Specsavers, what to do next?

L

landmarkjohn

Registered User
Messages
156
Visit 1: Eyes tested under PRSI, change in prescription for reading and distance. 2 pairs glasses €255.

Visit 2: Collect glasses, test readers on a card, sort of OK. Go home and useless with laptop, no good. Distance glasses OK, only used for TV.

Visit 3: Eyes tested again. Oh we can shave down the lens to improve and that will be an extra €90, or there is a super duper crystal clear thin lens (or some upsell like that) and that will be additional €40, so €130 total, paid.

Visit 4: No text message to say they were ready but after two weeks I went in and collected readers, tested, no good but maybe they will be OK with laptop at home. Still no good.

Visit 5: Advice please. I have lost confidence in the Specsavers and full refund is preference. Or part refund (€130). By the way receipt for €130 I got today said DUPLICATE and for a REPAIR.

Any advice how to proceed.
 
I have had similar problems with other opticians. Glasses never right. Reading glasses are at a different distance from the laptop. ( I suspect that I am a difficult customer in that I prefer this one over that one , and then when they check it again, I change my opinion.)

The ones who sorted it out for me were, ironically enough, Specsavers on Dawson Street.

You should find out who the manager of your store is and write to them.
 
We had similar issues with the same company. Except it was my dad and he spent a lot more money over the course of a year.
We finally took him to another optician and he got a very different prescription and after a lengthy discussion got 100% back from specsavérs. We did have to threaten legal action, and we did feel that they had taken advantage of an elderly man.

I’ve been going to them for years, different branch, but my needs are fairly straightforward. I can get away with the off the shelf self selected readers. I do find their lenses for laptops excellent.

So mixed review but do insist on a full refund if you aren’t happy.
 
I'm a, relatively, new glasses wearer. I knew nothing about opticians & Specsavers had a big shop near me.

I won't be going back. The whole process was unnecessarily long with excessive waiting times - they seemed unable to schedule realistic appointment times/intervals. I have since heard from others that this waiting around is commonplace.

The upselling was also ridiculously over the top. I was only interested in bog standard glasses for looking at a computer screen. I wanted the cheapest ones as I knew they would eventually be mislaid/sat on. I couldn't give a monkeys about fashion either. But they wouldn't listen and persistently led me to the "designer" frames and spoke about additional coatings and cleaning kits.

Never again. I will likely buy glasses online the next time.
 
Very bad experience with Specsavers in Blanchardstown Shopping centre, went to collect glasses and tried them on, complete blur, presumed I had another customers order but no, these were all mine the assistant insisted.

Explained that I couldn't see through them... perhaps you just need to position them differently (I kid you not).

Immediately told him that this was a nonsence and he needed to be sent back, he checked the notes and again insisted these were made on the basis of my eye test...I got the impression he actually thought i was somehow trying to game Specsavers. I disillusioned him Immediately and forcibly of this assumption and told him in no uncertain terms that this was unacceptable.

Manager appeared and we went through this kafkaesque charade again. Upshot was both manager and suspicious underling got a good understanding of where I stood on magoogate and their competence to deliver a pair of glasses that I could actually use for everyday stuff like seeing and reading.

A week later I was told new glasses were ready....a little better but still utterly useless and into round 2.

Eventually got a set of glasses that I could see through but will never use Specsavers again.

The only thing they understand is a forceful customer who is unafraid to kick up a fuss in order to get satisfaction.
 
Last edited:
gianni said:
I won't be going back. The whole process was unnecessarily long with excessive waiting times - they seemed unable to schedule realistic appointment times/intervals. I have since heard from others that this waiting around is commonplace.

The upselling was also ridiculously over the top.
Click to expand...
Not my experience recently with Specsavers (GPO Arcade, Dublin 1) as a very satisfied customer. Confirmed my PRSI Treatment Benefit cover first. Booked a test and had it done. Didn't get glasses that day. When I got home I noticed that both eyes were the same prescription when, for years, one eye was always -0.25 worse than the other. I popped back in and asked them about this. They said that 0.25 was on the margin but they'd retest (no extra charge - test was covered by PRSI Treatment Benefit) there and then. The new test had the -0.25 difference but, again, a quarter diopter seems to be marginal. It's when you're asked "better it worse" and you can't necessarily tell for sure. I went with the new prescription given that I've always had the -0.25 difference before. I wear swimming goggles bought online with both eyes on the same correction and they're fine.

