TOPIC: Deposit Refunds

On 11th October 2018 I had Lens replacement surgery at the Edinburgh clinic with David Teenan. I attended various aftercare appointments until I was discharged on 19th August 2019.

In Nov/Dec 2019 I noticed my eyesight was getting worse so in January 2020 I made an appointment with OE for an eye test. They said my eyes were cloudy and I would have to have the YAG procedure which would be £795 per eye with them or they could put me on the NHS waiting list. I went on the NHS waiting list.

By February my eyes were getting worse so on 6th Feb made an appointment to have YAG procedure at OE in St Vincent Street Glasgow on 15th Feb and made the full payment of £1590 over the phone. (I have looked at the OE website today and see that they are charging £695 per eye so don’t know why I was charged an extra £200?)

On the 8th Feb I received my NHS appointment for the operation on 25th Feb so immediately rang OE to cancel.

I was told someone would contact me regarding a refund but no-one ever has. So when 28 working days were up I tried to contact them via their online chat. I got nowhere, just told again ' someone will contact you’.

Please can you help me?
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Update 24/03/2020
So after posting on this forum and sending a personal email to owner David Mousdale himself I decided to call Optical Express one last time to see if they were processing my refund before I made my way to the Westfield store in White City.
To my surprise I was immediately put through to someone called Campbell [Provan] who assured me that someone would call me back in a few minutes to discuss this and asked me to please trust his word when I told him I was about to leave for Westfield. Not thinking I would receive a call I hung up and straight away received a phone call from Paul Hazelton who said he was a director and had received a copy of my email that had been forwarded to him by David Moulsdale that same evening. David had asked him to deal with my query and Paul had assured me that my refund was processed and should credit my card within 5 working days. Well I received that refund for the full deposit of £400 back on my card today. I am grateful to Sasha who helped me through this process and so glad I came across the OERML website.

I am not sure if I would have ever received my refund had I of not contacted Sasha and would like to say thank you! 28 days is not acceptable to receive a refund and I did say to Paul their refunds policy needs to be reviewed. Hopefully going forward nobody has to endure the stress and anxiety I have been through during this process however I fear I am not the last!!
YE

After attending a consultation on the 11th March I was told I was a suitable candidate for laser surgery even after telling them I suffer with extremely dry eyes (I had already been turned down by another clinic as I had laser eye surgery more then 10 years ago and this caused my dry eye problem as I did not suffer with this before.)

A few days after the consultation I decided to go ahead and on the 13th March I paid £400 deposit over the phone. They booked me in with Dr Niraj Mandal who they told me was new but because I couldn’t see any history for him I changed to Dr Mehul Damani.
But after discussing with my husband we decided that it wasn't the right thing to do considering my eyes were very dry and I didn't want to take the risk of them becoming drier. I called back and told them I wished to cancel and they said someone will call me back in 48 hrs to discuss the refund - and to talk to me about why I don't want to go ahead!

I told them I was absolutely sure I didn't want this and didn't need to speak to anyone so they can try and change my mind. They never sent me confirmation that I had requested a refund and so I called the next day and requested email confirmation of my cancellation and refund request. They said again someone will call me back. No one did so I called again and this time after I kicked up a fuss was finally emailed confirmation that the refund would be processed within 28 WORKING days!! Even Tesco refunds returns on the spot so why does this firm not do the same?

After researching online I found so many bad Optical Express reviews and this website.

From what I'm reading it seems likely this company will go bust very soon and holding on to everyones money with no intention of refunding!

If you are reading this and thinking about paying this company any money be careful! They’ve caused me a great deal of stress and anxiety and I have now had enough of the way things have been handled and if my refund is not processed and back on my card by tomorrow I will take matters into my own hands.

I will be paying their store a visit (Westfield White City) and demand a refund of the deposit I have paid. I will not be another victim of this company and you can be sure that everyone else in the store (customers) will know exactly how I have been treated because I won't leave until I get my money back on my card. I will not stay quiet anymore!!

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YE

We got it back!

A massive thank you to Sasha. Last week we received two payments for £150 which made up the £300 deposit we had paid.


Really glad we can now put this behind us and best of luck to anyone else dealing with this horrible, vile and disgusting company.

Death to Optical Express!

Hi so my story is I went to my pre-consultation in February and was told I was qualified so they scheduled me for 5th of March to have Lasek idesign on both of my eyes for £5590. I put down £1000 for the deposit and the rest would be paid with finance. My surgeon discussion via phone was brief With Dr Luca Antico just told me the basics. The day of the surgery comes. After the pre surgery tests were completed, I was then walked into see Dr Luca Antico. He in short basically said the results at my pre- consultation did not match the results they had taken today and that my eyes were not suitable and I could not continue and would get a refund.

