Deposit Refunds

Is anyone currently waiting for their deposit to be returned? I was attending the Optical Express Dublin office. Last with them on the 9th of December. I am awaiting my deposit since then. Section 5f on the contract states "We will pay all refunds within 28 working days". They are counting since the 14th of December, therefore I should have received my monies before the 25th of January. No communication to inform me of a delay. Now told 7 to 10 working days.

I am 26 and last year I saw Luca Antico at Optical Express for a consultation. He said I have a lazy eye [amblyopia] on my right and high astigmatism in both eyes. He gave me some contact lenses to try which were higher prescription that my glasses. I wore them for three days but on the day of surgery I got told that I would only get the prescription of my glasses. I wasn't happy as I thought that I was getting a higher prescription, and I didn't like the way Luca spoke to me so I didn’t go ahead.

I went to Optimax but they refused to operate and an optician told me it'd not make a difference if I had surgery.

So I went back to Optical Express and paid £400 deposit over the phone on 10th January and my surgeon consultation was a phone call on 19th January with Waseem Aziz (at Nottingham branch). His tone of voice was very rude and he didn’t want to answer any of my questions. He was confused as he said that my eyes are complicated and he wasn’t sure which prescription would be beneficial for me. He said he'd check on the day of the surgery which will be suitable for me.
I wanted to ask more questions as I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go ahead but he kept saying to ring the head office, and I could hear a sales person laughing in the background. The way the surgeon Waseem Aziz spoke to me was not very professional and I wasn’t very comfortable after talking with him as I felt that he wasn’t competent to do the surgery.

I rang Optical Express for a full refund but they also weren’t very helpful. Every time I got through to the head office I was told the cancellation team were busy and they said they would email them. So I received a phone call yesterday and the man asked me why I wanted a refund. I explained the above reasons but he said you can’t get your refund back due to the seven days policy. Then I asked why because I haven’t signed anything and told him I will take this further. He replied by saying "good luck with that”. He left me feeling very angry and upset as there is no need to speak to a customer that way. This company left me with a bad impression because the employees had no interest in helping the situation or understanding my concerns.
Today I received this email from Lynsey Shaw



But Lynsey Shaw is wrong because I didn't sign anything and I wasn't given any T&Cs because I paid over the phone and they didn't send me anything.
I do not want any thing more to do with this company and want my £400 back. Please can you help me?
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admin: Laser eye surgery is only able to refine the vision in an amblyopic eye to the level it can achieve with a glasses prescription, so Luca Antico was correct. What is of concern is the fact that if Waseem Aziz had seen your previous patient records that he did not also tell you this!
Pls send your phone number info@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk :kiss:

Dear Sir/Madam

I had a "surgeons discussion" with Mr Dimitris Kazakos at Optical Express Westfield store in Shepherds Bush on the 21 December 2016. I was unhappy about his professionalism during our interview, and for worrying remarks made by one of the staff who said, and I quote “Dr Kazakos is the fastest surgeon” she has come across with eyes taking only 10 minutes to complete. So in order to make further investigations into the background of this surgeon I deferred my surgery until I return from a trip in mid March. It was during these investigations that I discovered information on your OERML website that clearly indicated that both Dr Kazakos and Optical Express are currently being sued by “a number of his very unhappy damaged patients”. I subsequently cancelled my surgery by email to Optical Express requesting the return of my £500 deposit.

I was told that I am outside the dates to have my deposit returned, but under the circumstances I believe that as there are current investigations against this surgeon he should have - at the least - been suspended from consulting and operating on patients, which he was clearly doing when I saw him in December, and as such feel I have a case for pursuing my claim for my deposit to be returned. Therfore I am writing to ask whether or not I have grounds to continue and if so how I can go about it.

I would also like to point out that from the time I had my initial consultation at Optical Express Northampton branch on the 6th September 2016 and paying the £500 deposit I received a letter on the 28th October 2016 stating that I was booked to see Dr Kazakos for a “surgeons discussion” on the 21 December 2016 at 14.00 hours. Having paid the deposit I would have been unable to cancel within 7 days as I still had to see the surgeon to discuss the final details.

Many thanks for any assistance you may be able to give in this matter

Regards
John Dedman
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admin: Definitely entitled to refund - pls send your phone number info@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk :kiss:

I would like to share how I got my deposit refunded.

I called them on the 28th day and was told there was 7 to 10 days delay. Throughout the chat I was assertive but polite.

After 10 mins I decided I wasn’t accepting that and called again, this time angry - and asked to speak to the manager.

I told him:
-My terms and conditions stated 28 day period for refund, consequently they were in breach of their own contract!
-No one notified me of additional 7 to 10 days delay (had I not called I'd still be in the dark)
-Repeated "it is unacceptable and I am not happy. I want to get it resolved today and money transferred within the next 72hrs."

The guy I spoke to tried every possible excuse to get me to agree to 7 to 10 days delay, saying he will do his best to resolve it etc...

Do not agree to that! I didn’t, and I kept repeating the points above.... maybe 3 times. The guy told me to leave it with him and said he'd call me the next day - I asked for the time of the call, got his name/surname, number and position within the company.

He kept saying "it is disappointing that you still havent got the refund and the delay" and I'd just repeat "it is not disappointing it is unacceptable”… when he said he would endeavour to reduce the time from 7 to 10 days I'd repeat that I wanted the issue resolved then.

