Deposit Refunds

Just a quick update.
Another win for Sasha!!
After two emails sent with the help of Sasha, I received my full £500 back within a week. Not the 28 working days they tell you. Thank you Sasha once again.
See below proof.

Dear Mr Kowalik,

I am writing to confirm that your £500.00 refund has been processed on 25th May 2021. The funds will show in your account within the next 3-5 working days, depending on your banking provider. Please see attached copy

If we can be of further assistance do not hesitate to contact Optical Express.

Yours sincerely,

Russell Hamilton
Refund Administrator I Customer Care Department

Hi Sasha I was hoping you will be able to help...

I was considering laser eye surgery, so I decided to go for a free consultation with Optical Express in Kingston upon Thames on the 6th February 2021.

I qualified for a LASIK procedure and was very excited. I booked a possible surgery date and paid a deposit of £400 to keep the date. At no point during my meeting was I made aware of any cancellation policy and was told I can cancel it no problem and will get my deposit back. Well, that did not happen...

Three days later on 9th February, I got a brief call from someone in Scotland asking if I had any questions and checking if I still want to proceed with the surgery. At this point I still wanted, but then I called them to check which surgeon was scheduled to operate, so I can research. I found out it's going to be Dr Marwan Ghabra, however, I could not see any reviews for this surgeon on the Optical Express website, and I read a lot of bad reviews about Optical Express so I got unsure if I still want to progress and cancelled the surgery.

I called the Kingston branch directly to cancel on 16th February and said I was cancelling because I couldn't afford the surgery, I didn't want to tell them the real reasons. I was told that they will send my request to the Head Office.

After three months of chasing for a reply, I only just got a letter from the Head Office advising that my deposit is not going to be refunded because I cancelled too late.


Had I known this at the point when I was making the deposit payment I would have not agreed to that. But I do not remember signing anything after receiving eye drops and could not have seen to read if I did. I do remember that at the very beginning they ask me to fill out an online questionnaire and I then had to sign it. So the signature they sent might be from the signing of the online questionnaire.

Can you help get my money back?
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admin: They should have explained the cancellation policy AND told you who your surgeon was BEFORE you paid your deposit. But of course if they did this, too many people would not go ahead with surgery, and/or not leave deposits.
Optical Express make a huge amount of money by refusing to refund deposits when surgery is cancelled - even when the customer hasn't yet spoken with the surgeon.
NB: The GOC are currently investigating a number of complaints about this company and I woud like to add yours to the list, if you please remind me when we speak
Send your phone number to: sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Optical Express have refunded my deposit after I complained following your advice!
Thank you.

Great news. Optical Express has today fully refunded my £7,700

I had a call from OE customer services on Monday 24th May (head office in Glasgow). They had obviously read my post on this site. After confirming the details of the case he confirmed that paying on "Friday 14th and cancelling on Monday 17th was 3 days in his book". I nearly fell off my chair as I was getting ready to argue my case but he confirmed that I was entitled to a full refund.
Furthermore, he said the local store was wrong and he'd be advising them and the surgery team that they should 've offered the full refund. He did say that it could take up to 28 days to process the refund but I was pleasantly surprised when they called this morning to process the full amount to my card. Fingers crossed that this lands in my account in the next 3-5 working days.

Thanks Sasha, was great to talk you and keep up the great work in getting people more aware of problems with eye surgery.
Thank you OE for correcting your 'mistake' and refunding the money so promptly!

Abid

Hi Sasha
I’ve received an email today from optical Express, they have refunded £500.
Thanks for all your help.

My wife had appointment on 12 May and I had appointment on 14th at Optical Express Lakeside and were given a pack on the 12th but didn't really look at this as we knew we were going back on the 14th. We weren’t told the names of our surgeons.

I paid a deposit for my wife and myself for Lens Replacement surgery on Friday 14th May and then after discussion with rest of our family (who had more experience of RLE outcomes) decided we needed to do more research and came across your site (and saw many poor reviews on other sites as well) so decided we hadn't done enough research on OE and the procedure overall. We decided to cancel on the Monday - 17th May. T&C's were not discussed during the appointment especially any cancellation rights and stupidly I didn't think to ask.

The sales person was new Nichola @ Lakeside and she left the consultation 4-5 times to consult with her manager as she didn't know the answers to our questions.

For some reason I thought I had 14 days as cooling off period but they've only offered to refund 50% of the deposit (£500 of £1000). Plus I paid the total upfront for my wife’s surgery as they booked her in for 26th May and said they required full payment of £6,800.

They agreed to refund £7,200 of the total £7,700 I paid within 28 days.

They asked if I was happy with that and I said no but they made me believe I had no choice as she had already consulted with the surgical team. Do I have a case to get all of the remaining money back?
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admin: You most certainly do. And though you say your wife had consulted with the ‘surgical team’, I doubt that she’d even spoken with the surgeon, and they shouldn’t have taken your money until she had. Also, what they haven’t explained is that it is 28 WORKING days. Please send your phone number: sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Hi
I'm in the same boat currently.Ive had some contact lens fitted to give me an idea of how it will be after my surgery & I don't want to go ahead with it.
I'm having them out Monday so am going to say I want to cancel.
I've signed no forms so far & only had shop visits but thinking they will try to keep £150 of the £500.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
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admin: Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Hi Sasha

