Eye Test

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by Doghouse Riley, Feb 20, 2018.

  1. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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    I need glasses for reading and having been a customer of Specsavers for years, every two they offer you an eye test. It's worth having purely for medical reasons.

    I had mine today. The business is like well-oiled machine. The staff all similarly dressed learn everything by heart and use the same speech to every customer, they're like "Nexus sixes," if you know what I mean. During the pre-test, this assistant was going through the routine, firstly, offering me contact lenses.

    "No I've tried them don't fancy them, too much messing about.

    "Now we can provide hearing aids, would you be interested in a hearing test?"

    "Pardon?"

    She didn't get it!

    What amazes me is the advances in the technology, it seems it's been updated every time you go.

    Years ago any of us who have worn glasses would remark om how expensive were the frames compared with those of sunglasses. Not any more, two reasonable looking frames from £69.
     
  2. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    I've stopped using specsavers, last pair of glasses I bought were IMO not great, the frames they give you are the ones that are on show, now why would I want a second hand pair of frames?

    The ones I got were definitely twisted, where people had tried them on, when I complained I was told that was how they worked and it is normal for the customer to get the self same actual frames on show in the shop.
    So told them where to go.

    Then I tried an independent opticians, they came up with a pair of glasses that I had to shut one eye to read with, one lens was far stronger than the other so only focused at a different distance.:frown:

    In the end I went to Boots for a second opinion and they appeared to come up with a totally different prescription, but denied it was different to the one from the independent opticians.:scratch:

    I think the whole lot of them are on the make, biggest bunch of rip off merchants of all time.

    But at the same time you need to get your eyes checked, so, go get the eye test and if all is OK with you eyes buy a pair of reading glasses in the chemists:lunapic 130165696578242 5:
     
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    • KFF

      KFF Total Gardener

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      I've got my eye test tomorrow. I always go to Boots as although the Opticians is in their store they are totally independent.

      I would never have my glasses from Specsavers . I worked for them for almost 10 years and I know what goes on in their factory and the way they treat their staff.
       
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      • Jiffy

        Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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        Miss Jiff has just had her eye's test by indendand and with the new glass's she can't use them, but we have to go back for a retest (with different tester) as they think something is not right) :snorky: well i put on her old glass's and things are blured, put on the new glass's and i see double :th scifD36:

        To many people cutting corners and not caring what they do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        In all parts of life
         
        Last edited: Feb 21, 2018
      • HarryS

        HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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        I have used the inhouse opticians at Asda the last couple of times . My prescription has hardly changed in the last 30 years , so I tend to only go for a eye test when I feel like new frames. The service is spot on and they have a great range of frames - two sets of designer frames for £119 .
        Standard frames £90 for two. All "extras " are included in the price , like scratch resistant coating and tints for sunglasses.
         
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        • Jiffy

          Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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          Problem after problem after problem, Miss Jiff still haven't got her new glasses :mad: 3 months :th scifD36:
           
        • shiney

          shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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          As some of you know, I don't mess around if I think something is wrong. Now, who would have thought I was that fussy? :whistle: :lunapic 130165696578242 5:

          My eyes are extremely sensitive to any inaccuracies in the lenses of my glasses (had a nasty accident as a child and spent ten years going regularly to Moorfields) and I tell the opticians all about it. I can notice if my prescription is out by as little as .125 of a diopter. @KFF will know what I'm talking about. :)

          I had the same, independent optician for many years, until he retired. I then went to Boots and I thought they did a good job of the eye test. When I was given my new glasses to put on I told them that they were not right and their reply was 'most people think that at first because of the change in prescription but give it a couple of weeks and you'll find it settles down'. :nonofinger: My reply was that logic would show that a new and better prescription should give a better result immediately and that I had no intention of trying to wear them for two weeks. I reminded them about how exact I need them to be and asked them to check that the lenses had been made to my actual prescription. It turned out that the laboratory they use don't make lenses to a tolerance of .125 so they had given me lenses to the nearest .25. I told them that I wouldn't pay and that I would go elsewhere. I think they breathed a sigh of relief. :snorky:

