TOPIC:

Hi there ... I was due to have my lens replacement surgery at the Manchester Bridgewater clinic at 9.30am on the 20th February. They were running very late so I didn’t see the optometrist for a good hour and a half.
When I finally got told that I was next on the list for the surgery I went with the optometrist for my final check and she asked me if I was on any medication. I told her I wasn’t, but that the previous day I'd been prescribed an antibiotic cream for a possible skin condition, merely asking when would be the right time to start the cream following my eye surgery.
She then said she would have to check with the surgeon. Then she came back with the theatre nurse and informed me that my surgery wouldn’t be taking place in case I had a skin infection!
Up to this point I hadn’t met my surgeon or even spoken with him at all, but I was assured he was one of the best. Unfortunately I can’t remember his name and the clinic took all my documents from me.
When I got home I was disappointed and posted under an Optical Express advert on Facebook. I then received a private message telling me to look at the OERML forum, and I am extremely thankful I did!
I have now changed my mind about the surgery and am so glad I mentioned the skin cream!
But I have paid over a £1000 deposit and would like to know if you could advise me please. Thank you.
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admin: Pls send your phone number and I will call you.
The fact that you didn't even speak to the surgeon. let alone meet him, before the day of your scheduled surgery is a serious matter for the GMC and GOC to investigate, as I will explain when we speak
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Hi there

I wanted to have laser eye surgery for ages, so when the opportunity came that I had enough money and time I decided to book a consultation. I had it on Friday, 19th February in Manchester and was pretty excited. I possibly naively believed that because Optical Express is a big name I could trust that they would have my best interest at heart.

The consultation went fine and all the staff were really nice. I got lots of tests done and as I was speaking to the clinician I said that I've been having issues with contact lenses for the past 2 years and she said that it was dry eye, but didn't take this any further. Earlier she mentioned that one of the common side effects to LASEK/LASIK is a dry eye that can last up to 6 months (as it did for her). She went through some common side effects even sayng that this surgery is against nature, but no alarm bells have been ringing in my head at that point. The price was a bit steep, so I said I'll think about it. The customer advisor said he'll give me a call the next day. He did and I decided to go ahead when he said that with iDesign you get 20/20 vision or your money back, so I thought "well, they must be pretty sure about their abilities to offer that!", but I wanted to make sure I was in good hands so I asked how many surgeries has the surgeon performed. Turns out my surgeon was supposed to be Dr Muhammad Kazmi who performed over 47000 surgeries and that they will send me his profile. I paid my deposit thinking that anyone with that amount of completed surgeries must be a good surgeon. They told me I'll have another consultation with a different clinician within a couple of days.

When I had the time to actually sit down and look at Dr Kazmi's profile, I googled his name and the second google result was ''Optical Express Ruined My Life['' website. So I got a bit worried seeing how his OE profile said he had 100% patient satisfaction, yet I found quite a number of dissatisfied patients, including one big case on YouTube. And I started researching this more and more and realised that if you have dry eyes you are not a good candidate for laser surgery! I came across so many horrible stories on this website and on YouTube that I decided not to take this risk, especially that I didn't trust OE statistics anymore, and I was confused as to why the clinician at my initial consultation didn't bring the issue of dry eyes up in more detail. I wanted to discuss this with the other clinician that was supposed to call me, but as I am based in Manchester when a call came from Belfast I didn't pick up because I was expecting a call from Manchester. Coincidentally I was expecting a call from someone in NI and figured they just called at a wrong time. I was expecting to speak with Dr Kazmi, so for OE to call me from Belfast seemed awfully bizarre. I wanted to discuss the dry eye issue with him because I was so anxious the night before that I couldn't sleep, but they didn't try calling me again and I couldn't reschedule it for the same day, so I told them I would like to cancel the whole treatment because I have dry eyes. The lady on the phone told me that she has sent my request to the retention team and that they will contact me.

So far, I heard nothing back. They were really good at getting in touch when I was booking the consultation, but not now. After reading so many success stories about people getting their deposit back, could you offer me some advice on how to proceed with this now?

Thank you
Gosia
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Thank you so much for all of your help Sasha! I received my full deposit into my bank account swiftly after following your advice! I really wish you all the best with the work you are doing as you are making a real difference to people's lives!

Hi,

I came across this site by chance after booking in with Optical Express to have Lasik. I had my initial consultation at the Optical Express branch in Huddersfield, Nu House, on Market Street.

At my free consultation in January with the optometrist and someone I would describe as a sales person I was told that no-one had ever gone blind from lasik and less than 1% had problems.

