I was blind now I can't see. Any Opticians in the house.

[brucemillar]

As per the title. I need some advice please.

I am a long term varifocal specs wearer. Normally for reading and driving and the occasional bit of TV watching. Reading is my biggest need.

My present frames of choice being (I am a ponce) Rayban Wayfarers. So I need some new ones and thought, get your eyes retested Bruce, it makes sense.

I head off into a well known high street chain that I should have gone to previously (if you get me meaning).

Eye test complete, frames (I bought two pairs) and lenses selected, house remortgaged, what could go wrong?

Well here is what I think has gone wrong. I can't read with them, unless I keep my head absolutely still. Any movement to the left and everything goes really blurry. Look up, no issue, look down, no issue, look right, slight blurring, look left NO VISION. But this only happens with one pair, the other pair are perfect.

So I tell the sales person. She immediately tells me I need "premium lenses" at another £80 on top of what I have just paid. Hang on, I haven't worn the brand new ones you just sold me!!! So how can paying another £80 change the problem? Also how come one pair are OK? Long debate then follows with the shop bending the frames and generally faffing about. I eventually lose patience and ask for a full refund. Shop then says I need a retest of my eyes as the prescription maybe wrong. They insist on a retest before a refund.

I have lost confidence in their ability to do anything with my sight, but feel that I have to give them the chance to put things right. Now they can't retest till next Monday. So another week without my new specs and my £470.

Is this acceptable? Surely it has to be a faulty lense? And NOT the prescription otherwise both pairs would be the same.

 

[John Jones Jr]

But this only happens with one pair, the other pair are perfect.

I'm no optician but you'd have to conclude the shop fcuked up with the prescription on one set of glasses. And if that's the case the extra eighty quid demanded is a con.


Why not get the prescription checked on both pairs at another opticians, it's only takes a minute?

 

[brucemillar]

I'm no optician but you'd have to conclude the shop fcuked up with the prescription on one set of glasses. And if that's the case the extra eighty quid demanded is a con.


Why not get the prescription checked on both pairs at another opticians, it's only takes a minute?

Apologies. I should have added, that I mentioned that they may have got the prescription wrong. The answer was a firm No We Have Not!! They claim to be able to test the lense against the prescription. They also asked if they could look at my own Raybans, which I agreed to. They offered no explanation of why they work with no blurry bits.

 

[RonFleet]

If one pair is OK and you can't read with the other pair, then I'd guess that the second pair has the wrong prescription. Seems logical. Are both sets of frames a similar size? Is it possible that the area available for the lens part of the second pair is too small to be of use?

I wear varifocals (have done so for many years for reading, computer and distance) and find them really good. I've just had new ones and decided to opt for the premium lenses (not from the well-known chain you got yours from but from another high street chain of opticians) and I have to say that the extra £80 I paid was well worth it. For those not aware of this, the premium option widens the field of view in the various lens areas, reducing the amount of head movement needed when wearing varifocals.

Hope you get sorted out.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Apologies. I should have added, that I mentioned that they may have got the prescription wrong. The answer was a firm No We Have Not!! They claim to be able to test the lense against the prescription. They also asked if they could look at my own Raybans, which I agreed to. They offered no explanation of why they work with no blurry bits.

I'd get an opinion from another optician.

 

[grober]

Second independent opinion.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Not very helpful I know but I recently bought prescription Wayfarers online for £120.

I think it could have been cheaper but I wanted transitions lenses.

Not varifocal BTW.

 

[Mike Walker]

IIRC eye test is £40 so would be going to an Independant optician and not one of the "Chains". Good luck Bruce.

 

[camerafodder]

I have had this problem. Definitely worth getting a second opinion Bruce but my experience with some very fancy Zeiss lenses, high refractive index to keep the thickness down, transition coatings, varifocal...bloody rubbish. It was as if the close up part of the prescription extended to each vertical side of the lenses, basically giving me tunnel (exaggeration) vision. nearly £600 and I ditched them in the end and went back to two pairs for distance and reading respectively. When I complained, the optician admitted that they no longer did these lenses as 8 out of 10 patients brought them back for replacement/refund.

 

[Ted]

Definitely sounds like they got the script wrong, although varifocals can be dodgy around the edges - sometimes a little head movement up and down helps.
OT, Mrs Ted had problems with two pairs she bought once - the reading glasses were rubbish - she had trouble reading, and the other pair didn't help her driving vision at all - in fact she was better without them.
Took them back to the shop to complain and all became clear (literally). She had forgotten which frames she had ordered and was using the readers for driving and the drivers for reading!!

 

[brucemillar]

I have had this problem. Definitely worth getting a second opinion Bruce but my experience with some very fancy Zeiss lenses, high refractive index to keep the thickness down, transition coatings, varifocal...bloody rubbish. It was as if the close up part of the prescription extended to each vertical side of the lenses, basically giving me tunnel (exaggeration) vision. nearly £600 and I ditched them in the end and went back to two pairs for distance and reading respectively. When I complained, the optician admitted that they no longer did these lenses as 8 out of 10 patients brought them back for replacement/refund.

My Raybans have Zeiss premium reactive eye etc. Brilliant.

