Deposit Refunds

Thanks for all your help with it Sasha, I really appreciate it! I’m amazed at how quickly it got resolved and that is in no small part down to your help.

Best of luck with your battle, you’re doing a great job. I was due to have my treatment yesterday and all I can think is what a lucky escape I had! Your website is vital in that it seems to be the only source of information against Optical Express and laser eye surgery. Whether this is down to dodgy practices or not, giving potential customers the bad experiences is important as customers must be allowed to make an informed decision. Flooding review sites with 5 star reviews and trying to stamp out any dissenting voices is unethical and down right bad practice.

All the best,

Dave

To update you all, I had a phone call this afternoon promising me a full refund and I even got an apology! Thanks to everyone on this site for all the advice!

Interestingly, the review I left on Trust Pilot has been pushed down by eight 5 star reviews in 27 hours... weird!

I emailed Mr Mousdale on Friday - no response as yet. I gave him 5 working days to refund or I will be going through the small claims court.

I informed OE's customer service advisor on Friday that I would be emailing Mr Mousdale directly, his response was "with respect, I doubt the CEO will reply to your email as he doesn't deal with things like that..."

I asked him if he would deal with the court summons landing on his desk? "Errr...ummm....humph"

Thought so...

I've also left a lovely review on Trust Pilot, the top Google hit for Optical Express Review. Should stop plenty of people parting with thousands of pounds with these cowboys.

I'll keep you updated...

David

Conratulations Wlod, I'm glad they backed down!

David,

I would go with writing the letter, as Wlod states Admin should be able to help you with this.

However, you are in a fairly good position here albeit £200 lighter at this moment.

Since you have signed nothing and were offered no paperwork they cannot keep your money. No signature no entitlement. :lol:

If you paid by card, you should report it to your card issuer immediately. As you correctly state they have provided no service and as such have no legal right to your money. That's exactly what you should tell your card issuer.

They will investigate the matter on your behalf and reverse the transaction on that basis.

It might be worth giving the O.E. branch a call and giving them a good ear bending but my guess is you've probably tried that.

Or if you go to the branch in person and they bring up the 72hr cooling off period, ask them to show you the contract you signed in relation to that point agreeing to the terms and conditions. Try and do it in a shop full of people to really embarass them and when they can't I strongly suspect you'll have your money back in your account within 48hrs. Depends on whether you don't mind making a bit of a scene and being the centre of attention for a few minutes. :whistle:

A few ideas for you to think about.

Best Wishes.

Hi All,

In October of this year my wife posted a message (Post #21) on this forum telling of her efforts in trying to get the return of her deposit paid to Obstacle(!!!) Express. After a number of communications with them she received an email from Stephan Hannan, Clinical Services Director, promising a full refund. The refund has now come through, just in time for Christmas.
Thanks to all who gave advice via e-mail and telephone.

Regards and best Christmas Wishes

Conal
(Gloria's husband)

David, if you haven't already done so, you should contact info@mybeautifuleyes.co.uk

Hi there,

At a consultation with OE last Friday I was told I was suitable for Lasik Eye Surgery and then immediately sat down in an office with a salesman, had some paperwork put in front of me - that I couldn't read because I'd had drops in my eyes, and then he really tried to pressure me into putting a deposit of £200 down to secure an appointment. I refused telling them it was a lot of money and I needed to consider the finances with my wife.

The salesman then called me the following day and offered me a 20% discount, which I found strange as surely it should be a set cost? I had reviewed my finances and decided it was viable so I paid a £200 deposit over the telephone - but I had not, and still have not, signed anything. There was no mention of a 72 hour cooling off period at this point.

I went into the Preston branch on Monday to finalise the finance agreement but when I got there none of the paperwork had been set up. The sales assistant (very nice but unhelpful) was apologetic and told me he could sort the paperwork out and would call me to finalise it over the telephone and all I would need to do was sign on the day of my treatment.

Three days passed since then and I've just had a call from the original salesman who asked me when I was coming into store to set the finance up. He said there was no record of me going to the store on Monday!

Alarm bells started ringing, if they can't manage the most basic paperwork or customer service how can I trust them with my eyes?? So I asked him to cancel my procedure and refund my £200 deposit.

Then for the first time I was told about the 72 hour cooling off period! I decided to do a bit more digging and found this website.

It is safe to say that I will definitely be cancelling now, even if it means losing my £200, which incidentally is a lot of money for me.

Surely I am entitled to a refund of my deposit, as they haven't provided any kind of service to me so far to justify this cost?

I will be making a formal complaint to the CEO - and as a last resort make a claim through the small claims court if I have valid grounds for a refund.

