TOPIC: Deposit Refunds

Managed to get a refund in two weeks. I decided against the symphony IOL multifocal after seeing what can go so wrong. I dodged a a whole heap of problems. Thanks Sasha for your assistance and help.

Update: No email confirmation of the cancellation in my inbox from OE as promised. I emailed Stephen Hannan, asking him to facilitate the confirmation email, but the email bounced back with the following message:



I don't know what this message means, but all in all is seems to be a very unprofessional way of conducting business.

I was told I had to wait 28 working days to get my refund of 2500 from optical express,since getting in touch with sasha she as helped me through everything brilliantly, and I received 2000 within a couple of days, but I am still 500 short, sasha advised me to make an online claim which i am just waiting to hear back from

Just managed to get through to Cancellations on the phone and spoke to "Jamie" who tried his hardest to persuade me to continue with the surgery. He tried to scare me by saying the cataracts will only get worse and eventually I'll lose my sight so I should get the surgery done sooner than later and that Dr Teenan was one of the most highly respected experts in the entire field!
And why wouldn't I want to be free of glasses?!! (The sales person told me that if I had this surgery my cataracts would be gone, my distance, intermediate and near vision would be good enough never to need glasses again: indeed, "freedom from spectacles" was the reason they put down on one of their many forms - which I did think was kind of secondary to cataract removal in my case, but I didn't mention this at the time…)
He also said that even though I've got a new prescription ordered that won't be any use because it won't take the blurriness of the cataract away - ie it won't affect the cataract!
I stood my ground and kept repeating that I was not ready for surgery atm and after nearly 20 minutes he conceded by telling me that the deposit, all bar £150, would be refunded up to 28 days back onto the credit card.
When I queried this, he said. "Well you got our T & Cs with you at the time of the initial consultation and it states clearly they’re our policies”
I replied that I hadn't signed the T & C's but he said that signing wasn't necessary!! He also said he would keep the £150 on my patient file in case I wanted to spend it on anything with Optical Express in the future and that the consultation I had just cancelled was still valid for 6 months.
I asked him for a confirmation email re the cancellation and he said he would try to get one to today or tomorrow at the latest.
But I have no intention of leaving my £150 with Optical Express because I will never set foot through their doors again.
I'll let you know what happens.

[Posted by Jud99]
I have a pre surgery discussion with David Teenan in Glasgow booked for 19 December and the surgery for NLR Multifocal (both eyes) booked on 28 December. I have only paid the £500 deposit at this moment in time. I had been noticing recent difficulties seeing clearly in my right eye lately.
I am 55 and I have worn glasses since I was 13 and have severe myopia and astigmatism and a few years ago I found I needed reading glasses as well.
I went to Specsavers in early November as I thought my multifocal glasses were not right. I was seeing everything mainly in the distance part of the lens as slightly blurry and after testing and examination they told me I had early cataracts in both eyes, the right eye being worse. They also said that cataracts can make myopia worse, hence the reason why my distance vision was not so clear. They said at some point in the future I would have to have surgery, but glasses would do just fine for the present.
I came out of Specsavers and immediately began researching online to see if there was laser or another kind of treatment that could deal with all of this. The Optical Express website made it all sound so wonderfully easy, and with the inevitability of lens surgery at some point I went along to my free consultation at OE, who conducted tests and confirmed, yes, I did indeed have cataracts and they had this amazing solution which would be multifocal lenses.
My cataracts would be gone, my distance, intermediate and near vision would be good enough never to need glasses again: indeed, "freedom from spectacles" was the reason they put down on one of their many forms - which I did think was kind of secondary to cataract removal in my case, but I didn't mention this at the time as I was on a high, thinking about this miracle treatment.
This would be performed by their very own experienced surgeon Dr David Teenan who they said was wonderful. They mentioned very briefly about risks and complications such as Halos, but they said this was rare and most people got used to them.
They said multifocals were not at all like the MF glasses - with the implants you "saw" two images and had to "choose the correct one", but not to worry as my brain would soon adapt.
I was a bit concerned with this but they presented it as a piece of cake! So I paid my £500 deposit and went home with my surgery date and pre surgery consult all booked, although I still owed them the small sum of £7990!
Since then I've been doing quite a lot of research, mainly to prepare my questions for Dr Teenan, but the more I looked at Multifocals Lens replacement, the more I began to have my doubts. I just can't get my head round how you actually SEE with them and then there's all the night and low light phenomena, not to mention the list of risks and complications.
I have lost confidence in multifocals and was even considering just getting toric monos and then buying reading glasses. I felt that I could mangage just fine with reading glasses if my distance vision was clear, but I don't even trust OE to do that now and as my cataracts are still relitavely small, I can just get a set of new variofocal glasses for the moment and consider toric mono lenses when things get worse - but I don't think I'll go with Optical Express.
Maybe I'm just running scared, but the more I read (especilally on this forum) the more I think that surgery could either be a great success or a terrible failure and I'm just not willing to risk my sight. I was going to attend the pre surgery discussion on 19th Dec and then decide, but I would be interested to know what other people think?
I have couple of questions: What is the phone number for the cancellation department and should I push to get my deposit back? According to their T&C's I've now read online I'm out of time for the full amount to be refunded and I will only get £150, but it's a lot of money for me and maybe someone here can help/advice please?
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admin: To cancel surgery, call 0800 0232020 - but because Optical Express cancellation department is allegedly understaffed, and they frequently claim that the system is down, you should email Clinical Services Director Stephen Hannan - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - he'll make sure it goes to the correct dept.
Be prepared then for a phone call pushing you to change your mind, offering to hold on to your money in case you do so, or suggesting you accept vouchers to spend in store. Ask for email confirmation of your cancellion - which they will often try to refuse!
Email me for advice on how to get your FULL deposit refunded - because no matter whst they claim, OE are not legally entitled to keep ANY of it
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I attended consultation on the 11th November 2019 at Carlisle. I was told on the day I was able to go ahead with laser eye surgery and booked in on the 27th November for treatment in Glasgow. I did advise I was nervous and it was before Christmas with small children I was scared of the risks. I was advised that there was nothing to worry about and I would be absolutely fine in one day,