New optician knew this and said this was not an issue. Tunnel vision is a good description. But it appears to be limited to my right eye/lenses and only when turning my head left.

I am upset at the lousy service as much as anything. Why can't these people show just a little bit of empathy.

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[Stratman]

..................

Why can't these people show just a little bit of empathy.
.................

Because they're basically high volume low(ish) markup frame resellers. Every return chips away at their profits and goes into a Big Ledger in their dungeon headquarters.

 

[thedruid]

I had a similar problem with specwasters. I had a free test done there and was quite worried when the person doing the eye test mentioned my severe astigmatism in my left eye which hadn't been there for many many years before.
Anyway off I trot to ASDA for my glasses made up only for them to arrive and make me feel like I was Mr. Magoo. ASDA there and then squeeze me in for a test which doesn't show any irregularities and re-order my glasses with the correct prescription. New glasses arrive and are spot on. I asked how much it would be for the re-order to be told it doesn't cost anything due to some agreement between the optical trades that the maker bears responsibility for the prescription being correct.
I was very impressed with the customer service at the food shop over the optician and will be using their services again. Very cheap too which is always a bonus.

 

[toolman1954]

Hi,
I have used the same Optician / Opthalmist for the last 50 years and have complete faith in my current Optician whom has seen me for the last perhaps 15 yeas(or more). Only once, long time ago did I venture elsewhere into the High Street and in the end I had to get a refund as they had made such pigs ear of the whole job. I had to go back to my own optician, cap in hand to get things sorted. So now at the age of 62 my Optician explains to me that essentially I need transitions to cover 3 areas of vision as my short sightedness has become " better " due the the muscles in my eye either getting stronger or weaker... an age thing.!
"Trifoculs " ( my word ) are very expensive, so to get around this I have normal varifoculs " transitions " which are the latest Nikon offerrings, very thin and very light and reduce the ghosting at the sides. The only drawback is that I cannot see close up with these and have to take them off for close up work and reading. But taking them off is a very cheap and easy solution.
The only thing I do to keep down costs is to source my own frames and sadly Nike 4009's with bendy arms are getting very hard to find.
I have complete faith in my Optician, and would not trust my eyes to the High Street after my previous experience.

 

[DavidL]

I'll pitch in here as its what I do.
So 2 pairs, one works one doesn't. Well there's a problem to start with that doesn't need "better" lenses to fix it as one pair already does the job.*
So what's the difference between the pairs? Well it can only be one of 3 things -

the rx isn't correct in the blurred pair - easily checked; is it the same as the good pair and the same as the written rx. You don't need a recheck if one pair works.

Second - the centration isn't correct on the blurred pair. Again easily checked and even easier to fix if the 2 pairs are the same. Even if the frames are different (I'm not entirely sure from the OP) the horizontal measurements are the same - your eyes don't get further apart or closer together depending on which pair you are wearing!
The vertical heights will differ but the fitting cross supplied by the manufacturer should be in the same place relative to you.

Thirdly - are they the same lenses? On deals where the second pair are free or much cheaper you often get more basic lenses. Now if the better pair work and "cheap" pair don't then * (see above) you may need the upgrade and this is reasonable. If they are the same lenses are they made exactly the same? It isn't just the prescription but the lens curvature front and back.

Its a straightforward process that any decent practice should have off pat. Ask them if they have a D.O (dispensing optician) and see them. They will know more than your avarage sales girl (although there are exceptions).

I hope that helps - if you need more just ask.

Regards
David

(Dr David Leighton PhD MCOptom -if you really wanted to know!)

 

[Piff]

I had varifocals a few years back and didn't get on with the blurred vision at the sides (I had picked the cheapest lenses)
Went in recently to that well known high street chain. Small change in the prescription so they wanted to sell me some new ones. I shuffled my feet, picked up some brochures, tried on a few frames & then said I would think about it (read tight ar5e who doesn't want his arm twisted and would prefer to return when he has read the brochure to find the best deal)
Meanwhile SWMBO is chatting with sales person & is sat down being measured for varifocals (with a fancy new measuring machine) - not the cheap lenses that I couldn't get on with but the top of the range with this coating & that, reactolites, etc, etc.
Returns a couple of weeks later to collect.
Doesn't get on with them - turns out the fancy new measuring machine got the measurements wrong
Lenses now re-made at no charge & they are ok

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Going by my experience with eyesight is say hold tight and await the test just in case, I suffer from Keratoconus in both eyes and it is a nightmare I could've avoided had I done as they advised when I was much younger!

I'm with specsavers they're pretty good, my eyes are that bad (especially my right) that glasses aren't strong enough, I need custom soft lenses. Currently awaiting an appointment at Moorfields in London hopefully to get cornea transplants

You only got one pair of eyes!

 

[Tim203]

I am quite short sighted and suffered recently from 'flashes and floaters' brought on probably from getting hit whilst sparring. I got referred to the eye department immediately. I have seen lots of opticians over the years and have never once met one that is anything but professional.Nothing against doctors (who I think vary incredibly) but I am always reassured by the way opticians are so thorough.

 

[Peter103]

Tim, if you'd had your specs on you could have ducked.

 

[jotter22]

Maybe if you keep your eye's straight ahead you would be ok? Sorry Bruce couldn't resist

Tony.