Good branch service - shame about the factory (Dolland & Aitchison)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Dolland & Aitchison
Date:	01/02/01 (274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent service in the shop

Disadvantages: Problems in making the spectacles

I have been going to Dollond and Aitchison for eye tests and spectacles ever since I was four years old, gosh that’s 42 years! They were originally Hudson Howard and were taken over some time ago.

I used to have an eye test every two years, but I now go every year since I have been using the computer and putting more strain on my eyes. I am always satisfied with the tests that they perform including special computer sight tests and glaucoma tests. I have seen many opticians come and go but they have always been of a very high standard.

Once I took my prescription all round the town, and we have many opticians in Walsall, to see if I could get my spectacles cheaper elsewhere and I couldn't. The way I was treated in most of the other places wasn't a patch on Dollond and Aitchison either.

I now relate the problems that I had the last time I went for new spectacles, and I hope that this will be a one off in an otherwise unblemished record.

My eyesight has been deteriorating for some time now and my close up vision in particular is not what it used to be. When I had my eyes tested I was advised to try varifocal lenses in my spectacles, so that I could have the magnification for the close work where I needed it most. The young lady who attended to me gave me advice on the type of lenses to choose and I opted for the top of the range at over £300 thinking that I would have the best as I can’t replace my eyes if anything happens to them.

She also helped me choose new frames using the facilities advertised on TV. I had my picture taken in four different frames and the images were projected onto the computer screen for me to see how I looked. I chose a frame different to anything I had ever had before as I could see properly for the first time how they would look on me.

I collected my spectacles a week or so later and was very pleased with the result. Then things began to go wrong. The lenses develope
d marks on them that I just couldn’t get off. I went back Dollond and Aitchison and was told that the protective coating on the lenses was faulty. They were returned to the factory for replacement.

When they were returned to me it was only a month or so before the same thing happened again. I returned them again and asked if I could have the replacement without the protective coating. I was told no. The manufacturer does not actually make them with the coating, they have to be sent across the country to be coated but I was not allowed to have then without the coating! I had to ask for a cheaper lens, which would come without the coating, as it was obviously not up to standard. Each time the spectacles went in for replacement I had to wear my old pair, which wasn’t very good as I had got used to varifocals by then.

I eventually got my spectacles with the cheaper lenses and I had a refund, but the time and trouble taken to get there was very stressful. The assistants in the Walsall branch of Dollond and Aitchison could not have been more helpful or supportive but the service from the manufacturers let them down big time!

I must just add that in all the 42 years that I have been a customer this is the first time that I have had any problems and, once I ordered the cheaper lenses without the coating, everything was fine. I shall be returning to Dollond and Aitchison in the furture.

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