Deposit Refunds

Help Needed to Retrieve Deposit from Optical ExpressHi everyone,I’m seeking advice on how to retrieve my £500 deposit from Optical Express. I have an appointment booked for January 7, 2024, but I’m increasingly worried about losing my money due to my concerns about the ’s a summary of my situation:

• Original Appointment: December 18, 2024, at 14:50. After waiting until 17:00, we were informed that no more surgeries would take place that day due to a machine malfunction. We were given the option to go to another site that evening or travel to Dartford the next day. Neither option was suitable for me, so my appointment was rescheduled to January 7, 2025.
• Cancellation Decision: On December 23, 2024, I decided to cancel the appointment. As a swimming teacher, I can’t be out of the pool for two weeks, which would result in a significant financial loss.
• Retention Team Call: I spoke with Andrew from the retention team, who explained the terms and conditions. According to the document, if Optical Express cancels the treatment and cannot offer another date within 12 months, a full refund is provided within 28 working days. Despite this, Andrew offered an overnight stay in Birmingham 27-12-24 and a £99 goodwill gesture, for personal reasons I couldn't accept. 
• Further Offers: Andrew later offered the £99 discount and sunglasses worth up to £200 after my follow-up appointment. He also mentioned that once the consultant appointment is completed, the deposit is non-refundable, which I believe is untrue.

I feel stuck and just want my deposit back without committing to a procedure that could potentially harm my sight. Any advice on how to resolve this peacefully would be greatly !
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admin: You are so lucky that the [‘advanced state of the art’] machinery malfunctioned - and definitely entitled to your refund asap!
Please send your phone number 👀
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

 

Thank you thank you thank you Sasha!

After getting cold feet and useless info surrounding risks WRT Lasek, Optical Express have emailed to say my deposit will land in 3-5 buisness days.

Thank you Sasha, for your help with this matter; look forward to purchasing new sunglasses come summer!

Nathan

Thank you so much for your help Sasha! I sent an email to Optical Express as advised by you on Sunday 3/11/24 stating that they were holding my deposit illegally and should never have taken it in the first place. I received a call the following day saying my deposit had been refunded, and today (5/11/24) the refund has landed in my account! Faster than the 28 working days that I would have been waiting (if I was lucky!!). I have also sent a Subject Access Request to get to the bottom of how this situation occurred in the first place!

Thank you again for all of your help and guidance.

Charlie 

I had a consultation at Optical Express Plymouth store on September 28th and told I was an ideal candidate for laser eye surgery (LASIK iDesign). However, I would need to complete a course of dry eye drops before the treatment as I have dry eye. 
I was given a folder to take home, including a form for my doctor to sign, confirming I was suitable for treatment since I am on medication for depression.
October 1st, I was contacted to pay £500 deposit to secure my surgery on October 18th.
I was scheduled to see an optometrist on October 5th when my eyes were checked once again, and I was sent home with eye drops to begin using until the day of my treatment.
I had my consent appointment with my surgeon, Luca Antico, via a Teams video call on October 10th, during which I explained that I hadn’t yet received the go-ahead from my doctor. He told me I could bring the document with me on the day of the surgery.
I traveled to my follow up appointment on October 12th, in Exeter—the last appointment before my surgery—where additional tests were conducted and the optometrist informed me that my eyesight had significantly improved, making me no longer a candidate for laser eye surgery!
She said that my vision is now near 20/20, and should she prescribe glasses, it would be a minimal prescription.
I was quite confused as I didn’t understand how my prescription could have improved so much in such a short space of time.
I asked whether I would get my deposit back and was told the optometrist would discuss this with the manager. I was then informed that I would receive my money back and that the Plymouth clinic would contact me the following day. 
I messaged the WhatsApp chat I had been using to communicate with Optical Express to confirm my cancellation and to request my deposit back. I was told that my money would be returned within 28 working days. I asked why it would take so long, only to be told again that the refund process could take up to 28 working days.
I am not concerned about missing out on laser eye surgery, after reading about issues others have faced. I did want to be free of glasses for screen work, however, I've since learned that at my age (37), my near sight will start to deteriorate soon anyway, requiring me to wear reading glasses for close work regardless.
I find it strange that they accepted £500 from me, only to later inform me that I’m not a candidate for the procedure. 
Additionally, I am upset that they will hold my money for 28 working days.I am wondering if this practice is legal and how I can get my money back sooner, as I don’t believe they should have taken it in the first place.
Please can you advise?
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admin: 1. As do the majority of OE surgeons, Luca Antico has legal claims against him from some of his damaged patients.
2. The people you see at the ‘free’ consultations are all paid bonuses, based on the amount of the sale patients are persuaded to agree to, so they’ll sign anyone up for surgery. But what is of more concern to me is the fact that Dr Antico agreed to operate, because it’s not possible that your prescription miraculously improved to that extent (if at all!) within 2 weeks!
There are a number of serious issues here that need to be investigated and reported to regulators.
3. You are most definitely entitled to your refund asap!
Please send your phone number 👀
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Dear Beautiful Eyes Help Person, I was due to to go ahead with the Lasek Refractive Lens Exchange procedure in December of this year with Dr Sajjad Mughal at Optical Express in Nottingham.

