I only started wearing glasses around 4 years ago and tried a couple of opticians before I found one which I felt comfortable with. Living in Telford all of the major players are represented, but the staff in my local Boots have consistently been the most helpful and friendly.

One of the major positives about using Boots is that everytime I have my eyes tested or buy glasses from them I can collect Advantage Card points and depending on the time of year you can sometimes get double or even triple points, which when you are spending a couple of hundred quid is a considerable amount of points put aside for christmas.

Staff here have always seemed very knowledgable to me and eye tests are thorough and professional. On my most recent visit they were offering an extra test where they took a detailed photograph of the back of your eye for an extra £10, this on its own would usually be £20 but it provides an opportunity for early diagnosis of many eye diseases, including glaucoma (which runs in my family and was one of the reasons I was keen). They then keep this with your records for future reference.

The range of glasses is quite good in Boots and this is one of the things I do like, I really like contemporary frames and they always seem to have a very good selection, they also stock ranges from a number of designers including the high street names of FCUK and Ben Sherman, up to more top end offerings from Gucci, Prada and the like. Personally I can't justify spending more than a hundred pounds or so on frames so I tend to stick with the Boots own brand range which has some very funky and interesting frames anyway.

The best idea with Boots Optiticians is to wait until they have a special offer on, which they do quite frequently. Usually this is buy one set of frames and get another one free, you only have to then pay for any amendments to the lenses on the second set (I usually have the anti-glare coating added).

I have found that by playing my face a bit I can generally get a few freebies chucked in and this seems to be at the descretion of the optician you are dealing with. For instance, I was due another contact lens check up at the same time as my last eye test but they wanted to charge me £25 for this on top of the eye test fee £20. I have never understood why you have a seperate prescription for contact lenses which is not necessarily the same as the one for your glasses and said as much to the optician, anyway, I made it clear that I was not willing to pay seperately and indicated I would risk sticking with the lenses I had and sure enough they then offered it to me for free.

Although they can be expensive when compared to online retailers, I have never had a problem with frames bought from Boots, which in my experience are well made and hardy enough for everyday wear, they do offer an insurance policy for around £18 per pair and whilst this does add an extra cost it has proved sensible twice for me when I have sat on or dropped and scratched my glasses.

Professional service and a great range of specs, plus the option of adding to your advantage card balance mean that for me Boots are the providers I will stick with.