So, I had my eyes tested. They said my prescription had changed, but only slightly. I needed new glasses, so my fiancée at the time picked a pair. They cost £50.
After a week, I tried them on. Up close, they were fine. I kept them safe for the day of the wedding, not touching or using them. I was certain they were correct.
However, on the day of the wedding, I started getting throbbing headaches and it was hurting me. My perception of distance was non-existent. Therefore, I swapped back to my previous prescription. I thought to myself, “Why would a new prescription hurt like this?”
After another week, I went back to the Specsavers branch in Buxton and asked for a refund. The optician checked my glasses and said I needed to be wearing them for a few hours and that nothing was wrong. I asked them to check my previous prescription, but I was denied, despite it all being on the system. He said headaches are normal and that I should be wearing them, despite staggering and using my glasses to drive.
I refused and requested a refund. They said they couldn’t do this because there was no manager on duty on a Sunday and that a manager needed to authorise a refund. I knew something was wrong with my glasses.
The following week, I messaged and asked if we could go to the store on Sunday, as we live quite far from Buxton. She replied, “No, you have to come in Monday to Thursday if you are not coming today.” My wife was shocked and appalled. She responded, “We may have to go to another opticians as we are unhappy with the service we received.”
Instead of apologising, the manager said, “Okay, we will close your account. We do not need your business.” I went to the shop and received the refund, though the customer service was cold.
I then asked for both my current and old prescriptions. She said no, but did give me my current prescription. They then told me that my right and left eyes had been swapped in strength.
My dad phoned them because both my parents and I use Specsavers for eye health. The manager was adamant they were right and lied, saying she never said my eyes had been swapped.
They were covering up a mistake. The old prescription from last year I later found was indeed swapped. My left eye is weaker than my right, but they had put the right lens in my left eye and the left lens in my right eye. They covered up this serious mistake and even recommended I continue driving and using the glasses with this mismatch.
I understand mistakes happen, but to cover them up is unacceptable. If I had followed the optician’s advice, lives could have been at risk while driving with that prescription. I would still be a Specsavers customer if they had admitted the mistake, but they did not. Now they have lost three customers because of this.
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Specsavers delivers high-quality, affordable optical and hearing care including home visits.
