Deposit Refunds

I came across to your site through the Which forum where people have experienced similar problems. I booked a consultation appointment for my wife on 27/06/15 at Optical Express Uxbridge, London, where they took £400 deposit from me for the surgery. I went for the finance option and it was referred and Optical Express told me that they would advise me of the outcome, which they never did.
My wife and I called them on numerous occasions but we we were told someone will call us back. Finally, when we called again, a lady told us to ring the Finance company Hitachi Capital ourselves, which resulted in a declined decision. So, I rang them up again with the outcome and was advised someone will call from the cancellation team. No calls received. I called them few more times and they advised me that the refund will take 28 working days??. I don't believe them that they will be refunding the deposit.

Could you help me with my refund please?

Can somone also give me mail ID for David Moulsdale. I have my 3K pending refund for 28 Days. Same story being told, admin delays etc. etc.
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admin: Pls send your number to info@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Hi,
I wondered if you can help me. I had booked for laser surgery with Optical Express but started to have second thoughts. I read lots of the comments on your website and did some research on the surgeon Luca Antico - not all favourable reviews, so I decided to cancel. I had given £800 deposit, which Optical Express are refusing to refund. I didn't see the small print and it was not pointed out to me at my appointment.

I don't see why I should pay anything for something that I haven't received!

Well well...
To continue the story of getting my deposit back.
I waited patiently for 28 working days for my £500 deposit to be returned and of course - nothing!
I then emailed Lynsey Shaw, Head of Customer Care at Optical Express, to say that if the money wasn't in my bank account by the end of the week I would contact June Moulsdale, Director of Optical Express. Guess what?! I had a phone call the next morning from Lynsey Shaw asking for my bank details and hallelujah! my money is now safely back in my bank account.
So a quick phone call from her was all that was needed - 28 working days is just their way of making the poor customer suffer in my opinion.
I would suggest that anyone else in my position tries the same tactic. What a dreadful company to do business with. I am so so relieved to be shot of them.

Charlotte, I can't believe you have been kept waiting so long. How incredibly frustrating for you.
What an appalling company.
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admin: June Moulsdale is OE's Commercial Manager and sister of CEO David Moulsdale

In November 2014 I paid out £500 deposit @ Brighton Optical Express prior to my Harley Street surgeon consultation for lens replacement surgery.
At Harley Street I did not see a surgeon or expert but a series of youngsters who did machine tests. I was advised to go back to Brighton to test out contact lenses (to check my brain could accept the prescription they were suggesting). I had further tests, more eye drops and wore lenses for a week, and reiterated that I wanted to see a surgeon but they advised it wasn’t necessary and I would have ample opportunity to have my queries answered on the day of surgery, which they booked in.

I am a photographer and my eyesight is my livelihood, I wasn’t happy with the fact that no one would answer my questions (or phone/web enquiries) and I could not deal with just one person. It was only when I emailed every OE address I had AND posted on OERML saying I wanted to cancel altogether if I couldn’t speak with the surgeon, that I was called by Dianne Yeaman in the Clinical Care Team and offered a date at White City in March.

Despite being approved by Brighton and Harley Street “experts” as being a perfect candidate, with surgery booked at White City and my special toric lenses ordered, when I saw Dimitris Kasakos he said I was not suitable and he could not recommend the procedure.

I spoke with Dianne Yeaman on 24th March and she confirmed I would get a full refund of £500 within 28 working days: "Further to our recent discussion I am writing to confirm that I have cancelled your procedure and started the refund process for you today. As discussed the refund process can take up to 28 working days to complete and we will get in touch to obtain your card details when we are ready to process the funds in to your account."
I put 5th May in my diary and waited, but heard nothing, so I called in May and was told by Sandra (Alexsandra) that there were internal problems and I would have to wait a further 10 days. I asked her to confirm this by email (she did not) I waited again, and heard nothing, called again and spoke to Emma Scullion at the end of May, fobbed off with the same excuse.

I asked for this to be confirmed by email which it was, but in words that made no sense and with zero assurances or time frame “Unfortunately Optical Express is experiencing an internal administration delay. At this stage our accounts department are striving to resolve this matter. I will do my utmost to escalate your refund and have this processed as quickly as possible ensuring you receive a call back once your refund has been approved”

I asked her to confirm how they would be returning my money which they had had for 8 months and she said someone would get in touch to arrange this.

I have lost all faith in this disreputable dishonest company – I cannot believe they are allowed to carry on. It is now 1 July and I have turned to OERML for help. I will take this as far as I need to to get my money back - Optical Express are criminal!
Charlotte, Brighton

I've tried to condense my story as much as possible, happy to provide further details if need be.

• I went for free consultation at OE and was recommended LASIK.
• The optometrist told me any complications with LASIK were rare. I asked questions about the chances of the flap dislodging and the optometrist said, given enough time, the flap would heal
• I paid the £400 deposit and booked a LASIK procedure since it all sounded great. I signed a digital contract which apparently was acknowledgement that an optometrist had explained the risks and showed me a related video about the surgery.
• A week passed and my surgery being 2 weeks away I didn't want to owe any cash so cleared the remaining balance of £2,895
• Did my own research for an entire week, found this site and other bad reviews about OE. In addition, found that the LASIK procedure had a lot more complications than I was initially told. I was given a false sense of security by the optometrist and was not fully informed about the overall procedure.
• Attempted to get my deposit back but was told this is non-refundable after a certain amount of time. I enquired about what this time period was and after 3 weeks of chasing, managed to secure a digital copy of the laser surgery T&Cs which are NOT on the website nor given to me in writing.
T&Cs state that you have 3 days to get a deposit refund. What's frustrating for me is that I was given the consent form but NOT the T&Cs when I initially booked so wasn't made aware of this - how are you supposed to raise that you're missing something when you don't know that you should have received it in the first place?!
• In addition to the deposit, I asked for a refund of the bulk payment (£2,895) and was told this would take 28 working days to come through. Yesterday was the 28th day so I called up today only to be told they're having "internal issues" and cannot give me a timeline of when that refund will come through.

This is absolutely disgusting behaviour - what am I supposed to do in this situation? Some advice would be appreciated.
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admin: Pls email with your phone number
info@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Hi Sasha,
I am delighted to say that I finally received my £500 refund today. This was due to the e-mail that I sent to David Moulsdale... Thank you very much for all your help
Carolyn Hume

Good news Sasha OP finally repaid my £400 deposit today thank you for your help in this matter.
John Mitchell

Hi All & Dear Sasha,
Just to let you know that OE finally refunded all the money (£3300) to my account yesterday, after nearly 3 months wait!!!!!
Thank u so much for your great help and support you offered to us throughout that time
You are doing a great job!
Fabio

I am waiting for my deposit of £500 to be returned with bated breath (after changing my mind about having surgery). I was emailed on 28th May telling me that the deposit repayment will take up to 28 working days. I calculate that will be by 30th Juine at the latest. I sent an email back asking why I had to wait so long. No reply. I have now sent a second email asking the same thing. Has anyone contacted Watchdog about this company and its dodgy practices? It would seem long overdue.