Opticians not honoring offer - please advise!

znh

Hi

I was hoping for some advice about an issue I am having with Vision Express concerning an offer in store - buy £149+ glasses and get £99 towards glasses or £59 towards contact lenses, or buy £249+ glasses and get £149 towards glasses or £99 towards contact lenses.

I purchased £249+ glasses and the store gave me a student discount and said I could come back and use the higher offer above (£149 or £99) when I decide whether I want glasses or contacts. When going back to use the offer, they are saying they shouldn't have allowed my student discount and are not honouring the higher offer and are instead only giving the lower offer.

Where do I stand? Should I accept the lower offer or push to get what was promised to me? Any advise and help would be much appreciated.

wealdroam

The terms of any sale are always open to negotiation until they are agreed and money and goods change hands.

In this case it seems that those terms cannot be agreed between the two parties, so a sale has not taken place.

A seller can decide who to deal with and at what price.
Of course a buyer also has those choices.

If you cannot agree terms, then go somewhere else.

znh

wealdroam wrote: »

The terms of any sale are always open to negotiation until they are agreed and money and goods change hands.

In this case it seems that those terms cannot be agreed between the two parties, so a sale has not taken place.

A seller can decide who to deal with and at what price.
Of course a buyer also has those choices.

If you cannot agree terms, then go somewhere else.

Sorry if I was not clear but a sale was made - I purchased my glasses and was told I could come back to use the offer. It was when coming back that the initial offer promised to me was changed.

sheramber

There are normally terms and conditions applied to offers.

One of these is normally

Not valid with any other promotion, offer, coupon or discount.

wealdroam

znh wrote: »

Sorry if I was not clear but a sale was made - I purchased my glasses and was told I could come back to use the offer. It was when coming back that the initial offer promised to me was changed.

Oh, I'm sorry. I appear to have misunderstood.

Have you actually paid money and received good in exchange?
Only from you post I got the impression that discussions were still taking place on whether it should be specs or contact lenses.

tomtontom

Did you get the offer in writing? The website, as suggested above, does state the offer is not available in conjunction with any other offer.

ConsumerGuy0016

tomtontom wrote: »

Did you get the offer in writing? The website, as suggested above, does state the offer is not available in conjunction with any other offer.

i) OP didn't purchase off the website

ii) Store policy can and subsequently was different to what was written on the website. They offered him a £59 reduction, despite being fully aware that he had used his student discount.

iii) This was after they had backtracked on their initial offer of a £99 reduction at the point of sale of the glasses - information that directly led to the purchase.

You know full well the OP did not get written confirmation of this and are just using this as an opportunity to shoot his claim down.

To the OP, what do you want out of all of this? There's a case for you being refunded and handing the glasses etc back to them - as far as them honouring their offer that'd have come as goodwill gesture on their part.

tomtontom

ConsumerGuy0016 wrote: »

i) OP didn't purchase off the website

ii) Store policy can and subsequently was different to what was written on the website. They offered him a £59 reduction, despite being fully aware that he had used his student discount.

iii) This was after they had backtracked on their initial offer of a £99 reduction at the point of sale of the glasses - information that directly led to the purchase.

You know full well the OP did not get written confirmation of this and are just using this as an opportunity to shoot his claim down.

To the OP, what do you want out of all of this? There's a case for you being refunded and handing the glasses etc back to them - as far as them honouring their offer that'd have come as goodwill gesture on their part.

The website refers specifically to instore offers, you'd know that if you bothered to check. I don't know what the OP has in writing because I'm not the OP - only they can clarify that. In this instance I only have experience with Specsavers, who gave me a voucher with details of the offer and any exclusions - perhaps the OP can tell us if VE do the same?

It would be helpful if you could explain how the OP can go about getting a refund, if (according to you) they have no evidence of mis-selling?

ConsumerGuy0016

tomtontom wrote: »

The website refers specifically to instore offers, you'd know that if you bothered to check. I don't know what the OP has in writing because I'm not the OP - only they can clarify that. In this instance I only have experience with Specsavers, who gave me a voucher with details of the offer and any exclusions - perhaps the OP can tell us if VE do the same?

It would be helpful if you could explain how the OP can go about getting a refund, if (according to you) they have no evidence of mis-selling?

Again, you're completely missing the point. Let me spell it out - what was written on the website quite clearly did NOT apply in store as the Vision Express in question did offer a £59 discount despite being fully aware the OP was also having a student discount applied to his order.

He can speak to the Regional Manager and explain the situation. He'll either be offered the full £99 and student discount as he perceived to be the case initially or will be offered a refund. All this talk of evidence etc is immaterial at this stage.

tomtontom

ConsumerGuy0016 wrote: »

Again, you're completely missing the point. Let me spell it out - what was written on the website quite clearly did NOT apply in store as the Vision Express in question did offer a £59 discount despite being fully aware the OP was also having a student discount applied to his order.

He can speak to the Regional Manager and explain the situation. He'll either be offered the full £99 and student discount as he perceived to be the case initially or will be offered a refund. All this talk of evidence etc is immaterial at this stage.

No chap, you're missing the point that the OP has nothing but his word to support his story. I'm not doubting him, the area manager may not doubt him, or he may back up his staff and tell the OP he cannot help. Unless of course you are now also claiming to have insider knowledge of what the area manager will do, in the same way you know exactly what the paperwork says?

Your posts are always good for a giggle!

ConsumerGuy0016

tomtontom wrote: »

No chap, you're missing the point that the OP has nothing but his word to support his story. I'm not doubting him, the area manager may not doubt him, or he may back up his staff and tell the OP he cannot help. Unless of course you are now also claiming to have insider knowledge of what the area manager will do, in the same way you know exactly what the paperwork says?

Your posts are always good for a giggle!

Disappointing to see that instead of trying to actually debate this maturely you're trying to get a rise out of me. Let's keep this on topic.

There's no point treating this as a complex legal issue, it isn't; it's a customer service issue that will most likely be resolved by the retailer. The OP should just speak to the Regional Manager.