Optical Express - keeping my money

kiwiscott

Last April i heard from Optical Express to say they wont be sending me contact lenses until i go and retake an eye test as it has been a certain amount of time. Since my last test the local OE has closed so i informed them i would like to cancel my subscription with them forth-with.Bad drills i know but i have only just seen that i am still paying £30 per month to OE and i havent received any contact lenses since April. When ringing them to discuss they said they require an email stating i wish to confirm my cancellation but they have a policy not to return any funds. They said they could give me vouchers or product (contact lenses) but i would need to send them my up to date prescription from an optometrist... Can they withold my money like this or do i have to go through with what they say?? In my head the cancellation email should be enough and a policy not to re-emburse me is illegal?? they have the notes on the system saying i wish to cancel and they stopped sending me product... Any help??

marliepanda

How did you inform them?

Sounds like they stopped sending contact lenses because the prescription was out of date rather than due to a cancellation.

hollydays

I'm guessing putting lenses in your eyes without having a health check can be extremely harmful.they are protecting your health.

daytona0

It all boils down to whether you initially cancelled in the correct manner. You quite clearly have no durable evidence of this, so your case is quite open to interpretation. You can potentially ask them to listen to the first call (and maybe ask for a transcript - this may cost you like £10) and, if there is any misleading on the part of the agent then you MAY have cause for some goodwill (including monetary reimbursement, but I doubt it would be the full amount you want). It may, however, transpire that you made a throwaway comment or did not listen to advice which was given to you... something which is a waste of time, money and effort at this stage.

If cancellation wasn't done properly (And you have a tough task proving it was) then Optical Express have a legal obligation to provide you with your contact lenses, upon receipt of a prescription (which is fair). They have also offered vouchers which may be above and beyond their obligations.

I would just take the vouchers personally. You need lenses/glasses so what is the big deal?

pappa_golf

are you obliged by NHS rules to have an eye test every "x" years , or is there an expiry date on a optical prescription?

shaun_from_Africa

Unless it's changed recently, an optical prescription for either glasses or contact lenses is valid for 2 years and if you don't have a valid prescription, the only contact lenses that can be sold to you in the UK are the cosmetic type.

kiwiscott

thanks all, yes i think the stoppage was due to run out of a valid prescription and i maybe didnt understand the cancellation conversation. That said, if they know they arent sending contacts due to no prescription then they should probably hold off on taking payment too. a shop wouldnt take money if no goods were sold...
I will take the advice and get the prescription sent to them and take the product however aside from my poor admin, surely having a policy not to reimburse people is surely unlawful?

kiwiscott

i wasn't against the eye test, i just couldn't make their closest premises so went to my local optician and purchased their lenses. They didn't tell me i could use another optician at the time.