Optical Express

I haven't had a treatment with optical express but I had a terrible experience with them after a free consultation, and learnt my lesson. Nothing is free! I told this really nice and friendly person who assisted me there that I had financial problems and had to think about the best option. She said that I should pay £200 deposit in order not to lose the possible given surgery date. This was on 2nd June. And she said if I changed my mind in three days they would give the money back. Then I had to cancel the appointment for the surgery and asked for a refund. Today is 30th June and since then I have been trying to get the money back, and still haven't. They keep referring me to the head office, this office that office. It was a complete waste of time. So, if you get to have a consultation with those guys, I would recommend you not to give any money until you are sure.

very poor result

Mr Manek Patel should not be a surgeon , he does not how to speak to speak to people and he comes across very rude and he did not reassure me in anyway, he is a total prat and should retite pretty soon Optical Express in Uxbridge , the staff and useless and standing doing alot of talking, when you come on the place no one greets you in a professional manner, instead you are given looks like you just slpet with their mother

Wavefront intralase

Can't comment on surgery (IOL) as I did not fall 'within their criteria'. But their customer service is abysmal and they conduct themselves like a bucket shop for eye surgery. I was tested on Sunday, 30 September and all appointment times were different which didn't bode well and I should have followed my instincts and walked away then. An assistant advised me I could still have the procedure but only one surgeon in Harley Street would oblige and I could talk it over more with him if I made an appointment but would have to pay a £500 deposit as a 'goodwill gesture'. After thinking about it I decided I would wait for my middle age eyesight to deteriorate and go for it later. On Monday, 1 October I went back to the shop in Birmingham and explained and an assistant sent an email to their HO with a request for a £500 refund. My statement shows the £500 was debited on Monday, 1 October. Today is Friday, 23 November and I am still waiting after originally being told it would take up to 28 days. I have telephoned at least six times now, given my card details again more than once, been promised call backs and not received any apology or explanation whatsoever. On 21 November I was told I was 'on the list' for a refund and a Becky would ring me next day. Nothing. Yesterday evening (22 November) I was told I was 'in a batch' for signing off by Becky and was promised a call this morning. We shall see. Appalling. If and when I do get to a stage where I am an eligible patient for this procedure, I would not hesitate to go ahead but NOT through Optical Express. Makes me shudder.

Ive been turned down for surgery before so I told them at my consultation and they said in would be fine. They told me I can speak to the sugeon at my second consultation at harley ST. but I must pay £500 for this. I was assured that I would get it back if the surgeon said I wasn't suitable. I didn't see the surgeon on the second consultation and had the same tests as the first consultation. They brushed over the fact that I had been refused sugery before and said I would meet the surgeon on the morning of my operation who would decide whether surgery would go ahead. They wanted me to pay the rest of the money prior to this which made me feel a bit uneasy so I cancelled the surgery and asked for my £500 back. I waited the 28 working days but still no money back I phoned them and was promised my money would go out in the next batch but it never did. I was promised call backs but never got them. I think it is a sale tactic to get the money from people so they can hold on to it so they can get interest on it. They tell everyone they are suitable , take the deposit and hold on to it as long as possible to acrue interest. It is a scam to make money out of people who are already upset by the fact that they can't have their surgery. They are mis informed about their suitability for treatment and then made to pay money up front so the company can make money from it. It is appalling. Don't pay any money up front to this company as you will have to fight to get it back.

Pressure Sellers & Withold Important Information – Bham Branch

I went in on a Saturday in August 2014, after a couple of hours of tests i was offered the top treatment, i asked for a written quote on the lower – cheaper treatment i was told it was just £300 difference and to go with the top treatment @ £2995, they did not explain the difference between the treatments, just said i am better to go with their Idesign Laser treatment.

They discounted me to £2795 and advised i would not get this offer again and that i could leave a deposit of £395 and the rest i can pay on an 18 interest free period.

I decided to pay and then one week later wanted to cancel as Optimax offered their top treatment at £2495 saving me over £200 and on 24 month interest free.

Tried to get my refund back from Optical Express over the telephone to their call centre and they refused and said “sorry you feel that way but we do not refund” as i had a cooling of period of 72HOURS ONLY!!!! I could not believe this and i even wrote into them regarding my refund and asked them to write back to me within 7 working days- it has now been 9 workings days and no response.

Whatever you do, DO NOT EVER go to this company they charge high prices to get their commission and do not tell you important information you need to know before making the decisions and then when the normal cooling off period for most companies if 14 days, they REFUSE to give you a good chunk of the deposit back.

