To think the optician messed up my prescription

[montysma1]

I have been mildly short sighted for years, but its been fairly consistent.
2017 R -4.25 L -4.50
2019 R -4.50 L -4.50

For my last eye test, I seemed to have undergone substantial improvement, which -seems unlikely in my 50s.
R -2.75 L -3.50

I phoned optician more than once to query this . I was intending to buy specs elsewhere (I get contacts from this optician but can get better deal on specs somewhere else) and wanted to be sure. Plus I know perfectly well that my eye sight hasnt improved.

Opticians were hostile on the phone, adamant that prescription was correct and that I just didnt understand the notation.
And to be fair..I am not an optician. But I have bought lots of specs and contact lenses over the years so have a vague idea.
I did keep asking them to compare with my previous prescriptions on their system and tell me if they thought it was a likely change but they just wouldnt engage. They just kept repeating, "Its correct" like a mantra.

So I order the specs using the prescription.. Specs arrive and the distance vision is duly worse than old specs. Its not just a period of adapting. It is noticeably worse, which would tie in with the weaker prescription.

Not sure what to do now. I am going to pay for another eye test with a different optician, and am willing to bet it will come out something like the 2017/2019 ones.

I appreciate there will be a margin of error in prescriptions, but life long gently deteriotating short sightedness doesnt just get substantially better does it? Or does it?
New specs have pretty shit vision, I cant use them and they cost a few hundred quid, and my old specs have decent vision but only one leg!

Other point of note is that the person doing the test was a probationer or something (not the term they used but it was something like that)

Has anybody had asimilair issue (large high street chain)

A few years ago I had a test at boots then had the prescription made by specsavers because at that point my job gave vouchers towards the cost of glasses needed for screen use but only via specsavers.

Went to collect them and couldn't understand why they were so difficult to see in. Turns out the prescription apparently was for the opposite of what I'd been told I needed, therefore I had to pay the full £200 for the glasses as they weren't classed as for screen use. Specsavers were of no help so I've still never worn the bloody glasses.

The next year I had my eyes tested somewhere else and was told I don't need glasses (every test before and since said I have a slight astigmatism that doesn't need correcting, but otherwise great vision). I'll never use boots opticians again and would be very wary of taking a prescription somewhere else.

My DP uses the cheap online glasses retailers and has no issues.

"My DP uses the cheap online glasses retailers and has no issue"

I have always used an on online glasses retailer and this is my first ever problem.
My husband does too and he has the the most diabolical eyesight. He never has a prob either with online glasses.

Then the problem could be balance or pupil distance or something else entirely . Online retailers can't measure your accurate pupil distance to
Centre the lens . Disaster waiting. I'd never recommend to anyone unless
You have the simplest of rx .

Take the glasses to an reputable optician who
Can check the actual prescription in the specs is what the actual prescription is .
Online retailers are - scuse me but - shite .

Have to say my husband who is grossly short sighted and long sighted, galloping astimatism, just shocking eyesight. Honestly, if i put his glasses on it would feelnlije my brain imploding! He gets his varifocals online. Loves them. Has totally ditched contact lenses as these specs suit him so well.
And I have had no problem till now. They just arent sharp.

You pays your money you takes your chance !

Online can't be accurate because they can't measure pupil distance and getting that wrong can cause prism which pulls the eye - personally having worked for over 10 years in the industry I wouldn't recommend because it does tend to be good luck rather than good management.

Yep, @Headunderthecovers has it. When you take a prescription elsewhere, it is the responsibility of where you purchase your glasses to make things right.
We have to sort it if someone brings us a prescription from elsewhere and struggles with vision when made correctly to said prescription. It is meant to make it easier for the patients and probably evens out between opticians. Having purchased from a dispensing only online retailer complicates it but they must have a procedure for this eventuality.
On a different note, my rx changed from -4.50 to -3.50 about 6 years ago. But I could see fine with my new prescription so a big change is not uncommon. It has crept back up again now though.

Specsavers got my sisters prescription so wrong we thought she'd been given someone else's by mistake.

i wouldn’t say -4.25 is mild short sightedness that’s moderate
I worked in opticians for years
did you have to use the scanner which gives an idea of your prescription before the optician sees u as that would correctly analyse your prescription?

it’s very rare for short sightedness to correct that many diopters even with onset longsightedness and the longsightednesses wouldn’t correct it to that degree
I would put in a complaint to the practice manager and head office if need be
I was -1.75 4 years ago +0.00 now at 43 I’m -3.25 both eyes +1.00

"When you take a prescription elsewhere, it is the responsibility of where you purchase your glasses to make things right.
We have to sort it if someone brings us a prescription from elsewhere and struggles with vision"

Interesting , it really seems wrong that the specs maker would be responsible for a precription error by somebody else, if thats what this turns out to be.

