SpecSavers under-prescribed glasses

IndexRated

I went to SpecSavers for a sight-test, I was pretty oblivious to prescription, other than in the room the sight tests were great and seemed to show an improvement, I knew my prescription didn’t need increasing by much, and assumed I’d come away with a better prescription, so I bought glasses at SpecSavers.

Picking up my glasses, I straight away noticed that might sight was not as sharp, crisp or clear as my old glasses, I was told I needed a week to adjust, I refuted that bluff, and had someone check the prescription on the lenses were correct, which they were, somebody checked my old glasses and came back vaguely suggesting my old glasses were stronger which was bad because they made my eyes work more (never had a problem with them) and I just needed more time to adjust to the new prescription, which would be better once I’d adjusted to them – made sense at the time, I was told the sph had changed, so I thought perhaps my eye really just sight needed to adjust.

I’ve been driving and noticing that road signs aren’t as clear as they are in my old glasses, I have to get closer to road-signs to see them, which when traveling is just wrong as I need to be right on top of ‘tourist direction signs’ before I can make out what they’re pointing to.

Near distance is perfect, even far ‘object’ distance is okay (just not as good, but that would be acceptable because I’m not an air traffic controller!), but my far-reading distance is just bad, and definitely not fit for driving unless reading fifty-shades of grey whilst traveling at 70mph is a good standard of driving reading distance!

My 'old' glasses are stronger by 0.25 on SPH and CYL. I’ve clearly been under-prescribed.


The person I’d spoken to clearly knew the glasses were weaker and just fobbed me off.


What rights do I have with SpecSavers? The glasses are a week old.

wealdroam

They suggested 'a week to adjust'.

A week has passed... it is time to report back to them that there is no improvement.

Ask them to correct the error.

IndexRated

wealdroam wrote: »

They suggested 'a week to adjust'.

A week has passed... it is time to report back to them that there is no improvement.

Ask them to correct the error.

Yes, I guess I'll have to, wish I didn't have the hassle, I've been hoping I would adjust!

I'm just anxious they'll get disagree, or state it's acceptable I've never been under-prescribed before, and I've been use to NHS prescriptions for the past ten years, so being out in the big-bad world of store prescriptions is frightening!

Thank you for the response wealdroam.

Kathy535

I had a problem with my first pair of glasses, prescription from Boots, glasses from Vision Express. I literally couldn't see through the glasses and felt sick. Vision Express gave me the same advice, try them for a week which was no better. They then tested the glasses against the prescription and said that they matched. They then gave me a free eye test which showed the prescription was right but that an experienced optician may not have written out that specific prescription for someone new to glasses (prisms). They redid my glasses to match the new prescription - all at no extra charge. Which I thought was great, really good customer service.

In the last 2 years I've been in three times to two different stores to have alterations or have the glasses fixed and have never been charged, the service has been really good.

Hopefully, my experience is the norm and you'll have no problems.

IndexRated

Kathy535 wrote: »

I had a problem with my first pair of glasses, prescription from Boots, glasses from Vision Express. I literally couldn't see through the glasses and felt sick. Vision Express gave me the same advice, try them for a week which was no better. They then tested the glasses against the prescription and said that they matched. They then gave me a free eye test which showed the prescription was right but that an experienced optician may not have written out that specific prescription for someone new to glasses (prisms). They redid my glasses to match the new prescription - all at no extra charge. Which I thought was great, really good customer service.

In the last 2 years I've been in three times to two different stores to have alterations or have the glasses fixed and have never been charged, the service has been really good.

Hopefully, my experience is the norm and you'll have no problems.

I guess I excessively worried, and wanted to prepare for the worst, all cleared up today, new lenses on order without having to pay for anything, and prescription improved - no fuss.

Coming from NHS prescriptions now I've been discharged into store prescriptions has made me paranoid about trusting prescriptions and I'm desperately trying to settle on a good place, I find Spec Savers pretty okay, the preliminary tests that are not done by a trained people which for one of my eyes always creates a panic cry of 'You have cataracts!" when I don't.

Thanks for the responses.

pmduk

In my local branch staff aren't allowed to say anything about a patient's vision precisely because they're not qualified. They always highlight my visual field test to the optometrist, but as I have diagnosed glaucoma the unusual test is to be expected.

