Deposit Refunds

Update:

Optical Express have called again. This time allegedly from the local store where I went for my initial consultation, although it showed a Glasgow area code on my phone. Let me assure you I live nowhere near Glasgow so go figure. They were trying to be very nice to me, offered me a chance to see another surgeon and offered to get the refractive optometrist who examined me initially to call me and answer my questions. Needless to say I declined both those offers.

More importantly I went to visit my optician the other week as I was aware from my consultation with Optical Express that my prescription had changed, but not to what extent. Well thank goodness I did, they've diagnosed me with dry eyes after a simple test. This is not something I was aware of until I saw my optician, and something that Optical Express did not pick up on.

Now more thankful than ever I didn't proceed with surgery.

25th August I received phone call from Optical Express saying that I would get full refund within twenty eight days. Hope I do - I'll let you know either way
Thanks Sasha

I found your site by searching for deposit refund as I am having problems with Optical Express!

I am 66 years old and following an “ad” for a free consultation by this company I had an appointment at their Donegall Place clinic in Belfast on 7th June. I saw two female staff, both of whom examined my eyes - the second one said I was suitable for NLR (not Laser). She really sang the praises of the treatment, glossed over any possible risks, and pushed me for a decision.

The treatment involved going south of Dublin and staying for 2 nights. I said I was away in Europe in July, and Canada in August, so I could not possibly even consider it until September. She said I would need to decide now if I wanted to be sure of getting it done in September. Then followed a LOT of discussion about the cost - £6,390 - and she kept asking if I would need help with finances etc. After a lot of pressure to make an immediate decision I’m sorry to say that I paid £500 deposit for lens exchange surgery, with a multifocal lens so that I wouldn’t need glasses again, not even to read - or so I was told.

My next appointment was on 23rd June for what was described as a Consent Appointment. What a different story!

My husband was with me and we were kept waiting for an hour, until we decided to leave as the service was SO different to that on the first day. Lots of other people were being taken in and seen, but not me. Presumably they were newcomers and the staff were after deposits! I informed them that I was unhappy and was leaving and would speak to them later.

I next got a call from the manager who asked me was I not aware that this appointment could take up to 2 hours. I said definitely not - and even if that were the case, we hadn’t even started the appointment an hour after the time booked. I felt that something was wrong, and told them I wanted to cancel and get my deposit back. She gave me her name and number and said I would be getting a call from OE.

I have now had several calls from OE, basically wanting to "restore my confidence" in them etc, and to reschedule the Consent Appointment. Too late, because meanwhile I had found some HORROR stories on the internet!

I returned from holiday today to another call from ‘Chris’ - I told him that I had already asked for my deposit to be refunded, by email and verbally. He then said that I had signed a form which said there was a 7 day cooling off period - in other words “tough”!! How can there be a 7 day cooling off period when I'd never even met a surgeon to discuss the treatment, didn’t have the Consent Appointment, and didn’t have a booking date?

I am now really glad that I have decided not to go any further with this company - BUT I believe I have been cheated out of £500. I was not told about the 7 day cooling off period before they took my deposit, and it was certainly not highlighted to me AT ANY TIME, until I asked for it back. I don’t believe this can be legal.

I thought I was going to an initial consultation on 7th June, not to have my arm twisted to pay over a huge deposit, and then to have it withheld when I decided not to risk my eyes to this awful company.

This company is totally unethical in my opinion. Please help!!!!

Update:
I've had a call back from cancellations and they want to offer me a consultation with a different surgeon as they feel it may be a clash of personalities that is making me want to cancel my treatment. I said I didn’t think that was the case.

They said if I still wish to cancel they'd retain £395 of my £500 deposit.

I will be making a complaint to the GMC as their new rule says that the patient should have consulted with the surgeon prior to the day of surgery and allowed a sufficient 'cooling off' period. Payment should not be taken before the patient sees the surgeon because I had no cooling off time and OE say my deposit is non-refundable after 7 days, even though I didn’t see the surgeon until 21 days later.

