Vision Express online contact lenses?

twopenny

I'm fed up to the back teeth with Specsavers changing the policy without informing beforehand, the brand and trying not to rant so ..........

Looking elsewhere. I have a prescription till end May. I know the brand I want and this was the first company I found. I think I've heard of them - look reasonable though I have no experience or anyone I can ask for suggestions or what to check.

There is one private optitions locally but it will be more expensive.

So wondering if anyone can explain if there are any pitfalls to ordering online, how do you get your prescription renewed etc. Would be really grateful for some help.

flaneurs_lobster

Modern single-use, single-vision daily disposable lenses are a commodity, pick the cheapest online retailer you can find. They are now so cheap that I can't believe there's any market for fakes.

Anything more complicated then I'd only trust one of the established name suppliers.

Don't buy from anyone who doesn't, at least, need a declaration that you have a valid prescription.

If you might be willing to try another brand (and you need simple lenses) then my partner and I have been using https://daysoft.com/ for over 15 years with no problems.

twopenny

Thank you Flanders.

No I wouldn't do it without prescription.

I do need Toric lenses so that's a little more complicated. However the brand I used to use is a common one.

SS persuaded me what they were selling were the new packaging but now I have doubts.

They also want to move my test 4mts earlier  than it's due (with no prior notification) 'because they like to have specs and lenses at the same time - with the proviso that they won't sell me lenses until I have the test. I've been told they won't, they will, they won't etc

Not the first time I've had problems.

I'll have a look around and revisit their branch, talk to the manager and visit the local optitions. But this came as a bolt from the blue - again - and I've already paid them for lenses which they now won't give me despite the prescription being up to end of May.

Being Christmas it just becomes more complicated.

flaneurs_lobster

So you have a prescription that's still in date and you have paid Specsavers for a supply of lenses but they won't supply? In the absence of any medical reason why they can't dispense then I'd be at the formal complaint stage.

Have no experience of other online lens sites (other than Boots who do my tests) but FWIW Vision Express come joint 1st (with Feel Good Contacts, Lenstore & Vision Direct) in a recent Which? survey. Let's be honest, all they are doing is putting the things in a box and shipping them, as long as they're the right numbers on the box and they're in-date, not a lot to male chicken up.

Rodders53

Specsavers are all FRANCHISE operations.  Not all branches are equal.  So a particular store "policy" could warrant a complaint to Head Office if you exhaust the Store's complaints process?

https://www.visionexpress.com/about-us also has a franchise model alongside the mainly owned stores.  Boots is doing similar.

Independent retailers need not always be a significantly different price and there are places that will sell lenses online with little if any bricks and mortar stores.  Aftercare may be more of an issue with that method?

twopenny

Thank you both.

Flaneurs that's really helpful information to get me started.

Yes Rodders, Specsavers don't do aftercare, not even a look, unless you pay again wait until the part time staff are available - where the independent store does.

Complaint to head office isn't anywhere near yet until I can get the facts straight. Told different things in short periods of time.

Being rural and loosing independents since the pandemic there's a choice of 2 in a 50mile radius.

So I'll find out what my options are tomorrow.

And see if I can get a definitive answer from Specsavers one way or another but need to know if I leave them I have somewhere to go.

Wonder if it's possible to have a test yet buy elsewhere? I'm doubting it but lots of people buy online so there must be a way.

flaneurs_lobster

twopenny said:

Wonder if it's possible to have a test yet buy elsewhere? I'm doubting it but lots of people buy online so there must be a way.

I'm assuming that you mean the contact lens test (sight test, eye health & lens suitability etc) rather than the ordinary "spectacle" sight test?

I don't think that there is any "right" to the test results but this would probably vary between practices. The few I've used build the annual check and any ad hoc checks into the pricing that includes supply of lenses and might not want to supply "test only" or price such.

I cheat by having an annual plan with Boots Opticians (I rate my local branch highly) with the cheapest lenses (which are fine) on the least supply. So I get 30 daily disposables every 2 months for £3.83 a month DD, but more importantly this includes the annual check-up (normally £50-ish) and any ad-hoc checks if required. I then source additional lenses from DaySoft. No problem getting copy of prescription (+ double Advantage points on Boots purchases). 

Whether this would work or be worthwhile when more expensive (eg toric) lenses are needed depends (I guess) on the practice and their, er, practices and their pricing.

twopenny

That's a very good deal! I remember the first private optition that introduced me to lenses was intractible on a costly annual charge which is why I moved.

Also I only use lenses 2/3rds of the time if that. Something else to check before I end up burried under boxes of lenses