Deposit Refunds

I cancelled next day and was advised that my deposit (£400) would be returned to me only after 28 WORKING days. This was on 16th December 2014.

3 months later and several hours of conversations with customer services and still no return of the deposit!

Only after considerable attention via OERML and Which? forums, OE did finally change their refund T&Cs from 72 hours to 7 days - note times of Screenshots!





However, as OE will hang on to refundable deposits for 28 working days, should that not be 7 working days for request of refund too?

Just a thought David

"We used the stories Optical Express customers had shared with us to write to the company to highlight our concerns. A month later, our lawyers were pleased to see Optical Express had published revised terms and conditions, including:

You now have seven days – not 72 hours – after booking to change your mind and get a deposit refund.

You can now get a full refund within 28 days if you cancel for any reason after seeing a surgeon – including if the treatment you need changes.

Better still, Optical Express will apply these terms retrospectively to customers who have already booked – but not yet had – treatment."
conversation.which.co.uk/consumer-rights...er-eye-surgery-terms

Not according to Optical Express:


www.opticalexpress.co.uk/customer-care-policies.html

Same old story from me I am afraid!
I believe they keep your deposit for as long as possible to gain interest on your money, and have no intention of refunding unless you chase them for it hard enough.
I have sent in a complaint stating I want my refund issued immediately (so far waited 46 WORKING days) and also requested that they refund the costs of my numerous telephone calls chasing them for it. I have also asked that they refund the interest that has been accrued on MY money.
My complaint was replied with a "we are sorry" but they have still done nothing.

I have sent my complaint to the financial ombudsman and beg everyone else to do so the same.

I first responded to OE adverts in May 2014, and was informed that I wasn’t suitable for laser but they recommended lens replacement, quoting £2500+ per eye, Although I’m only 49 and do not have cataracts, I was told this would be a once and forever fix and I’d no longer need glasses or suffer with cataracts in the future. I was really reassured by their claims that OE did 80% of BUPA cataract ops, so thought I’d go for it and be glasses free by my 50th birthday this year.

I returned in November '14 to arrange a surgery date and was told I’d need another consultation as six months had elapsed, so had more dilating eye drops, more tests, and referred for consultation appointment at Harley Street 2 weeks later, when I was told I'd meet my surgeon who would answer all my queries.

However, there was no surgeon at that appt, just more tests and dilating eye drops. I was directed to watch a video and asked if I had any questions. I said I wanted to speak with a surgeon, but told none were available. They did not give me any paperwork, or say who my surgeon would be, nothing but a handwritten note with the name of my lenses (Oculentis M+) and a pack of antibiotic pre op ointment.

The following week I returned to the Brighton office to have prescription contact lenses fitted, to wear for a week to check my suitability. I have dry eyes and have been unable to wear contacts which is why I was interested in surgery, but they said I could leave them in all week. The fitting was a little traumatic as the optician couldn’t get them in, and my eyes were sore and red after he finally succeeded. I was then given a form to sign and paid a £500 deposit. The following week when I returned to have them removed I was told that I’d need more tests as the consultation appointment hadn’t confirmed my prescription!! I asked what prescription had I been trialling all week in that case?

I returned on 19 Dec, more dilating eye drops and more tests and they said that luckily my prescription was unchanged and they’d order the lenses. I was also asked for another £500. I said I’d already paid my deposit and after a little shuffling, they said “Oh yes, so you did”. Dates were arranged and I asked when I would meet my surgeon to talk it all through, but they said they could answer any queries, and I’d only meet the surgeon Mr Dimitri Kazakos on the day.

I did - and do - have some questions! I wanted a written account of the full aftercare package, and to know what would happen if I suffered any post op problems.

I have sent emails, tried to contact two customer care individuals, who had repeatedly called prior to my second consultation, left a message with the Brighton office, and spoke to Neil - a pop up “live chat" operative on the OE website.

No-one has responded to any of my enquiries!

My surgery is scheduled for end of March and I was told I needed to pay in full before then, but I now think I’d rather have my deposit back. I will not risk my eyes to a company that is not prepared to answer my perfectly reasonable and valid questions.

I will be contacting the Optical Express office in the morning to ask for a full refund.

Letter on The Times Financial page

I wear glasses for distance - my near vision is perfect but was fed up with flitting between glasses and no glasses when giving presentations at work from my laptop.
I visited Edinburgh in early November and after going through the tests was told I would only require one eye being done at a cost of £1700. I paid the full amount there and then and got it discounted to £1300.

