This is a long winded account of my experience but if you are considering having treatment I think you need all the info you can get before you even start considering going for treatment.

Having been thinking of surgery for years I have recently been to a number of consultations, the first and worst was at Optical Express in Birmingham.

Upon arrival I was greeted by the manager who told me he would be seeing me later once I had booked in. I got to reception, where the receptionists friend was seated in the clients chair chatting to her;they continued until completing their conversation (not exactIy giving the right first impression) and I was then asked for my health form & 'told' rather than asked to take a seat & wait.

10 minutes after my appointment time no one came and explained what the hold up was but there was alot of prancing around done by staff having personal conversations and not really doing anything constructive.

I was then told the manager was in a meeting and I would be seen by someone else first & then the manager, again unprofessional I thought as I had had the appointment booked for 3 weeks & I had just seen him.

The girl I saw was pleasant enough, but I felt quoting from a script, especially the bit when she said 'no-one esle can match their treatments no matter what I am told at other clinics', I have to say I found this a little condescending as I have done enough investigating of my own to discover what treatments were unqiue.

I was then returned to reception, where I was again expecting to see the manger; no, this time it was the optomatrist, who again was very pleasant and could answer most of my questions satisfactorily. She quoted me a price of £1495 per eye(for their best treatment)

She then told me I would having one more test done and to wait in reception. The manager finally appeared, who then proceeded to tell me he would not shake my hand as he had been clearing out cupboards all afternoon!! - I was appalled at his sheer lack of professionalism telling me this and the fact that clearing out cupboards was important than seeing potential clients.( I never did have any other tests)

At this point I just lost interest and half listened to his sales patter. I then said that I was interested in what finance deal they could do for me & could they match one of their competitors with their finance deal. I was told that they only did 10 months credit at some ludicrous rate. When I told him that the competitor did a year of not paying he then told me their interest rates would be higher, I hardly think 0% for 2 years is more expensive than their 10 month rate at some 14%+!!!

Once again a clear lack of professionilism no knowing what his competitors were offering. I left the clinic pretty quickly after that vowing never to return.

I would also like to add that following my consultation and having the drops that dilate your puplis put in my eyes I had a severe headache for the whole evening after the appointment; my vision was imparied for at least 20 hours, and I felt unwell most of the following day. I have had 2 other consultations at other clinics since this one and have had no problems having the drops, and my sight was back to normal within 2-3 hours. The only difference with all 3 consultations was that at Optical Express I was asked to keep staring into a light while the drops took affect, which I feel may have made the experience a lot more unpleasant than it needed to be.

The one positive about going to the Birmingham branch of Optical Express was that they gave me a card directing to this web site, where I have found Accuvision, who I have my treatment booked with in a week - what a world of difference with them; not only in terms of the way they treat potiential clients but also their charges, which were less that £2000 for the same sort of treatment!! (the feedback on this site for the clinic is all excellent with most rated at 5)

Following my experience at Optical Express I emailed their Customer Services with the details of my experience. I have had an excellent response to the feedback from the Regional Director of the Birmingham store who was appalled at the level of service I recieved there. She went to great lengths to explain the experience I should have had and has assured me that as a result of my feedback there will be a follow up with the staff at the branch, who had not used the correct procedure for my consultation.

I have to say that my impression of this member of Optical Express staff was tthat she was extremely professional, very customer focused and she has assured me that no other potential client will have an experience like mine. I just hope that this is the case and that the staff are closely monitored. I feel sure having spoken to her that the Birmingham Branch are not a typical example of the company when it comes to levels of customer service, as the company actually pride themselves on this, but I do think that following the feedback I gave things will be changing at that branch in the very near future.

Please go to Optical Express in Birmingham to see if their service levels have improved,I will be re-visiting this site to look for some positive feedback about them, and would be interested to see if my feedback has been taken on board, and after all its only an hour of your time for the consultation.

Please note that the reason the customer service rating is at 4 is mainly due to the

excellent way in which my feedback was handled by the Regional Manager. If all the staff at the Birmingham branch were only half as good as she was it would have been an easy 5/5!!