The Specsavers saga continues…

So I know one commenter couldn’t say enough good things about Specsavers, but I can safely say that my experience has been well and truly the opposite.

Let’s recap. I was underwhelmed by the service at my initial appointment. A week later I went back for a fitting of my new lenses – as usual, I got a phone call the night before to remind me of it.

BUT, a couple hours before I was due to head over, I got a call about, er, making an appointment for a fitting. Apparently it hadn’t been noted that I was already booked in for one. That just screams unprofessionalism to me.

Now, this is a brand new branch. Maybe they’re just having teething problems. But honestly, if they are so disorganised they can’t keep records of appointments straight, why would I trust them with the health of my eyes?

That appointment went fine; I scheduled a final checkin for the following week. No phone reminder this time. I had a different optometrist this time around (for the record, he was a middle-aged Asian man, very professional and he actually seemed to listen when I answered his questions). There was a little bit of confusion when it came to placing the order for my lenses – the chart the optometrist had was different from the one the sales assistant had – but I left feeling pretty happy.

UNTIL. Until I got a call not much later, saying that the optometrist (a locum – might explain why he seemed so much more onto it during the appointment) was unfamiliar with their suppliers, and they couldn’t actually order in the particular brand after all. I could go for a different brand, which was double the price but came with double the amount of lenses (6 instead of 3).

The problem is, I’d still have to order two separate boxes because my eye prescriptions are different. And I ain’t going to pay over $300 in one hit for contacts when I’m not even sure how often I want to wear them! This is me, dipping my toes (eyeballs?) into the water, not committing to deep sea diving.

Of course, I could pay them off over time, she said, as it was their mistake. But you know what, that’s just not in the budget, and I’m not willing to wear their screwup. I’m cancelling the order, and will probably buy my contacts online at some point…like, when I see a good deal. Contacts are handy when it’s raining, or incredibly sunny, but I no longer want to go out of my way for them. (Look out for an upcoming post detailing why!)

UPDATE: In the interests of full disclosure, I have been back twice since this post. One, to cancel the order, only to be told that these were in fact the original $80 a box ones. I didn’t have time to stick around while she checked with management, though. Two, I returned to find that no, these actually were the $160 a box lenses, and finally got a refund for the $60 I’d already paid toward them. Lovely, apologetic sales assistants, but the lack of communication and organisation  – horrendous.