I then had a 2 minute telephone conversation with Dr Teenan in which I expressed my nerves and worries with complications and was advised it was surgery but these risks were very small.

He didn't say much more so I couldn't agree with the email they had sent me - "You will have now completed your Surgeon Discussion. Your Surgeon will have talked you through the surgery process, making sure you fully understand the benefits, potential risks and range of outcomes.
To help us maintain your records accurately, we’d be grateful if you could confirm this has taken place by clicking the button below."



After rethinking my decision and researching more about Dr David Teenan I decided I was not willing to take a risk with my eyes and called Optical Express to cancel the surgery.

I was advised I would receive a full refund including deposit (£3990) within 28 days (not working days).

Then I read Daniel Weaver's post so called Optical Express again and asked them to put this in writing. They said it was 28 WORKING days and they would email confirmation tomorrow because there was only one person working today.

Yeah will keep you updated

Hi I went to the Optical Express Stoke on Trent branch for a consultation on the 25th October. I was pushed right away into booking for surgery on the 20th November, they even said my lenses were causing damage to my eye (which I now know is not true), so I went ahead an booked with Mr Mohammed Kazmi at the Manchester clinic.
They was in contact every day with emails text messages etc, I had a phone call off Mr Kazmi instead of meeting him face to face, which would of made me feel a lot more at ease,
I felt uncomfortable about the surgery anyway then I discovered this website and saw all the damaged patients so I cancelled the following day, which they make extremely hard saying someone would call me back, and when I asked for an email as proof of cancellation they said they didn't send emails of cancellation out!
Can you help me get my refund thanks very much
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admin: Please send your phone number to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UPDATE

After contacting Sasha and following her advice, I received a call from OE advising me that a full refund of £500 is being issued immediately.
Thank you Sasha, you are brilliant, I'm so glad I found this forum, OE are nothing but pushy sales people. I almost made the biggest mistake of my life, I'm sticking with my reading glasses.
Sasha, you are awesome for helping so many people. X
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admin: A complaint has been made to the GOC concerning the optometrist's unethical recommendation of lens exchange surgery to Kathryn, contrary to RCOphth guidance
'If you are over 50 years of age and have a glasses prescription higher than the normal range for laser eye surgery, you are likely to be suitable for RLE'
www.rcophth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/201...-RLE-AW-May-2018.pdf

Count yourself lucky they realised at the last minute you are too much of a risk. Fight for a full refund. Too late for me was told by OE all is ok and I became blind. Don't believe anything any medic or optom says go to the nhs for unbiased advice, OE just want your money don't care about you or your Eyes.
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admin: Please email me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hi, on October 3rd 2019 , I had a consultation at Optical Express in Cardiff for laser eye surgery. They informed me that I was not suitable and the only option was lens replacement at a cost of £7500, I am 48 years old.
On Wednesday 16th October, after many pushy calls and emails, I decided to book it as they had reduced the price a bit (£6868-they even tried to offer me a hotel for the night in Bristol.). They took £500 deposit off me over the phone and surgery was arranged for 26th November. The surgery was to take place at Optical Express Bristol Castlemead with Dr Manu Matthew. I had not met the surgeon nor had any contact with him at this point.
On Saturday 19th October, after reading lots of bad reviews online, I was very unhappy and decided not to go through with it. I phoned to cancel but couldn't get through so left it till Monday 21st October which is when I spoke to someone to cancel. I had a call back the next day and was told I am not entitled to a full refund, they offered me a £150 Optical Express store voucher and £350 refund within 28 working days. I explained that I tried to call on the weekend but they said that it was longer than the 3 days cooling off period.
Surely that cant be fair, it was a weekend, and they say 28 WORKING days for the refund so it shoud be 3 WORKING days for cancellation. I didn't sign theagreemant
Please can you advise me, I have absolutely no use for a store voucher and want a full refund. Thankyou

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admin: Firstly, you are too young for NLR/RLE (same procedure as cataract surgery, but removing perfectly healthy natural lenses), and secondly, Optical Express have no right to withhold ANY of your deposit - no matter how many days
For more info, pls send your phone number to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.