Specsavers...sometimes (Specsavers Opticians)

Member Name: tinkabubble

Product:	Specsavers Opticians
Date:	20/10/09 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good opticians

Disadvantages: Have put me off with some poor customer service

I have been wearing glasses for about 15 years now, since I was still at Primary school, and it took me quite a few tries to find an optician I like after my original optician moved; enter Specsavers. Everytime I have been so far, I have always had the same optician, which is good. She carries out a very thorough examination of my eyes and has a great attitude, where as other opticians I have been to in the past have been short tempered and ignorant, and basically having a superiority complex. I can also say that my grandmother also uses Specsavers, having a different optician to me, and she likes her optician too.

I bought my first pair of Specsavers glasses about 6 years ago and because I have to wear my glasses all the time my mum treated me to a pair of designer frames, and they were fine. I bought some more after my next eye test from Specsavers and they also were fine.

However, with the current trend for wide sides of the frames, I thought I would see about getting some new lenses in my old designer frames for driving, etc. However, a rather snotty employee at Specsavers basically laughed and held my glasses up as though they were a piece of dog doo (they are still fine except that some of the white paint on the inside of the frames and tinted slightly) and basically told me that they'd never look anything like alright.

Now, I don't mind helpful honesty, but it is, for my local branch of Specsavers, attitudes like this on the front desk which is the shop's downfall, talking down to people and have no concept of treating the customer with respect in the hope that they will return. It isn't all of the staff, I hasten to add, but it has put me off.

My latest pair of glasses from Specsavers were a new edition to their range and the only ones I really liked. However, after spending much time measuring me and making me an appointment to pick them up, the glasses kept sliding down my nose which gave me a headache and was extremely frustrating, and seems to render the whole fitting process pointless.

I took them back and the girl bent them some more behind the ear, but this didn't help at all. My dad looked at them and said that it was the legs that were the problem because they were too splayed they weren't touching my head to grip behind my ear.

I therefore took the glasses back and explained this and the woman took them away and brought them back with a bend in the nose bridge, which in turn altered the position of my pupils behind the lenses and ruined all that hard work they had done measuring where exactly in the lense my pupils would look through.

I didn't think that part of the process was important, but trying the glasses on after they had been bent, I can see that it does! I felt all dizzy like my prescription had been changed all over again. They did settle down again, although I still feel dizzy when changing between my contacts and glasses but this is probably due to the contact lenses not being able to match the prescription exactly.

I couldn't tell straight away if the frames were any better, as it is when they get warm that they start sliding, so I took them home and low and behold, they were still sliding, although there was a definite improvement.

The next week, the glasses were irritating me a lot again, and appeared to be as bad as ever. I took them back and, with my hands full of shopping bags but not wanting to keep the girl waiting, I removed my glasses with just one hand. I explained the problem and she basically told me it was my fault; "well taking them off the way you just did isn't going to help." She repeated this twice and had quite a nasty attitude. I explained that I only took my glasses off once a day, when I went to bed, and had only removed them like this because my hands were full. I found it all very degrading and patronising; I have had four pairs of plastic glasses before and have never had this problem and shan't be palmed off with the blame this time.

She took them away and this time, the solution was to curve the arms of the glasses inwards, which did seem to work, except that now I have a pair of glasses which cost me over £100, even with a student discount, which have been bent all manner of ways from their original shape (one arm is longer than the other and the bridge has a nasty bend in it).

My father also purchased his sunglasses from there and they had an unfortunate incident (they got sat on!), but despite only having bought them a short time previously, he was told he would have to buy a new pair as the frames had been discontinued and they couldn't find any other arms to fit, which seemed to be a load of rubbish; my dad fitted some new arms to them himself in the end! Having just spent extra money on having the lenses polarised, Specsavers said they couldn't even fit the lenses into another pair of frames or anything, even though the lenses were large enough to be cut down.

So, all in all, in my experience, the opticians at Specsavers and very friendly and professional, and apparently good at what they do. However, they lull you into a fasle sense of security, expecting the rest of the staff to be of the same pleasant attitude and commitment to customer service. For my local branch this is not always the case. I shall continue to have my eyes tested at Specsavers but I won't be buying any more glasses there, as the choice wasn't great last time anyway.

And it's a shame as there are some nice people who work at this branch of Specsavers, which I feel I should say, but I can't help that my recent experiences have put me off the shop. They do also offer discounts for students and seniors, which is good. They also have something called 'clear price' which makes buying glasses from them quite simple as you pay a certain amount for the frames and a basic lense and then it's, for example, £30 extra for thinner lenses and £30 forand ultraclear finish, which is a paint applied to the lenses for anti-blur, which is particularly good when driving. The you can have extra thin and ultraclear for £60 I think. There are ther options such as polarized lenses to take sun glare away, plus others. This is a very appealing aspect to the Specsavers brand.

Summary: I like the optician but will think twice before buying glasses here again.