TOPIC:

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
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This matter has now been resolved with a FULL refund of my deposit.

The partial refund £350 deposit has finally gone back onto the credit card. The remaining money they owe me (£150), I'm certain will be joining it in due course!

On 5 December 2019 i had an assessment at OE Norwich store for lens replacement surgery. I was told by the optician Suckbir Sangha that i could try some surgical contact lenses to see if i would benefit from the surgery (i am complaining about Suckbir to GOC given that i have a lazy left eye). I had to pay £500 deposit before they could order the lenses, which i did. I returned to the store on 12 December to try the lenses but it was quite obvious as soon as i tried them that it was not going to work. The optician said she would process my cancellation and that i would get my deposit back within 3 weeks. I have telephoned the Norwich store several times in the last few weeks but still have not got my deposit back.

A couple of weeks ago i spoke to Bob at the Norwich store who looked into this, he left a message on my phone saying i should get my deposit back 22/23 January, i am still waiting. On 23 January i spoke to the Norwich store manager who said he had spoken to HO and they said my deposit was being processed. This situation is totally unacceptable.

So quick update.

Thank you Sasha you’ve helped a ton - two day’s after contacting Sasha I had ALL my money refunded!

Thanks again Sasha

Update: After tweeting Optical Express Care @OEcare on December 13th, I received a very quick DM and was promised that an email confirmation of the cancellation would be sent out. My tweet is still on their page. I heard nothing back and so today sent another DM and they promised they would get this sorted right away.
Into my inbox just now finally arrived the confirmation email. Very business like and to the point, helpfully attaching a copy of their terms and conditions, and reminding me again that, "When paying a deposit, you agree to the terms outlined within the terms and conditions" and advising me that they are retaining £150 of my £500 deposit and my partial refund will be made around the 9th of January.
As I posted on December 2nd I have no intention of leaving my £150 with this company and will fight for it to be refunded.
I have also made a complaint to the General Optical Council.

So the story is I went through the pre-consultation back in October and was told I was qualified so they scheduled me for Dec 11th to have Lasek idesign on both of my eyes for £5549 (I fully paid) I get to the appointment with Dr. Muhammad Kazmi and he was brilliant, explained everything to me the different portions of my eye, he also advised me my eyes were just to thin to proceed and extremely dangerous to get the procedure ultimately he advised against me going forward, so I heeded his advice and decided to not proceed.

I was told I’d receive a phone call the next day but still haven’t. It’s only been two days but after reading so many horror stories thought I’d ask Sasha what she thinks or what anyone else thinks. Have they gotten better at timely refunds or do they still try and keep them?
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admin: They will do their utmost to hang on to the money for as long as possible, hence why you haven’t had a phone call. And if you don’t chase them they certainly won’t chase you!
I will respond to your email ASAP 😎

Managed to get a refund in two weeks. I decided against the symphony IOL multifocal after seeing what can go so wrong. I dodged a a whole heap of problems. Thanks Sasha for your assistance and help.

Update: No email confirmation of the cancellation in my inbox from OE as promised. I emailed Stephen Hannan, asking him to facilitate the confirmation email, but the email bounced back with the following message:



I don't know what this message means, but all in all is seems to be a very unprofessional way of conducting business.

I was told I had to wait 28 working days to get my refund of 2500 from optical express,since getting in touch with sasha she as helped me through everything brilliantly, and I received 2000 within a couple of days, but I am still 500 short, sasha advised me to make an online claim which i am just waiting to hear back from