Deposit Refunds

Yeah lucky escape indeed

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I was given the hard sell by John Margetts in August who failed to give me any information regarding the potential risks of Lens replacement. I was due to have my first eye done on 28 September but found OERML 3 days before. I contacted Sasha who gave me a lot of information and I cancelled my surgery.
Unfortunately I paid £5000 upfront for the procedures and was trying to get a refund but OE have a ridiculous 28 working day refund policy. Having broken their code of conduct a refund should be immediate. The BBC have been told of this…

To not even meet one of the surgeons before the operation is telling. OE's figures for 20/20 vision after this operation are leaving more than 3000 people traumatised or even worse. I feel so lucky to have avoided OE potentially ruining my eyes.

I threatened OE that I would picket the shop in Exeter and now have my full refund.
Many thanks Sasha
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admin: John Margetts story

After an initial consultation at Optical Express in February 2015 I made up my mind to go for Lasek. I paid £400 deposit on 10 June and £2150 balance on 15 July by credit card, and received a letter confirming my surgery date on 4 September 2015 at Bridgewater Wellness Clinic.

I had a consultation one week before surgery for tests and scans, and when I arrived for surgery on 4 September, after a few more tests, I was taken to meet the surgeon for the first time. Mr Muhammad Kazmi told me that he thought my corneas were very thin and that, should he go ahead and perform Lasek, he could not guarantee the result would last even for 5 years, and there would be no chance of secondary treatment due to my thin corneas. He advised that there was a 5% risk of severe dry eyes after treatment and suggested a better option would be lens replacement surgery, which would cost approximately £5000.

I discussed this with my husband and told the clinic that I would not proceed as I believed the risks were too high. They said that someone would contact me within 48 hours to arrange a refund, but warned me that the caller would probably try to persuade me to go for lens replacement. I didn’t hear from OE so I called them on 8 September and their salesman Andrew told me he’d arrange for someone to call me back.

Caroline called the same day and advised me that they could continue to manage my dry eye problem with drops and then reschedule lasek surgery. I pointed out the problem wasn’t with dry eye, but with my cornea being too thin. She said she would refer the case and call back, also asking if I would consider lens replacement as an option, which I declined. She rang back later and agreed that I would have a full refund within 28 working days, and again offered me the option of lens replacement surgery, and again I declined.

I questioned why the refund took so long and she told me that OE is a medical provider and subject to 'Medical Industry Protocol' and heavy auditing, that they never do instant refunds, but not to worry as I would "absolutely get all the money back”.

On 16 October, I rang OE who said that their accounts team "literally hold the purse strings” and would call me not later than 27 October. I said this was unacceptable as the 28 days were up and I wanted an immediate refund . She said this was not possible as OE had experienced a slight internal delay which they were "working through as quickly as possible".

I called OE again and Sandra advised me that my file was with their financial directors awaiting a final decision. She would not clarify what the process was, only that it was their “internal processes”.

I remained insistent and was then transferred to Kimberley who told me she was a customer services team leader and could only agree with what Sandra had said. I asked to speak to someone else who may be able to help. She told me they were experiencing an administrative delay and only the company secretary could authorise the refund. When I asked I was told his name was Graeme Murdoch and I asked to speak to him, but Kimberley said that he is not available to speak to patients and advised that I could email him at customer services.

All of this has left me feeling upset and outraged at my treatment.

Luckily I found this website and Sasha has given me some guidance and advice which I am now following. I have raised a complaint with my credit card company and am relieved to know that I am guaranteed to get my money back through them if not OE.
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admin: Angela recorded 6 phone conversations with OE. I listened to these last night and the content is truly shocking!

Caroline works in the 'Cancellations and retentions team' - that's ‘cancellations' to you, but ‘retentions' to OE, as this team do all they can to retain (keep) deposits and payments!

Caroline horrifyingly tells Angela that on occasions when surgery doesn’t go ahead they (cancellations team), "have a look and give a second opinion”, and repeatedly tries to persuade Angela to have lens exchange (RLE/NLR).

The fact that a customer service representative (sales person) is attempting to overrule and contradict a surgeon by advising a patient is unethical and totally inappropriate.

Kimberley claims that it is only Graeme Murdoch who is able to authorise a refund. This is a lie, as OE 'Head of Customer Care' Lynsey Shaw ( www.linkedin.com/pub/lynsey-shaw/42/b13/329 ) can approve a card refund in a heartbeat, as has been detailed in previous posts.

