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)

I don’t think you’ve read that link properly! It backs up what I posted previously.

@undertheleash It says that the prescribing optometrist is not responsible for the cost of the remake yet you said they are liable?

The guidance changes traditional thinking on some aspects of handling non-tolerance and states that when a practice accepts a ‘walk-in’ prescription then they should also accept responsibility for financing and managing any non-tolerance issues.

However in the original poster's case I would re contact the prescriber- namely the supervisor of the pre-reg optometrist via the head office customer services. If the pre-reg optometrist has made a mistake it is something they can learn from. The poster could request a senior optometrist does a recheck which wouldn't incur a charge at the same practice. Usually in most remakes/rechecks there's a couple of factors including glasses not always been made up correctly; hence the advice for the maker of the glasses to do the recheck (which is where it gets complicated with an online provider).

The reason the spectacle maker is responsible is an in person dispenser would normally query a large change in prescription on your behalf with the prescriber before accepting the prescription. Online providers just make up whatever is given to them.

The difficulty in the prescriber being responsible for rechecks means all errors are just put down to the prescription-when often they are in the manufacture or measurements of glasses or a combination of the two.
It means the prescriber has to spend time checking the glasses for errors of lens and measurements without knowing what you have been given and factor these in to the problems.
When you consider the relative cost of an eye test to glasses cost you can see why the responsibility falls onto the dispenser. Otherwise eye tests become increasingly expensive- they are effectively subsidised by the cost of glasses in the UK. If glasses are cheaper such as USA then eye tests cost more. If everyone buys online then NHS sight tests will probably go the way of NHS dentistry as eye test fees become non cost effective for companies.

The large multiple companies normally have large customer care centres and want you to be happy with their service, so I would say with such a large change in prescription they would happily retest you- then it's up to your online supplier as to how the glasses are remade.

Hope that helps - it's a long winded explanation

Just go back to the store you bought the glasses from and say they are not right.
Get them to test your eyes with the glasses. All high street stores do this….
I had problems with my last set of varifocals, had to swop twice and it didn’t cost me anything. You can also point out that you thought the prescription was strange…

Did you only read the thread title?! She bought the glasses online from a separate business, and she raised her concerns with the original opticians.

Your eyesight is practically the same as mine

there is no way mine would suddenly be as low as yours

something is def wrong

esp as the glasses you have in new , you can’t see properly out of them

No need for rudeness

Ugh - it doesn't say that at all. It's for low changes in RX where you can't tell whose at fault. Like any medical conversation, you need to consider why?What could have happened in order for someone's prescription to be 1.5D less than before:

1. The OA could have written in down wrong, which is a possibility given the add - in which case the prescribing practice are culpable or 2 could have been a 4.
2. There is a pathology causing the add - macula oedema? But that should have been picked up.
3. Is it likely that the OP had something temporary happen to her cornea/macula which made her 1.5D less myopic? I cannot think of anything. Unless they're a GP wearer and wearing reverse geometry lenses.

You may be right. Only another eye test will say. But I'm afraid that my eyesight did exactly this in my 50's.