Seeing Clearly (Dolland & Aitchison)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Dolland & Aitchison
Date:	20/05/06 (882 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Professional eye testing, reasonable range to choose from

Disadvantages: Pricey compared to Specsavers

I've recently started a mystery shopping job and my first assignment was one that I jumped at the chance of carrying out as I was due for an eye test anyway. I had to book an appointment over the telephone, attend and see if I was offered everything on the list. As I live in Scotland my eye test was free anyway on the NHS, but I also have a voucher for my glasses thanks to the family credit we receive so I was entitled to money off my actual purchase.

***Booking The Appointment***

When I phoned up to make my appointment I was dealt with professionally and quickly and asked all the relevant questions, such as - Had I been a customer before? What time was best for me? etc. I phoned on the Friday and was given an appointment for the following Tuesday as the company was closed for a bank holiday weekend.

***Previous Experience***

I had been a customer many years ago but started going to Specsavers when I moved down to Selby as this was the most convenient store for me. When I moved back to Arbroath, Specsavers opened up here so I continued to go to them for my eyetests until they annoyed me so I was looking for a different optician anyway and Dolland and Aitchison had always been good in the past, just a little bit more expensive.

When I last visited D & A, I not only had glasses but contacts too. However as I am on PCs quite a lot I find my eyes dry out and I have since ceased wearing lenses. I had always found the specialists to be friendly and very efficient.

***This Visit***

When I arrived I was instantly greeted by the friendly face of an optical assistant who asked my name and sat down with me to take a few details of my lifestyle, asking if I drove or used a pc as well as some general health queries. My old glasses were taken away and checked for prescription status as I didn't have my old prescription with me at the time. About 2 minutes later I was introduced to the optician and taken through to the little darkened room with all sorts of gadgets in it as well as the standard letter chart on the wall.

The optician started off by asking me what row of letters I could read and I found that I could still see the bottom line pretty well. He then asked me to compare red and green lights with dark circles on them to see which was clearer. All these tests helped me to find out that my eyes had changed by the smallest fraction and I was advised that my old glasses would still suffice if I was happy with them. However, I was actually looking for new ones as my last pair were over 2 years old and had been scratched slightly.

The next set of tests looked into whether or not the pressure in my eyes was correct. This can be an indication of glaucoma which my uncle has and as this can be a hereditary condition it is vital for me to be tested for it as untreated it can cause loss of peripheral vision and eventually blindness. It was found that one of my eyes had a slightly higher pressure so I was also given a test which involves looking at a white screen whilst keeping your head still and pressing a button to count the dots appear on the screen in a random sequence.

Luckily this was all ok and I was advised that the pressure wasn't an immediate problem. The optician also had a good look in each of my eyes to check to see how my pupils reacted to light and to check they weren't diseased. Again this was all fine.

***The Selection Of Glasses***

I was handed back to the optical assistant to choose some frames and I advised her that I wanted something similar to the ones I had as I felt they suited me quite well. As I have quite a small face, she recommended a pair from the children's range and together we picked out 6 pairs to try out. Now as anyone with glasses will know, this is usually quite a difficult thing to do as obviously you cannot see yourself properly without the lenses so it was great to find out that the webcam could take pictures of me with these frames on and then I could put on my old glasses to see what I actually looked like with them on.

I found this great fun even though the computer crashed at one point and we had to retake some of the pictures. This really made it easy for me to narrow down the selection and the advisor was great at listening to me rather than trying to push the most expensive frames on me as some companies do.

I was also told that I could choose a second pair as sunglasses from the children's range for only £20 which I felt was quite a good deal and again we took pictures of me to see which pair looked the coolest.

***The Lenses***

I was advised to get my lenses reduced in thickness as I have quite a strong prescription and it can be quite heavy and look quite clumsy in the metal frames that I chose. This is something that I have had in the past and found it to be a vast improvement. These thinner lenses automatically come with scratch resistance coating so there are no additional costs for those. There are varying degrees of lense thinning and I was shown the total cost for each so I could make my final decision knowing the full amount it would cost me.

***The Price***

The price for my first choice of frames should have been £125 and my sunglasses were priced at £110 but with my free eye test and my NHS voucher for family credit I only had to pay £85 which was a little bit more expensive than Specsavers but not enough to put me off as the service I had with D & A was excellent.

My payment was easily accepted on my credit card and I was told that I could either pay the full amount or a deposit. I chose to just pay the whole amount as I felt this would be easier for me.

I was advised that my glasses would be about a week but my sunglasses could take a little bit longer. I said just to contact me when both pairs were in as there wasn't any rush for them but I realise this could be a problem if someone was in a hurry for them.

***2 Weeks On***

I received a phone call saying both pairs had arrived and was reminded of opening times for me to collect them. They do close for lunch there so I thought this was good of them to let me know.

I went down the next day and was immediately greeted by the same assistant that I had dealt with and was pleased to see she recognised me instantly and didn't even ask for my name again.

We sat down and tried on my glasses and checked them for fit. The plain lenses pair were an excellent fit and didn't require any adjustments but the sunglasses did need tightening and she did this quickly for me. I was then asked how the vision was and given a double sided mirror. This had an example of newspaper print on one side to check my reading vision and a mirror to check how good they looked.

I was then told that I would receive a call 2 weeks later to check that I was happy with the frames and the vision of the lenses but that if I found the fit slackened off at all or if they ended up being a bit tight, to go in at anytime and they would re-adjust them for me.

***My Thoughts***

I must say I was happy with all the treatment I received from the moment I walked into the shop to the minute I left with my glasses. The optician made me feel at ease and was very thorough and the assistant was friendly and chatty but kept to the matter in hand in a professional manner.

I was due for an eye test and this is something that everyone should have at least once every 2 years to check the health of your eyes. There is so much more than just eyesight involved and as with many health checks, prevention is better than cure. It seems strange that many people will regularly have a dental check up but seem to forget about the importance of their eyes even though they use these more than their teeth.

I felt that the price was pretty reasonable but this probably had a lot to do with my voucher. It is great that all eyetests in Scotland are covered by the NHS now and this previous cost is something which probably put a lot of people off in the past.

All in all I am very happy with my new glasses and I would recommend the Arbroath branch without hesitation.

Summary: Good service.