Contact Lense Conjob!!!

Spender£

I recently decided to apply for a contact lense eye test so i could try them for occasional use as an alternaltive to my glasses.
It seems so far that the big chains are full of tricks, Specsav*rs told me i would have to pay them a fee if i ever decided to get my disposable lenses from anywhere other than them and Vision Expr*ss said i would first have to book a normal eye test with them and i would be fined £35 for not purchasing my contacts from them. All designed to tie me in to them, i asked an independent shop and they said i would never be allowed to have a prescription to take away if i leave them.
As a MSE fan, all of this rings alarm bells with me and i'm ditching the whole idea, why does everything have a catch?

Undervalued

Spender£ said:

I recently decided to apply for a contact lense eye test so i could try them for occasional use as an alternaltive to my glasses.
It seems so far that the big chains are full of tricks, Specsav*rs told me i would have to pay them a fee if i ever decided to get my disposable lenses from anywhere other than them and Vision Expr*ss said i would first have to book a normal eye test with them and i would be fined £35 for not purchasing my contacts from them. All designed to tie me in to them, i asked an independent shop and they said i would never be allowed to have a prescription to take away if i leave them.
As a MSE fan, all of this rings alarm bells with me and i'm ditching the whole idea, why does everything have a catch?

With a glasses prescription that would be illegal for them to refuse you a copy of the prescription!

I am not sure whether that applies to a contact lens one?

Spender£

Undervalued said:

Spender£ said:

I recently decided to apply for a contact lense eye test so i could try them for occasional use as an alternaltive to my glasses.
It seems so far that the big chains are full of tricks, Specsav*rs told me i would have to pay them a fee if i ever decided to get my disposable lenses from anywhere other than them and Vision Expr*ss said i would first have to book a normal eye test with them and i would be fined £35 for not purchasing my contacts from them. All designed to tie me in to them, i asked an independent shop and they said i would never be allowed to have a prescription to take away if i leave them.
As a MSE fan, all of this rings alarm bells with me and i'm ditching the whole idea, why does everything have a catch?

With a glasses prescription that would be illegal for them to refuse you a copy of the prescription!

I am not sure whether that applies to a contact lens one?

Yeah i was quite shocked to hear this also but it was a guy on the phone who told me £35 fine although he said it was part of a so called "free" contact lense trial, i asked if i could just pay for a contact lense test and buy a pack of lenses and he said absolutely not unless i comitted to buying my contacts from them permanently, at this point i put the phone down.

Floss

You will need to be taught how to put them in, how to remove them, and they shouldn't let you leave with 2 packs of lenses (that have been selected to suit your eyes & prescription) until they are happy you can do that.

So it's not free for the optical company.

theoretica

Paying for a contact lens trial would work out quite expensive - there is an eye exam/measurement which is looking for different things from the glasses one, but draws on it (so I can see being reluctant work of an eye test done by someone else). Then teaching you to put them in, at least one follow up appointment, maybe a change in trial lenses.  Almost certainly works out cheaper to buy the minimum number of packs by subscription and take the free trial. - and pay nothing if you don't get on with them.  Yes, there is a saving of a few £ a pack buying from the cheapest place, but paying for lens check-ups outweighed that for me as a relatively light user.

tidus

"free" contact lens trials are designed to encourage people to have a go with lenses, and then purchase if they are happy. Generally they have terms and conditions to protect the Optican from doing a load of work then you disappear and buy them somewhere else. Vision Express are not "fining" you £35, that's what they charge for contact lens fitting. It's just done free if you sign up with them.
I'm struggling to understand your outrage here!

Undervalued

tidus said:

"free" contact lens trials are designed to encourage people to have a go with lenses, and then purchase if they are happy. Generally they have terms and conditions to protect the Optican from doing a load of work then you disappear and buy them somewhere else. Vision Express are not "fining" you £35, that's what they charge for contact lens fitting. It's just done free if you sign up with them.
I'm struggling to understand your outrage here!

I agree.

That said I am still unclear about whether the legal right to a prescription extends to contact lenses? 

As I have said in other threads I think optometrists have devalued themselves as a profession by adopting a lost leader type business model. Particularly with glasses, optometry is a funny mix between medicine and heavily marked up high street fashion! Whilst that remains it is hardly surprising that online and out of town warehouse operations will mop up the profitable side of the business by selling in volume at a significant discount.

kirtondm

It is a breech of our regulations to not supply a contact lens prescription but only when the fitting is complete. Multiples tend to deal with this by offering a 'free' trial then charge for the completion of fitting or sign you onto a plan.
I charge a fitting fee ( covering all the appoints , it normally requires at least 3 appointments to do it properly ) which is waived if you join the plan. Either way you get a prescription at the end of the fitting
I am not doing any new fits at the moment due to the current COVID crisis as can't justify it with the amount of close contact teaching lenes requires 

amandacat

A bit different to what you asked but you can do a free contact lenses trial with somewhere like Specsavers, you’re under no obligation to sign up for their scheme unless you’re happy with the trial. The trial lenses they give you will give you everything you need to know about your subscription including the base curve and cylinder and you can then just buy your lenses online.  

Undervalued

amandacat said:

A bit different to what you asked but you can do a free contact lenses trial with somewhere like Specsavers, you’re under no obligation to sign up for their scheme unless you’re happy with the trial. The trial lenses they give you will give you everything you need to know about your subscription including the base curve and cylinder and you can then just buy your lenses online.  

Yes, but it would be very unwise to wear contact lenses of any sort without having your eyes checked every six months. So you need to factor the cost of that into the whole equation.

I suppose if you are just going to use one day disposables very occasionally and normally wear glasses, then people might choose to extend that interval. However it certainly isn't recommended (or wasn't back in the days when I used them some of the time).

Spender£

tidus said:

"free" contact lens trials are designed to encourage people to have a go with lenses, and then purchase if they are happy. Generally they have terms and conditions to protect the Optican from doing a load of work then you disappear and buy them somewhere else. Vision Express are not "fining" you £35, that's what they charge for contact lens fitting. It's just done free if you sign up with them.
I'm struggling to understand your outrage here!

But they told me i would be paying a £25 initial contact lenses fee plus an new eye test fee with them for around £20 and if i then wanted to go elsewhere for contact lenses that would be £35 so around £75 plus any extra tricks they failed to mention, with this being the case it would become a liability compared to what i pay for specs.
In an ideal world i would go in pay for the contact lenses test, purchase a pack of disposable contacts from them and walk out with my prescription, I don't have any sympathy for the way it is done here, if they are concerned about me purchasing contacts elsewhere then lower your price, To stay put and be fleeced like is a violation of section 47 of the MSE scriptures!