SPECSAVERS What should I say??? Please HELP ME!!!

Batgirl

Please help me

2 years ago I went to Specsavers and spent £250 on some glasses. The day I got them I told the member of staff I couldn't focus with them, she said they take a while for the eyes to adjust. I went back a week later and said please can you check my glasses I still can't see through them. They said they were correct. I went back a third time to be told the same.

I went to specsavers today to get new glasses ( first time I could afford them since) and was told the prescription on my glasses was back to front so each lense was the wrong prescription for the eye it covered. So for 2 years I have been wearing the wrong prescription for each eye, and this has now affected my eyesight and my prescription is now stronger for both eyes and will never been repaired my eye sight will now always be worse.

WHAT DO I DO NOW????????????

I want to complain but am a bit rubbish at complaining I seem to just waffle through, any help would be really appreciated. Or any info on who I should complain to or what I should ask for from specsavers.

Any help at all would be really appreciated.

Thanks

batgirl

Poppy9

You need to start by speaking to the manager to ask them for an explanation and how they are going to compensate. You my guess is they offer you new glasses complete free. You should also get the lens replaced FOC in your old glasses.

As for the eye damage, I think you will need to get an independent optician to verify.

wishiwasarichgirl

I'm an optician and I can assure you that using the wrong prescription cannot make your vision worse, the most it will do is give you eyestrain/headaches. It is more likely that your prescription has gradually changed since your last eye test 2 years ago, this is pretty normal.

As for what to do about the specs you bought 2 years ago, I would go back to the store and ask to speak to one of the directors (there are normally 2)

tell them about the original problems you had with the glasses and the fact that you returned twice to voice your concerns about the prescription. Tell them what you were told at your last eye test. Don't say wearing the spex has made your eyes worse cos they will immediately dispute this.

If you have copies of your prescription from your current and previous eye tests bring these along as they may help clear things up. Let the director know that you are not happy with the level of service you received.

Batgirl

Thankyou both for your replies, we have moved from the south to the north since this happened so thought it was prob best to write to head office who can contact south store. Do you think this is the best way? Also thanks for telling me about the glasses not making my eye sight worse I would have looked a right fool shouting about something that isn't right.

Batgirl

wishiwasarichgirl

no point writing to head office cos they don't deal with problems, they leave that to the individual store directors.

Go to the store you got your most recent spex from, they can contact the other store and have your details faxed across, if it is apparent that there was an error with your original glasses, normally Specsavers Store-to-Store Protocol means that the store that you actually go into should sort it out for you, and not send you back to the original branch.

bubblesbonbon

I hope that you get it sorted. If you have any problems, then this is the NHS advice
http://www.nhs.uk/England/Opticians/OpticianComplaints.cmsx

Batgirl

Thanks again everyone, I'm going to go to the local branch on Friday to collect my new glasses and will speak to the director then.

Thanks

WhiteHorse

Unless you really need to, do not part with orginal documents or the messed up lenses. You wouldn't want they key evidence in your forthcoming County Court action to accidentally get lost, would you?

If you really need to send these things away, get certified copies of the documents, and have the lenses tested by another optician (and get a letter defining the prescription).

IvanOpinion

WishIwasarichgirl, while I will bow to your experience as an optician but could he wrong prescriiption not put a turn in one or both of the eyes? Should that not be corrected first before getting a different set of glasses?

The reason I ask was that as a child I was attacked by a dog which actually pulled one of my eyes slightly out of alignment and left me able to use my eyes independently (I do not use my left eye for normal vision although I can bring it into focus if needed). I remember at the time getting glasses but was advised NOT to wear them unless I really needed them because then my eyes would get used to them and that would become the baseline for my next eye test (or something similar). The optician knew that as I got older this would ge worse (which it has) but he felt that glasses at the time would only make the deterioration quicker.

ivan

wishiwasarichgirl

Ivan, you case is a bit different, glasses cannot cause an eye to "turn", but I can't comment on the advice your optician gave you as I do not have all the relevent information of your eyes and vision.
I would guess that you were given glasses with "prism" incorporated, which brings the 2 images from the unaligned eyes together. It is common to get "prism adaptation" so that you need increased prism the next time, so if you can manage without the glasses and do not get double vision (because you either force your eyes to "align" or you brain suppresses one of the images) then only wear them when you really need to.

again, this is all just supposition as I don't know all the details

Batgirl, hope you get a satisfactory outcome on Friday.