So what do you think? Any advice is appreciated!

Cheers,

David Davies

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for all your support, advice and comments. I spoke today with OE Refund Team and they have taken my card details. I was told that money should be on my bank account in 3 to 5 days so I am really pleased.

Here is what has happened since my last post.

As I mentioned previously, with Sasha’s help, I drafted and sent the following email to David Moulsdale:

Dear Mr Moulsdale,

I am writing with regard to cancellation of my Lasik surgery at your Birmingham clinic as detailed in email below.

I emailed Optical Express customer service team on the 25th November 2013 to cancel my surgery scheduled for the 11th December requesting a refund of my deposit being seriously concerned that, should I proceed, the health of my eyes might be jeopardised by what seemed to me a poor quality of examination.

In addition to the reasons provided in my email regarding my decision to cancel the surgery, on the day of the examination I was not given full information that would have affected my decision to make an informed consent: this includes treatment success rates, retreatment statistics, statistics for probability of starbursts, halo effects, night time distortion, dry eyes etc; current investigations by the General Medical Council into your surgeons, numerous legal claims, the numbers of damaged patients etc.

Having spoken to Becky Hill from your Customer Service Team who I explained all my concerns to I have found out that the deposit will not be refunded. I am totally dissatisfied with this decision and I am not prepared to accept it. I do not dispute that I confirmed I understood the deposit was not refundable after 72hrs from making a booking, but Optical Express did not carry out the examination with reasonable care and skill and withheld critical information from me, so I do not consider any agreement made on the 21st November as legally binding.

Therefore, I am writing to you requesting that you override Becky Hill's decision and refund my deposit within 5 working day, otherwise I will be seeking legal advice in order to pursue my refund via a small claims court. I also appeal to you to review the examination procedures in your company as even MP John McDonnell mentioned concerns over the quality of patient assessment at Optical Express in the House of Commons on 20/11/13.

Sincerely,
W___

I received no response, so spent last weekend describing my case on various internet forums, including Martin Lewis, MoneySupermarket, Customer Actions Group etc. I also left lovely reviews for OE on Trust Pilot and Review Centre.

All of the above resulted in this email yesterday:

From: Stephen Hannan <StephenHannan@opticalexpress.com>
Date: 9 December 2013 16:57
Subject: Optical Express

Dear W___

Thank you for your recent email which you addressed to our Chief Executive Officer.

In my capacity as the Clinical Services Director for the Optical Express Group I have reviewed the content of your email and will now offer a response.

Although we are not obliged to consider refunding you the deposit based on our terms and conditions, on this occasion I will agree to do so as a gesture of goodwill.

I have confirmed the same with my colleague, Miss Vikki Hill who will be in contact to discuss the next step on this process.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Hannan MCOptom
Clinical Services Director
Optical Express
T. +44 (0) 1236 795104
M. +44 (0) 7740 592389

Sasha thanks a million for all your support, guidance and help. I would not get my money back, without you. If you ever need any help, you have got my contact details. Wish you all the best! x

Regards,
Wlod

Hi Wlod,

I don't think you will be the first to try to claim this back unfortunately.

I can pretty much tell you the exact response you will receive:

Dear ........

As Clinical Services Director, I am the most senior patient interface at O.E. I will be dealing with your letter regarding your Deposit.

You have signed the relevant documentation that clearly states deposits are non refundable if within 72hrs blah, blah, blah,

Waffle, Waffle, Lies, more Lies etc.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Hannan.

You get the point.

Get a solicitor immediately or advice from CAB.

The reasons you specified are reasonable grounds to cancel a contract.

Contracts are not enforceable if they are not fair to both parties and seek to serve one party more than the other.

Do explore a challenge with your card issuer, it may be the quickest and most painless way of retrieving your money.

State that the service was not provided by O.E. and information was witheld.

They have at least one investigation ongoing with one of their surgeons because I complained to the GMC and they ARE investigating the matter.

Best Regards,

X

Hi All,

I have a short update on my case. Following my phone conversation with Diane from the customer service team, I have also spoken to her manager Becky. I have only found out that I will not receive my deposit back as I have cancelled my surgery after 72hrs. Not really surprising to be honest. She did not want to listen to my explanations, repeating like mantra that deposit is not refundable. Fed up with her I only asked to explain me their official complaints policy. Not a surprise it is a letter to their head office.

Yesterday with Sasha’s help I sent an email to their CEO explaining my case and asking to override any previous decisions. We will see what will be their response…

Has anyone made a court claim for their deposit? I may be the first one:-)

Cheers,
Wlod