Felt very rushed at the Optitions (well known branch)

I've had it with the big chains. There's an independent opticians in our local area and I'm going there next time.

i've always been well looked after at my local specsavers.Some charge if you don't buy some completely free. no conditions attached. guys please donate all your old glasses to any specsavers. helps a lot of people in 3rd world countries.

www.specsavers.co.uk/news-and-information/latest-news/shoppers-in-kirkby-help-provide-sight-for-africa

www.specsavers.co.uk/stores/kirkby

Had to cancel my app as was too unwell to go.

I spoke to the same lady and was very helpful and has made another appointment for next week. So we shall see.

I was only saying this on saturday when i had my eyes tested, i was told i have a narrowing of a tube in my eyes but no further information was given i thought it would be on my prescription but it isnt. This was a well known optician i am not sure my glasses will be right when i get them. I only go there because they do retinal photography, and macular degeneration runs in the family.

Bikergran , well done for insisting that you have another appointment. I also use S.........s and have always received good treatment here. I understand what you say about being rushed, and trying to differentiate between red/ green, or black and white spots etc, but if I am not sure, I always ask to see the screens again, and the optician always repeats the options.
Good luck with your new appointment.

Ironically, alongside this page is an advert for the Care Quality Commission. I hope they are monitoring their own adverts and see this alert.

I had a truly dreadful optician experience at the well-known chemists.

I can't go into details but it was a terrible shock and I am strangely relieved to see that it was not just me and not just that particular chain.

I did complain and they sent somebody senior to investigate, but his emails have been full of "sorry that was your experience" etc and not much in the way of reassurance that it will not happen again.

I do wish now that I had written to the opticians' professional body instead. I did say to the senior person that if I ever hear again of someone being treated this way at that local branch I will take it further and I suggested to him that they might like to use Secret Shoppers for the eye tests (I think we G Netters would be brilliant at that) so they can see what actually happens to real people.

I might add that he assured me the person who made the mistakes and treated me abominably was actually fully qualified and experienced (I'd hoped I'd just been unlucky and got a trainee) and I can confirm that bits of the equipment were failing and hygiene was a bit iffy. This from one of the most trusted names on the High Street.

I'm going to send him the link to this thread and I suggest you do the same if it was S .... or B .... or any of the big names.

Well done for complaining bikergran - your experience sounded very unprofessional and not something you should just accept.

I've been with my local optician for about 25 years - I have very bad eyesight with complex lenses and my appointments have always taken a long time. It was one of the now retired partners who diagnosed the neovascularization I had some 15 or 16 years ago.

I've heard varying reports of Specsavers - some good some dreadful so I guess it depends on where you live. I hope your new appointment goes much better.

I avoid the chain opticians. I have been going to the same independent optician - husband and wife - for over 30 years.

It is a very busy practice, but they always have time for a quick chat, they know that I do not want to spend much on the frames that live in the living room for tv watching only but are very picky over those for driving and being seen out in. My biggest worry is that they will retire soon.

Well done for ringing, biker, and good luck for next time!

ok rang opticians and spoke to very nice lady who listened to my problem. I said I felt like I had been put on a conveyor belt and switched to High Speed! I explained I have always been here for my glasses and been thoroughly satisfied.

The lady then offered me to go back for a further eye test with a different person (she did quote name and it sounded like a more qualified person, can't quite remember the name she gave him)

So going next week, I will be interested to see the results on paper.Yes they may be exactly the same, but this time I am hoping that I will have more time to absorb the eye test rather than be speeded through it.

Thanks for all your suggestions and support

We go to Vision Express every 6 months for checks- and we have not a bad word to say. On time, polite, friendly and thorough examination with really nice, professional and not rushed at all.

I agree with feeling rushed at the well known chemist. Also the last appointment I had there I hadn't realised they had been giving out vouchers for free eye tests. (Mine is free anyway), so it was chaotic with all the extra customers they had booked.

I agree with charleygirl.
I support our small independent optician and always get excellent service. I wouldn’t take my prescription anywhere else.
He diagnosed my detached retina, rang the hospital immediately & arranged for me to be seen that day.
It probably saved the sight in my right eye.

I go to Vision Express and the
care is great never feel rushed the optician is wonderful. Never been to the one you mentioned so can’t comment but I am very pleased with where I go and can recommend them ( and a free eye test)

I go to my local SpecSavers and have done for the last 15 years.Yes they are always busy , and sometimes there is a time delay in seeing the optician, but I have never felt rushed, or made to feel uncomfortable if I asked any questions.
They do all the routine testing , peripheral vision, pressure, and photographing the back of the eye.
As others have said, if you are not happy with the service of your current provider, vote with your feet and go elsewhere.
Ask friends or family for recommendations .

I haven't been rushed that badly but I would suggest taking your custom elsewhere.
DH once said that at a well-known High Street chemist he felt like he 'was a unit to be processed' rather then a human being.

I use an independent and have never felt rushed, although I did comment to the receptionist that I thought he had the hump about something. She just said he can be a moody git and apart from that I think he's excellent. I order my prescription contacts from him and then get them on line and specs I get for peanuts online too.

That is very true Mamacaz. Perhaps only buy a second pair, if you want that, at a different place

With the optician jane didn't mention. I too felt as if I was on a conveyor belt.
With the opticians at the well-known High St chemist, I was comfortable, given time to ask questions and had a very thorough test. Exemplary service including spotting an issue at a test a year or two after cataract surgery with immediate reference back to hospital opthalmology dept.

It's slightly risky anyway, having the test at one place then buying the glasses at another.
If you find that you can't see as well as you should with the new glasses, both places are going to try to insist that the other is at fault, resulting in a lot of hassle, whereas when both are done at the same place, there should never be any problem sorting this type of problem.

I know that my optician would go out of business if I took my prescription elsewhere. He is struggling financially because he does spend a lot of time with each patient.

He diagnosed my macular so I will be ever grateful for that.

I go to a highly qualified man at a local optician. He is qualified to refer people for cataract operations and check them afterwards whereas the opticians at our Asda can not.

I am naughty. I go to the local optician, get a prescription and take it to Asda. I could probably just manage with Poundland readers but fall over if I try to walk in them so buy cheap varifocals.

I have always had excellent service from 'should have gone to Sp. ...' so much so I have complimented them their courtesy, painstaking exams , helpful attitude. I don't know if it makes any difference which branch you go to. I had poor service from the optician at the well known chemist too.

I had trouble with Boots that other optician as well once. The lenses were lined up wrong with my pupils so I really couldn't see. However, they fixed them eventually. I suppose it's really down to individuals within these corporate businesses.