Boots Opticians - Contact Lens

valiant

mishkanorman wrote:

Personally i think its much better to listen to the advice given by an expert than take it with a pinch of salt and form my own opinion.........

Around 13 or 14 years ago my optician suggested to me that I could change to lenses that could be worn for up to two weeks at a time....24 hours a day. I intuitively felt that it was bad advice. Lots of people did so at the time but it was considered safe back then. A couple of years later the advice was withdrawn after a large number of people experienced infections and blood vessel complications.

I think I'll continue to take that pinch of salt that you so confidently throw over your shoulder. Ultimately in life there's only one person who looks after MY best interests and that's Muggins!

miss_lisalou

"Are daily lenses secretly the same as monthly?

The British Contact Lens association says no and the College of Optometrists agrees, “Daily disposables tend to be thinner as breaking on removal isn’t a problem. To re-wear contacts, it’s essential to clean and disinfect them; dailies aren’t designed for this. Some may tear and not disinfect efficiently, leading to possibly serious eye infections and even blindness.”

However, in a recent report by consumer magazine Which?, its independent expert argued that Acuvue, Bausch & Lomb, Coopervision and Sauflon dailies were virtually the same as their monthlies, and if subjected to the same care routine might last just as long. Only with Ciba Vision did he find the monthly lenses very different."


I read this from this website at the time as well and found it a bit odd. I have monthlies and dailies for different occasions, neither of them are ciba vision but there is definitely a difference in them and I couldn't imagine being able to clean and re-store the dailies - they're far too thin and flexible. Personally, I feel the dailies weren't designed for regular use and would rather pay the extra to feel secure than take a risk with my eyes.

Getting back to the original point Ivrytwr3, I order my lenses from Asda online. They do the checks with your current/last optician to make sure you've submitted the correct prescription details. If you try it that way there could be less chance that this particular optician would respond to their query, or if she does she would prove herself to be rather unprofessional in her attitude

Ivrytwr3

Well here's an update:

I was contacted by Boots customer care and am dealing with one individual and he is very helpful. However, i feel liked i am being held to ransom as they have something we want and they are making the terms on what we can get the prescription for!

To get the prescription we must:

Have an after care appointment at a cost of £30 in one months time - OH had one of these last week and all was fine. Also the lenses they gave us are monthlies and as 2 months have passed the ones originally provided are obviously no good so how can they do an after care appointment in another month?

and they want us to do one of the following:

a. Pay for 6 months lenses from them

or

b. Give them £50 back that they discounted from the glasses OH purchased. The £50 was part of a promotion running that month; £50 off any glasses. Which in my opinion is absolutely nothing to do with the contact lens side of things!

Like i say, held to ransom? Anyway i have done some digging. This is from the British Contact Lens Association:

Changes to the Opticians Act which took effect from June 30 2005 included new regulations on the supply of contact lenses in the UK.

As was previously the case, contact lenses can only be fitted by a registered optometrist, suitably qualified dispensing optician or medical practitioner (special provision exists for students). The prescriber must issue the patient with a contact lens specification once a fitting is completed. Contact lenses may then be sold by or under the general direction of a registered optometrist, suitably qualified dispensing optician or medical practitioner.

"The prescriber must issue the patient with a contact lens specification once a fitting is completed." - Now to me fitting is complete when the trial is over, you have an after care appointment and they say these are the lenses you want and start requesting payment. Which is the stage we are up to now. Anyone agree/disagree?

---

and this from a Police Officer:

Not sure about the legality of witholding the information from your wife, but she certainly has the right to request the information under the data protection act - they can charge for it, but no more than £10

The request has to be made in writing and has to be specific, along with a reason - so it will need to say something like, I hereby request my contact lens prescription under the Data Protection Act, because I wish to source cheaper supplies.

If they still refuse (illegally) you may still have to take them down the legal route, but the penalties for them would be quite harsh and i'm sure their legal advisors would stop things far before it got near the courts!

