wrong glasses

arsenalboy

I have worn glasses for the last 40 years.
Had my eyes tested a few weeks back at D&A(Boots). I have used this particular branch for 15 years and have bought glasses there every few years.
My prescription is relatively high, circa +6 for distance and +8 for reading, because of this I go for ultra thin lenses which are a bit pricey.
D&A had no offers relative to my circumstances so I went to Specsavers and got the 2 pairs a lot cheaper.
Picked them up last week but they aren't correct, took them back to Specsavers and they measured the strength of the lenses and confirmed they have been dispensed per prescription.

I know that if I had them dispensed at D&A I would have no problems i.e., I would go back, they would retest my eyes and the correct lenses would be dispensed into the new frames at no further cost to me.

My question is where do I stand because I went elsewhere to have them dispensed? Are D&A liable to make sure I am not out of pocket?

bris

You would need to show boots were negligent by giving you the wrong prescription.
Your first port of call is to get a second opinion on the glasses to make sure they are as Specsavers say. If this is the case then you may have a claim against boots for failing to give you the correct prescription.
You may need another test to contradict the boots one.

arsenalboy

bris wrote: »

You would need to show boots were negligent by giving you the wrong prescription.
Your first port of call is to get a second opinion on the glasses to make sure they are as Specsavers say. If this is the case then you may have a claim against boots for failing to give you the correct prescription.
You may need another test to contradict the boots one.

My course of action would be to go back to Boots and get them to do a retest and they will naturally check the glasses dispensed by Specsavers.
My main question, which you have answered, was concerning their liability in the matter.

System

The problem with liability is an eye test is really 50/50 between you and the opticion over who is liable. The prescription is based on your answers to the opticions questions, e.g. which circle looks brighter, does the line look clearer with this lense or this one.

I would suspect that the opticion could quite easily argue that the prescription you got was the one your answers implied you needed.

On a side note Specsavers use a much inferior lense to alot of the rivals (especially when you have a thin lense), the problem you are having might be because of that as opposed to the prescription. I know I have trouble with Specsavers glasses because of this reason.

arsenalboy

goater78 wrote: »

The problem with liability is an eye test is really 50/50 between you and the opticion over who is liable. The prescription is based on your answers to the opticions questions, e.g. which circle looks brighter, does the line look clearer with this lense or this one.

I would suspect that the opticion could quite easily argue that the prescription you got was the one your answers implied you needed.

On a side note Specsavers use a much inferior lense to alot of the rivals (especially when you have a thin lense), the problem you are having might be because of that as opposed to the prescription. I know I have trouble with Specsavers glasses because of this reason.

That is my fear!!
I am not an ageing, confused individual (hope not !!) who would give the wrong answers during the test. However, the test could be construed as subjective. My eyes are not straight forward and they got it wrong before, but on that occassion they had also dispensed and happily put it right. This is different so not sure what their stance would be thus taking opinion on this forum.

bris

goater78 wrote: »

The problem with liability is an eye test is really 50/50 between you and the opticians over who is liable. The prescription is based on your answers to the optician's questions, e.g. which circle looks brighter, does the line look clearer with this lense or this one.

Thats why there are different aspects to the test to make sure it's correct. It's the opticians job to get the test right not the customers, they need to carry out the test with the skill and care they are trained too. If they got the prescription wrong there is more than a fair chance they would be in the wrong.

arsenalboy

Okay, so if I have a retest at original optician and it proves that prescription given to me was wrong, then I will need another 2 pairs of glasses i.e., distance and reading.
However, I should not be out of pocket?

Is it reasonable to expect Boots to do one of the following. Either refund what I have paid at Specsavers (just over £300) and I purchase from Boots, or, they supply similar glasses and lenses at their expense?

wealdroam

Clearly, either Boots have supplied a wrong prescription, or Specsavers have not made the glasses to the prescription supplied.

Whichever one of those is at fault should cover the cost of remaking the glasses to the correct prescription.

Firstly, you need to find out who has made the mistake.

If I were you I think I would have a test at a third optician.
If the new prescription matches that from Boots, it would appear that Specsavers are at fault.
I would also ask the third optician to measure the Specsavers glasses and askhim whether they match the prescription.

What yo do with that information is the difficult bit.

I imagine that neither are going to just accept your findings and cough up for new glasses.
You may well find yourself heading towards court.

Hintza

Nightmare but I have to agree with wealdroam on this.

The downside of course is you now have 3 opticians in the mix and you could get a third contradictory opinion and of course you will have to pay the 3rd optician.

Splitting up tests and purchases like this especially health related ones such as this that are subjective can never be a great idea as they will all point the finger at each other.

I don't envy your position.

bod1467

Hintza wrote: »

Nightmare but I have to agree with wealdroam on this.

What's the nightmare? The situation, or you agreeing with wealdroam?

arsenalboy

Not sure I need to get a 3rd optician involved?

I assume I will go back to Specsavers and get them to check the glasses. If they have dispensed them incorrectly they will obviously replace them with the correct ones free of charge.

On the other hand if the glasses have been correctly dispensed, and I am still having problems, then the precription from Boots is incorrect.
I do not need a 3rd optician to tell me that. You would only get a 3rd party involved as an arbiter if after Boots retest my eyes that they still insist the original prescription is correct. In the circumstances I don't think they can say that.