My story, I had a consultation at optical express St. John street Manchester on the 26th April 2021. The receptionist told me at the time of booking that because of my age I would probably need lens replacement, so when the optometrist said I could have laser treatment I was over the moon.
I was given a information pack and a couple of dates when the surgery could be done.
I went home and thought about it and a few days later on the 6th May I called to book my surgery and pay the deposit of £500 over the phone.
Now once I had paid my deposit I had this overwhelming feeling like I was one a train that I could not get off, or lose my deposit.
I then received an email informing me of my telephone clinical discussion would be on the 12th May.
Lucky an hour before the call I found your website.
So glad i did.
The person who spoke to me was optometrist (sorry I forgot her name) not a surgeon by the way, the call lasted four minutes.
I told them I was a bit reluctant after doing more research into the possible outcomes of the surgery, none that were told to me on the day of the consultation.
I was told the optometrist who saw me on the day and the branch manager will call me back.
I was never told who would be my surgeon on the day and haven’t spoken to one.
The next day the branch manager did call me back and I explained that I had read that a couple of the surgeons working for Optical Express had legal claims against them and I just could not risk it.
She said no problem my deposit will be refunded (amount not specified) with 28 days.
I was never informed of any T&Cs at the time or since.
What ever advice you can give me from this point will mean the most to me.
I don’t think I would’ve been able to cope if things went bad.
So I just want to thank you once again. ❤️
I know you must get a lot of emails. You are a Bobby dazzler!
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admin: Please send your phone number
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk

Ten years ago I had lasik surgery in both eyes - followed by a lasek ‘enhancement'. I had good vision afterwards but since then it deteriorated to -0.25 in my left eye and -0.75 in my right. Not too bad, but I thought I would see if it was safe to have further surgery and find out what the risks were.

When I attended Optical Express Milton Keynes store in January 2021, the optometrist told me that my right eye would be worth operating on, but claimed that the best and only way to be safe would be to have the most expensive laser treatment costing approximately £3000 - for one eye!

I was pressured to leave a deposit that day - but with no explanation or discussion about their refund policy. I trusted that because it was a medical procedure there would be no risk about getting my money back should I not proceed.

I had gone for the appointment with my twin sister, who has slightly worse vision than me and was recommended to have surgery in both eyes. I did not schedule a surgery date due to work commitments, but my sister did.

I later had a 5 minute phone call from a woman who I have since been told is a ‘clinician’. All she did was check the information I had already provided and confirm that no date had been booked. There was NO discussion about refund timelines.

I drove my sister for her surgery in Northampton, but the surgeon seemed surprised that a third surgery for a low prescription had been recommended. He told her the risks and my sister asked him ‘WOULD YOU DO THIS?’ He replied emphatically ‘NO’. My sister doesn’t know which surgeon she spoke to, but she didn't go ahead and her deposit was refunded in full.

I spoke to the clinic the next day and told them based on this information I wanted to cancel. A few days later the optometrist called me and said she had spoken to the surgeon who said that I could have the cheaper procedure if I had concerns. I said if the surgeon didn’t think the risk was worth it for my sister, then surely that’s the same for me? I also pointed out my concerns about the risks I had since discovered were possible with a third laser operation - something that was not disclosed at our January consultations.

I cancelled the same day, beginning of March, and was told they they would refund my deposit, but hearing nothing from them I started chasing my refund on March 20th. Told it would be 28 days I chased this again after no contact and then they said 28 WORKING days. I kept chasing as I had no confirmation in writing, and each time I was told I would be refunded.

I called again after the 28 working days on 4th May and was told that I would be refunded and someone would call me back.

No call, so I tried again on 7th May, but was then told that the deposit would be forfeited as I had not cancelled two days after a ‘clinician' phone call!

I have argued that I hadn’t even scheduled a surgery date, and much more - but my refund was categorically refused. I have made a complaint as this seems to be horrendous business practice and it seems the ‘sellers’ were clearly happy to put me at risk rather than lose a sale and now will not even give me my deposit back. This seems both unethical and immoral and illegal. Can you help?
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admin: Please send your phone number to sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk
This is another complaint that needs to go to the GOC, as I will explain when we speak

I was due to have lens replacement surgery on the 24th of this month at the Optical Express in Birmingham and need some advice.
I went for an appointment on the 11th April and was told I was good to have lens replacement and asked to pay £500 to book a surgery date.
I didn't know the name of the surgeon but on 12th April I was phoned by a man named Usman who said it was the protocol for him to to ask me some questions before I had surgery.
I became very concerned as I saw some very negative reviews reporting problems with lens replacement and went to Optical Express on the 18th April and had a face to face discussion with an optometrist. She told me if I was worried she would arrange for me to speak with the surgeon Dr Venter.
The surgeon phoned me today and told me that there are risks of glare and haloes with these lens but it’s only about 3 in 1000. I was still concerned and I phoned to cancel the surgery. They put me through to a specialist who told me not to worry because they said there was a very minimum chance of me getting glare with multifocal lenses but if I did the y could be replaced with something else. I asked Usman and Dr Venter if you can go blind and they said there was a small chance this could happen.
I wasn’t told any of this when they took my £500 and I have now cancelled but they told me they are keeping £150.
I am not happy with this and wnat all my money back. Please can you help me

Thank you
Kind regards
Mohammed Rahman
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admin: Please send your phone number to sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk
The surgeon should have consented you, not Usman, and Dr Jan Venter knows this! Yet another complaint for the GOC, as I will explain when we speak