---

They are emailing me back on Monday as i explained there is no more lenses to perform an aftercare appointment with. However, i think i am going to end up going down the small claims route to get this prescription!

mishkanorman

Right, now i think they are being bloody unreasonable, but i have [STRIKE]a few [/STRIKE] lots of thoughts,

You cant force the contact lens fitter to issue a prescription off what they have already done if they arent happy that it will be stable enough (this is of benefit to you as if you go ahead and buy some on-line and in 3 months time your OH realises they just arent good enough-fitting wise or whatever-you would have lost money with no comeback)

If the lenses given at the time of fitting are now beyond their useable time then they wouldnt be able to check anything with them anyway. The whole point of a contact lens check up is to ensure vision, fit and suitability are right, which they wouldnt be here. (AS YOU KNOW)

They are definately black mailing you and this is totally un-necessary, all they needed to do was stand firm and explain why they dont want to give you the specifications. As they didnt i suspect that they are doing this purely to stop you buying else where rather than for medical grounds. :rolleyes:

you are entitled to contact lens specifications from a fitting, but i would expect you to pay (its only fair as the contact lens fitter spent time doing their job) HOWEVER if payment wasnt made clear in advance IE trial or you have to pay, then its up to them to rectify the confusion they have caused you. If you were to get a mobile phone on contract you would be given it free, if you then cancel that contract within a set time you have to pay for the free phone-this is made very clear before any contract is entered into.

From what you are saying they are refusing to give the specifications unless you pay in the region of £80

Personally i dont think its worth small claims but im very pig headed when it comes to right and wrong and i would continue on the complaint with the basis that fees were not made clear in advance (which i believe may be some sort of trading offence)

Ive got a niggling feeling that as its a medical device the data protection act does not apply to the actual specifications of the lenses in the form of a useable prescription, to be valid it has to be completed and signed by a qualified practitioner.


if any of this doesnt make great sense thats because my neighbours are all launching surface to air missiles at my house and to compensate my husband has cranked the telly up !!!



mishka



PS not all opticians operate business like this and some actually have morals that they use.;)

Ivrytwr3

ok, we have had a sight test, 1 months lenses and an aftercare appointment. Assume i now said to the optician i don't want to buy from them but source elsewhere i just need my prescription. What would that cost me?

regularsaver1

definatly recommend D&A - no after care costs

mishkanorman

Ivrytwr3 wrote:

ok, we have had a sight test, 1 months lenses and an aftercare appointment. Assume i now said to the optician i don't want to buy from them but source elsewhere i just need my prescription. What would that cost me?

In theory it should be around the same cost of a sight test to obtain the contact lens specifications, the lenses arent an issue as they would have been a 'fitting pair' which are given free of charge by the company that sells them and they cant make a charge for this.

Ive never dealt with boots (found them too highly priced and not great to work for) so im not sure on their prices. I would ring another store to the one you visited, and ask how much a contact lens fitting, with the sole purpose of taking the specifications with you and not buying any from them, would be.
Then you have an idea of their pricing structure and if the store you used tried to fob you off with a very high price you've got something to argue with.


Specsavers have always been very good with contact lens trials, and when i worked for optical express the offer was a months free so you were fitted with one pair so they could ensure it was correct, then returned 2 weeks later for a check up , if all was ok you would sign onto the direct debit scheme. After this point people would pay for a month on the DD (normally only £8-£15 ) and then cancel, they would be entitled to the specifications as they were on the direct debit scheme, and it worked out cheaper than paying for the fitting themselves.

mishka

beca

regularsaver1 wrote:

definatly recommend D&A - no after care costs

Beg to differ here - D & A make you sign up for their lenses by post before they will issue you with your contact lens prescription. Mine would have cost £30 per month.

regularsaver1

I get my specs from D&A - free eye test from work due to using computers all day- they gave the prescription - they tighten them and clean them whenever i ask

do get my contact lenses via post too - which gets me half price glasses. free contact lenses check