Rip Off Britain - Spectacles

Nilrem

hansi wrote: »

Well done:j you see what I mean? The prices opticians charge for glasses are outrageous!

I'm guessing at £3.99 a pair they are the cheap "reading glasses" my mum buys as disposables* (the frames are rubbish and the lenses are a fairly soft plastic that scratches easily).

Yes you can get mass produced glasses cheap, especially if like the supermarket/market/poundshop ones they are one size fits all, with the same lenses in both sides.

A proper optician supplied pair will normally be better quality frames, much better quality lenses that are exactly to your prescription (as opposed to "close enough"), and almost certainly different lenses in both sides.
It's little things like having to put different lenses in the glasses that push the price up as it means you don't run ten thousand sets though an identical production line, and then just store them until needed, you've got to make them up on a per customer basis (let alone having to have the same lens strength for hundreds of different frames, as both a left, and a right).

Not to mention the opticians frames are normally supplied to match your requirements (people have different combinations of facial width, nose width and the like), whilst the cheapy pound store glasses will just be one width for men, and another for women.

I don't know about anyone else, but a large part of the reason I go to the opticians (and usually pay about £100 for two pairs with the scratch resistant and contrast coatings), is because I cannot stand glasses that are too tight or too loose, and the optician will actually supply glasses that fit.
Oh, that and the fact I have to wear glasses all the time, and my eyes are different prescriptions, so the cheapy glasses i can try in stores etc would be useless (or harmful), and the cheapy glasses I can buy customised to my prescription online wouldn't work out much cheaper, and wouldn't let me check the fit/feel of the frames**.

It's a little like mass produced furniture, they can sell it fairly cheap because they make thousands of absolutely identical items at a time (of varying quality...), so they can have a production line that requires almost no human intervention, and no setup/take down time.
You want something that differs even slightly to that production line standard and the price goes up dramatically, as suddenly you're talking about it taking human time on a per item basis, and additional time on the machines (in the time it takes a human to do one slightly customised part , a production line system might manage dozens of them) - especially if you want to see it in the flesh first rather than order it out of a catalogue.
You can see that difference even in flatpack furniture - there is zero reason (from a raw materials/process) reason why say Light Beach effect is cheaper than Dark Oak effect, as all it is is a different print on the laminate, yet because one is less popular than the other it costs more to stock/store/display it per unit sold, and they make them in smaller batches, so the price is considerably higher (sometimes 50%+).



*She has about 4-5 pairs of them kept in various handbags for when she's out shopping (it probably helps that she's virtually blind in one eye, so she only needs to worry about the strength of the lenses being almost right for her good eye:p)

**I have however considered buying a prescription pair of protective goggles online as those I wouldn't worry too much about the fit on (only wearing for a few hours a month).

nedmundo

hansi wrote: »

Well done:j you see what I mean? The prices opticians charge for glasses are outrageous!

I think you do need to compare like for like before jumping to conclusions. As the above poster stated, they are not going to be of the same quality.

hansi

If you re-read my posts, I am not advocating ready to wear lenses. I have always had my eyes tested regulary, but to be honest, if I can get a set of lenses made by another cut price optician( who measures me for a perfect fit) and can produce a pair of glasses at less than half the price, and which I have been wearing for years, why should I pay more than double the price?

mmmsnow

hansi wrote: »

If you re-read my posts, I am not advocating ready to wear lenses. I have always had my eyes tested regulary, but to be honest, if I can get a set of lenses made by another cut price optician( who measures me for a perfect fit) and can produce a pair of glasses at less than half the price, and which I have been wearing for years, why should I pay more than double the price?

Different shops cater to different clientèle, just because one shop is more expensive than other doesn't mean they are ripping people off - they just have a different market. It's like trying to compare a Michelin starred restaurant with McDonalds. They may sell the same product (broadly) but the level of service, the quality of the stock and the overall experience is very different.

I'm glad you've found an optician in your price range. It's one thing to feel ripped off after buying something and quite another to get annoyed about prices of services that you do not use. You've already "voted with your feet" so why continue to be annoyed?

greigster

Money_User wrote: »

Are you on the dole? Be rich for you complaining about business's making money (eg paying tax) seeing it'll help support you if thats the case.

What a stupid comment

hansi

mmmsnow wrote: »

Different shops cater to different clientèle, just because one shop is more expensive than other doesn't mean they are ripping people off - they just have a different market. It's like trying to compare a Michelin starred restaurant with McDonalds. They may sell the same product (broadly) but the level of service, the quality of the stock and the overall experience is very different.

I'm glad you've found an optician in your price range. It's one thing to feel ripped off after buying something and quite another to get annoyed about prices of services that you do not use. You've already "voted with your feet" so why continue to be annoyed?

Because mmmmsnow and I are not exactly seeing eye to eye (:T) on this subject"

Laz123

It always makes me suspicious when some people continue to justify an industry when there are lots of opposing views who have experienced being ripped off by obvious overcharging on their products.

nedmundo

But it's not overcharging - it's supplying a product that is more expensive in the 1st place along with the service and associated overheads. That's completely different.

pmduk

Just to act as devil's advocate. Perhaps those people who haven't had an eye test in the last 2 years shouldn't be permitted to drive?

hansi

nedmundo wrote: »

But it's not overcharging - it's supplying a product that is more expensive in the 1st place along with the service and associated overheads. That's completely different.

Then please explain the vast difference in different opticians prices for exactly the same product.