TOPIC:

I want to be really clear to others considering Optical Express.
They might be fine when you visit. However if for any reason you need a refund, they will treat you badly. Please do not fall for the smart adverts. They are cowboys, surviving on kidnapped funds.
Join me and #bringbackourmoney.

From Kirsty Neilan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
To: Uloma

20 Jan at 14:59

Good afternoon Uloma,

Thank you for your email.

As advised by my colleague Lawrence [McLaughlin] our refund process can take up to 28 working days, therefor is due to leave no later than Monday 5th February.

If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Kirsty Neilan

Customer Services Associate I Customer Services Department

T: +44 (0)1236 795010 F: +44 (0)1236 795017

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

Thank you for this page. I will dedicate my life to promoting what you do. This company really put me in a vulnerable position. Absolutely disappointed. If only people will read and learn. I will continue to scream online. No one should be put in this position at all.

I flew my mum in for surgery. OE came highly recommended. I paid but mum was later found to be unsuitable for surgery since the 22nd of December 2017. It is 5th Feb the deadline they gave me and they are yet to pay. I am in dire straits.nplease what do I do? Help me somebody. Paid another £3k to another hospital and they successfully carried out the lens removal. However I need the refund as mum needs more care. Please Please someone help me.
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admin: OE may contact you tomorrow after reading this - they’ll know who your mother is by the dates.
In case not, email your phone number to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. :kiss:

My story is a little different but I would like to share it if possible.
I attended the optical express clinic in Belfast and was told I needed surgery to one eye, but prior to surgery I would need to take part in a contact lens trial which I agreed.
I returned for the lens trial and was told I would have to pay the £1900 up front at the start of the trial which I found strange as they did not know if I was a suitable candidate.
After a few days I went back and the results were poor and I decided myself that my vision would be impaired with the surgery so I decided against it. That was early November and as of tonight 21/12/17 I have still received no refund. When I call they said 28 days, then it was 28 working days and when that deadline passed they just tell me they will be in touch. So I would advise anyone to stay well clear.
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admin: If no refund by the end of today, send email and I will help you This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

£535 just appeared in my bank today.
No email from OE. No phone call from OE. Just the same silence.
I make that 53 days from cancelling, or 39 working days.
They did pay the £35 court fee for the Money Claim Online but have decided to ignore the request for interest.
What a way to do business !!
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admin: Fyi, go back to your Money Claim, click on the claim number and you will see an option to request Judgement for the outstanding interest.
There is no additional fee for this
No matter how small the amount, bear in mind that the interest is the reason OE hang on to your deposit for as long as possible, so why shouldn't you do the same?

This is where I am now at :-

25/09/17 - Paid £500 deposit.
27/09/17 - Found OERML and then cancelled surgery.

No confirmation from OE that my deposit would be refunded.

27/10/17 - Emailed Stephen Hannan asking when I would get my £500 refund. No response.
01/11/17 - Issued Money Claim Online = £500 + £35 court fee + 0.08% Interest
13/11/17 - Sent a copy of the Money Claim to Stephen Hannan by email. No response.
15/11/17 - Money Claim Online status shows as 'Issued'. But no response from OE at all.

In short - I paid a deposit, cancelled the contract, contract says I get my deposit back. OE is withholding my money and not communicating.

Bad business practice - and bad manners to boot.

I will post this on Social Media to warn others!

Hi,
In short, on 25 September I paid £500 deposit… then found OERML site and cancelled 2 days later on 27 September. Now waiting for deposit to be refunded, but I’ve only had verbal confirmation that I cancelled. Happy for the money to turn up on the day but don't want it to over-run with all that it entails if it can be avoided
Anything I should do now?
Andy T
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admin: OE's in house solicitors are apparently sick/on leave/quit and their emails diverted to Tweedles, so skip the middle man and contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ask him for confirmation of your cancellation and the date your refund will be processed.

Tell him that if you do not receive this info by return then you will issue a money claim online without further notice.

Contact me for details should you need them

Optical Express have a new scam

Theresa T issued a Money Claim Online (MCOL), and on the day OE were deemed to have been served with the claim they called and asked for her credit card details to refund her £500 deposit.

But even though Teresa had received her copy, OE claimed that they had not received anything from the court, and refused to pay her court fee!

Teresa emailed Tweedledum and received this response from Trainee Solicitor Rebecca O’Hear, 'I confirm that Optical Express has not received notification of any claim raised by you.'

OE can get away with this lie (as I allege it to be) because the court sends out letters via regular mail, not requiring a signature for proof of delivery.

Anyone issuing a MCOL therefore must be sure to scan/photo your court copy and email to OE the day you receive it!