I came across your website and became concerned as I had not had good customer service from them since I paid £500 deposit after the initial eye tests. In summary: In May 2024, I paid £500 to Optical Express as a deposit. After stumbling over this website, on top of my general anxieties around the surgery, I wanted more information than I felt I'd received from Dr. Mugal. On the 4th September 2024, I sent the following email to Optical Express: Hello, I had a chat with Dr. Mughal last week and captured the following notes in summary of our conversation.  Please could you ask Dr. Mughal to sign these off as being representative, accurate and truthful of Lasek as a procedure - an email reply containing a signature will suffice. With kind regards, Nathan I received a fairly unhelpful answer to my query and OE then redirected me to their DPO inbox. I then sent a list of questions to OE; the main one was as above - I wanted Dr. Mughal to sign off the notes which I collected  as honest and accurate. I then, surprisingly, received a fairly unhelpful and probably deliberately, vague answer which didn't help settle my concerns.
As such, I'd very much like the total deposit of £500 returned. Please can you help me?

Thank you, Nathan Stuttard

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admin: Dr Mughal used to work at Optimax/Ultralase, so you’ve had a lucky escape! See  optimaxreviews.co.uk/forums/topic/what-w...-of-my-life-be-like/
Please send your phone number 👀
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Update -

I was refunded my FULL deposit of £500 after being told I would only get £250. Thank you so much to Sasha who helped me get this back. I feel so lucky that a cancelled my appointment and did not go through with the surgery after what I went on to find out what has happened to other people. Thank you Sasha x

Just wanted to let you all know that after speaking to Sasha about my deposit not been refunded after 2 weeks of cancelling my surgery, with her help I got the money back within 24 hours!
 

I paid £500 for lens replacement and had a date to get the surgery on 10th October, but not even told his name, when I got my appointment to do a Teams call with the surgeon (a Teams call!!) I started to panic!
I have not been 100% about this since the start, felt very uneasy, but I really wanted it done, so excited about getting rid of my glasses.
Last night I spoke directly with someone who had this same surgery done by Optical Express 2 months ago, also aged 46 as I am, and she advised me not to risk it as it’s all been so bad for her, and she would not wish this on anyone, as her eyes are worse than they were with lots of problems.
Her surgeon was Dr David Teenan, and though I wasn’t told who mine would be, as the surgery was in Glasgow I believe it would have been him.
I was given these boxes of medication to start 1 week before surgery, however feel this was not explained fully about what to do or what they’re for, and only the number 4 written on the boxes. 
  
At the time I was bombarded with positivity and excitement that I wouldn’t need glasses or contacts ever again and left just to watch a video at the end of the eye tests. Nothing in it that I felt explained any of the many things that I now know could go wrong.
I feel overwhelmed with relief that I didn’t get the surgery done soon after my initial consultation, as I was going on holiday and as such it gave me more time to research.
I cancelled my surgery this morning and was told that I would only get £250 back of my deposit, which would take 30 working days! I feel this is so unfair given I’m cancelling due to not having had the risks explained to me, or told the name of the surgeon, having to find this out from the many bad reviews I have read, and speaking directly with someone that has been left worse off after surgery with Optical Express.
I would appreciate your help getting all my money back.
But I do feel I am one of the lucky ones not to have gone through with it. 
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admin: Dr David Teenan is top of the leader board with the highest number of legal cases against him in Scotland, so you are indeed one of the lucky ones 👀
Please send your phone number: sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk
 

I had a consultation at Optical Express in Huddersfield on the 22nd August and when they said I was suitable for laser surgery they told me I had to pay £500 deposit immediately to book on the 23rd September with Dr Mohammad Kazmi. I hadn’t even been examined by the doctor and felt I was being rushed into this. I didn’t feel at all comfortable when I googled the complications that no one had told me about so I called them on the same day and said that I was feeling overwhelmed and need more time. They said they were happy to refund me but I have not heard anything or got any email from them. This is all they sent me. Please can you help me?
   
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admin: Dr Muhammed Kazmi has damaged countless numbers of patients, successfully sued by many of them, with more complaints currently in process, so you have had a lucky escape 👀
I can help, if you please send your phone number: sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

I had an appointment at OE in Manchester. 
They said I was suitable for lens replacement -2.5 both eyes and I can read fine. 
The next day I received a call saying a face to face appointment with the surgeon was available in 4 weeks and as it was within a month I needed to pay £1000 which I did. This appointment got cancelled and a new date was arranged. Two weeks later the second date got cancelled and they said the next appointment was October which wasn’t suitable. All I have ever received is one email confirming the first appointment nothing about the two cancelations or the new date  and nothing to say I had paid £1000. After this terrible service and finding this forum I have asked for my deposit back. 
They want to keep £250 and say it will take 28 days. 
How can they keep £250 I have nothing to cancel they have cancelled twice !
Plus 28 days ? 
Terrible service more like double glazing tactics. 
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admin: They act illegally, and even Tesco refund card payments immediately if you return an item!
Please send your phone number 👀
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk