Black and Lizars, shortsighted in their customer service policies and way over-priced (Opticians in general)

Member Name: fleeceLover

Product:	Opticians in general
Date:	06/12/08 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice range. Quiet unhurried atmosphere

Disadvantages: Expensive. Poor value. Slick salespeople trained to sell 'top down'

Black and Lizars
Overall impression is that their only interest is to get the maximum amount of money out of you with no particular interest in your long-term custom.

Had a very similar experience to the above reviewer. I stated several times that i wasn't looking for a designer pair of glasses; as this was my first pair and they would only be used for reading, not for day in-day out use, I only wanted something functional that didn't look too awful.

However despite this and my (then) ignorance as to what is available and at what cost, I was shown nothing but designer brands, eventually settling on a £60 pair. This was fine, however. £60 i could handle. It was only when we were talking payment that the £115 lens charge was dropped into the conversation!

Excuse me?! How come all of Black and Lizars rivals, namely Specsavers a few doors down the road manage to show prices INCLUSIVE of lenses? When i go shopping for a car I don't expect to be quoted for an engine, get to the payment desk and then be charged more than double the quoted price for the complete car with bodywork and steering wheel and wheels attached!

What use are frames without lenses to 99% of shoppers? So why quote prices for frames and make no of mention of the total ACTUAL price you'll pay including the actual part that helps you to see?

Upon paying a £30 deposit towards my nearly £200 supposed "functional, non designer" glasses I queried this with a friend, who informed me that I had bought a designer brand and if i'd gone next door to Specsavers I could've bought very similar looking glasses complete with lenses AND A FREE SECOND PAIR for £75 !!

Doubtless my designer specs had wonderful scratch resistant and anti-glare properties and would last me forever, blah, blah, blah, but this wasn't what I asked for. I'm well aware of the value of things and will happily pay more for certain benefits, but my current financial circumstances and predicted usage of the product dictated that this was not currently required and I told the salesman/manager as much. This was ignored.

So why didn't I just ask for my £30 deposit back? Some hope. Black and Lizars have a 'no refund' policy. In fact they broke the law by not even offering me gift vouchers without an extended wait whilst the manager approves the transaction with a director. You couldn't make this up. When I asked when I could expect a refund/vouchers, I was told he didn't know. "depends who deals with the query but we'll phone you". All they would offer is for me to choose from their basic range, which i didn't take them up on, as judging by the sneering smarmy attitude of the salesman would've disappointed me somewhat.

Anyway I now have my 2 pairs of specs for £75 from Specsavers from very friendly and down-to-earth staff. Thanks to them. But will have a long wait from Black and Lizars I suspect before I see my £30 again.

In summary, Black and Lizars appear to be elitist and over-priced with stuffy old-school policies. It seems that they have never considered how much money they must've lost over the years from non-refunded customers that never come back, as opposed to a short-term loss of money, but a happy customer who has buying confidence in the company and makes future purchases.

Black and Lizars are rather 'short-sighted' in their customer service policies and it comes as no surprise to me that they still only have a handful of branches in a small geographical area after nearly 200 years in existence, compared to the multitudes of rival opticians branches all over the country.

Avoid.

Summary: Make sure you have your anti-salesman mode engaged. Expensive and outdated policies.