          So I started shopping around all the opticians and asked all of them if they can make the lenses to such tolerances. Vision Express said they could so I used them. The manageress said that she would deal with me personally and she was very good. The optician (not the manageress) tested my eyes and they sent off for my lenses. A week later I got a phone call from the manageress saying that my lenses had arrived but she had examined them and decided that they were not quite accurate enough. So she sent them back to the laboratory. It wasn't until the fourth lot of lenses had arrived that she was satisfied with them and asked me to come in. They worked perfectly. :blue thumb: She has been looking after me for about 20 years and never asks me to come to have them fitted until she's satisfied with the prescription. Excellent service :dbgrtmb:
           
        • Scrungee

          Scrungee Well known for it

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          I have four pairs of spectacles, 2 with handmade frames and general/driving lenses, 1 'designer' pair with prescription polarised, coated, high quality sunglasses lenses, and the frames for my reading glasses were hand built to my chosen design. Just the frames cost over £1,000.

          I don't scrimp when buying spectacles. Couldn't get on with contact lenses, and if I have to were the glipping things all the time I'm going to have precisely what I want with no compromise.
           
        • shiney

          shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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          :yikes: Do they pull the birds? :snorky:

          We obviously have different priorities. That £1,000 would go towards another holiday :blue thumb:

          I'm mainly interested in making sure my lenses are made properly for me. I don't do designer things in anything :noidea:.

          All I'm interested in is does something do what I want? My clothes just need to be comfortable and I keep them until they wear out, electronic gear is not replaced until it stops working properly, I don't need all the modern stuff - no smart phones, ipads, Kindles, etc. We did change our gas boiler 12 years ago although it was working OK (and had been OK for 26 years) when we had our kitchen revamped to give me more room. I even had the gas light taken out of it :hate-shocked:. We're on our third TV since we got married 53 years ago. I do change my car about every 10 - 11 years even if it doesn't need it :)
           
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          • HarryS

            HarryS Eternally Optimistic Gardener

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            Going for my eye test next week , 1st in about 4 years. Luckily my prescription for short sightedness has not changed over the years . This time I'll just get sunglasses on a two for £x "designer" deal . I only like a light tint on sunglasses . Seem to have lost my others over winter , must have put them in that famous safe place which I can never find :snorky:
             
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            • Scrungee

              Scrungee Well known for it

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              Cor, it's probably become fashionable again :dbgrtmb:

              [​IMG]


              Jack Duckworth didn't waste good money on new expensive spectacles!

              [​IMG]
               
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              • shiney

                shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                I got them after he died :blue thumb: :heehee:
                 
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                • Marley Farley

                  Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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                  I gave up with Specsavers a few years ago.. I found the people in there only knew their memorised spiel and if asked anything different they don’t know.. You can sit in a que in our local one for easily an hr before you are seen for glasses fittings!!
                  The reason I stopped going to them in the end was I had a pair of rimless glasses and the screws kept coming loose so the glasses never sat in the same place and when I went back after a week I had to wait an hr to see anyone and all the man said was oh well yes you have to expect that with those sorts of glasses.!!! :mad: No I don’t think so.!! :mad:

                  I have now been going to Armstrong and North for a few years and I can thoroughly recommend them, the service is exceptional.. I wouldn’t go anywhere else for the moment..! :thumbsup:
                   
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                  • Sheal

                    Sheal Total Gardener

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                    I've always used an independent optician but last year after declaring an eye problem to the DVLA they asked me to have an eye test specifically for them - that was with Specsavers. I felt like I was on a conveyor belt there and with no privacy everyone else could listen in on my conversation with the optician. What a dreadful place. The eye test was very basic, on old machines and wasn't worth the visit. The DVLA would have gained more detail from my own optician. Yes, I'm fit to drive according to Specsavers although I think my own optician would have declared the same but in more humane surroundings.
                     
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                    • shiney

                      shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                      That's interesting, as I go to Vision Express which is another chain of opticians and get a totally different service. They have modern equipment, each test on each piece of machinery is in a separate small room, so no one else around, and each optician has their own consulting room.

                      The non-technical stuff is in a main room but is really just for working out what frames are needed and the adjusting of them.

                      Maybe they haven't got up to date in the far north :heehee:
                       
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