High Street Retailer with Web Presence

LittleVoice

Not sure where to ask this so trying this board.

If a "High Street" shop

• is part of a franchise group
• that group's website shows a particular offer
• on the website that offer is displayed as being available at that branch
• the shop refuses to honour the offer

is there any recourse to Trading Standards?

Or do we have to accept that they can refuse to supply but allow the advertisement on the website to run on indefinitely?

dmg24

Does the online advertisement have t&c's attached to it?

Difficult to say without having further information ... x

SaraSeahorse

example needed!

LittleVoice

OK - it's Specsavers.

I wanted a pair with single prescription - just for driving - while I have a couple of pairs of varifocals in better frames for the rest of my life.

They offer £25/pair- "Low prices on some of our most popular frame styles means we can offer you our biggest ever range of value glasses – more than 150 frame styles*. Choose from our £25 or £45 Star Price range and get a complete pair of single vision glasses with PENTAX lenses including UltraTough scratch-resistant coating. If you’re entitled to a voucher from the NHS, please ask our staff about how you can use it to buy Star Price glasses – some of them will be free." [bold emphasis is mine]


T&C on main site: *Full range may not be available in every store. Extra Options available at additional charge – see Clear Price leaflets for details.

The list of offers for the store I visited this week included this at the top of the list.

The manager (part owner?) and the dispenser (who said she had never looked at the website) said that the coating was only available without extra charge if I had an NHS voucher for a free pair.

dmg24

The ad is a bit vague, but I have read it the same as you, that the offer is not just for NHS voucher customers.

However, when you read the 'Clear Price' policy it lists UltraTough as an extra for everyone. Certainly doesn't seem very clear to me!

I can't stand Specsavers, I went in once and was actually blocked in the consulting room until I agreed to look at their glasses! I stick to my local optician now, although I am tempted to try Tesco, who are highly recommended x

savemoney

I remember a case like this on Watchdog a hairdressing franchise Saks. The branch wouldn't honour some voucher the customer complaint and the company relented

brightonman123

check with the franchise head office.. perhaps they can have a word.

LittleVoice

brightonman123 wrote: »

check with the franchise head office.. perhaps they can have a word.

The "Customer Service" part of the website says to approach the branch and that "We are currently unable to deal with enquiries by email. "

And Specsavers itself is a Guernsey-based company.

I have purchased a good number of glasses from them in the past and been reasonably satisfied with the service.

Because they would not offer the coating as advertised (and I think it is entirely clear that the glasses should be supplied with the coating, unless you didn't want it I guess), then I didn't buy the varifocals either. As I had thought of getting the most expensive of the varifocal options, not the standard or intermediate prices, they have lost more profit.

Boots seems like a reasonable alternative which I will look at more closely on Saturday.