people who buy specs online for failing business! You need to adapt eg. set up your own e-com business and compete. I find it utterly patronising that you blame customers for your loss of business, and how we 'the customer' should continue to fork out for high prices so you can continue providing a service and invest in better equipment.

My brother worked in the industry at corporate level, and I can report that the mark-up on contact lenses and glasses is HUGE (more so than most other products).

Now I'm happy to pay more to see a high street optician for my purchases (say £50-100 above an online price), but the prices differences are simply too wide now. I recently phoned around all the major chain and independent opticians in my area to get a price on 1.76 index lenses - the prices varied hugely, from £150 to £500 and this excluded the frame price. Now I understand prices will be higher than online (we aren't stupid, the customer knows how business works), but the mark-ups are simply at exorbitant levels in many cases. I had to spend an afternoon finding a reasonable deal on a thin pair of lenses - this is unacceptable.

Someone above mentioned opticians playing dirty with prescriptions (ie. making the illegible), well I experienced this too when asking for a contact lenses prescription from my opticians who has had a huge amount of business from me over many, many years (going all the way back to childhood). I got a scribbled unreadable prescription, and I saw the guy do the scribbling before he gave it to me - they lost all my business that day (they aren't one of the big chains).

I still prefer to buy my glasses in a store, but I'm going to take the chance with an online seller this time. If anyone is worried their prescription is intentionally wrong, get two eye tests done, and buy using a credit card that gives you some protection should the goods not arrive. With respect to measurements, I'm simply looking for a pair glasses that offer the same measurements as the glasses I have now ...you can find the measurements of your current glasses by looking at the inside of the arm.

bignev_3

Hmm...

Do opticians naturally have bad handwriting, or is it deliberate? Am I a conspiracy theorist? I would have thought they run the risk of being struck off if they give you a deliberately wrong prescription.

~*Plushroom*~

LizzieG wrote: »

I just want to say that I think this is terrible! It is deals like this that is putting hardworking professionals like myself out of business. Now I know we all love a bargain but when we have to compete with prices like this, often giving a free eye test in the first place, is surely taking the emphasis away from the care and attention we should be giving you, the patient, and turning it to money. You wouldn't expect the dentist to examine your teeth for free would you?( unless you have an NHS entitlement - same for Opticians). AND you certainly wouldn't expect them and wouldn't want them to use cheap products just to save you money?

There was a previous post on here about what happens after you receive the glasses? What does happen?........What if they don't fit or don't look right? What if they break or what if you can't see in them? Who would you then turn to? US!? We have to fix the mistakes (again usually free).

Of course you are entitled to shop around but then why not go back to your optician we will always try and match prices, because at the end of the day we are just trying to help you see that little bit better.

You know what I think is terrible, that there are companies online that can charge between £5-£40 for complete glasses and regular stores will charge £40-£80 for glasses (Obviously excluding designer names there).

People do not choose to have bad eyesight, so of course we will shop around for the best offers - we have to pay for this for the rest of our lifes (Or for the laser surgery to fix it). So to essentially berate those who will buy online because the price is lower is a little much really.

This is coming from someone who has used both online and high street opticians and the only time there were problems was...the high street!

If high street stores are facing problems due to the online companies, perhaps that means that those companies need to look at changing the way they do business. If others are offering better prices people will go there - this is a recession you know.

As for your having to fix dodgy glasses from online retailers, why not make a note of where these people have gotten their glasses and make a complaint to someone? Or write reviews online giving your professional point of view having had to fix said websites glasses? Surely either of these methods would be more effective than getting people's backs up as you have. Just a thought.