Caroline told Angela, "We're a medical provider so we get heavily audited… industry protocol…"!

This is utter nonsense, and the recordings will be provided to relevant organisations and interested parties.

Update in my refund:
I received my money after 3 working days from Tuesday when they took my card details.
Big relief.
Thank you Sasha!
My advice to other people:
Don't go to OE. If you go than do not make an appointment after the consultation .Tell them u want to think about it. This way u don't need to pay the deposit and u don't have the refund issue.

And last but not least think twice before u do surgery.
Don't let people rush you. And really think if u want to take the risk!

The OE policy of refunds is simply bs.

If you are due a refund the week OE staff are due to be paid forget it. This is where the internal delay bs kicks in.

Constantly changing cancellation period from 3 days to 7 then back to 3 again.

You do have to admire the brass neck.

I breath a huge sigh of relief when I read these stories, to think I nearly had that operation, thank you for sharing it makes me shiver to think they are behaving like this...it is disgusting Thank you for sharing....and I will never ever complainant about wearing glasses again!!!!

Hi
After complaining to OE on a daily basis about the 28 days I had to wait for the finally promised refund, last week they said they would count the 28 days from when I decided not to have the procedure! Remember they moved store, changed their phone number and made it difficult for me to contact them so I really don't know why they were making it seem like they were being so generous....as it is unethical if not illegal for them to keep your money for 28 days anyway, but they said it like they were doing me a big favour.....the woman I spoke to on the number Sasha gave me for Lynsday Shaw, who incidentally was never available but the women I got transferred to introduced herself as Lyn said I was lucky to be getting a refund as I had not cancelled in the 'agreed' cooling off period.....How dare they??? How many more times would I have to remind them that they moved office...etc etc etc...????
So moving swiftly on she said my 28 days would be up yesterday and I would get a phone call from the finance team who would load the £500 back onto my card, and no, they don't pay interest on the money even though they have had it for over a month....
No phone call as agreed last week so I called them, I left a message yesterday but no call back, I called again today and they have taken my card details and said it will show up in my account in the next five days....I asked them to make an express payment that could show up in within 2 hours but guess what? They can't do that.....I did point out that I had actually waited 29 days but they really could not care less.
I wonder where OE recruit their staff from, I would feel so ashamed working for them but they seem to have staff who 'toe the party line' regardless of the damage they are inflicting on people. Helps you understand how Hitlers Youth got started! Sorry if that sounds harsh but I mean it.
NEVER EVER EVER GET INVOLVED WITH OPTICAL EXPRESS, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.
I have never dealt with a company who treat people as badly as I feel I have been treated, thank heavens I did not go through with the procedure

Update on my refund process:

I didn't receive the call back for the refund so I contacted Sasha after 60 hours and she helped me with several phone numbers.
I contacted one of those numbers yesterday and insisted to get my money back so I will receive a call back for the refund. Today got a call for the card details. She told me the refund will be processed today and by the end of the day I should receive an email too.
Let's see if that's true...
To be continued

Booked my LASEK with OE on Tuesday 6th Oct in the evening around 7:30-8pm at Shandwick Place in Edinburgh. Payed my £400 deposit over the phone with a debit card..

For various reasons called up on Wednesday the 7th to cancel my surgery and was told I would get a call back from cancellations within 48hrs. Asked about the cancellation period but they wouldn't advice me any further..

2 days later got a call back from OE cancelations dep and asked the guy to start refund process, after he gave me lots of small talk. He kept on asking me the reasons why I want to cancel etc and I simply said for personal reasons...
Obviously wasn't happy with that answer so he became very unhelpful and said he would call me back at a later time as I told him my phone battery was on 2%. Asked for an email to confirm he was going to start the refund process but he said this is against company policy. Sounds like total rubbish to me and scam.

On a side note, I had also gone to another lasek provider and they quoted me £4000 v OE's £2700, BUT my appt was with the surgeon who carries out the surgery and the prescription he gave matched my current glasses prescription whereas OE's differed.

Called my bank this morn and they advised me if OE haven't refunded within the promised 28 days then they can arrange a money recall.

Not sure where to go from here, but I am not prepared to wait 28 days...

Yes........we got our money back.
Never going anywhere near Optical Express ever again.
Good luck to everyone else out there trying to get there money back. Persevere, just keep pestering them.