£700 worth of glasses that are of no use ...

Si_Clist

My wife has worn glasses for most of her life.  Two years or so ago, she got herself some new varifocals, and for the first time a correction called "prism" was added to the prescription.  Those glasses came from Optician A, and proved to be perfectly satisfactory until in March this year she noticed a change in her distance vision, so off trots she to Optician B.  Optician B is, like Optician A, part of a large national chain.

The outcome of this visit was new glasses to a new prescription, and almost exactly £700 on the credit card in March.  Two points of interest here are that there was no "prism" in the new prescription, and that to us, £700 is a very great deal of money. 

Within a few days it became apparent that there were issues with the new lenses, particularly with her distance vision.  Off she goes back to the shop, has another eye test, and learns that something or other had not been measured exactly enough, so they will try again with new lenses.  Which they do, but alas there is only a marginal improvement.  

She then has another test (which makes it three different optometrists), at which she is told that perhaps the issue is not so much the lenses but her eyes, in the sense that left eye, right eye and brain are not playing together exactly as they should.  If so, "prism" may or may not solve the problem, but either way she needs to be seen by a specialist.  Optician B then writes to our GP requesting a referral to an orthoptist.  That was in March.  Today we learn that the earliest available appointment with this specialist is in the second half of November.  

So, as of today we have £700 tied up in two pairs of glasses which are no use because they are no improvement on those supplied by Optician A late in 2019, and it seems that Optician B's position is that they can't advance the situation until she's seen the specialist and they've changed the lenses again to whatever prescription he/she issues.  That will take us to December, by which time Optician B will have been sitting on our £700 for 9 months.

We are not happy.  How would you feel in this situation, and where would you go from here?

Sandtree

If you were happy with the results from A why did you switch to B? 

eskbanker

Si_Clist said:

Optician B is, like Optician A, part of a large national chain.

Does this mean two people who are both employed by the same national chain, or two companies who are each national chains?

Si_Clist

Sandtree said:

If you were happy with the results from A why did you switch to B? 

A is 12 miles away, B is 1 mile away.  We don't have a car and the bus service to A is not a great deal of use. 

user1977

Why did the glasses cost £700? If it's a very great deal of money for you, I presume that's because you had no option but to spend that much?

TELLIT01

The last pair of high quality varifocals I bought - 10 years ago according to my optician cost over £400 including frames so although £700 is certainly on the high end, that price is for 2 pairs.

Regarding how the opticians can progress they probably can't do anything until the specialist has seen her, but I would be concerned as to why the potential problem wasn't picked up at any of the 3 tests.

user1977

TELLIT01 said:

although £700 is certainly on the high end, that price is for 2 pairs.

Is it? I read it as being for one pair.

Undervalued

Many, many years ago a GP I know well said to me that there were only two types of NHS hospital eye referrals open to her, 3 hours (for very urgent sight threatening conditions) or 3 months (for anything else)"! That was back in the days when the NHS was in a lot better state than it is now so I am afraid having to wait until November doesn't surprise me.

Having the second optician involved has complicate this. If they are offering to replace the lenses free of charge to whatever the hospital prescribes then that doesn't seem unreasonable? The delay is not their fault.

Or am I missing something?

Ergates

user1977 said:

Why did the glasses cost £700? If it's a very great deal of money for you, I presume that's because you had no option but to spend that much?

Unless you're paying for ridiculously expensive designer frames then bulk of the cost will be the lenses.  One "option" that people choose that does increase the price is thin lenses.  However, if it's a strong prescription, then the alternative is glasses that look like the bottoms of milk bottles (and are heavy and uncomfortable) so most people don't really consider it an option.

Si_Clist

OK ... so nobody has any useful suggestions as to how we might best proceed from here?

newlywed

If the prism worked for her previously, can she request to try that with the current optician, or are they refusing?