After having a phone consultation with Dr Muhammad Kazmi yesterday something immediately felt off, because he actually warned me of the very serious problems that could happen, which was not what I was told in January.

Hence why I started researching in more detail which brought up further concerns, including the fact that he is apparently being sued by a lot of people.

I called Optical Express to initially express my concerns and was told that Dr Kazmi is one of the best surgeons around and that I shouldn't pay attention to some of the stories online! The person I spoke to said that his brother is studying under Dr Kazmi, or something along those lines.

I am going to ring to cancel, and wonder if you can help me to get my full deposit back?

I suffer with depression and the whole ordeal has given me tremendous anxiety and I am having pressure from my family to still go ahead with it but something just feels wrong.

Many Thanks,
Michael
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admin: No disrespect intended to your family, but they’re not the ones risking their precious eyes! And I will advise you to make a complaint to the General Optical Council (GOC) as the optom lied to you.
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thank you for your support and advice Sasha!- I got a phone call to confirm my refund immediately - and an email confirming the details.
thank you very much

I had an appointment 30/01/2021 at the Birmingham Optical Express branch in Corporation Street.

I had my consultation with an optometrist and felt I must book on the spot. The sales person quoted me £4590 with a £500 deposit to pay upfront to secure my surgery date. I hadn’t met the surgeon and don’t know his name.

My prescription is pretty complicated with astigmatism and short-sightedness in both eyes, that are also different to one another.

I was recommended Lasek iDesign and the reasons were explained (thinning of the cornea etc) i was spoken to using stats and percentages, and was told that my prescription is on the brink - if it was slightly worse they wouldn't be able to offer me this procedure.

...as you do - I immediately booked being concerned that I if my eyesight weakens there's no hope for treatment.

After doing some online research i decided to cancel, On the 2/02/2021 i tried calling the customer services telephone number but due to the hold time i decided to open up a 'chat with an agent' at the same time to cancel my surgery and a refund. The chap i spoke to over text sent an email to the retentions team. By now my customer service representative answered the call - again i explained to her i no longer want to go ahead - she stated the procedure to cancel has already been executed by another colleague over chat.
She said i’d hear something back within 24-48 hours.

72 hours later.. i've still not heard anything - so i make another phone call - the lady said she can see a ‘non-procedure form’ has been issued and a refund will take 28 days but she cant confirm this just yet as something needs to be actioned. I explained my frustrations as i haven't even received an email to confirm my cancellation.

i just dont know what to do... help!
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Finally got my £500 deposit back. It took many emails and time,but they paid up in the end.
So much hard work by Sasha, I cant thank you enough,I wouldn't have got it back if it wasn't for all your help. I will never want any type of procedure on my eyes after reading many stories on the forum. Wished I seen your site before I ever stepped into Optical Express. I was lucky it was only my deposit I needed help with.

Thank you again Sasha for helping me and i hope all your work pays off to stop them deceiving people that lens replacement is safe.

Cheers

admin: Within hours of posting here Mrs Nelson was contacted by OE and her £600 refunded
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Good afternoon,

I emailed the Cheltenham store today to cancel my procedure.

I paid a £600 deposit yesterday and cancelled today quoting my cancellation policy which states full refund with 3 days notice from booking.

I got lots of mixed messages about cancelling from them but finally got a reply after chasing from the store saying that my correspondence has been passed to the retentions department. I have a concern that they will try to delay just so they can try to keep some of my deposit. Any help or advice appreciated as I do not want to lose my money.
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admin: Pls send your phone number and I will call you This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hi ok so I wrote earlier that my husband and I had paid £1000 in cash at the Bradford Optical Express store.
We cancelled within the 3 day refund policy but they then said it would be 28 working days to refund even though we paid CASH!
They fobbed us off until I contacted Sasha and followed her advice to the letter.
Lo and behold the emails started to come with a sudden interest in my complaint when I told them my husband and I would go and sit in the store if we didn't have our money back by Friday (today).
Cheques for the full deposit was delivered via courier yesterday and deposited into my account this morning.
Sasha knows what she is doing and I am so glad I found this site because she had my corner - Sasha you are the man!!! 😁
I got a follow up call from a person from Optical Express today and he was a decent chap but I did tell him that unfortunately out of all the experience we have had with Optical Express the time he took out to make this phone call was the best bit of the whole process. Thanks for OERML and Sasha - you are a very important lady indeed, you are so needed by people just like me who have no experience of dealing with big companies who are quick to take our money but have no interest in customer service. No Trust Left.
For you Sasha 😘

Got my money back today, thank you for your advice.
Jose