Good Service but not so good on the price... D&A Opticians (Dolland & Aitchison)

Member Name: MEL0611

Product:	Dolland & Aitchison
Date:	29/10/09 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good friendly service, could not fault the staff, good choice of frames

Disadvantages: Expensive frames, lots o little extras to pay for

This may sound very strange to some people but if there is one thing I am terrified of it is eyes! I have no idea where this strange phobia came from but I am unfortunately stuck with it and putting my eye make up on is a nightmare as I go all squeamish! I had been getting a few headaches and as I do work on my PC most of the day at work then go home and stare at a screen whether it is PC or TV my eyes were fast becoming tired and strained.

I did not have the courage however to book myself an appointment; I left it for my other half to do and then asked him not to tell me when the appointment was or even where until the morning of the test. Well, that day came and off my other half took me to our local branch of Dollond & Aitchison. The reason he chose Dollond and Aitchison (D&A) is he himself wears glasses and has always received a good service from the staff and has always been pleased with his glasses.

D&A is one of the oldest Opticians in the United Kingdom; it was first established way back in 1750. On my entrance to the shop I was pretty impressed; the layout of the shop was really modern. The flooring was dark brown wooden laminate whilst the walls were a fresh white whilst there wee splashes of blue around the store. The frames were all neatly presented against the walls or on stands and separated out by designer or male/female frames.

It was a good thing I felt ok about the Opticians as I was soon called for my eye test. As I said it may sound strange to many but I get extremely claustrophobic when anyone comes near my eye so to be letting a complete stranger near them with various lenses, torches and blows of air was a big deal..... But I survived to tell the tale and I have to say the poor lady whose job it was to test my eyes that day was really patient with me and explained each process as she was doing it. The outcome was that I needed glasses for VDU purposes (to much time spent on Dooyoo perhaps?!)

The relief of getting the eye test was overwhelming so I was quite happy to then try on all the various frames and make my choice... there lies a story!

Call me naive but I had no idea just how expensive buying a pair of glasses was. Having never worn them before I did not even have a round figure in my mind and although my partner wears glasses they are partially subsidized by his workplace.

The assistant who was showing me all the frames was very friendly and very honest which I think is a great in a situation like that but she was also pointing me in the direction of the designer frames and saying I should see which frames suited my face rather than go by price.

Many pairs of frames later and swapping and changing I settled on a pair of Karen Millen Frames, they were not to heavy on my face and the oval shape really suited me so when we sat down to order them I was shocked to discover that the eye test alone cost £30.00. My Partner luckily had been on the D&A website (www.danda.co.uk) and printer off 2 half price vouchers but then I was hit with the cost of the frames £90.00! Shock horror!

When I thought back, many of the designer frames were coming up quite expensive and although there were offers on some frames, not the ones I wanted though! You could also get a deal where the second pair of frames were half price but as my lenses would be for VDU I did not need the second pair as I would be using them for limited periods only.

I was then offered many different options for my glasses such as did I want them with a scratch resistant coating on? I wanted to say no but knowing how clumsy I ma I decided I really should say yes, this only added more value to the cost but what could I do? Suddenly the eye test and glasses had cost me over £100. To me this was a little on the pricey side but I proceeded to order the glasses.

A positive thing if you can call it that is that you do earn Nectar points on your purchase but this is not a lot to soften the blow of the £100.

I can not fault any of the staff in the shop; all were really helpful and as I said I did appreciate the honesty and the frames available was good. Designer brands included DKNY, Morgan, Police, Laura Ashley as well as D&A's own choice of frames.

I was then told my glasses would be ready in a week and to pop into the store to collect them and have them sized just to see if they needed altering at all.

I phoned the store to check my glasses were in and the assistant informed me they had not arrived as yet, I am really glad I phoned as to collect the glasses would have been the only reason I went into town. I then received a phone call the following week to say the glasses were in stock.

I went down to collect them and the assistant had to make a minor adjustment but a smart looking glasses case and some rather expensive frames later I was out of there.

It is hard for me to say if I will go back to D&A when my next eye examination is due as although the frames were expensive and all the other extras soon added up the staff were really friendly and sensitive to my eye phobia. Having spoke to other people and seeing other reviews on here I have noticed that they have said the same thing about the cost so who knows.

In summary, I can not fault the level of care or the help with the choosing of my frames, it is just a shame they were so expensive!

3 out if 5 from me

Thanks for reading.

Summary: Not the cheapest opticians in town but a friendly one. (See review)