Optical charges

Music_queen

I’ve recently had a new prescription, and because I’m now on a low income I decided to buy two pairs of glasses online. When I mentioned this to my optician, he said this would be fine and I would only need to pay for new lenses. The optical assistant was going to text me regarding the charges, but never did. Today I paid £134 for the lenses. When I returned home, I noticed that £30 had been charged for using my own glasses! Is this fee correct? I would be interested to hear what others think. Thank-you in advance.

Music_queen

1. 

Here is the bill above.

lisyloo

have you tried discussing with the optician and politely explaining that you were told you only had to pay for the lenses?
It can’t hurt to try.

visidigi

The charge is for fitment of the lenses. Pretty standard when asking for reglazing with a new prescription

lisyloo

visidigi said:

The charge is for fitment of the lenses. Pretty standard when asking for reglazing with a new prescription

I agree, but do they not have a responsibility for clear pricing to financially constrained customers?
saying you “only” paying for the lenses is misleading.
ultimately it’s now down to asking nicely whilst implying they weren’t entirely clear.

pinkshoes

If you buy their own glasses, the price of the frame includes having the lenses fitted. 

On this basis I would assume that if I was supplying my own glasses, then it would make sense that I have to pay to have the lenses fitted.

£15 for fitting lenses into a pair of glasses is reasonable.

lisyloo

pinkshoes said:

If you buy their own glasses, the price of the frame includes having the lenses fitted. 

On this basis I would assume that if I was supplying my own glasses, then it would make sense that I have to pay to have the lenses fitted.

£15 for fitting lenses into a pair of glasses is reasonable.

This is all true, but the verbal agreement with the optician was to only pay for the lenses.
one issue is that this was only verbal so no proof of what was said, so pretty much down to goodwill.

HeinzVarieties

lisyloo said:

visidigi said:

The charge is for fitment of the lenses. Pretty standard when asking for reglazing with a new prescription

I agree, but do they not have a responsibility for clear pricing to financially constrained customers?
saying you “only” paying for the lenses is misleading.
ultimately it’s now down to asking nicely whilst implying they weren’t entirely clear.

Only if you're being extremely literal.  Most people would assume that you weren't literally paying for the lenses only as you're obviously at least paying for someone to craft them, test them and ship them to your opticians.

I suspect that if the itemised receipt didn't mention the fitting you'd have happily paid it.  Hat might be a better way of looking at it tgan looking at every single expense individually.

born_again

Well they have to pay someone to glaze the lenses to the frame. But the machines to do this (you are looking at thousands of ££ for them)
With this there is a increased risk. It's not uncommon for frames to break in this process. So some will also include "It's at your own risk" so if they did you would have to replace the frames.

If you are going the online route. Might as well get the whole lenses & frames from them.

lisyloo

HeinzVarieties said:

lisyloo said:

visidigi said:

The charge is for fitment of the lenses. Pretty standard when asking for reglazing with a new prescription

I agree, but do they not have a responsibility for clear pricing to financially constrained customers?
saying you “only” paying for the lenses is misleading.
ultimately it’s now down to asking nicely whilst implying they weren’t entirely clear.

Only if you're being extremely literal.  Most people would assume that you weren't literally paying for the lenses only as you're obviously at least paying for someone to craft them, test them and ship them to your opticians.

I suspect that if the itemised receipt didn't mention the fitting you'd have happily paid it.  Hat might be a better way of looking at it tgan looking at every single expense individually.

Agree with that, but if you explain to a professional that you’re hard up is it not reasonable to expect them to be clear about the costs? 

Thrugelmir

lisyloo said:

HeinzVarieties said:

lisyloo said:

visidigi said:

The charge is for fitment of the lenses. Pretty standard when asking for reglazing with a new prescription

I agree, but do they not have a responsibility for clear pricing to financially constrained customers?
saying you “only” paying for the lenses is misleading.
ultimately it’s now down to asking nicely whilst implying they weren’t entirely clear.

Only if you're being extremely literal.  Most people would assume that you weren't literally paying for the lenses only as you're obviously at least paying for someone to craft them, test them and ship them to your opticians.

I suspect that if the itemised receipt didn't mention the fitting you'd have happily paid it.  Hat might be a better way of looking at it tgan looking at every single expense individually.

Agree with that, but if you explain to a professional that you’re hard up is it not reasonable to expect them to be clear about the costs? 

The order was placed online though not inshop. What the local optician said is irrelevant. 

Was the website clear as to the fitting charge being additional to the cost of the lenses?