I'd noticed my vision was getting bad. I only wear glasses for reading, however, now I have to wear them for driving too. Apparently, I'm long-sighted, which seems weird when you have to hold a newspaper. Do people still buy those? On the tip of your nose to read it if you don't have your glasses to hand. Fortunately, an appointment dropped through the letterbox from Specsavers, a well-known UK franchise that supplies eye tests and, of course, glasses, and I quickly made an appointment because I was having to use a magnifying glass while wearing my glasses to read things like cooking instructions.
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These days, no matter what you make an appointment for, you have to wait when you arrive, usually five minutes before your allotted time, and Specsavers is no different. After about fifteen minutes, I had the preliminary tests. "Please look at the balloon." while they blow air in your eyeball and are eventually shown into the dimly lit opticians consulting room.
*"Hello, Mr Cannon. My name is Lucy (I've changed the name), and I will conduct your eye test. However, before we start, I need to advise you that I'm newly qualified. I'm fully competent, but the examination might take a little longer so I can make sure everything is correct. I responded: "That's perfect for me, Lucy; I want a in-depth test anyway, as I know my sight has degraded since I was last here."
Lucy must have the patience of a saint as I made her explore every option in terms of lenses and reading, but I wanted to make sure I could see each letter because all of us try and guess what the letter is; it's ingrained in our subconscious; we want to get it right!
After what seemed an age, Lucy typed up my prescription. "Well, your eyesight has degraded a bit, so I've increased the strength of your lenses. You might find them a little strong for a few days, but your eyes will settle down." I was more than happy. I knew I needed stronger glasses, and Lucy had confirmed that.
The next stage is you go and choose some new frames. You don't have to, but they will give some story as to why your new lenses won't fit your current frames, and anyway, I see it as an experience, an expensive experience but hey, new lenses, new glasses. By now, my daughter had turned up, as I can't be trusted to choose my own glasses, and we picked out some designer frames.
Where it all went wrong
Next, a member of staff, NOT AN OPTICIAN, does some measurements and tries to upsell to you.
Now I'd seen this woman earlier, and by her body language, I thought she was a manager or, at the very least, a supervisor. I watched her tell a couple of staff what to do in a kind of "I'm in charge!" Style, and I wasn't impressed, so guess who I got to go through the final stages? Yep, I got Mrs I'm in charge. Now I don't know her name, and to be honest, I don't want to know it either, but I'll call her 8 Years. Why will become apparent.
8 Years "Now varifocal lenses can take a short while to get used to, but once...."
Me: "Excuse me, why are you talking about varifocal? I'm just having reading glasses? I don't want varifocal."
8 Years "OK! It was just an option. Now I've changed your prescription and reduced it......"
Me: "WHAT? WHY?"
8 Years "You use computers a lot......"
Me: "I already explained that to Lucy, and she took that into consideration."
Grasping her metal name badge
8 Years "I have eight years of experience, and in my experience, you do not need that strength."
(Now, I should say that she may not have said 8; she could have said 5 or 12. I was so upset I wasn't really listening.)
8 Years "Your glasses will be ready in a week."
I was both gobsmacked and upset as she verbally manhandled me to the checkout, where I promptly handed over £189.00; as I got outside, my daughter responded "I didn't like her one little bit."
Now something I didn't mention was I also wanted my hearing tested, but the Audiology people were not there, and Lucy had kindly offered to look into it and call me, which on Monday she did. I was a bit taken aback to learn a hearing test was £75. I could have a 30-minute freebie which I suspect comprised of "Oh yes, you do have ears." by the way, Lucy explained it.
It was then I told her how unhappy I was and that my prescription had been changed.
Lucy: "What? Why?"
Lucy said she would speak to a manager (Not 8 Years) and come back to me. It was arranged that on the following Saturday, the manager Jade (Name changed) would speak with me. I went through it all, and Jade was appalled "Firstly, she is not management, and sadly, this is the second complaint I've had to deal with concerning that individual today."
As I guessed, the new glasses were no good; they were basically the same strength as the glasses I already had. I wondered if the fact I asked for two pairs of reading glasses that might have contributed to the problems and asked if I could change my order to one reading and one driving. In an act of compensation, Jade offered to have the lenses on my driving glasses thinned for free (£35), for which I was grateful (Although Lucy had seen me earlier and said the plan was to refund all my money which would have been nice.)
I picked up my new glasses yesterday, and they're perfect. The second I slipped them on, BINGO! I could read the last two lines on the chart clearly. So, after three weeks and a complaint, I have what I was prescribed. I only have to wait two years for possibly another adventure.
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