I was told I’d receive a phone call the next day but I heard nothing.... so I phoned them instead I eventually was passed on to Kelly McAlear (Sales Manager) Again in short said I would get a 100% refund because it was them who cancelled. She said it can take 28 days to see my £1000 deposit and the finance would be cancelled within 7 days (no payments have been taken yet)
I'm not confident that I will see my deposit any time soon. So was wondering If I should submit a money claim online to guarantee I get my £1000 deposit back.
I thought I would ask Sasha what she thinks and possibly help with certain parts of the MCOL claim.
I can't really talk via phone and the moment but can by Email.

Many Thanks,
A.Burton
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admin: They are not legally entilted to hold on to your money for 28 (working) days. Unable to advise further without speaking with you
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I went to the Optical Express Cambridge clinic for a consultation on the 26th February. I was pushed into booking for Lasek eye surgery on the 17th March, so I went ahead and booked for the surgery.

Following my discussion with the surgeon Amir Mani on Wednesday 4th March, I decided to cancel the surgery considering that the risks were too high for me. He was telling me the advantages about LasIK but I was booked for LasEK!

I have called Optical Express several times to get a cancellation and I have been told that I should have a call back from the cancellation team for a refund but haven't heard anything from them so far. Please can you help?
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I visited optical express in Hanley Stoke on Trent on 9/1/2020.
After my initial consultation there I felt under pressure and bullied to pay the deposit of £500.00 on the spot, as the consultant was advising me there were limited appointments slots available on the dates I was available.
I reluctantly handed over a payment of £500.00, and was advised that I could meet with the surgeon Aasheet Desai in Manchester at the clinic where the procedure would be carried out on 1st February.
After meeting the consultant I left the clinic feeling very unsure if I wanted to proceed with the treatment and therefore contacted the clinic to advise them of this, and requested
a refund.
I rang daily over a 7 day period and each time I was either fobbed off, promised a call back (which I waited in for) and never happened or had someone on the other end of the phone trying to persuade me to change my mind.
I was then advised I needed to wait 28 days for a refund!!!! and that I was only going to be getting £350.00 back as they keep £150.00 for my appointment (none of which I was initially advised).
Any help or ideas from anyone would be greatly appreciated
many thanks lee
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Took Sasha's advice and had money returned within an hour.
Thanks Sasha for the advice.

Went for a consultation to the Oxford branch on 13th January and paid a £500 deposit and was advised by the optometrist that my corneas were too thin for LASIK and that LASEK was my only choice. When I got home and received my confirmation email they booked me in for the wrong procedure (LASIK) and also changed the date of my consultation with the surgeon (Alex George) to a week later so that I had to pay the full £4400 before speaking with him. After some more research and the mistakes that Optical Express had made I decided to cancel the surgery. I sent a cancellation email on 14th and followed up on the 15th, on the 16th Sean from head office called and apologised for the poor service and confirmed that I would receive the return of my £500 within 3-5 working days, I waited the full 5 working days and contacted Sean to chase the payment with a subsequent email 48 hours later. Unfortunately I am not receiving any response to my emails and want to know when I will receive my deposit back and whether there is anything I can do to get a response.
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On the 14th December 2019 I went to the Optical Express Clinic in Chester City to see about getting laser eye surgery. They suggested I have iDesign LASEK which at the time I thought would be a good idea. They took a £300 deposit off me and I received a signed letter a few days later from Derrick Hannan for a scheduled surgery by a Dr Muhammad Kazmi on Friday 17th January 2020 at Liverpool One Centre.

In the interim and after some further research I decided against having the surgery so I contacted them to cancel and ask for a refund of my £300 deposit.

I have contacted Optical Express multiple times since to request a refund and have had no luck with them.

24th December, my first call requesting the full refund as surgery was cancelled. They said they would refund the full deposit and would refer me to the finance team to arrange for the money to be sent back to me. The finance team never contacted me.

2nd Jan, my second call when they again said they would refer me to the finance team. I was told they couldn’t provide a number or email for the finance team. At this point my husband spoke to them and explained they would need to refund the money, but they just kept reeling off their terms and conditions stating that they would only refund £150 and not the full £300 as we were told before, as we were out of their ‘window’. I asked for them to confirm what we spoke about in an email and have still not received any correspondence regarding this.

10th Jan, third call asking them to explain why they would only refund the £150 which I was unhappy with as it wasn’t the full £300 but thought it would be best to wait and see if any money came in from them. Again, I asked for them to confirm what we spoke about in an email and still nothing.

29th Jan, my fourth call 2 days ago FROM Optical Express, again they just reeled off their terms and conditions and said they would not be able to refund the full £300 and only the £150. My husband, irate at this point spoke to the lady stating how unfair this was to me and all I wanted was my money back. He also explained that no money had come back to me yet despite all the previous phone calls.

Can anyone help?
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admin: Firstly, you were not fully informed, because Muhammad Kazmi has numerous legal claims against him from damaged patients!
Secondly, they are not legally allowed to keep ANY of your deposit.
If you send you phone number I can advise further
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