Boots Opticians

hollydays

Dolland and aitchison are expensive . Always have been.

marlot

hollydays wrote: »

Dolland and aitchison are expensive . Always have been.

On 29 January 2009, it was announced[4] that Boots Opticians were to merge with D&A, forming a chain of 690 stores and 5,000 staff after Boots purchased a controlling share in D&A. The company had denied several months previously that it was in financial trouble.[5]

MariaJP

takman wrote: »

I still don't understand why you didn't shop around BEFORE you agreed to pay the £160 price. You must have been happy to pay that at the time so you can't complain after the fact!.

Also how much were they selling new frames for in the boots shop?. If it was less than £160 then they were correct to advice you that it's cheaper to buy a new one in their shop. Remember they don't have to tell you how much competitors are charging.

I also don't understand what having diabetes or an ageing population has to do with not being able to say no to expensive services?.
My grandmother who is in her 80's is perfectly capable to shop around and get the best price. Being retired actually gives you more time to go to each shop to get the best price. I am often surprised at how good a deal she can get on good and services considering she doesn't have a computer.
But you obviously have a computer so you have even more of a change to shop around before you even leave the house to go to the opticians!.

Boots Opticians must be very pleased with your erudite defence. How many people, according to credible statistics, shop around for glasses PRIOR to an eye test? Last year I had an eye test at Crawley Boots Opticians - prescription did not change, no need for new spectacles. This year my prescription did change and I needed new glasses. The transition from optometrist to technicians / sales staff was very sleek. One tends to trust healthcare technician's advice at Boots Chemists. At the risk of repeating myself, the unprofessional and unethical advice I was given, reinforced by aggressive selling technique, are the reason I was persuaded to part with £370.00. Many people, except yourself, consider £160.00 (reglaze one single lens frame) to constitute an atrocious rip off. Actually, I am semi-retired and was working at the time on a literary translation project - I needed those new prescription lenses. Cf. Consumer Protection (Amemdment) Regulations 2014, particularly in relation to aggressive selling and misleading practice.

hollydays

I'm sure most opticians staff are on commission.
That's why you take your prescription, look around all over town, then buy.

MariaJP

Professional principles and ethics for sale? Do we really want civilised humanity to walk backwards on Commission? Surely, one can make money decently in any profession!

hollydays

MariaJP wrote: »

Professional principles and ethics for sale? Do we really want civilised humanity to walk backwards on Commission? Surely, one can make money decently in any profession!

I take it you didn't realise then?

takman

MariaJP wrote: »

Boots Opticians must be very pleased with your erudite defence. How many people, according to credible statistics, shop around for glasses PRIOR to an eye test? Last year I had an eye test at Crawley Boots Opticians - prescription did not change, no need for new spectacles. This year my prescription did change and I needed new glasses. The transition from optometrist to technicians / sales staff was very sleek. One tends to trust healthcare technician's advice at Boots Chemists. At the risk of repeating myself, the unprofessional and unethical advice I was given, reinforced by aggressive selling technique, are the reason I was persuaded to part with £370.00. Many people, except yourself, consider £160.00 (reglaze one single lens frame) to constitute an atrocious rip off. Actually, I am semi-retired and was working at the time on a literary translation project - I needed those new prescription lenses. Cf. Consumer Protection (Amemdment) Regulations 2014, particularly in relation to aggressive selling and misleading practice.

I do consider £160 to be extremely expensive so that's why I wouldn't have bought it and would tried to get it cheaper elsewhere.

You keep avoiding this question but why did you accept the £160 if your not happy with it?.

Also you keep on about them giving you advice and telling you to buy them but what did they say was wrong?. Did they tell you this was the cheapest price you could get?. If they just said this is the price we charge then that isn't wrong!.

There is no reason why you couldn't have had the eye test done and taken your prescription to any opticians to get the lenses.
Please take this as a lesson to shop around!.

I'll give you a similar situation i was in a few years ago. I took my Landrover in for an MOT and it failed due to needing welding. I didn't know if it would fail on this before the MOT so couldn't shop around beforehand. They then quoted me a price of £400 and said this is the best they can do and it may be worth scrapping it due to the work it needed.
I didn't just agree to the price or take their advice I said I'll pay for the MOT and take it somewhere else that's cheaper. I managed to get it done for £100 in the end at another garage.

Just remember to shop around BEFORE you buy!

letsbehonest

My sister in law was advised she has two cataracts and to use their private service to get them seen too, electing to go NHS she asked for the appropriate reference to be sent. After a few weeks no reply recontacted Boots and was told it was probably a back log in the NHS who are very slow in responding. When chasing up the NHS she was told that no paperwork has been received form Boots on her behalf. Protecting their own service base maybe, money, money, money.

Faith177

MariaJP wrote: »

Boots Opticians must be very pleased with your erudite defence. How many people, according to credible statistics, shop around for glasses PRIOR to an eye test? Last year I had an eye test at Crawley Boots Opticians - prescription did not change, no need for new spectacles. This year my prescription did change and I needed new glasses. The transition from optometrist to technicians / sales staff was very sleek. One tends to trust healthcare technician's advice at Boots Chemists. At the risk of repeating myself, the unprofessional and unethical advice I was given, reinforced by aggressive selling technique, are the reason I was persuaded to part with £370.00. Many people, except yourself, consider £160.00 (reglaze one single lens frame) to constitute an atrocious rip off. Actually, I am semi-retired and was working at the time on a literary translation project - I needed those new prescription lenses. Cf. Consumer Protection (Amemdment) Regulations 2014, particularly in relation to aggressive selling and misleading practice.

You could have just said thanks but no thanks and walked away if they were being THAT aggressive. It wasn't misleading they told you that way was cheaper with them doesn't mean it'll be like that in all shops.

As a consumer it is up to you to sort out the best deal not the store it is like that with anything you buy tbf even down to your weekly shop

Can I ask what you consider so aggressive about their selling practice?

NBLondon

MariaJP wrote: »

One tends to trust healthcare technician's advice at Boots Chemists.

I'm sure a lot of people still trust Boots as a brand; they've been around for 100+ years. That's probably why they merged with D&A and kept the Boots name. But the reality is it's a franchise operation in which Boots (as part of a conglomerate) is the majority shareholder, so the hard sell might even vary from branch to branch. I used to go to D&A, but changed branches after the merger because the assistants (not necessarily technicians) were not entirely helpful.

So next time, you know what to do... Take the prescription. Get a quote. Walk out the door and get a quote from Specsavers or Vision Express. Go with the best deal. You won't go blind or fall over the step if you don't get your new glasses immediately...