How to get a refund on prescription glasses from local opticians?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Unfortunately OP, you have he same eyes as BoP. My distance glasses are used fir driving, watching tv, and walking. My lesser prescription is used for close work. It is a fact of life and aging that causes this. Early in life, you have no problem with seeing near things, with your normal distance glasses, until around the age of forty, when your near vision deteriorates. Ten you can have varifocal, which to me are as much use as a chocolate fire guard. Or you buy two pairs. When I go to meetings, I take both pairs. One to run the pc, one to look at the screen.

Good luck on finding an optician that would disagree with my advise!

Annielou

I completely agree with that summary, however if you are given the distance ones and you CANNOT walk in them because they make you feel sick then surely they are not fit for purpose? That is the crux of what I am arguing here. The optician agrees I cannot use them so have offered to put in "weaker" strength lenses - but what's the point because I already own a pair of those. So the nub of the dilemma is that I have paid £400 either for a pair of glasses I cannot wear, or to have them replaced with a pair of glasses exactly like the ones I already have! Cutting to the chase I see that as my having been misled in the first place because they never should have let me purchase them unless I agreed to varifocals, which I didn't want.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Op. Sounds as though the distance glasses lenses are of the wrong quality. I have to use ultra thin on my distance glasses, as this gives the best view. Though I cannot see my hand. Try your lesser strength glasses to walk. When I walk round shops, I use my lesser strength glasses, though when wearing them, I cannot see the hanging signs in the aisle.

You will have to talk to your optician to get a compromise for your eyes, you will not get one prescription suitable to all situations.

kirtondm

From an opticians point of view number of issues.


1. I really can't see where you are coming from with the frame thing to be honest. If the brand was that critical you should have confirmed before ordering. I find it mighty odd that the brand would have not been discussed by the dispensing staff at the time anyway.


2. The distance / near problem - Personally I think you should have been warned that by sharpening up your distance it was going to mess up your near then you could have decided if you wanted sharper distance vision etc. - It doesn't make sense that you can't walk around in them or use them for driving which leads on to


3. Adaption issues - ideally this should have been discussed before it is normal with either a large prescription change / astigmatic change or contact lens wearers to struggle initially with spectacles. It is unrealistic to put a new prescription on and not have swimming / headaches etc for the first few days. Certainly 10mins would not be enough time.


I think some form of compromise would be the best way forward.


a) I would try and get you to wear the new prescription for a week in which the distance elements should settle you should be able to drive clearer ( albeit dashboard out of focus ) and see the TV sharper etc.


b) The problem with reducing the power to better enable near vision means that the distance vision is fuzzy - are you still legal to drive with old rx and even if you are do you really want slightly fuzzy distance but be able to see the dashboard ok?


The optician will be out of pocket as you can't return custom made lenses ( the manufactures only give a refund for failed varifocals ).


I would personally not remake a prescription if you have not given time to adapt to it because if you are not prepared to adapt no prescription but the current one is going to work anyway - I would rather refund you then remake a prescription without you being prepared to try it for a few days.


I would probably allow you to have the frame you want as a GOGW with you paying any difference in frame cost if we are remaking.


You will have to tackle the distance/near problem at some point anyway I am afraid so I would probably stick with the distance prescription or try varifocals/bifocals - I would probably charge you the difference between what you had paid and a varifocal as a GOGW too.


Other options would be to have them turned into prescription sunglasses etc


The problem you have got with getting a refund is that by the sounds of it they have supplied you with a distance prescription in a frame you choose.


Your other option is to put the case to the optical consumer complaints service which is run by a group of solicitors funded by the profession although their judgements are not legally binding they are impartial.


http://www.opticalcomplaints.co.uk/

Annielou

What a fantastic and thorough answer! I really appreciate all that and am going to ponder is all and think about my next move. The OCCS is possibly a way to go, if not just for my own peace of mind to know I have checked it all out properly. The brand truly wasn't mentioned to me at any stage and I even thought the receptionist had given me someone else's glasses by mistake to begin with, that was how certain I was that I had bought something specific.

Manxman_in_exile

Kirton’s post makes a lot of sense and I think the OP may have some grounds for complaint to the opticians. I’d certainly be unhappy at shelling out £400 for a new pair of specs if I felt they weren’t a noticeable improvement over the old ones. (Assuming of course the OP wasn’t going to buy new frames anyway unless they were told that a new prescription was necessary).

• I don’t really get the frames issue (never heard of MK!) but if the ones supplied are not the ones actually selected then OP may have a point. However, if Fendi were actually selected in the mistaken belief they were MK, then tough.
  
• Sounds as if the opticians may not have given OP sufficient advice about likely effect of new prescription on long versus near vision. If the OP really needed varifocals but didn’t want them, I think the opticians should have discussed the new prescription further with the OP and whether it really was necessary (in terms of driving requirements etc) or just something that would marginally improve distance vision. My opticians have always been really helpful in this respect, but then I’ve always been clear with them what my requirements were, and I’ve never accepted a new prescription unless advised it was really necessary for driving or whatever.
  
• Maybe the OP needs to persevere with them for a bit longer re adaptation. When I first started wearing relatively weak distance specs I found it really disorientating but stuck with them because of the great improvement in my vision. After a week or ten days they were fine.
  
  The OP may end up doing what I do which is have three (yes!) pairs of specs. I need a distance pair for driving, watching TV etc; cheapo pair of reading specs, and a third pair for PC/laptop use. I can’t drive without the distance specs but can’t read with them. When driving the dashboard is out of focus but not so much that I can’t read the dials. Opticians have suggested varifocals but, like the OP, I’ve always resisted them. When I did try a pair on trial I really could not adapt to them and Specsavers took them back no questions.
  
  OP – do you really need the specs to walk in? I know that I tend to wear my distance specs most of the time when I’m out and about, but they only kick in at distances of about 5m and over, and I don’t always wear them around the house as I can see up to about 4m better without them.
  
  I’d persevere with the new specs for a week to see if they get any better. If not, go back to the opticians, explain the issues again and see if you can get some deal along the lines suggested by Kirton. Maybe you need to bite the bullet and trial some varifocals. (It seems from Kirton’s post that your opticians can claim a refund if these don’t work out – maybe that explains why specsavers were happy to take mine back).

Annielou

all of what you say is correct and makes sense, except the point about the new glasses. not only can I not walk in them, but i can't use them at all because even when putting them on sitting down on the sofa to watch TV they make me nauseous. The second I put them on everything swims and it is more extreme than something to get used to. I have now sent an email to the OCCS so will be interested to see what they have to say. Whatever the outcome, next time I will go to specsavers I think!!

burlington6

I wonder if your ''vision problems'' with these new glasses would have emerged if the frames were the MK ones you thought they were.

pimento

burlington6 wrote: »

I wonder if your ''vision problems'' with these new glasses would have emerged if the frames were the MK ones you thought they were.

I also wondered that.

Annielou

Yes they would. even the opticians have accepted the problem and have explained why it has occurred. that isn't even in question. As I said at one point, had the lenses been okay I wouldn't have raised the frames issue and would have lived with it, but when there is one thing followed by another you cannot help but question the whole experience.