Optical Express

Customer Service is absolutely appalling. I cancelled my surgery almost four weeks ago (military movements mean that I can't go back for the next six months!), and I have been promised my deposit back for the last 3 weeks. The Southampton branch have shown absolutely no effort in recovering this money for me (they take it by Switch, then refund it by cheque - obviously in their favour!). I have had to phone them on a weekly basis, and been promised the money. I was considering coming back to Optical Express when I am back in the country, but I get the feeling that other people have said that "they only want your money" - and they may be right. Shoddy, I could't recommend them to anyone at the moment.

Southampton west quay - I have also had my surgery postponed for a month due to air conditioning failure. Clearly it does not take a month to fix AC. Obviously they have pushed me to the back of the list because it is "convenient" for them. Leaves me "all dressed up and nowhere to go" Leaves them with absolutely no clue about customer care. Leaves me flat, dissapointed, floundering - wondering if I should bale and find a real service provided!

I was treated disgracefully. I rang up the day before to check if parking was available, told there was, but "centre" was a shop in a pedestrianised centre of Liverpool. I arrived one minute late,after driving for 2 hrs,refused use of toilet,had to go to nearest toilet in precinct,got back to "shop" 5 minutes late for appointment and was told optician? wouldn't,not can/t see me because I was 5 minutes late and she was seeing someone who had wandered in off the street.is their surgery as shoddy as their customer service? wouldn/t use them now for free.thought about complaining but if that is representational of the company I wouldn/t let them do laser surgery on glass eye they/re crap. I have worked in retail management for 25 years and i have never come across such ignorant staff.

I was treated disgracefully. I rang up the day before to check if parking available, told there was, but "centre" was a shop in pedestrianised centre of liverpool.arrived one minute late,after driving for 2 hrs,refused use of toilet,had to go to nearest toilet in precinct,got back to "shop" 5 minutes late for appointment and was told optician? wouldn/t,not can/t see me because i was 5 minutes late and she was seeing someone who had wandered in off the street.is their surgery as shoddy as their customer service? wouldn/t use them now for free.thought about complaining but if that is representational of the company i wouldn/t let them do laser surgery on glass eye they/re crap. i have worked in retail management for 25 years and i have never come across such ignorant staff.

I write with regard to an appointment that was scheduled at the Shaftsbury Avenue branch. Upon arrival, I was told that my appointment had been cancelled due to the surgeon falling ill (they had my contact number but did not let me know). I was extremely angered by this, as I had taken unpaid leave from work for one week in order to have and recover from the surgery.I was told by the receptionist, that alternative local Optical Express branches had already been contacted, but there was no availability. I asked if it was possible to reschedule my appointment for later in the week, but was told that Optical Express would have to write to me with the confirmation of any new appointment. I was extremely shocked and disappointed at the way the staff dealt with both the cancellation and the request for a refund. I was told to wait, and that as a lady by the name of Meera was dealing with the problem in her office. After having waited with my mother for in excess of an hour, I was called in and told by your staff that their Reading Branch was able to carry out the surgery. I declined, as I had already asked them to only contact local branches, which they said they had already done, and ironically enough, Optical Express’s own literature states that travel on public transport is not advisable after surgery, yet my train fare cost was going to be paid/refunded by them(!). I then asked for a full refund and was told I would have to wait for up to two weeks, as the refund could only be processed by your Head Office. After having to explain that this was unfair, The girl there then said that she would contact the Head Office immediately, and assured me that she had my account details to refund the deposit. The next day, I had neither heard from anyone at Optical Express, nor received a refund as promised by your staff. I then called the Customer Services team, where someone called John told me that the Shaftsbury Avenue branch had not yet even informed them of the refund issue at all. He then promised that he would call them first-thing Monday morning, and would then call to update me. On Monday Afternoon I called their customer services yet again, as I had not been contacted as promised, then someone called Amy told me that John was now off sick and that she would contact the branch and get back to me in the morning. Yet again, I did not receive a call in the morning as agreed and called customer services at lunchtime on Tuesday. This time, I was told that Amy was busy and left two messages for her to call me-I still have not received any call! I am extremely disappointed with Optical Express. I did not feel that the staff at the Shaftsbury Avenue branch were genuinely apologetic or extended any customer service. In fact, I found them to be blatantly incompetent; being far more concerned with discussing their personal lives at the reception desk, than taking my complaint seriously- their laid-back attitude gave the clear impression that a ‘cancelled appointment’, was not a ‘serious issue’ for them, and furthermore gave the impression that it was in fact a regular occurrence at Optical Express. Having found the branch staff to be blatantly incompetent, I was quite frankly shocked that their Head Office staff were just as eager to disappoint; with both Amy and John also not calling me back as they had promised. After having taken a week’s unpaid time off work, I now have had no alternative but to book my surgery and treatment through a more reputable company, Moorfields eye hospital. I am annoyed that I am having to wait at all for a refund, and even more annoyed that every member of staff I speak to at Optical Express, has quoted me a completely different waiting time!

