Laser Eye Surgery Cost Cutting Tips

JessicaWhite

rachelandgromit wrote: »

On a seperate note has anyone used Viewpoint? They are in St Helens Hospital. They feature on todays Groupon email which I find slightly bizarre.

I have just bought the viewpoint voucher from Groupon. I have not heard of this clinic before until I did a google search on reviews of this clinic and decided to ask for a refund from groupon! Read review of this clinic from www . dooyoo . co . uk .. sorry...I am new user..can't post links here.

rachelandgromit

Yes, I'd read some reviews of Viewpoint and whilst I've read good and bad from all well known providers, googling the surgeons name didn't give me much faith although he does seem to have conducted lots of operations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4966578.stm

I did email asking for an appointment for a consultation, the surgeon (I believe) emailed asking for my Groupon voucher. I explained that I wasn't interested in the Groupon offer and indeed wasn't going to pay for a voucher for surgery and wanted a consultation first as obviously how your consultations go is a pretty strong deciding factor on who you pick for your surgery and I was still considering OE and Optimax. The email response back was that a consultation was £150!!

Optimax have come in cheaper than Optical Express for me - by roughly £500. Still not decided. Watching the surgery on youtube made me panic a bit!.

JessicaWhite

Thanks for your reply! After reading your link, I am definitely going to ask for a refund from groupon after they send me the voucher when the deal ends! I have totally lost confidence in viewpoint! I rather pay more to get it done by someone I feel confident with....probably this bbc news is the reason why viewpoint need to get on groupon! I am currently still breastfeeding, so I will only be fit for the surgery 3 months after I have stop breastfeeding. I still have a bit of time before I need to make a firm decision on which clinic to go with....please keep us all up to date on your decision!

desimoneysaver

Just wanted to share a tip with you all. Ultralase are the leading professionals when it comes to laser eye surgery. A couple of my family members have been treated by them with excellent results. The price is £3790 for both eyes going for the best treatment (Ultra Elite Lasek). My treatment is booked for next week. I rang up today saying I need to cancel because my wife wont agree to it and also I cant afford to pay for it. They knocked the price down to £3200 and I said its still expensive. Ive now agreed a massive saving of £790 with a £3000 price tag for top of the range treatment.

Wish me luck it all goes smoothly.

Ferrety_2

This might be of interest to some people wondering how Optical Express calculate their from £395 prices.
I had my consultation on Saturday and was hopeful, because all my readings were -2.0 or less, that I might get the base price. However, I have an astigmatism in each eye and they actually ADD the two readings together to get an overall diopter to work out the price.
So, my right eye -1.5/-1.75 was overall -3.25 and my left -0.75/-2 was -2.75 overall.
From what I could work out, after the -2/£395 base price, it's an extra £300 for each extra diopter, meaning my right eye was £995 and left £695. I used a £350 voucher and got another 10% off for booking in the next week, so £1160 was the overall cost - not too bad over 10 months, although a little more than I hoped.

I'm booked for Friday and can't wait!

rachelandgromit

Hi

Since my consultations, Optical Express have been in touch many, many times. To date, they keep pestering me and the price has been reduced to around £1300 and probably a bit less if I can have it done within the next week or so. I've still not made my mind up, I have a particular date in mind so I'll hang fire.

shullen

Just had an new year offer letter from Optimax which gives the top treatment (Intralase Wavefront Lasik) both eye for £1995. Had a consultation with Optical Express on Sat which quote the same treatment for £2375 after various discount. They claimed that they are using 4th generation Wavefront whereas Optimax using the 1st generation, hence the price difference. Is it true? Anyone had the same treatment with Optical Express but paid less? Thanks!

[Deleted User]

desimoneysaver wrote: »

Just wanted to share a tip with you all. Ultralase are the leading professionals when it comes to laser eye surgery.

If you are going to astroturf you could try to be a little bit less blatant, e.g. by talking like a normal human being instead of a low grade advertising copy writer.

The price is £3790 for both eyes going for the best treatment (Ultra Elite Lasek).

LOL, I heard Ultra Pro Elite Laser Retinal Scan 2012 Platinum Edition was better :rotfl: Who comes up with these names and why don't they want people to take them seriously?

Bit pricey too. You remind me of the broadbandings guy.

My treatment is booked for next week. I rang up today saying I need to cancel because my wife wont agree to it and also I cant afford to pay for it. They knocked the price down to £3200 and I said its still expensive. Ive now agreed a massive saving of £790 with a £3000 price tag for top of the range treatment.

To be honest that sounds like a fairly average discount on a treatment costing that much. So what did you do, use the 790 quid to buy the wife something nice so that she would agree?

Jay_C

Hi All

I have a consultation booked for next week with optical express. Anyone got any tips with getting cheapest price?

My prescription is -2.00 and -1.75 so i was hoping I would be eligible for the 795 in each eye but not sure how they calculate if you are?

Weeleesie

I got my eyes lasered about 5 years ago, I think it was Lasek(?), whichever was the deared of the two types anyway. My eyes were about -1.75 each so not overly bad (although I felt like I was blind as a bat!). Total cost was £3000 and tbh i'd rather have paid that amount than the discounted amounts you see in some opticians - the eye test, treatment and aftercare were all top notch, and I just feel your eyesight is something you shouldn't try costcutting with!

Only awkward moment was when I was just about to get it done - had anaesthetic in my eyes, and been doped up, when they announced that they'd turned me down for credit so i'd have to pay £3k there and then! (darn credit score....)

So anyway, 5 years on and i'm extremely happy, it's possibly the best thing i've ever done