My experience in the opticians this week

faceman

I switched from Specsavers to Vision Express last november as SS didnt do the type of contact lenses i wanted. (I wanted ones that would give me laser beams coming out of my eyes! )

Anyway anytime i had an appointment in SS for a check up and i had been a customer of theirs for years, i was always guaranteed to be waiting between 20-30 minutes from my booked appointment time to when the optician would see me. I thought this was the norm with high street opticians tbh.

I have now had 3 appointments with VE and on each occasion i turned up i was seen straight away. None of this waiting malarky.

I just wanted to share the good experience i had anyway as we dont often share the good stories.

Moonbeam

After going to specsavers for glasses for years I decided to go somewhere new for my contacts this time.

I went to Supersavers opticians on Talbot St and I found them great.
The test lasted about 45 minutes and I left extremely happy and confident afterwards.

They didn't have the exact prescription for my left eye but they have ordered it in for me.

seaner

I spent most of my earlier years going to Specsavers but recently I switched to a local guy here and I've never looked back (excuse the pun).
Specsavers was somewhat of a cattle mart...its like "take a ticket and wait in line!"..

My local optician is now the guy I go to. Really friendly, great selection of eyewear and is FOREVER given me free samples of things!


I always have to laugh when I see their ads for the way they price things....PRICE INCLUDES COST OF LENS. I should bloody well hope so..i'm hardly paying for a pair of frames now am I??

And its never the amount you expect..by the time they've added on all the extras you're paying well over what the sign out the front says..(thinned lenses, extra-long life glass bla bla bla).

endplate

Independents will in most cases give a better service cos there about the customer whereas SS and VE are simply about money try going back with a problem. I've heard of many cases of people with appointments been made wait in VE while the person who went to the trouble of booking are forced to wait as they take in walkins the op here is an exception.

I've also met a woman that spent €800 on her frames and lenses in VE the same spec in my place would have been about €550. She knew she was ripped off. I also met another woman that got 2 bifocal lenses and frames and while one was free she still parted with over €700 not much of a bargain IMO bet she was saying should've gone somewhere else well her husband did

Fabio

I was in my local SS today and I'm really thinking of not going back. The opthamologist in there who knows my eyes really well and always treats me well (my eyes are sensitive to infection and I wear monthly all day all night lenses so I have to have exams done a lot on them). Anyway I went in today and he told me it was his last day as the directors are closing the contact lens clinic there.

I assume they will continue to sell lenses but if you have a problem there'll be no clinic - great.

After my check up I was walking to college and got a fierce pain in my right eye (in the initial check-up the guy took out two eye lashes which had grown inward under the lens) so I walked back and went to see him again. I was told he was "no longer working here" despite me seeing him only an hour ago. I was told go downstairs to main reception where they deal with glasses and did so but was treated like crap despite the pain I was in. They told me to come back later as they were too busy. I'll go back later as they fitted me in for an appointment but I'd say it'll be my last.

The one guy in their who knew my eyes and my lenses is gone now and the rest, bar a few, are clueless. In fact I learned so much from my opthamologist that I'd easily get a job doing something small in there.

I'm better off going to a more personal, local and independent place methinks.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Yeah I don't like that about specsavers alright, too much sitting around waiting.
Having said that, I find the staff polite and patient, unlike the previous pack of arseholes I was with before.

the_syco

Have gone to SS once, to get the sheet for the driving test filled out. Used to goto a local place in Leixlip, but not for over a decade or so.

Used to goto a place called McGivneys, on Henry Street, but they recently got bought by someone else. The daughter has merged into a place on 22 Bachelor’s Walk, called Urban Eye Care, so I'll be probably going there from now on.

Fabio

Are independents more expensive than Specsavers or Vision Express?

Has nyone tried Optical Express??? Never really took a liking to them!

the_syco

Fabio wrote: »

Are independents more expensive than Specsavers or Vision Express?

Dunno. SS has some nice deals, but as McGivneys knew their sh|t, I never went elsewhere.

endplate

Fabio wrote: »

Are independents more expensive than Specsavers or Vision Express?

Only some are dear but most are cheaper VE are very expensive. The power of advertising is a very powerful tool. You will get some good deals alright but once the ad ons start then the price rockets

Fabio

True advertising nis very powerful alright...

monkeyfudge

I was in Vision Express yesterday and I found them very good.

I only go to the optician once every 3 years or so and they seem to add more tests each time. This time around I had photos taken of the back of my eyeball which was pretty neat.

They seemed genuinely concerned over the fact that I might be developing glaucoma so I have to go back in a week or so for another test.

Again I was seen to at the time of my booking.

The sales guy was a bit odd though. When it came to paying, he couldn't log into my account on the system as it was already logged into at another terminal. He kept blaming someone else for logging in, but it was actually him. He logged into my file at one terminal and then sat me down at another to pay. I didn't want to point this out to him though.

As for the price I don't mind spending a few quid on something I'll wear on my face every day for the next 2 or so years.

I found their after care service to be very good as well any time I went in with my current pair of glasses too. I remember using Specsavers in the past and they simply didn't want to see you if you popped in a week after getting some glasses to get the frames adjusted.

The only annoying thing is that they have to send off for the lenses I need, so I won't have my new glasses until Friday at least.

DonkeyStyle \o/

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I remember using Specsavers in the past and they simply didn't want to see you if you popped in a week after getting some glasses to get the frames adjusted.

Hmm, what happened?
I went in to SS months after purchasing and they adjusted my frames for free... granted I had to sit waiting for 15-20 minutes for a meeting that took 5 mins and I wasn't even happy with the adjustments in the end... but they had no problems seeing me, I don't think they even asked who I was.

monkeyfudge

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote: »

Hmm, what happened?
I went in to SS months after purchasing and they adjusted my frames for free... granted I had to sit waiting for 15-20 minutes for a meeting that took 5 mins and I wasn't even happy with the adjustments in the end... but they had no problems seeing me, I don't think they even asked who I was.

I went in twice... A day after getting the glasses and a week after getting the glasses and they just told me they were do busy to do anything for me.

adamstown1

endplate wrote: »

Independents will in most cases give a better service cos there about the customer whereas SS and VE are simply about money try going back with a problem. I've heard of many cases of people with appointments been made wait in VE while the person who went to the trouble of booking are forced to wait as they take in walkins the op here is an exception.

I've also met a woman that spent €800 on her frames and lenses in VE the same spec in my place would have been about €550. She knew she was ripped off. I also met another woman that got 2 bifocal lenses and frames and while one was free she still parted with over €700 not much of a bargain IMO bet she was saying should've gone somewhere else well her husband did

I have worked in the optics business for sixteen years and i have never seen a walk-in taken in before a booked appointment.
I love the way you say `same spec in my place would have been about €550`. Do you know that it was the exact same frame and the same lens type,probably not.

There is not a big difference between the cost of the various lenses in Specsavers and Vision Express but there is a huge difference in the price of frames.
Specsavers mainly have cheap branded frames
Vision Express have designer ranges.

Moonbeam

High index lenses for me were the same price in both,the range of frames in vision express was a lot bigger and better but also alot more expensive with no buy 1 get 1 free offers.
Saying this it really is worth shopping around,you can save a fortune and get what you want esp if you are leaving the country any time soon:)