Deposit Refunds

Just had a call from Hugh Kerr (General Operations Director) after the email I sent on the 10/3/14 to David [strike]Mousedale[/strike] - oops, Moulsdale.

Hugh Kerr left two messages yesterday and one this morning on my mobile asking me to call him on his number 07778782524. Then he called my home phone.

He told me their customer service centre had got it wrong, and he would be refunding my deposit immediately. He said they are amending their policies so it doesn't happen again.

The questions I should have asked are:

1. Which policy and how have they changed it?
2. Is it to protect them or customer?
3. Why are they suddenly so desperate to get in touch by phone, when a letter and immediate refund to my account would have done?
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admin: The answer to Crooky's last question will become clear very soon.
Tick tock...

Hi Bobby, the risks highlighted the main complications and side effects of Refractive Lens Exchange surgery which is what i was booked in for, but only a few of these were pointed out to me in both consultations and both consultants played the risks down as being so minimal it was highly unlikely to happen to me!

But the letter contains statisitics like 10% of patients still need to wear specs for reading or computer work, 10% suffer side effects and 5% have some problems driving at night - and for a percentage of patients this could mean they have to stop driving at night! Not a lot of use to me when i work evenings!

Had i been informed of any of this at my 1st consultation i would have run a mile!! But OE take your hard earned money and wait until you're not really in a position to back out (at the theatre door) then drop the bombshell!

Lucky for me my instinct told me to get out of there as quick as I could and after checking with the surgeon that i would get a refund and him saying YES! that's exactly what I did.

I'm so sorry to hear of your complications, i really feel for you, these companies are nothing more than evil tricksters ruining peoples lives and they need stopping now!!

Angie, were the risks the surgeon made you aware of, general risks of IOL surgery or just risks personal to your eyes? I had IOL surgery in Dec12 with very little information of risks and have suffered the worst time ever since, including having the lenses replaced at a cost to me and numerous other complications. I would really appreciate any more information you can give.

Thank you.

I too have been ripped off by OE as they point blank refuse to give me any of the £3591 that I have paid!

I backed out of my lens replacement surgery after I arrived at the clinic as 10 minutes before I was to have the operation I was handed a letter written by the surgeon, in his opinion giving a precise account of the risks involved, none of which I was told at either of the 2 consultations that I had.

This has been going on since January 2014 and I have no intention of letting it go. Maybe we should all get together and start a big protest to let others know what a rip off this company is!!

I will be going to the media with this and suggest everyone e-mails Watchdog to expose this terrible company!

This seems to be the tactic they now use as part of their business model.

Rather than charge £2k and have lots of aftercare to arrange and pay for, with the obvious possibility of litigation as more and more go down that route, it seems OE insist on large deposits, then suddenly the patient is not suitable any more and they keep the deposit.

20% of the operation cost with no risk of botched surgery litigation, and no expensive aftercare to cater for!

Really does show how vile this company is.

:oops: Here's my story - on Friday 14th Feb I went for a consultation for Lasik surgery at Optical Express Preston. I had done my homework, fully understood the differences between Lasik & Lasek, spoken with friends who've had it done successfully (including my husband) and I even researched the profiles of the Optical Express surgeons.

After the relevant tests, "refractive technician" Bajwa announced the good news that I was suitable for LASIK surgery. Bajwa explained that it wasn’t his department to sort "the money" side of things out so he would go and get Wasim (Wasim has written his name on my file as Refractive Optometrist) but just before that he would put the details into the computer and see what the figures "were coming out at", which was an amount over £2000.

I said to Bajwa, "Really – what happened to the £795.00 per eye you advertise all the time." He replied "that would be the price for the Lasek surgery, but you asked for Lasik surgery." He asked us to take a seat back in the waiting room and he would find Wasim.

Wasim told me I had to pay an immediate minimum deposit of £200 for him to be able to book the appointment for surgery at the St John Street Clinic in Manchester. I actually paid a £400 deposit.

