a week ago my glasses broke, i took tem off as i normally do and heard a crack and then the arm fell off, the spring mechanism went in the arm.
i was due an eye test anyway so hunted around trying to find a company that could fit me in quickly, this is issue number one, most places had 2-3 week waits WTF!, this was me trying independents, and national chains. luckily i managed to get a cancelation with vision express.
then come choosing the glasses, straight forward, then you sit down to pay, then suddenly you get hit with options options, i'm as blind as a bat without my glasses and once upon a time my glasses likely resembled milk bottle bottoms, so they now offer thinning, which is great, used to be 1 or 2 stages now there is 3 stages, first stage is £60, 2nd £120 3rd £220 per pair of glasses, i was buying 2 pairs of glasses so i have spares again, and decided to stick to the 1st stage thinning, the 2nd and 3rd stages for my lens type was negligible but the 3rd stage would have been nice to have, but the cost by this point would have been imo astronomical.
I politely declined all other optional extras, as the bill was already at £350, this to me is expensive. £160 just for the frames which are made in china for less than a fiver.
Then they say i need to wait 1.5-2 weeks at least to get my glasses.
i remember not so long ago glasses were done within an hour of you choosing and paying for them. That's why vision express had express in their name.
A quick scout around other opticians all said the same thing. this did surprise me, with the world moving so fast and almost everything moving to an on demand service, opticians appear to have gone backwards. I know why they've done it to save money, branches no longer need to hold stock, they save a wage for the person who cuts and installs the lenses, but at the sacrifice of service.
had my glasses not been able to have a temporary fix with a bit of insulation tape what do they expect me to do with my vision for 2 weeks. Not everyone can afford to purchase 2x pairs of glasses, and most often they get replaced due to damage.
anyway thats my rant ..
what do other people with glasses do
i was due an eye test anyway so hunted around trying to find a company that could fit me in quickly, this is issue number one, most places had 2-3 week waits WTF!, this was me trying independents, and national chains. luckily i managed to get a cancelation with vision express.
then come choosing the glasses, straight forward, then you sit down to pay, then suddenly you get hit with options options, i'm as blind as a bat without my glasses and once upon a time my glasses likely resembled milk bottle bottoms, so they now offer thinning, which is great, used to be 1 or 2 stages now there is 3 stages, first stage is £60, 2nd £120 3rd £220 per pair of glasses, i was buying 2 pairs of glasses so i have spares again, and decided to stick to the 1st stage thinning, the 2nd and 3rd stages for my lens type was negligible but the 3rd stage would have been nice to have, but the cost by this point would have been imo astronomical.
I politely declined all other optional extras, as the bill was already at £350, this to me is expensive. £160 just for the frames which are made in china for less than a fiver.
Then they say i need to wait 1.5-2 weeks at least to get my glasses.
i remember not so long ago glasses were done within an hour of you choosing and paying for them. That's why vision express had express in their name.
A quick scout around other opticians all said the same thing. this did surprise me, with the world moving so fast and almost everything moving to an on demand service, opticians appear to have gone backwards. I know why they've done it to save money, branches no longer need to hold stock, they save a wage for the person who cuts and installs the lenses, but at the sacrifice of service.
had my glasses not been able to have a temporary fix with a bit of insulation tape what do they expect me to do with my vision for 2 weeks. Not everyone can afford to purchase 2x pairs of glasses, and most often they get replaced due to damage.
anyway thats my rant ..
what do other people with glasses do