There was no hard sell on frames or options. I just wanted a pair of specs and shades for shortsightedness. In the €100 or €130 (2 for the price of one) range. No interest in reading glasses, bi/varifocals, contact lenses, polarised shades, tints, thinning of lenses at edges, designer frames, etc. There was no issue with me just telling them what I wanted and didn't want. I got no hard sell and felt no up selling pressure. I collected the finished items about 10 days later and had some minor adjustments there and then to the shades to tighten the frames a bit and everything is perfect since then. As before many times I found Specsavers fine to deal with.
 
Last edited:
Specsavers stores are all separate set-ups called "partnerships" - effectively a franchise model where Specsavers HQ has a stake alongside optometrists and retail directors. That explains some of the variation. I went to Dundrum and Grafton Street for years and had only positive experiences but in another Dublin store recently it was very poor.
 
Everyone in my immediate family wears glasses and a lot of my extended family too. I've had mixed experiences with different branches of Specsavers. The only one I use now is the one in GPO arcade. They went over and beyond a few times.
I did try a local optician for a while instead but they were dearer and I still wasn't happy with the service.
 
I always found the Dundrum branch fine while my condition was merely shortsightedness. As I got older and required varifocals for reading as well, it got a bit trickier.

Like the OP’s experience, I came away with a prescription that allowed me to read perfectly but was inferior to my previous glasses in terms of distance. Also like the OP, I also felt my protestations weren’t being taken seriously and that I was being difficult in raising the issue in the first place. I eventually got it sorted but haven’t returned since.
 
I also recall an experience in the GPO branch many years ago. I was having my new glasses fitted and it was evident that they tilted from left to right.

Try as she did in terms of adjusting the arms, the assistant couldn’t correct the tilt. Eventually, she suggested that one of my ears might be lower down on the side of my head than the other one. I told her that if that was the case, it must have slipped down fairly recently as it had never been a problem with any other glasses I’d worn.

Eventually, after consulting a number of colleagues, it was discovered that one of the nose pads was rigid and that this was causing the tilt. It was replaced and everything was fine and, mercifully, I didn’t need corrective surgery.
 
I had my first glasses from Specsavers, no problems, back again early this year for new ones and they said obviously I needed updated lenses but while I could read their card when I got them home they were useless for most things I wanted them for. Went back anyway and the difficulty seemed to be between what they considered reading distance and what I did! I had actually explained very clearly day one that I wanted to be able to read cookery books on my counter without having to bend down towards book which I had to do with their new ones, apparently that was not the correct reading distance. Anyways reminded them of their 100 day promise which the guy told me they don't tell people about as they'd all be returing them! Upshot was they adjusted one pair of the two I had bought to be a little longer than the original so now I have a pair in the car which is okish for reading the paper on the steering wheel so pretty close in my opinion and not the distance I would normally read at and another at home for proper reading as I will call it. But to be honest neither are great and I revert to my older pair sometimes as while uncomfortable to wear they are definitely better for laptop.

I don't think I will go there for my next ones mind you! I agree you have to be a bit forceful with them and I dealt with the manager only eventually.
 
Each Specsavers is different. Some are much better than others! In some the sales staff operate on commission, they will of course try to up sell. They will also charge the extra cost a second time, if you want 'special' tinned lenses in the 'free' pair. Staff in other Specsavers they have never heard of this, and are surprised you think they do!
 
Leo said:
f you do go back, perhaps place the card on a counter as you would the cookery books and try reading from that distance
Click to expand...
When I went back to collect the revised pair I wanted to do exactly that but they dealt with me at one of their random stands dotted around the shop which are basically well above normal desk/countertop height, they stand at them to use their high level screens so I asked to be brought to a normal height desk so I could check them.
 
Monbretia said:
When I went back to collect the revised pair I wanted to do exactly that but they dealt with me at one of their random stands dotted around the shop which are basically well above normal desk/countertop height, they stand at them to use their high level screens so I asked to be brought to a normal height desk so I could check them.
Click to expand...
You are free to wander around the store and find somewhere that is suitable for your testing for know. You're not confined to the kiosk that they use. When I collected mine (for shortsightedness) I wandered around and popped out into the GPO arcade to check that they were comfortable to wear and to see with. (They were already paid for so it wasn't as if I was going to do a shoplifting runner or anything).
 
I think it depends who you get in the store regardless of chain. Also modern habit of not listening.

Two years ago I went through probably 5 sets of glasses to get two that were ok. Never had that before. I probably went through 3 sales assistants and two opticians, only the last one actually listened.

For example I said clearly I didn't want a coating and they put it on the first pair regardless. One assistant said I could get operator (for computer) prescription, but it arrived as reading glasses and the optician claimed they didn't do operator prescriptions. But yet the last optician was able to do it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top