Although she can now issue a CCJ for the unpaid court fee, don't get caught out as Teresa was!

Avoid engaging in any phone conversation with OE reps, and do NOT provide credit card details until they have confirmed in writing that they are refunding your deposit, plus 0.8% interest, AND the court fee!

OE's in-house solicitor David Magee has left (as I predicted he would in August when I met him at the GOC hearing for John Margetts), as it seems has his colleague Aimee Watson, emails to both bouncing back as undeliverable.

Any legal correspondence should now be sent to:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (In-house solicitor)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Legal Support Assistant)

Also copy Tweedledum in, as I expect he'll be there until the OE ship sinks!
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Meanwhile, this is an extract from Rebecca O’Hear's email to Teresa.

'The cancellation policy, as set out within the Terms and Conditions document, states:

"Cancellation policy
a. If you cancel a booking for treatment within seven days of making your booking, we will refund all amounts you have paid.
b. If you cancel a booking for treatment more than seven days after making the booking, we will take the minimum deposit from any money you have paid, before returning the rest of the money to you.
c. We will set the amount of the minimum deposit at the time of your consultation.
d. If, for any reason, we have to cancel a booking for treatment and we cannot offer you an alternative booking in either the clinic of your choice or a different location, we will refund your minimum deposit.
e. If, following a consultation with one of our refractive surgeons, you cannot go ahead with your treatment for any clinical reason; we will refund all amounts you have paid, except for any refractive surgeon appointment fee.*
f. We will pay all refunds within 28 working days.”

You agreed to be bound by these terms by paying the deposit for surgery.'**

* In my opinion this contradicts OE's advertised 'FREE
Consultation'! Regardless of which, when you are heavily pressured to pay a deposit, if you have not read the T&Cs before doing so you cannot be bound by them.
** I took legal advice from Counsel on this a few months ago and was assured that it would not stand up in court.

Hi Sasha,

I've just found your website having cancelled my surgery on the 4th of October. I cancelled after failing to be eligible for credit, due to a poor credit rating after some money issues when I was a student.

They happily took the £500 before even running the credit check to see if I could go through with it. They wanted to run a second credit check through a different company but having already had one failed check on my record I decided against it. This was all on the 4th of October. I cancelled and was then told the refund would be processed within 28 days, this sounded a bit funny to me when they said it but I didn't question it.

At first I didn't even receive an email confirming my cancellation so I had to ring customer service to get that email, I then received the below email on the 12th:

"I am contacting you today with regards to your refund.

I have checked with our accounts team and I can confirm your refund is in process. As contained within your terms and conditions given at outset we do advise that all refunds can take up to 28 working days to process. This does not include weekends or bank holidays. We endeavour to carry these out as quickly as possible and therefore will do our utmost to ensure your refund is processed within this time frame.

Your refund was initiated on 4th October 2017, therefore you will be contacted on or before 13th November 2017 by our refund team to obtain original payment card details or if they are able to obtain them from the store in which you paid in, they will send you an email confirmation once it has been processed.

On behalf of Optical Express I would like to thank you for your patience in this matter and in the meantime, if I can assist you further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards,

Jade Sinclair"

Do you have a stock response I could email to them to get this processed quicker?

Thanks in advance.
Dan
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admin: If you did not sign a copy of the T&Cs before you paid a deposit - if at all - they should refund your money as fast as they took it!
Send email for more details This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hi everyone I'm new to this forum I paid £200 deposit to get LASIK eye surgery which after reading numerous bad reviews you have decided not to go ahead with it. Luckily I have cancelled within 7 Days of making the appointment and I'm already finding it difficult to just cancel the appointment! Apparently the cancellations department don't have a telephone number how convenient. Is there anything I should be doing at this early stage while waiting for cancellations to call me back they said they would call me back within 24 hours but I was told yesterday by the customer services team that I would be called back the following morning which certainly didn't happen. I really want to thank this forum and I hope more people come across it before dealing with Optical Express!
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admin: Send your phone number and I will call you. However, OE pay close attention to OERML, so when they read this message you might find that they suddenly contact you!
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. :kiss:

Hi Sasha 
After finding your site I have decided not to go ahead with lens replacement surgery.
I paid a deposit of £500 at the initial consultation on 15 July.
I met the surgeon Dimitris Kazakos on 3 August at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherds Bush and this highlighted several issues of concern which I was not made aware of at the initial consultation.  
Having now decided not to go ahead with surgery I am looking for a full refund of my deposit.
I have read that you have had success in helping people get refunds from Optical Express and your advice would be very much appreciated. What do you think my chances are and how should I approach them.  

Regards
Theresa T
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admin: I have advised Theresa to issue a Money Claim Online