I want my money back, all of it!

I'm 31 years old and having worn glasses for just over a decade I decided to look into laser eye surgery. I attended an initial consultation on the 30 July '16 with a refractive optometrist who assured me I was a good candidate. I paid a deposit of £500 and booked in to see the refractive surgeon, Dr Manek Patel - earliest available appt 21 days after my initial appt on 20 August.

However, the day before my surgical consultation I read the consent form they gave me. I felt completely daunted and unprepared for the risks listed, and felt like I'd been pressured into parting with my money under false pretences. I tried to rationalise this as there are risks with any surgery, and believed that the surgeon would address these when I met him and reassure me that I'd be Ok.

I went to see Dr Manek Patel at the Shaftesbury Avenue clinic on 20 August and was extremely unhappy with the treatment I received. He was very dismissive of my concerns and any questions I asked. Before seeing him I was assured by clinic staff I could take my forms in with me and go through any questions I had with him, but his response was 'I don't have time to go through the forms with you’.

For example, I expressed my concern that I didn't think I had enough refractive history to proceed with the surgery with only one eye test prescription from May 2015 and not the recommended 2-3 years history. He said this was not a concern as my eyes seemed stable and my astigmatism was no worse, despite being told by the optometrist at my first appt that my astigmatism had gotten worse and would continue to do so.

I also asked about night time vision and glare because this does sometimes affect me at night, and I had read that I was more at risk due to large pupil size. Dr Manek Patel confirmed that this would get worse after surgery. Not something I’m willing to risk as I sometimes have to drive as part of my job as a nanny and it would be extremely dangerous during the winter months.

I am now waiting for a call back from the cancellations department and am concerned that they will refuse to refund my deposit as I'm outside their 7 day cooling off period.

Thank goodness I found OERML - thank you Sasha for your help so far!

On the 18th July I paid £395 deposit for lasik (on one eye) and the £200 balance on 5th August when I saw surgeon Rodney Blumenfeld.

I’m not sure, but think they said my prescription was +1.75 in left eye and +1.25 in right eye

I'd made an early appointment so as not to be in crowds, because I’d explained to them when first making my first appointment that I suffer from nerves in crowded and enclosed spaces. After about three quarters of an hour waiting they told me to go away and come back in 15 minutes. I did so and then had a contact lens fitted, told to return on Monday to have it taken out.

I'd just set off home when I got a phone call saying I had to go back to see the surgeon again because I’d had the wrong contact lens put in!! They said they’d change it straight away, but after waiting over another half hour I got sick of this.

A one hour appointment lasted three hours before I decided to cancel everything. I went to the reception desk as I was starting to get anxious with my nerves as it was getting crowded, and told them that I wanted to cancel the procedure and wanted a full refund as they’d already made a mistake with the wrong contact lens so I wasn't trusting them doing surgery on my eyes.

Please can you tell me what I should now do as after reading other people’s stories I don’t trust this company to give me back my money.

Thanks for your time and I appreciate what you are doing for myself and other people.
__________________________________
admin: Pls send your number
info@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

RESULT!!! AND A MASSIVE "THANK YOU" SASHA!

I had to make another phone call yesterday afternoon as no email confirmation of refund was received, as Lynsey Shaw had promised by "no later than Wednesday".
However, I was assured that although Lynsey Shaw was not in the office yesterday another customer services manager would contact me.
This was Geraldine, who confirmed that the refund had been processed and that confirmation would be emailed to me by close of business on Thursday.
An email arrived from Linsay McNab (Refunds Administrator) at 4.00pm with a copy of my refund receipt attached (processed Wednesday 10/08).

I also received an email from Janet Cairns (Team Leader 1, Customer Services). I was slightly puzzled as to why until I noticed another email from me attached, detailing my complaint and asking for immediate refund. I remembered that on another forum I'd found an email address for someone@customerfeedback so I'd fired an email off to them at the same time as contacting OERML. Clearly they were aware of my complaint prior to the phone calls to Lynsey Shaw, and had been sitting on that too!!

