to be a bit surprised that it'll take all day for the opticians to put new lenses in my glasses ?

[gingeroots]

The lenses ( varifocals ) cost an arm and a leg ,over £500 and I just can't afford to buy new frames as well ,hence have to hand over my only pair to be fitted with the new prescription .

Optician says it will take 4 hours and as they don't open until 9.30 ,close at 5.30 ,and between 1 and 2pm (and can't do Saturdays or Wednesdays )this effectively means I'll be without glasses for a day .

They seem very "take it or leave it " about it .

Is this just normal practice ?
Am I being unreasonable to be a bit p*ed off with them ?

I assume they'll have appointments and other spectacles in for repairs. I don't think there are many opticians that offer 'while you wait' repairs.

Try a different optician if you think they're taking the piss, but be prepared to be without your specs for at least a couple of hours.

YABU - you wont be the only customer! It's standard when I go to the optician. I usually get them the next day.

Im afraid this is normal practice depending on the sizw of the establishment (or atleast it was when I managed an opticians before I had the DC's).

I worked in a small independent store and we only had two technicians (one FT, one PT). They would often have the orders (3day turn around) to do as well as any same day jobs. We also had two dispensers as well as myself and we covered fittings, contact lenses etc.

I'm not expecting instant service .
I had an eye test some weeks ago ,got a call to say lenses had arrived ,asked when would be possible to have lenses fitted ( next week sometime ) and that's when the " Oh it takes 4 hours , bring them in first thing and you can get them back in the evening ." came about .

Vision Express offer a 1 hour lab service?

Vision Express linkie

Thanks popcorn .
Ohtheconfusion - thanks ,I think a similar situation with the opticians I use .
I guess they have constraints and that their service doesn't really work for me .
I think it was the attitude as much as anything ,no you can't bring them in at 1pm ,we're shut for lunch .
And if they either opened at 9 or closed at 6pm ,then presumably the 4 hours wouldn't span the whole day but could be fitted into an afternoon or morning .
Oh well .

my optician takes about 10 days to get lenses fitted - poor ds1 spent 2 weeks wandering around in old glasses that he could barely see through last month when he got a new pair...

yabu, my opticians takes 2 weeks. my prescription is not something they usually have in stock.

Think yourselves lucky. I use contact lenses because, if I still used spectacles for all day use, they would be an inch thick (I use them only for bathroom first thing in the morning and night time). My contact lenses take at least week to be delivered or not longer because they have to be specially ordered. You have no idea what it's like to be in my position (and there will be others worse off than I am). Order what you want in plenty of time and have an old set of spectacle frames ready for the new lenses so that you still have your current set. FGS get your act together!

I can't bear people who whine because of lack of thought and planning.

if not longer

YABU. That seems really quick to me!

I broke my last pair of glasses a few months ago. I am fairly short sighted -5ish in both eyes I think. I went to specsavers and when I told the optician I had been walking around without glasses for a week,she was .

She immediately put my new glasses on a rush order and they were ready for lunch-time the next day.

Well, just having my two pence worth....
I work in a lab in an opticians. So this would be my job. We offer a one hour service, provided we have the lenses and the frame, and 1 hour is more than enough time to do the job, even varifocals!
Most of the time, to glaze one job would take roughly 10 minutes from start to finish. But different labs operate differently, and they may be running behind, due to staffing issues, extra work load etc. If you are not happy with the service they provide go elsewhere.
But not all jobs go to plan and mistakes/accidents happen, which may mean that your lenses have to be re-ordered because they have been messed up for some reason or another. So it's always essential to have a spare pair. Then you wouldn't have to worry at all about how long they are going to take to be ready

Interesting replies .

Though I'm not sure I've explained very well - I'm not walking in off the street and expecting an optician to produce new lenses on the spot and instantly fit them .
These are new prescription lenses ,which have taken the normal ,perfectly acceptable to me ,3 weeks to arrive .
And now ,as a second step I'm trying to arrange a morning or afternoon when the lenses can be put into my frames .
They would have the lenses and the frames .

I think maybe the opticians I use send/take the lenses and frames somewhere "off-site " to be done .
Yes a spare pair would be lovely ,that's what I'm going to have to get I think .
When I can afford it .

And a chage of opticians with slightly more accesible opening hours and a more pleasant manner .

yabu to be surprised it will take a day, yanbu to think somewhere with lunchtime opening will be more convenient in future.

YABU, my DH is waiting 10 days for his...

Just to be clear
I am not waiting for new lenses .
I have the new lenses .
What I want now is for the new lenses to be fitted into the glasses I am currently wearing

Surely people waiting 10 days for glasses are people waiting 10 days after the eye test for a new pair of glasses and lenses .
ie the 10 days includes the ordering ,making and delivery of the lenses .

oops sorry! skim reading at work

Optometrist here. If there is no lab on the premises, then usually most of the time is spent with the lenses sitting on the desk waiting for the courier, then factoring in time to get them to the lab, time to actually do the job, wait for courier to bring them back, travel time again.

Lab on the premises, then the job can usually be done within an hour, depending on how many other people are waiting.

used to work in opticians (10 years)

this is how we used to do it.

if it was a reglaze (new lenses into your own frame) we used to mark up and take all the measurements, then order the lenses in. the lenses come as a blank - that is just a round disc with the measurements all marked out. When they arrive (they may take a few days to come) we would phone the client up and tell them their lenses are here and to drop the frames in.

the skill is in the glazing. the lab tech will have to cut the lenses and get the measurements in the right place in the frame.

its not an hours job really. you want your specs to be right dont you?

when the lenses are in, we used to leave the varifocal markings on so we could check the final fit before handing them over.

YABU in a nutshell!

(oh an btw - there will be other patients all waiting for their specs too!)

My lenses usually take 3 days to order in. I always have a wait. I also usually have more than one pair of specs on the go (currently have 3 and a spare, thoroughly grotty pair), so would have a spare in those circumstances.

go online - glassesdirect or posheyes or similar all do fab offers and you can get the varifocal measurements done in person at one of their partner opticians. My lenses alone would cost £250 from local opticians but last new pair of frames (Vera Wang) and lenses cost only £150ish with a free pair of prescription sunglasses. You can even try frames onto your photo online or have a few pairs sent to try at home. Simples!

absolutely do not go online for varifocals! how on earth can the measurements be correct when ordering without anyone checking the measurements?

trust me - i worked in optics for 10 years, and ordering varis online is very very bad advice.