For the first time in 20 years, I put my contact lenses in this morning and shed a little tear. Yesterday was a sad day for me and today will be worse.
I had a rather unpleasant experience with Optical Express this past week. Having read this forum, read lots of papers and spoken to many people, I decided to go ahead with Lasik iDesign at £4400, paying a deposit of £500 for an appointment today at 4pm. I've taken supplements recommended in the papers I've read, I've been using eye drops since I booked the appointment and I've worn my glasses for 10 days, to give myself the best possible chance of a good recovery.
Last Thursday (24/9), I received a phone call from the Cardiff branch to say I had to pay in full pre-surgery. I explained that the pre-op phone appointment on the 21/9 I said I wanted to meet my surgeon first and it was agreed that that was appropriate for a number of reasons. Optical Express said my prescription hadn't changed in the past 3 years, it has, they also said that the surgeon on the day would have to decide if surgery went ahead as they couldn't confirm due to me wearing contact lenses prior to my initial appointment and I needed to be contact lense free for 7 days. The young lady from Cardiff was very rude, told me it was in the Ts&Cs that I had to pay 14 days in advance. I explained it wasn't and I hadn't signed any Ts&Cs. She said she would cancel my appointment if I didn't pay, I told her to go right ahead, she didn't.
I continued to receive 5 phone calls a day from Optical Express.
Yesterday, the manager contacted me by email to say I needed to pay in full or the appointment would be cancelled, he suggested this was in their conditions, but he could not point me to the condition in question. He then said he would rearrange my appointment if I didn't pay in full. I was quite clear that this would not encourage me to pay in full. On 3 occasions he asked if I was cancelling my appointment and I said I wasn't. Obviously we got no where and, without cancelling my appointment, I asked for a refund of my £500 deposit if he was indeed not going to go ahead with my appointment, which he said he would send to the 'relevant department' I have asked him to call me today at 4pm, when I will be free, to organise that refund over the phone. Should he not call, I will ask Mastercard to complete a chargeback for me due to the issues I am reading about on this forum. I am absolutely devastated.
Whilst I am not one to become over-excited in advance of an event, I have dreamt about opening my eyes in the morning and being able to see. My concern is obvious, if Optical Express can treat me like this before surgery with heavy handed sales tactics (I work in Sales, and I found these tactics unethical) and horrific customer service, how will they treat me after if I need help? I will now take my business to the Moorfield, once Cardiff is out of lock down.
I wish you all the best of luck with getting your deposits return. And I hope the case in the High Courts will help you all to get some closure. I am sad today, but not as sad as I would have been if I needed their help post surgery.
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admin: 'I have dreamt about opening my eyes in the morning and being able to see.'
With respect Stef, you CAN see - far better than many thousands of people who have had their eyes ruined by refractive surgery, and not only at OE!
My Beautiful Eyes Foundation represents many clients who've been irreparably damaged by surgeons at Moorfields Private, and elsewhere.
No matter where you have it, refractive eye surgery is NOT SAFE!
And your comment about taking supplements suggests you may already suffer with dry eyes: an absolute contraindicator for laser (though Julian Stevens at Moorfields is usually happy to ignore this, as some of his unhappy patients have previously posted on this forum).
Please do some more research before risking irreversible damage to your eyes, then unable to wear CLs due to possible corneal neuropathy (nerve damage), with specs your only option