Rip Off Britain - Spectacles

poi55on

nedmundo wrote: »

As an Optician, the 1st thing you will think when you see this is that I have my own agenda. I can catagorically state that that the average lens cost is not 25p. It might have been for a large corporation such as Vision Express in the 90s when Dean Butler owned it, but believe me, it is much higher than this, even for just basic lenses.

Having said that, it has been discussed many times before on this forum that a significant proportion of the price goes to subsidise the eye exam, which the NHS only pays a 3rd of operating cost, plus staff, equipment and other overheads.

Online is cheaper because it uses cheaper products, bought with bulk discount and low overheads/high volume. High street is more expensive because the opposite is true.

Not the most balanced bit of reporting I have seen from the BBC.

Our 1st patient that day had watched it and was under the impression that all lenses avg 25p!!

They never even mentioned vari-focals/Bi-focals. They also never went and asked the rent/lab/staff/rates costs.

nedmundo

poi55on wrote: »

The cheapest in my shop would be £42, £10 for an eye test. So £52 total

1.6 index bifs?

RealPolitik

Laz123 wrote: »

Now it's called a cartel.

And another thing that annoys me is this imposed two year eye test limitation. You can't get a pair of specs if the prescription is older than two years.

But it's for your own good because you may have something wrong which will only be picked up by regular eye tests.

I don't have medical tests every two years, so the choice should be mine, not theirs.

I'm not one to belittle, but please go and educate yourself to what cartel means. The thought that all opticians sit round a table to thrash out an illegal agreement is laughable.

Also, I'm glad you can't have a 10 yr old prescription made. Knock a child over and I'm sure you would be the first to blame the optician for giving you the glasses. I'd have thought like most healthcare providers the optician would have a duty of care?

nedmundo

Apart from checking the health of the eyes, it is important to make sure that the prescription is still suitable for purpose. You might feel your vision is fine, but I regularly have folks tell me their distance vision is fine and then find they can barely read the top of the chart.

Better safe than sorry, especially (much as it devalues my profession)when there are places offering free eye exams.

tidus

Actually, there is no "law" stating that you have to use a prescription within 2 years. The recommeded date for your next examination is just that, a recommendation. Its just very often a company policy that the prescription has to be within this validity date, and has become a "general ignorance" thing, even within the profession.

In fact a prescription of any age can be used. Its also possible to read the lens powers off an existing pair of glasses and duplicate them. Its just that many in the business don't know this and you'll have fun trying to get them to do it.

Thats not to say its a good idea at all, however. Many people simply don't realise that their sight has altered, and obviously you will get the health of your eyes checked. It also strikes me as a very stupid thing to spend money on a new pair of specs without checking that they are as accurate as possible. The regulations for contact lenses are more stringent, and contact lens prescriptions do indeed have an expiry date.

nedmundo

A spectacle prescription does have to be within date for spectacles to made made legally. Therefore it is only valid upto 24 months depending on the patient. It's in the Opticians Act.

The only exception is that an Optometrist can use his/her discretion in exceptional circumstances e.g. hospitalised patient lost specs (happens a lot in hospitals!).

Lirin

While I do try and save money, the one thing I can't afford to skimp on is glasses. I'm blind in one eye, and the other one isn't great- and I'm only 29.
I never buy contact lenses online- I'm on daily disposables and have been advised they're the only ones I can really wear, as anything else would carry an increased risk of infection, which I can't afford.
I love my opticians, they are really friendly. I did take recent advice and took out a healthcare plan- for a few £'s a month, it covers the cost of any sight tests, glasses, contacts, and hospital cover. Best thing I ever did.
Having worked in Specsavers, my personal preference now is a small, local independant opticians, as they'll remember me better and are usually available faster if I need help- a few years ago, the last bit of optic nerve in my blind eye finally died, with an impressive enough lightshow. The optician fitted me in within half an hour.
That's a bit rambly, but the point is, yes, glasses aren't cheap. Yes, there's markup's on them. BUT, you're paying also for a level of service and advice, and that's invaluable.

tidus

Hey there Ned!

Are you certain about that? I'm normally pretty good on rules and regs... but I'll admit my ignorance if you're certain.

roddydogs

Who on earth would want to use a 2yr old plus prescription?

nedmundo

tidus wrote: »

Hey there Ned!

Are you certain about that? I'm normally pretty good on rules and regs... but I'll admit my ignorance if you're certain.

100% positive!