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DEPOSIT REFUNDS

  • Comfortosei31
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Replied by Comfortosei31 on topic Update!!!! Refusing deposit Refund of £400

Posted 08 Jul 2021 20:05 #111
After receiving an enormous amount of help from Sasha I emailed Stephan Hannan at 09:30 on 8th July 2021

At 11:00 on the SAME DAY I received a phone call from a Refund Administrator informing me that my complaint had been referred to him he will be handling my refund. He went on to say that as a gesture of goodwill my refund of £400 will be processed and I should receive the funds within 3 - 5 working days - I just needed to confirm my account details. I did so over the phone and asked him to send me written confirmation of what he has told me.
Last Edit:09 Jul 2021 06:45 by Comfortosei31
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  • Comfortosei31
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Replied by Comfortosei31 on topic Refusing deposit Refund of £400

Posted 21 Jun 2021 15:14 #112
Hello Sasha,

I really need your help as I am in tears as I write this to you.

I had a free consultation with optical express in White City, London on 26th January 2021. I was advised that I qualify for Lasik laser. They advised me I can secure a date with a deposit of £400. I did not commit on that day but told them I was going to think about it and they should give me a call the next day. I received the call and they went through everything, paid the deposit over the phone. I then had my clinician discussion on the 25th February where I was advised I am able to cancel the surgery and get back my deposit as long as I don't cancel 3 days or less before the date of the surgery. I did some research on Optical express and after reading some of the reviews I was no longer confident in my decision of doing this and on top of that I have recently lost my job.

I called Optical express on 13th June 2021 to tell them I would like to cancel my surgery.They went ahead and cancelled it without informing me of this policy they have where I can only cancel 3 days after booking/paying my deposit. The date of my surgery is 26th July 2021 which is about a month away. I was informed I could cancel up until 3 days before the surgery and get my full refund. They advised me over the phone that I am not entitled to any money back and said they will take this up with HR. Reading some of the posts here I can see where this is going to go where they will refuse me my refund. Please advise me on what the next steps I should take to get my money back.

Regards,

Comfort
___________________
admin: Please send your phone number and I'll help you with this :kiss:
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk
Last Edit:21 Jun 2021 17:16 by Comfortosei31

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  • Stefan
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Replied by Stefan on topic £500 Deposit

Posted 16 Jun 2021 08:23 #113
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
by Stefan

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  • Weronika
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Replied by Weronika on topic £400 Deposit

Posted 07 Jun 2021 17:25 #114
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?
_______________________
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 :kiss:
Send your phone number to: sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk
Last Edit:21 Jun 2021 17:17 by Weronika

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  • Lucy Bottomley

Replied by Lucy Bottomley on topic Good news!

Posted 01 Jun 2021 22:10 #115
Optical Express have refunded my deposit after I complained following your advice!
Thank you.
Last Edit:02 Jun 2021 05:20 by Lucy Bottomley

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  • abidquyum
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Replied by abidquyum on topic £7,700 deposit

Posted 27 May 2021 16:08 #116
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
Last Edit:27 May 2021 16:40 by abidquyum

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  • Mohammed Rahman

Replied by Mohammed Rahman on topic Keeping my money

Posted 27 May 2021 13:52 #117
Hi Sasha
I’ve received an email today from optical Express, they have refunded £500.
Thanks for all your help.
by Mohammed Rahman

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  • abidquyum
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Replied by abidquyum on topic £7,700 deposit

Posted 24 May 2021 00:47 #118
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 :kiss:
Last Edit:27 May 2021 14:42 by abidquyum

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  • Alan

Replied by Alan on topic £500 Deposit

Posted 22 May 2021 13:52 #119
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
____________________
admin: Please send your phone number :kiss:
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk
Last Edit:22 May 2021 14:46 by Alan

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  • Stefan
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Replied by Stefan on topic £500 Deposit

Posted 18 May 2021 16:07 #120
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!
_______________________
admin: Please send your phone number :kiss:
sasha@opticalexpressruinedmylife.co.uk
Last Edit:18 May 2021 18:10 by Stefan

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