Deposit Refunds

Hello,

I would very much appreciate your help and assistance to obtain my £500 deposit back. I am in a similar position to many others, in so much as I attended a consultation in Cheltenham where I was told 'congratulations, you are eligible for multifocal LENS replacement surgery' and right off the bat said 'we will discount the treatment by £400'.

I went away, thought on it and after I was contacted by a customer care representative I decided to move forward and was booked into Bristol on 17th April at 9am for the surgery with Mr Manu Mathew & In order to secure this date I needed to pay £500.

Prior to the surgery, I was told I would be contacted by a 'clinician' (which I was on Monday 20th March) who asked me a few questions and he said that he was happy based on what he heard and saw to move forward with the surgery. I don't know who he was but I don't think he was a surgeon.

I was on the fence anyway, especially as I’m only 44, but then I came across this site & forum and that solidified my decision. As such I called to cancel and they said, 'you are not entitled to your deposit back, it is in the T's & C's'.

I would very much appreciate your help and assistance to obtain my £500 deposit back.

Thanks
Kieran
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admin:
Manu Mathew has a significantly high number of legal claims from his damaged patients, and you are way too young for RLE (lens exchange). A complaint needs to be made to the GOC, and possibly the GMC.
Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Hi Sasha,

I have a surgery booked for Saturday 1st April for LASIK at Optical Express Shaftesbury Avenue clinic with a surgeon whose name I was told but not given any details about him in my email confirmation. I realised I don't want it anymore after finding so many horror stories from Optical Express patients on this website and online. I wasn't told any of the risks when I paid the £500 deposit and I want it back. What should I do and can you help please?


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admin:
Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Thank you so much Sasha! You were nothing but reassuring and knowledgeable.
I was so worried that I'd lost my money but from the beginning you said you'll get me back all my money and that's exactly what you did!
Thank you thank you thank you 😊🥳🥳

Optical Express called me on Friday and tried to say how it's unfortunate that I've had a bad experience with them! So I gave them a piece of my mind saying that they were dishonest from the beginning and shoud have been clear about the side effects that are devastating and negatively life-changing!
He said that they do try to warn people, and I said that in my case they did not but I didn't want to argue further.

As for Paul Morrison, I forgot to say in my last post that after I cancelled he said there's this website called Optical Express Ruined My Life run by a woman called Sasha and that I shouldn't believe a word of what it says and that its not about them it's about their competitor Optimax. I didn't think to ask him why don't they do something about it because it's defamation if not true!

I was beyond excited to get Lasik surgery after I was told by many of the Optical Express staff that I would get 20/20 vision and that it’s a very safe procedure, that this surgery will be done by the best in Europe, second best in the world!

But upon reading all the horror stories I was scared and I talked to Paul who is a clinician at the Bristol premises. He said that I had nothing to worry about and the worst that could happen is to get an infection which will be treated with special drops. He eased my mind, but I then went to read more scary stories so I called up and talked to someone else who again said the same, that I couldn’t possible have worse eye sight at night etc etc. and again only mentioned the infection.

Two days before my consent phone call I started feeling very anxious and my gut feeling was not have the surgery. Especially since I read so many bad stories, even though the Optical Express staff have assured me that none of it is true. So I felt like here was a lot of deception and lack of information on their part which made me not trust them when it comes to my eyes.

Also when the women called me to discuss the contract I had no idea what her name was or what she does. She also told me that it’s not possible to lose my good night vision or close up reading vision. All of this I know is not true.

I am very concerned about what they told me and sad at how deceptive their customer service is. When I asked to cancel they told me they were not sure I would get any of my deposit back and would get Paul to call me to reassure me about going ahead with the surgery. I don't want to talk to him as I definitely won’t be trusting them with my eyes! Also I found that there are loads of lawsuits against my surgeon Luca Antico which really scared me as well.

I paid a £1000 deposit and cannot lose this money.

Hope you can help me !

After writing the above post I received this email from Optical Express!*


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admin: They have no right to keep any of your £1,000 deposit.
Please send your phone number and I will help you
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

*Page 5, para 6:


Not legal!

Hi I went to have my consultation, and was advised I was a suitable candidate. On my day of surgery the surgeon advised that I shouldn’t go ahead with it as my prescription was only slight (-1.25) I was so thankful that he was honest! Saved me £3500 however I’m still waiting for my refund . I was told by the manager in optical express that I would receive ‘full’ refund … but I still wait … any advice thanks 😃
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admin: You are very lucky, as it's very rare for OE surgeons to be so honest - though his/her days at OE are now numbered, unless they change their ways to suit the company's modus operandi!
Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Hi I went to Optical Express on Jan 28th to enquire about laser surgery. I didn’t see a surgeon but the sales people told me I could have Lasek and took a £500 deposit off me. But after reading the forums and reviews online I see that going with Optical Express is a mistake.
I went to the Leicester premises but was told I would have to go to Nottingham for the surgery. They told me the surgeon is Dr Sajjad Mughal even though I don't have a surgery date booked in yet.
Would you be able to help me in getting a refund?
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admin: Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Hi Sasha

I just wanted to say a massive thank you for all your help.

OE have finally said that they will refund me my £500 deposit. This was after saying that they definitely wouldn’t.

Thanks again

Jayne

I paid my £2500 based on the advice from the 'experts'. On the day of the surgery the surgeon explained hat I should not have the surgery and that in fact the risks outweigh the benefits, as a result I was told get get a refund.

So after a lot of wasted time in appointments and consultations, I was told a refund was issued on the 24th October for £2500. Now we are 6 weeks on and still no refund received. I have sent numerous emails and called but all I have had as a response is that they have spoken to world pay and they cannot find the refund.

Any advice for potential legal action I can take ?
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admin: Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

I had no idea that the country is again dealing with an "unprecedented scenario", especially as there was no issue with the company's staffing levels on the 18th October when my payment of £4,690 was taken.

It seems I must have missed something and need to catch up on the recent news!

Hi Sasha,

I hope you are well -

I am looking for your advice on how to retrieve my optical express refund. For context, I both booked and cancelled my surgery appointment within 1 week and paid in full (£4,690). I have received notification of a partial refund but it is missing £500, which today (1st December) after speaking with their customer services they have confirmed that this was the deposit that they are now holding as apparently I have consented to the terms and conditions by having my consent / clinical call - where no financial details were discussed.

Some detail on my experience:

I booked my initial assessment with the Chester clinic on Tuesday 18th October where after my assessment they confirmed my suitability for lasik and gave me my patient pack.

I was asked to sign on a tablet / digital pad for the T&Cs (that I couldn’t see) but never received a signed copy.

Following conversations with Sean Ruddy I was guided to pay to confirm my surgery appointment (at the Liverpool clinic) with Dr. Huba Kiss on the 25th October - at this stage I discussed concerns regarding the refund process but it wasn't raised as being an issue so I proceeded with payment in full.

My consent call was on Wednesday 19th October to discuss the surgery with a clinical advisor - where we discussed only details relating to my surgery.

I cancelled my surgery on Saturday 22nd October once Optical Express had advised that my surgeon had been changed to Dr. Muhammad Kazmi. Following this update I did some further research and found some concerning information, including patient experience videos and blogs which lead to me to cancel my surgery.

Today (1st December) I raised a formal complaint with Optical Express to retrieve my deposit as I felt strongly that I was misguided through what has been an extremely underhanded process geared towards keeping consumers & patients away from their own money.

Many thanks for any support you are able to offer.

Chris H.
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admin: Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk