Vent - SelectSpecs

finrodfelagund

Just wanted to warn fellow moneysavers about Select Specs shocking customer service. They promise delivery within 10-14 days and I was a little disgruntled not to receive my new specs in time for my holiday (16 days later). However, I put it down to Royal Mail's inefficiency, which I have become used to.

Imagine my surprise and annoyance to receive an e-mail on the day of my return from holiday (now 24 days after ordering) telling me they were out of stock of the frames and would be unable to guarantee delivery for up to 6 weeks.

In spite of several e-mails back and forth since, I have only received a simple apology and some flimsy excuses - they have refused to accept that it is their responsibility to keep the customer informed if deliveries are likely to be delayed. They have offered no compensation or alternative solution and I am still without glasses, 30 days after placing my order. As you can imagine I am pretty livid, since they have had my £156 all this time. I count myself lucky that the glasses, although very helpful, are not essential to my daily life.

The most annoying thing is that I could have had 2 pairs from Boots for only £70 extra and would have been able to pick them up in 7 days.

Beware, saving money is not always worth it!

SelectSpecs_company_representative

Hi FinrodFelagund,

What was your order number for this? I want to have a look into what went wrong for this order. If a frame is usually unavailable we would contact the customer within several days to offer a refund or another model/option.

If you could let me know I'll check this out.

Kind regards,
James
SelectSpecs.com

Dr_B_2

I'm new to the forum (in fact I've joined specifically because I'm so exasperated by this company and was fooled into using them after hearing that they were mentioned by the site) so forgive me if there's some rule about bumping threads.

I didn't want to post on the multipage threads that relate to a huge number of different companies, as I myself found it difficult to get coherent information about a specific company in this way. Maybe I'm doing something wrong in the search function, but it directed me to the thread as a whole rather than the page the search term was on.

Anyway, I ordered a cheap (£10.00) pair of glasses from this company on 4 December, which a month later hadn't arrived - in fact they still haven't (19 February).

On informing them about the delay, they asked me to wait FOR A FURTHER TWO WEEKS to see if the item arrived! I know it was (allegedly) shipped from Hong Kong, but unless they were sending it by bicycle courier, one would have hoped a month should be long enough for them to spring into action.

Suffice to say the item didn't arrive (after six weeks). I informed them of this and asked for either a replacement item or a refund. To my dismay, I was informed that they don't do refunds for non-delivery (!) and that I would have to download a form, fill it in and post it to them to receive a replacement. However they didn't actually send me the form, so I had to send another message requesting they do so (perhaps they sent it via Hong Kong?).

In this staggeringly impertinent form - which comes across like an investigation of MY integrity (I paid instantly remember, they're the ones who didn't send the item) - selectspecs inform me that the courier will be contacting me (I imagine they're travelling from Hong Kong too) for my "assistance" in tracing the item. Apparently if I don't do so to their satisfaction they will charge me for a replacement.

In other words the onus is on me, the customer, to prove I haven't received the item, rather than on selectspecs to prove they sent it. To add insult to injury they then have the temerity to "warn" me that "a false claim will result in criminal prosecution".

Even if everything goes swiftly and according to plan from now on, it will take at least a further week or two (snail mail to selectspecs, investigation, etc) before I see any sign of the item.

In truth, unless I go to bl**dy Hong Kong myself, I expect that by the time I do receive the flipping things my prescription will have changed anyway.

Bearing all this in mind, take this...

SelectSpecs_company_representative wrote: »

Hi FinrodFelagund,

.. If a frame is usually unavailable we would contact the customer within several days to offer a refund or another model/option...

Kind regards,
James
SelectSpecs.com

...with a fistful of salt.

You may well get a refund if the item's not in stock, but not if it doesn't arrive. Ironically that's your best hope - that they don't have any in stock and use that get-out-of-jail-free card to put your refund to better use elsewhere.

Don't take my word for it - please, please, please, look at the mountain of reviews making very similar complaints about this company on various forums etc, before you buy anything. I wish I had.

Should have gone to specsavers...

tifo

i've got my own problems with this company .... non-delivery of glasses .... and the pairs I've received need returning due to scratched lenses (on ALL frames).

I wonder how these lenses passed their "quality control"?

missile

Pleased to see this thread. I had similar problem with very slow delivery from Select Specs. They kept sending me e mail progress reports assuring me that my order was top priority. I thought mine was an isolated case.

R_K100

anyone considering reporting them to some kind of authority or watchdog?

Dr_B_2

R_K100 wrote: »

anyone considering reporting them to some kind of authority or watchdog?

I wonder if THE Watchdog (i.e the programme) might be interested in doing a feature on this company or the sector in general?

Jimmythesinger

I ordered 3 pairs od specs on 30th December 2010 when they did not arrive after 3 weeks I tried in vain to contact this outfit. IMPOSSIBLE. After a further 25 working days which is nearly 6 weeks they will allow you to contact them, but are the most condescending annoying people( or person pretending to be be more) eventually after at least 7 complaining emails then sent me a form to fill in to say I had not received my glasses. Nothing happened until i emailed twice more when they said i must fax the form, which I hadalreadydone the twice.!! They then pretended to reorder and they were apparently shipped from Hong Kong 1st March(30 days ago) still no glasses no cantact cannot complain, suppose i will have to wait another 6 weeks before I can ask what is going on!! THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST OUTRAGEASOUS SCAMS ON THE INTERNET. And what Martin Lewis and MSE are doing being connected to these charlatans I do not know. AVOID THESE GUYS YOU WILL NOT SEE YOUR GLASSES OR YOUR MONEY AGAIN!!

Tip: Go to Glasses2You absolute first class service great glasses and there in 5 days

littlejaffa

i'm amazed at reading this - i ordered frames a few months ago and although they did take ages to arrive, their website had said they would
i was really surprised at the quality - i wasn't expecting much for £10 but they were better than the specsavers range i usually get
on top of that - the day after placing my order, i realised i'd made a mistake on the pupil distance measurement and emailed them expecting the to say 'tough we've already started making them' instead they were really nice and changed it no problem

i'm well pleased with my order and would order again but i expected to get what i paid for, i wouldn't expect £200 glasses for £20.

shah2000

I ordered 2 glasses, one for £9.00 and the other for £19.99 (which was rimless), both with anti-glare, anti-scratch and UV protection coatings. The total was £32.49 including P&P. I received individual e-mails when each was shipped and they arrived separately within 3 weeks from Hong Kong which was fine as I had allowed for extra delays because of the multiple bank holidays in April this year. Also, I didn’t have to pay any duty.

Both came in their own cases with a cleaning cloth and, after a little adjustment which I did myself, both fitted nicely.

I have been wearing them alternately for about a month now and haven’t had any problems with them.

I read about others having problems and maybe I was just one of the lucky ones but I have to say that I was happy with the product and service I received.

annie1336

I'm surprised this company is still in business after the amount of complaints I have read on various sites. I ordered glasses from them four weeks ago and I'm still waiting. Their site states a 7-10 day turnaround - what a joke!!! Can't contact them either which is so frustrating. Every email complaint I have sent has been met with a form letter reply and my issues have never been dealt with directly. I'll be very surprised if I ever see my glasses or my £90 again. There should be some way that we can contact this company and actually speak to a human being - their system of email only is appalling.