At the end of the chat I assertively said I expect the money back within 72hrs or I'd be forced to take legal action.

Next day he called me right on time as he'd promised and confirmed someone from refund department would call me. I told him I'd be calling him back if it didn’t happen.

Approximately 1 hr later the refund department called, took my card details and confirmed the money would be transferred within the next few days.

Money is back in my account. I am happy, and realised if you want something done be angry and don't accept any solution they offer unless it is yours. Do not wait any longer than you have to. I called them on 28th day and got it confirmed on 29th day.

I have finally had ALL my money back from Optical Express and have just been trying to negotiate the interest charged to my account and charges for not getting the money back within the '28 days'- working days that is!' So that is still ongoing...

Big thank you to Sasha for your moral support because without which I would just not have kept pursuing this as I had written off the deposit as my own fault for being so stupid and of course many others have probably done this too

Be really good to draw a line under this.

Thank you again Sasha

Hi, I joined the forum today as since my husband went to OE for an appointment on Monday I have been very uneasy about the whole procedure since his appointment, and I don't just mean the surgery! he went to a local office and called me after 2 hours saying did I mind if he paid a £500 deposit and his total cost would be £3400. I asked him if he was being pressured and he said 'no' however it just did not feel right to me that they took £500 and then arranged a consultant appointment over 3 hours drive away from where we live, with the actual surgery appointment being an hour away from us. He has been working away for a few days and yesterday after reading this site and other reviews on the NHS website I asked him to cancel as we are well within the cooling off period. he had also applied for finance and it all just seemed so rushed to me, they seem to make sure everything is paid fully up front before you even see the surgeon. He has cancelled, but is very angry with me! I think he feels I am overreacting. He says you can always find negative feedback on the internet, but it seems that this company has heaps of it!

This is my story so far.
I went for a consultation for eye correction at Optical Express Cheapside London EC4 in November 2016. They told me I would be suitable for refractive lens replacement surgery and took a £500 deposit from me and booked me in to see the consultant surgeon Dimitris Kazakos. The appointment with the surgeon was on 1st Dec 2016 at the Westfield Optical Express store in White City. After waiting for 2.5 hours to see him, in a room with no TV or beverages facilities Dimitris Kazakos told me in no uncertain terms that I was not suitable for the surgery. He was rude, condescending, arrogant and spoke to me as through I should have known that I wouldn't be suitable. He told me he could "try" the operation on one of my eyes and see what happened!!
I cancelled a few days a later on the 5th December and I assumed the refund had been actioned and I would receive my refund within the stated 28 working days, which should have been by the 16th Jan (including non working days over xmas and new year).
About two weeks later in mid December I had a phone call from the refunds department asking me why the surgery had been cancelled because the surgeon hadn't made any notes on my file! I explained to them that Dimitris Kazakos had told me I was unsuitable.
They then had to go back to him to confirm this and I had to wait to hear back from them. They came back and told me I would get a full refund (which was a relief) and it was being actioned from the 16th December which was the date I would have had surgery if it had gone ahead. NOT the date I cancelled.
It is now 23rd Jan and over the 28 days (33 days) and they just called to tell me that my refund has been delayed by another 7-10 days They don't seem to have a reasonable explanation as to why they are breaking the contract or why my refund is delayed. I am absolutely furious, because if not for the incorrect assessment at the initial consultation I wouldn't be in this situation.
A whole day of my time wasted being sent for a consultation and now this unaccepatable dragging heels over refunding me.
Can anyone help with what I can do about this? Thank you.
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admin: Send your phone number to info@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk :kiss:
PS: You should be very relieved that Dimitris Kazakos told you he wouldn't operate - he (& OE) is currently being sued by a number of his very unhappy damaged patients!

So i went for my consultation today and was pressured into a £500 deposit i didnt agree to no Direct debit details although we did discuss them and the sales rep is supposed to be contacting me on Sunday

After reading through this site (glad i found it) and a few others ive decided im not going to carry on with the surgery

Although im quite prepared for them to make me some prescription glasses

Has anyone had the deposit transferred over to be used on some glasses instead

Sorry im new here so if ive broken rules im sorry

Tim
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admin: No rules broken Tim

Yes! In order to hang on to a customer's money their immediate line of attack is for an Optical Express sales rep to heavily pressure you (as they will on Sunday) to
a) leave your deposit with them in case you change your mind about surgery
b) accept a 'Gift voucher' to the value of your deposit to purchase specs

However, I wouldn’t risk letting Optical Express even supply prescription glasses as they often don’t get that right - according to many of their dissatisfied customers!

Check out some of the Optical Express Twitter conversations for more info:
twitter.com/OEcare/with_replies
twitter.com/OpticalExpress/with_replies

Fyi, you are entitled to a FULL refund of your deposit without ANY argument if you have cancelled within 7 days of payment.

Allan Peters wrote: Had my initial consultation on the 29 October when a £500 deposit was taken.... But to my amazement I received a call today telling me I will be getting a full refund and I also received an apology!

Despite being told I would get a refund of my 500 pound deposit still waiting phone calls emails grrrrr

STILL NO MONEY BACK AND NOW INCURRING CHARGES!! £4000 Now outstanding from 7th October 2016. Happy Christmas to me!
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admin: Hi Janette, I'm out of office until 3 January but will call you then.
Pls email reminder