I have told everyone i know from family, friends and work and spread the word of Facebook of how this company has treated me. I find it quite disgusting that they also cannot justify of taking £395 even for a couple of tests for my consultation appointment.

I REPEAT—- DO NOT, DO NOT go with this fraudulent and pressure selling company, they only want your money and do not care about you. Better to go with Optimax who treated me with respect and even gave me quotes in WRITING for both lower and higher treatments (difference between the treatments is the healing times) something Optimax told me clearly and Optical Express failed to advise me on. Optical Express left me to watch a video and did not explain the difference between both treatments.

Optimax asked me to leave a deposit of £100 which was totally refundable 3 days before my treatment. All i can say is Optical Express is the worst company i have EVER dealt with.

I had laser eye surgery 2 years ago and ever since have experienced distressing issues for which Optical Express gave me support in form of free tests, eye drops, eye gel and general advice. I had to wait, call many times and at times turned up to appointments which were not booked, thankfully I had my appointment cards and printed emails to show at the branch. When I attempted to book my 2 year check up they simply said: ‘After the 11th of April 2016 you will be out with the terms and conditions agreed at the time of your consultation. With this in mind, should you wish to attend a refractive eye examination a fee of £50.00 is applicable. To book an appointment please contact our free call centre on 0800 023 20 20 or alternatively I can make any necessary appointment for you’. I was shocked as they always made references to the free afertcare for life. When I asked to see the T&C I signed, the reply was: ‘… to obtain your electronically stored medical file, we will charge you a £10 administration fee. To obtain your electronic records and copies of scans, surgeon notes and your consent forms, we will charge you a £50 administration fee.In terms of the Data Protection Act 1998, we are entitled to charge you an administration fee up to a maximum of £50 for the provision of records.’ I paid the £10 and received the paperwork – incomplete, the clinical pages were signed by me – but page 1, the aftercare page, was swapped to reflect the new terms. When I queried this, I got a brief reply: ‘I can confirm that the copy of your records you received are accurate. This includes the Terms and Conditions document. Whilst patients are now asked to sign this document, at the time of your consultation this was not the case.’ I clearly remember discussing the terms, we joked about it, I asked many questions directly related to unlimited aspect of aftercare which I saw as a ‘security blanket’ and became the final deal breaker in the choice of OE for my provider. The aftercare issue prompted me to look further into the process of consent. I trusted OE but I don’t any more – they minimised my individual risk factors ( for which I’ve paid a very high price with constant visual disturbances and dry eye issues) and bombarded me with sales claims of inflated customer satisfaction ( which included the online consumer feedback rating) and the ’25 times better than glasses’ promise. I felt reassured by the lifetime aftercare promise and trusted them to look after my sight. This retrospective amendment cannot be legal, neither can swapping pages in information requests. My daughter was with me and remembers the content of each consultation. This is a scandal!!!

I had LASIK in 2013 and my surgeon was Luca Antico. In my opinion, he was rude and completely rushed the surgery. I am left with poor night vision and sensitive corneas (very painful).

My complaint with them was dealt with by Stephen Hannan and I have never come across a ruder person. His manner is completely unprofessional and his responses were full of spelling mistakes. He has lied to me in order to defend Optical Express. He says that I signed a disclaimer saying that people with a higher prescription are more likely to develop night vision disturbances but I actually made a copy of the disclaimer that I signed and it’s not in there. When I pointed this out, he kept changing the subject.

I asked to meet my surgeon prior to the surgery but Luca Antico was apparently too busy to meet me and answer my questions.

The day after my surgery, I had an abrasion on my left eye. I strongly believe that this was due to Luca Antico’s poor surgical technique.

I have now been contacted by Laura Ventre, Optical Express’ in-house solicitor and she has oddly given me optical advice, despite being a solicitor, not an ophthalmologist. She has also said that Optical Express has closed my complaint, despite me still having several unanswered questions. What a way to treat a customer who’s spent £2500 on a product that hasn’t worked at all.

I am now wearing glasses again and my prescription is -1.50 dioptres in each eye. This is above the legal limit for driving in the UK so I am now reliant on glasses again.

Summary – disgusting company that just want your money and will lie to protect themselves.

All of the above is the absolute truth and views are my opinions only.

I had wavefront intralasik yesterday. i was a little uncomfortable but not painful. Better than 20/20 vision today.

Would recommend!!