Wednesday 19th Feb 2014 I went for surgery at Manchester and after further scans of my eyes the surgeon Muhammed Kahmi called me in to speak with him and explained there were several reasons why he wouldn’t perform Lasik treatment on my eyes. These reasons being:

• My left eye’s prescription was at the level he would perform surgery to in any case, and so I would not benefit from any treatment to this eye.
• My right eye was a different prescription but the cornea was too thick to perform Lasik treatment on.
• He had a level of thickness he would perform surgery on and the measurement of my cornea was beyond that , so he wouldn’t perform surgery on my right eye
• He explained that if Lasik surgery was performed it could result in scar tissue being formed and the shape of the cornea changed completely.
• That surgery would without doubt cause a dry eye issue, and the right eye was dryer than the left one in any case.

I thanked him for his advice and was shown out by the clinic manager who told me she had "put the file through" for a full refund., saying it was their policy to send the file off for a second opinion.

I presumed this was some sort of confirmation for them to refund the deposit and she did not explain any further.

After several phone calls over the past week, I have been told by Louise McMonigle (Clinical Care Associate) that Stephen Hannan, the Clinical Services Director, has made the decision that I am clinically suitable for LASEK treatment and under Optical Express booking terms and conditions I am not entitled to a refund of the £400 deposit I paid.

WHAT A COMPLETE SCAM!

I realise now just how I have been manipulated by Optical Express and am sick to the stomach that they can get away with this.

I don't intend to let this go, and will do all I can via social media etc... to warn others. I also intend to chase my deposit refund via the small claims court.
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admin: It should be noted that Stephen Hannan is an optometrist NOT a surgeon, and definitely not medically qualified to make surgical decisions.

Thank you OERML you saved my life.

On Monday (3/3/14) I went for a consultation for lens replacement as I was getting frustrated with glasses. I paid a £500 deposit for the procedure and they found an open appointment for today, Wednesday(5/3/14).

I have a fear of operations so researched a little more that evening when I found OERML Facebook page and read about the horrible mistakes they've made, which intensified my fear so I cancelled the surgery.

According to their terms I am entitled to a full refund of my deposit as I cancelled within 24 hours of the consultation.

Today (5/3/14) I spoke with Jamie Stewart who stated that they won't refund my deposit as I cancelled within 72 hours of the surgery, even though I cancelled with 24hrs of the consultation.

I asked about the 24hr legal cooling off period, but he ignored the question, repeating the 72hrs excuse.

There seems to be a major conflict here as to which clause has precedent - the legal 24hrs cooling off period or the 72 hours cancellation period!?

Any advice anyone?

www.bridgewaterhospital.com/
The majority of surgery performed at Bridgewater Hospital (owned by Optical Express) is cosmetic whilst Laser and RLE are not.

In my opinion eye surgery (esp RLE) is far more "invasive" than Botox or derma fillers. Puzzling then that Optical Express offer "a two week cooling off period" at Bridgewater yet only 24-72hrs at OE high street clinics!

www.cqc.org.uk/directory/1-128916692

I recently attended a laser eye surgery consultation at Optical Express Meadowhall branch where I was told I was a good candidate for surgery. The optometrist told me that even though my distance vision was not that bad surgery would almost certainly make me glasses free. So I paid £2490 and went for surgery 3 weeks later.

On meeting surgeon Muhammad Kazmi and discussing the expected outcome he told me I had a 50/50 chance of being glasses free, a 70% chance of a slight improvement, and a 30% chance of no improvement at all - or in fact my vision being worse!

This information was whispered to me as he sat very close in a very secretive manner, and he drew a diagram on a small piece of scrap paper on his lap to explain better. I declined surgery on the grounds that the odds on the outcome I wanted i.e. being glasses free, were not as favourable as I had been led to believe.

I returned the next day to request a refund, but the assistant manager informed me that in their opinion I was a good candidate for surgery and I could not have any refund, offering only a reassessment with another surgeon. I turned this offer down on the grounds that I was now incredibly nervous of surgery as an extremely worrying prognosis had been given and I would now never take even the slightest chance on my eyes. They told me someone would contact me from head office, but so far nothing.