I had Lasik surgery last week, but chose not to use Optical Express and went with Optimax in the end (birmingham)..... I went to Optical Express in Bham first and was very unnerved by the hard sell, and what I felt was a very unprofessional approach. First off half way through the consultation the women said if I wasn't going to book today there was no point in her carrying on (bit rude as this was sold as a no obligation consulation)! I didn't see the surgeon and the people I did see weren't sure whether I'd be suitable for Lasik or Lasek; I was told the surgeon would decide on the day. When I asked how I would know how much time to take of work I was told 'take 2 weeks off and if you have lasik & recover quickly it'll be a bonus' .... not quite what I wanted to hear when I was trying to take things seriously! Far from the £399 per eye they advertise I was quoted over £2000, and told 'I would deffinately want wavefront' adding an extra £500 to the bill. Interestingly my surgery last week did not involve wavefront as my Optimax surgeon told me it would not benefit my particular perscription. Lastly they treid to get me to sign a contract/consent form when my pupils had been dilated and I couldn't read it. When I refused & asked to take it home they got quite upset with me. Needless to say I did not book that day! Optimax on the other hand were professional and what seemed very honest (see wavefront example above) at every stage, being able to meet the surgeon before the day made me feel much more confident in what I was getting myself into. I now have 20:20+ vision. YEY!

Had lasik wavefront in August 2006, operation suspended almost immediately, as the `flap` made in right eye was apparently not large enough. Had to wait six months for the eye to heal. On each subsequent check up visit, three in total staff appeared not to have read my notes and were not fully aware of why I was there. Until I outlined my surgery history on each occassion. Finally had surgery carried out on both eyes over two weeks ago and it was decided that the Lasek wavefront was the preferred treatment. My near vision has improved marginally, however my distance vision has if anything, deteriorated significantly and anything beyond 5-10 feet is a total blurr. I was informed at my one week post op. exam that the distance vision would improve, however there has been no improvement and driving which is a necessity is very difficult. I can only hope that my eyesight will improve to at least pre op standard, and with hindsight I doubt very much if I would go through, the procedure again.

Went to the clinic in Sheffield Medowhall and things didn’t seem right from the start. They mixed my appointments with others and during the consultation he realized they had the wrong patient records in front of him. Advised me on Lasik and was booked at Nottingham clinic for surgery, however when arrived they had mixed up the appointments I was informed and they were unable to do the surgery. I was disappointed and went to Ultralase same day and they did an examination and said that I was not even suitable for LASIK as I had very dry eyes and thin cornea and were surprised that this was not picked by Optical express. Wrote a complaint letter to Optical express and not heard from them since!

I used Optical Express at Cabot Circus Bristol, which initially seemed ok, and was referred for surgery to Bristol's Cribb's Causeway. The Cabot Circus branch initially seemed good; new store so quick getting seen. Due to having strong myopia and astigmatism, and the fact that Wavefront offered a better correction (whereas glasses and contacts measurements use lenses measured in 0.25 diopter increments, wavefront sensors work in 0.01 diopter increments), I was sold Wavefront Intralase LASIK at over £3K. There was initially a minor mix up with admin - Cribbs called to say that their Cabot Circus colleagues should have taken the fees already, and made comments that they ought to know better and hadn't returned calls. On the day of the surgery Cribbs had more patients on the conveyor-belt than they could deal with. It took nearly four hours whilst a tv blurted out childrens' programs to a room full of adults. Staff rushed about looking harassed. When the Cribbs Wavefront machine was used pre-op, it didn't seem to be properly calibrated and the red light didn't focus in the way it had done at Cabot. The surgeon confirmed this when he noticed there was a difference in the Wavefront charts and said less astigmatism was showing than had been measured previously at the Cabot Circus branch, but he didn't investigate the difference or complete further checks. I found the surgery was painful and I had to mention they were hurting me, but they just said I must have "sensitive eyes". After surgery my eyes were bloodshot for a couple of weeks. The operation didn't fully correct my astigmatism, especially in the right eye, so everything I see now, near or far, is now blurry on a vertical axis. The optometrist at Cabot has confirmed astigmatism in both eyes, by around 0.25 dioptres. Which means somehow the wavefront machine was out by a factor of around x25. I can't currently read the laptop easily (my work is all computer-based), or bus numbers, subtitles etc, and I am also now getting regular headaches due to eye-strain. I had *far* better vision using contact lenses. It would seem the Cribbs' Wavefront machine wasn't showing the correct measurements, in which case the majority of patients that day would have remaining problems with their sight after surgery. In both the 24 hour and 1 week follow-ups at Cabot Circus I have been frustrated that the opthalmologist isn't acknowledging a problem with the surgery. The 24-hour check was a perfunctory check at the eye surface and a wall-chart test, and I had to specifically push to get astigmatism tests included during the second post-op appointment a week later. I mentionned the astigmatism and the opthalmologist said there was some but that it wasn't something he'd have recommend surgery on, had I come in off the street (but I hadn't). When pushed, I was told I "might" need correction only in one eye, even though the correction was incomplete in both eyes (evident looking at the conflicting Wavefront charts they'd have on file). He even said that I was part of the myopic "fussy customer" group of people (as opposed to long-sighted people who generally were pleased with surgery). No explanation or apology has been offered for the inaccurate surgery. I have been told that problems are common and to be expected and a lot of people's sight gets worse. I wish I'd been told this before surgery since I would have thought twice about spending so much money. Overall I'm shocked at their casual approach to people's vision. I can't decide whether the company has institutional problems coping when things don't go according to plan, or whether this is a specific case of an age-old problem; clever people with technical knowledge rarely have good customer skills.

I only went to Optical Express for a consultation. During my visit I found them to be extremely unprofesssional and a little rude. The staff sounded like they were reading from a script, there was no personality brought into the consultation. The company adversise themselves to have the best lasers available with the best surgeons. These surgeons are flown in from around the world apparently. This doesn't give me any confidence as there are different regulations set for other countries to follow (I found this out after further investigation) If anyone else is thinking of going with Optical Express I would check if they are even fully qualified against english standard! There are many that are not. They are a high street chain, expect nothing more than highstreet standards. I found another independant Laser company in London who fantastic, professional and caring. Research well before messing with your eyes