In early December I headed through to Glasgow for the surgery on my left eye, I went through more tests and then was told "we're not sure what your dominant eye is" I then had more tests and was told I'd need to wear contact lenses to determine what eye was dominant, I refused this as I would NEVER wear contacts (phobia thing)

I was then given prescription glasses with the prescription in the right eye only and told to wear them for a week as this would determine what eye was dominant and would let me know what my sight would be like post surgery. They were a disaster I had no depth of vision, night vision was dreadful and I began to get headaches truly awful experience. More tests and they gave me prescription glasses but only in the left eye only and was told to wear them for a week. This was better but still not great as many things were still blurry and I had the same problems with depth of vision.

So back for more tests... they wanted me to wear a different prescription in one of the eyes as they thought the prescription they had given me was maybe too strong! I said no and that I was losing faith in them and that their customer service support was also quite poor - everytime I phoned someone back they had never heard of me, they didn't work in this department, was I phoning about getting surgery etc etc just very poor. So then the optometrist suggested I get both eyes done and wear glasses for reading and watching TV, I said that is just the opposite of what I have and refused that option, she conceded that my eye switched dominance and that surgery wasn't for me and that I'd receive a full refund WITHIN 14 DAYS.

Now there is plenty of discussion to be had about the tests and glasses etc, but for the moment I'll concentrate on the refund.

15 days later I asked where my refund was and was told it was up to 28 days and not 14, no apology.
On the 29th day I asked where my refund was the sarcastic and very condescending Claire Kelly told me it was 28 WORKING DAYS. I told her that was not what I was told and she told me that was in the T's & C's and perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to that before paying.

Nice!! Will be in touch with my credit card company to get a refund as 28 WORKING DAYS may well become 28 working Mondays or 28 days but tuesdays and Thursday s don't count or 28 days but they are spread out over a 4 year period or something...

Anyone reading this and thinking about Optical Express don't, they are a complete shambles.

I visited Bournemouth in early December and was advised that I was entirely suitable for surgery. I had already had surgery in my left eye some time ago (elsewhere) so was at that time confident enough in the surgery itself. I was told by the B'mouth staff that a £200 deposit was required for my surgery, which I paid on a card. I was then told just before leaving that they had got it wrong and a further £195 was required.

I left with a contact lens in my right eye to simulate what my prescription would be after surgery. I am a pilot and the prescription was wrong so I could not see the instruments properly - I blame nobody for this but it needed sorting out. I was told that the clinic in Endless Street in Salisbury (near my home) was available to remove the lens if need be as I was uncomfortable doing it myself. Endless Street had been closed I later found out, so my nearest OE clinics were either B'mouth, Southampton, Bath (part time) or Bristol. All over an hour away. Local opticians would not do it.

Finally had it done near Kidderminster when I was up there on business. I then had a major dental problem which involved expensive root canal treatment. This was a priority and I could not afford to do both. I cancelled the OE treatment but it took four working days for this to be relayed from Customer care to the cancellation dept, so the official cancellation date was 17 Dec. I was then told that the small print said they had a 28 day refund policy.

In this day and age of electronic banking that is absurd. After several telephone calls I finally got my money on February 6th, some two months after the initial deposit had been paid.

They used my money for two months and then hid behind inappropriate company small print legalese to delay paying me back. This is nothing to do about the surgery, but everything to do with the senior management at OE laying down terms and conditions, which they hide behind, to favour their business and profitability and not their clients welfare.

I have been delaying writing this post. As, rather stupidly, I gave Optical Express the benefit of the doubt and trusted their word to refund me within 28 working days.

I phoned several times during that period and I was assured by Lawrence, Stacey, and several others that I would be refunded at the latest by Thursday 29th January. Needless to say last Thursday came and went and I had not heard from them.

After several calls from me on Thursday evening I received an apology and a further assurance that I would be contacted by the latest on Monday 2nd February to arrange my refund. Again on Monday evening having heard nothing from OE I called only to be told that the conversation I'd had on the Thursday evening had not occurred. I was then given the assurance that I would be contacted by this Friday at the latest.

I have told Optical Express all along that I am recording the calls and it doesn't seem to put them off lying to me every time. I advise anyone corresponding with OE to record their calls as it can be used to submit as evidence at small claims court, which is unfortunately my next step.

All I can say is I am glad I didn't trust these people with my eyesight!

Good news from me also... today I received a call from OE who took my card details to process the refund, hopefully with me in 3-5 days.

I'm under no illusion that I wouldn't have got anything without Sasha's help, so I'd like to say a big thank you for everything.

To summarise, don't give up, don't take any of their nonsense and stay on their case!

I'll be sure to donate to the cause (FYI - fundrazr.com/campaigns/3kL86/ab/53Fw4e ) and I wish everyone good luck with their issues with OE.