AIBU to object to relentless upselling at my child's NHS eye test?

[Eyetestconcern]

I took my young teen for a NHS eye test yesterday at a branch of a national optician chain. The NHS eye test for children is free. My AIBU is the "upselling" that was relentless from the minute we arrived. I understand shops need to make money but playing on parental worries about kid's health does not seem the right way to do it. Examples:

1. On arrival child was seated for the eye photos bit of the test. The staff member said they could do better photos to check more of the eye and potential health issues with a different photo. Cost £25! Setting aside the fact that the free test has been fine for years and presumably considered clinically adequate by the NHS, I did not like the inference that without the better option a serious issue might be missed and would be my fault for not paying up.
2. Child has very mild short sightedness in one eye. Usual outcome is to recall in 6 months. However yesterday we were offered very expensive "myopia management" glasses to slow down any potential worsening. Again subtle but strong pressure to buy these glasses despite my child's prescription not even needing glasses at the moment. Certainly fine to wait 6 months .
3. At the end of the test offered expensive Optegra (?) plan to monitor and predict child's eventual prescription for glasses as an adult. I did not really understand the purpose of this but she was relentless in selling it.
4. Child mentioned eyes occasionally get dry / sore after gaming / screen time. The optician suggested a warm compress held on the eyes for a few minutes. This is sensible advice but somehow I was talked into buying an eye compress mask costing £20 when google tells me a warm, clean flannel would be fine!

Lastly when we waiting for our prescription print out at the end another staff member came over and said to my child who was browsing the teen NHS frames (free) that most teens chose adult frames which were not free but could take £50 off. Of course my child then picks up a £180 pair of frames! All in all it felt like a sales pitch playing on parent's health worries rather than a medical appointment to check for eye issues / sight problems. AIBU to think this is not OK? or are the optician / staff just doing thier job offering full range of services?

You might just be lucky with your branch @Sirzy but I wouldn't go there.

God boots are awful for this and I formally complained when they tried to sneakily upsell my disabled husband's basic glasses from the free NHS ones to suddenly costing nearly £200. They only did it cos I was a cross the shop dealing with breastfeeding my baby, good job I was earwigging. Absolute bastards knew what they were doing as well

Never had this and we use specsavers in fact two different branches of specsavers and never had them trying to upsell.

Thank you for the experiences. I will ask around for a local recommendation as it seems to vary a lot even within the same chain.

I've had this at chains and independents,in fact the independent was worse so I always go to Boots now.

I live in a coastal town. They tried selling us a special film on the lenses of my 9yo daughter (rockpooling obsessed) prescription sunglasses which would allow her the see through the surface water without the glare!

My optician is like this, my NHS dentist is even worse - invisalign, whitening, let’s drill your filling out and replace it, hygienist, on and on.

Asda every day! Been with them 25 years. Excellent care and best prices.

If you have the prescription could you just buy online

I had the same at nhs dentist recently. They tired to insist that if I don't sort slightly crooked teeth now I'll be doomed in later life. Plus teeth whitening, special coating, better toothbrush etc.

My teeth are a bit crowded but ok, no fillings etc. It hasn't been mentioned as a problem previously!

I've had a really good experience at my local specsavers both for myself (almost blind as a bat) and my dc. But it is a franchise I believe so the quality might be variable.

I went undiagnosed as a child as my mum didn't get me tested until I was bumping into things, so I was determined to get my kids checked ASAP. My local specsavers managed to test my dd when she'd just turned 3, even though she didn't know her ABC.

The test used little symbols like cat, aeroplane, apple instead of letters. The optician was so fab with her and it's a really fond memory. At her last checkup it was a borderline, watch and wait conclusion, with lifestyle recommendations (ie limit screens etc) no upselling at all.

Equally you might just be unlucky with yours!

with it being a franchise there is always going to be a variation but I would recommend our branch to anyone locally.

No because others have said the same and they weren't the same branches.

And others have had good experiences. It’s individual to each store!

I’ve had much more upselling at independents than at chains

We go to a local independent. DC is usually shown the free or non expensive frames first, both childrens and adults.
The optician previously told me about the lenses that can slow progression, but no one has pushed me into getting them or mentioned cost. I think they are monitoring the progression first.

Why are you going every 6 months? That is quite unusual, normally a year or even every other year.

Local specsavers is great. Took my daughter to an independent optician who was highly recommended and they persuaded me that she needed some super expensive lenses. Because her eyesight is so poor I bought them in the hope it would help. When she went back to the hospital for a check up, they told me that was completely ridiculous and there was no way a child needed those lenses. Back to Specsavers for us!

My youngest has worn glasses since he was 3 years old (he is 9 now). We have never experienced this. The eye test has always been 'free' on the NHS. I pay extra for lens thinning as his prescription is strong, and we pick whichever glasses he likes but that's my choice and not theirs. Never felt pressured for more. This is a high street optician.

If your child doesn’t even need glasses then why would they try to sell you some 🤔

we go to Specsavers and if anything they were steering my child away from expensive glasses

I always take kids to Specsavers and recognise this. You should have to DD you could only afford the free frames. You need to use your words here.

My DS has the myopia management contact lenses. We didn’t know about this as an option til he was about 12 or so, and I wish we’d known sooner. We are lucky that we can afford to pay for them, but the evidence for them is really good. As the locum ophthalmologist has already said, it’s terrible that this is bit offered on the NHS.

SS have been good for the kids. We've never been asked about the scan (they do ask for me) and have never mentioned other glasses other than the free ones even though my son has a big head and they are struggling to find some that fit. They've mentioned myopia management in the past but in passing and gave me a leaflet.
We actually went to an independent as my son needed a visual stress test and they did a poor job (had to have it repeated elsewhere) but spent an hour talking to me ahout myopia management and trying to sell me a subscription at £50 per month!
The next time we went to SS we bought theirs for £100 and they have slowed down the progression.

The extra photo (3d scan) does indeed give a ton more information about eye health than the standard NHS photo. It is entirely optional but if a diagnosis is missed because you declined to have the scan then you can't really blame the optician?

This is a child's eyesight we are talking about - if there's a chance of missing a serious problem with the NHS offering, the NHS offering should be upgraded.

Frankly, this makes it sound like a 'get out' clause for the optician.

Makes no difference. My local independent was a child vision specialist and we chose her for that. She also relentlessly upsold, steering us towards the more expensive frames, suggesting add ons to treatment. If anything it was worse because we trusted her as a “specialist”.