Arrived early, but could see that the branch was busy, so prepared myself for an extended wait, but was happy to do so given previous good customer service.
20 minutes past after my appointment was due, went into the testing area, after I was sat down, the member of staff then began to start serving a queue that had formed whilst I was waiting. She served one person, thinking that someone would take over from her serving the queue, she would come back to me, I waited, even though it was nearly 30 minutes since my appointment had been due to start; but she then started serving a second person from the queue. This annoyed me, so politely informed the staff, that I was leaving and would reschedule online.
I got a phone call after I had left apologising and making the offer that if I wanted to return, I could do so on a walk-in basis. The second time I visited the same store, I was taken in on time, after one gentleman’s (staff) failed/strange attempt of engaging banter. The test was very uncomfortable, I had a pressure test done in my right eye twice, the examiner saying that the machine had malfunctioned.
I was taken upstairs to another testing room, in which I was asked several robotic questions about my life, such as, what I did for a living, what hobbies I enjoyed; not part of a conversation, but more like a tick box/data gathering exercise. This in a room, a fair distance away (upstairs) from another other person, with a guy in his mid-40’s (me), and a lady in her late 20’s (examiner), alone, in today’s modern world of allegations, I became very anxious.
The test was extremely uncomfortable, borderline painful. The examiner took a prolonged time looking at the back of my eyes using a high-powered (LED) light. I understand some discomfort is needed for the benefit of the test, but this was too much and left me feeling ill/dizzy after I left the store.
The examiner told me that I had the start of cataracts, given that I’m in my mid 40’s I found that very surprising.
After the test we went back downstairs to the “shop floor” to which I was handed over to another colleague, who immediately stated that she would be leaving for the day in two minutes, but would make a start with my frames and lenses. This set the tone, it had been three years since my last eye test, I’m not an expert, so I was hoping that someone would guide me a little bit. Instead, the member of staff was clearly not interested simply asking “what I was thinking”.
Halfway through trying to decide the frames, I was handed over, again, to the first gentlemen. He was much calmer now, as it was obvious by the smell that he had come back from a break involving a nicotine. As he hadn’t been part of the conversation beforehand, and his “I’m leaving in two minutes” colleague had gone, he came across as a little confused and short with me.
I asked the questions about the lenses, insurance options etc. I found a set of frames that were looked like my existing ones, paid for them, and then got out of the branch as soon as I could!
I contacted the Vision Express Head Office, was told that I would get a phone call back the next day. I have had no return phone call in over a week.
I took this to mean that VE didn’t value me as a customer and started doing some online research and found that I could have a set of almost identical frames for £35 cheaper, and the same lenses for £15 less. With that £50 saving, I purchased a second pair of glasses, different frames but same lenses, and have them tinted to use for driving. Still cheaper than buying just the one pair from VE.
Went to store and requested a refund. Just before I was about to leave the store, he noticed that my card had not been credited but instead had been charged another £121.
It took three attempts to successfully refund my card. He was so embarrassed, he offered me the Vision Express glasses for FREE. I was a little startled by this but politely declined the offer.
I encourage anyone reading to do your research, rather than settling for the norm, because it’s easy/simple.