I honestly dont know what gadgets they used, i was wheeched between a few.
They did my previous tests though so they will be on file. I did ask them to compare as i thought the change was a bit drastic. But they wouldnt.

The fact that the distance prescription changed so much between prescriptions whilst the "Near Add" didnt change at all makes me think its an error.

Specsavers messed my glasses up recently. They made a typo in the axis for my astigmatism so it was way off. They didn’t believe me at first when I said I couldn’t see out of my new glasses.

They did put it right though. Eventually.

Unfortunately If you didn't believe the prescription was correct, you shouldn't have gone elsewhere and
spent so much money 'wasting a few hundred quid'.

You already doubted the original test so should have gone elsewhere for another test or asked for a more senior optometrist to test you again, before purchasing anything.

I understand your frustration in thinking the prescription they gave you was wrong, but to go and buy new glasses whilst having a feeling that they're not going to be correct was a chance you decided to take. I doubt they will replace the money for them as they never provided them, whereas if you'd have bought the glasses from that opticians and they were wrong then they would have replaced them or refunded the money for the glasses.
Also I'm sure they'll have a clause somewhere that states they're not liable for glasses that they don’t provide even if they give the prescription.

I always thought short sightedness did improve with age and yes possibly within two years. But if you can’t see with your new glasses then obviously it is wrong. But to be honest, if I didn’t believe the prescription I wouldn’t have ordered glasses using it.

Absolutely baffled as to why you used the prescription if you thought it was wrong. You can’t really expect them to pay for that.

You should ask for a retest though.

Do your online glasses have any kind of cooling off period? I get my glasses from Vision Express and always have the option for a full refund if not happy.

@Headunderthecovers that's not the case at all (I'm an optometrist). If the prescription is wrong it's wrong and the prescribing optometrist is liable, both under the Consumer Act and the College guidelines.

OP it's incredibly unlikely that your vision improved that significantly, unless there is something wrong with your actual eye (again unlikely as you can see better through your old glasses).

Speak to the practice manager in the original place, explain what's happened and ask for someone else to re-test you. Remember to take the new glasses with you for them to check.

Rather than getting completely new specs just get the lenses replaced. My optician changes just the lenses if I need a change in prescription. That will save you some money

I agree with this.

Don't go in with new prescription from other opticians.

Just go in now with new glasses, play dumb and just say they don't seem quite right and could they check it out.

Similar experience for my teenage son recently at Specsavers. After waiting over 2 weeks, the frames had wrong prescription lenses in. Took the glasses back 2 days later and got a full refund then went to an independent optition who was able to put lens into the new frame on site .We walked out with a new pair 40 minutes after consultation. As an added bonus the lens didn't need thinning like they always did at Specsavers so I saved £50!

-4.50 is not mildly short sighted just fyi.

i wouldn’t have bought new glasses if I wasn’t convinced the prescription was correct. Go elsewhere and get a retest and ask them to put the new lenses in your new glasses. Sorted.

My eyesight improved as I got older and long-sightedness started counteracting the short sight, but I agree it's also highly unlikely to have improved as quickly as these opticians claim. They really should have been prepared at least to double-check rather than obstinately insisting they were right.

I had an issue once where my sight just didn't seem as good with a new pair of glasses but the opticians insisted the prescription was right. Ultimately I gave up on it and just got used to the new prescriptions, but went to someone different for my next check. He said I needed quite a substantial change and, sure enough, the glasses I had after that were way better. The second optician did say my eyes were complicated, though.

My brain now hurts 😂

@underneaththeash It changed several years ago. AOP.

Funny you should say this, I bought new glasses after 6yrs with one pair, when I started a new job may 2020, also went to specsavers after going previously with eye tech , they have never felt right- I thought I was just because I’d been so long with the old pair it was a case of getting used to them, but I’m convinced they messed up the prescription as I’m struggling to see things that should be crystal clear at a distance. Overall the glasss have been poor quality (£250+) cath kidson frames, which snapped at the arm a few months ago, they gave me replacement frame but after a short amount of time paint have chipped off under the lense right in my line of vision which highly irritates me as I can see it.

I’ve been called for another test but tbh I won’t be going back to specsavers- the pair I’d had for 6 yrs were far superior, these lenses have scratched so badly already- I don’t even know how as they are permanently on my face except when asleep.

Is it Specsavers? My latest appointment gave me an 'improved' prescription which I do not for one second believe so I've ignored it and stuck with my old glasses. I also don't rate their customer service in general.