Relief, and a huge fist pump when I got these emails yesterday! Currently waiting for funds to clear back into my account but at least I have the proof it has been done!

Thank you SO much for your help with this, I have no doubt that otherwise I would be one of the thousands of people deceived by this company, out of pocket and still waiting.

Cheers!

WOW, great response!

I have now spoken to Sasha Rodoy, and she gave me some extremely interesting and helpful information, particularly in making me aware of the new GMC rule relating to the fact that a surgeon must only perform refractive surgery on a patient they have personally consulted with prior to the day of surgery, that a sufficient "cooling off" period must be allowed in order for patients to fully consider the risks, and, that the patient has time in which to make a properly informed decision without pressure.

I also emailed her a copy of the Optical Express letter detailing all my scheduled clinic appointments.



I paid my £500 deposit on 16th July, but the earliest appointment Optical Express offered me with surgeon David Teenan was 15th August

The Terms & Conditions that I’ve now read state that deposits will only be refunded if cancelled within 7 days of payment! This in essence means that, had I not cancelled when I did, I would not have received my deposit back - despite being assured this was possible right up to the point of my consultation with David Teenan!!

Thanks for your invaluable advice and help with how to take this forward Sasha!

I found this extremely helpful and interesting website forum while trawling through the endless bad reviews of OE and hope for some help and advice here.

I recently had an assessment appointment with Optical Express in Carlisle on 16th July. On Monday 18th July I phoned to cancel as I had had fairly significant doubts on the day of my initial assessment that the lens exchange surgery they said I was suitable for had potentially more side effects than benefits in terms of my expectations. However, after further discussion - which I now appreciate was a very proficient 'hard sell' from an extremely charming adviser, I went ahead and paid a £500 deposit and had a consultation appt booked at their Glasgow Clinic on 15th August for my 'Surgeon Discussion' with Dr David Teenan, with surgery booked on 22nd/23rd August.

I did not catch the name of the Customer Service adviser when I phoned on 18th, but I was told that I would receive a phone call within 48 hrs to arrange my refund.
Unsurprisingly, now having read numerous reviews, this phone call did not materialise!
I phoned again on 22nd and spoke to an adviser named Laura, who then put me through to Chris in ‘cancellations’. He apologised and told me my details had been placed in the wrong call queue saying I was awaiting a call for a surgery date!!

I was then again asked why I had cancelled. I felt very pressured by Chris who then proceeded to try and persuade me to reconsider and maybe try a different type of treatment. They would even be able to give me a trial of contact lenses which would let me see what the likely end result would be.

I had the presence of mind to record and save these telephone conversations as proof of contact.

I was advised that it would take 28 days to process my refund but that someone from the refunds department meanwhile would contact me for my card details to process the refund. Again, no surprise that I still await this phone call!

Today, I again phoned OE and spoke to Stacey with regard to no refund being processed. She gave the same bullsh*t excuses as to why the refund had to go through all of the ‘processes', and then transferred me to Geraldine. She basically repeated what Stacey had said, adding - and I quote "it isn't just the same as returning a shirt to Marks and Spencer"!!! Having just finished a weekend of nightshifts my patience and sense of humour were nowhere near engaged and after further waste of breath trying to reason and get some reason from Geraldine she advised that she would escalate my request to the refunds department and that I should receive a call no later than the 25th August.

I'm not good at holding my breath!!!

I again had the presence of mind to record and save these telephone conversations as proof of contact.

We are very close to Carlisle where I attended for my appointment, I feel compelled in the very near future to go and spend a Saturday outside the Optical Express Offices handing out flyers warning potential 'victims' of their extremely poor treatment of customers/patients and of the likely outcome of their 'Assessment' - Watch This Space"

Can you please supply me with a number and any advice you may have to help with this??

As the old saying goes 'At least Dick Turpin wore a mask'!!!
_____________
admin: Pls send your number
info@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

!The most awful company!

I didn't get back my deposit from them.

They are just thieves!

Stay away from Optical Express, trust me!!