Are Opticians ripping people off? Boots/Specsavers/Vision express

mttylad

FWIW the frames cost them about £3 and the lenses £7.50.
Of course we are all being ripped off.

Single vision glasses are £40 at Asda, this is the lowest price I have seen apart from using the likes of goggles4u (who have a habit of getting it wrong - but I have had several good pairs from them).

BlueEyedGirl

I always use Specsavers 'Buy 1 Pair, Get 1 Free' and I never add the extras they offer! In fact I do not find Specsavers pushy but I find Boots to be very pushy on the extras.

KxMx

I paid an extra £50 for the "self cleaning" coating at Boots after being very impressed with the demo. I was also offered thinner lenses, took both offers up they were only pushing one though.

The self cleaning coating has been amazing and i'd get it again, it repels water, dirt, steam is gone almost instantly and I need to wipe clean infrequently, but bizarrely they seem to scratch much more easily than any other glasses i've had in the past 15 years!

Thinner lenses were a waste and I won't bother in future.

meer53

I'm another Asda fan, 2 pairs for £99, one varifocal, one single vision. Brilliant.

lesbro

I collected my glasses from Tesco this week. They would have cost me over £400 from my local optician. I am over 60 so declined the Tesco free pair and got 25% discount. Cost £263 and as I had Tesco vouchers which were double the value and a voucher for my prescription of £37 I was very happy.
Tesco says they are the cheapest on the market and I was not badgered to have extras but I did request Photochromic lenses.

miller

KxMx wrote: »

Thinner lenses were a waste and I won't bother in future.

You fell for that photo they showed you of Olive's glasses from "on the buses" too...

pmduk

peter_the_piper wrote: »

I'm going to Tesco next time to see if its as reasonable as a friend says. Certainly won't have the tinted lenses next time, a swine to use a camera with.

I wasn't impressed with the eye test I had at Tesco last year, sadly none of my friends can recommend a decent optometrist.

nwc389

My OH is like putty in their hands , he will happily agree to all the extras they try to up sell to him . It drives me mad , especially as after all that the glasses they have sold him don't fit properly - and this has happened more than once .

knightstyle

Another vote for Asda, just collected my second lot. £129 two pairs decent varifocals, one tinted. Could have chosen cheaper but DW was with me.
Oh we then went into the store and she spent double what I saved on reduced clothes...........Not very MSE.

windup

eyetest, take prescription home, buy online, no pressure, no gimmicks, no lies. £15

Lenses take some (machine) effort, frames cost pennies, the idea that some injection molded plastic or a piece of bent wire is worth £100's is ridiculous.