OP, find a high street optometrist you trust and stick with them I trust my optometrist to the point of insisting my appointments are only with him.

skylight

I had a similar problem with specsavers with their 2 for 1 offer. The glasses were made to different prescriptions and the man trying them on with me just wouldn't have it and was adamant they had been made the same. It was me who had to suggest to him that he check them.

I am not bothered when mistakes are made, but am bothered when they ignore what I am telling them. Ah well!

thunderella

IndexRated wrote: »

I went to SpecSavers for a sight-test, I was pretty oblivious to prescription, other than in the room the sight tests were great and seemed to show an improvement, I knew my prescription didn’t need increasing by much, and assumed I’d come away with a better prescription, so I bought glasses at SpecSavers.

Picking up my glasses, I straight away noticed that might sight was not as sharp, crisp or clear as my old glasses, I was told I needed a week to adjust, I refuted that bluff, and had someone check the prescription on the lenses were correct, which they were, somebody checked my old glasses and came back vaguely suggesting my old glasses were stronger which was bad because they made my eyes work more (never had a problem with them) and I just needed more time to adjust to the new prescription, which would be better once I’d adjusted to them – made sense at the time, I was told the sph had changed, so I thought perhaps my eye really just sight needed to adjust.

I’ve been driving and noticing that road signs aren’t as clear as they are in my old glasses, I have to get closer to road-signs to see them, which when traveling is just wrong as I need to be right on top of ‘tourist direction signs’ before I can make out what they’re pointing to.

Near distance is perfect, even far ‘object’ distance is okay (just not as good, but that would be acceptable because I’m not an air traffic controller!), but my far-reading distance is just bad, and definitely not fit for driving unless reading fifty-shades of grey whilst traveling at 70mph is a good standard of driving reading distance!

My 'old' glasses are stronger by 0.25 on SPH and CYL. I’ve clearly been under-prescribed.


The person I’d spoken to clearly knew the glasses were weaker and just fobbed me off.


What rights do I have with SpecSavers? The glasses are a week old.

Your previous eye test was presumably 2 years ago (or perhaps longer ago?)
Your eyes change over time which is why you need to have your eyes checked at least once every 2 years.
Your latest prescription is based on your current eye requirements.

However, as wealdroam said, as you are still not happy after the week suggested to get used to them, pop back and I'm sure they will help you.
It may be they need to re-test your eyes again to check the prescription is correct.

Last time I had my eye test, they re-tested me about 3-4 times (I lost count) before they made a set that suited me.

thunderella

pmduk wrote: »

In my local branch staff aren't allowed to say anything about a patient's vision precisely because they're not qualified. They always highlight my visual field test to the optometrist, but as I have diagnosed glaucoma the unusual test is to be expected.

OP, find a high street optometrist you trust and stick with them I trust my optometrist to the point of insisting my appointments are only with him.

In my local branch there are at least 3 different, qualified opticians - I know, all 3 had an attempt at getting me the right prescription for me.

The opticians give any specific advise about specific prescription, but the store staff will explain what the prescription means (if necessary), measure you for frames, lenses etc (e.g. for varifocals) and give any other advice.

If you ask the shop staff anything they are not qualified to answer, they go and get the qualified optician to answer your question

thunderella

skylight wrote: »

I had a similar problem with specsavers with their 2 for 1 offer. The glasses were made to different prescriptions and the man trying them on with me just wouldn't have it and was adamant they had been made the same. It was me who had to suggest to him that he check them.

I am not bothered when mistakes are made, but am bothered when they ignore what I am telling them. Ah well!

That's odd.

When I went back because I wasn't happy with the spectacles they supplied me, the first thing they always did was to check they were manufactured correctly to the prescription
They are not produced in the store and it's a quick and easy test to check them with their little machine.

They even showed me the results, and explained them including that whilst they were not exactly to the prescribed values, they were within acceptable and allowable manufacturing tolerances.

I guess like everything, it depends on who you get and that obviously varies store by store.

Specsavers_company_representative

Hi there, we have a 3 month No Quibble No Fuss guarantee so please return to your Specsavers branch and explain what's happened to a staff member. Their contact details can be found here if you need them: http://www.specsavers.co.uk/stores