New glasses wrong prescription - how?!

[Monvelo]

Got new glasses last week. Said immediately that I couldnt see clearly and was told it'll settle down. At work on the computer this week, been getting eye strain headaches, can't read number plates etc. Went back to opticians and they checked, prescription is wrong.

Distance right eye started at 200, had been put down to 150, needs to go up to 250.
Distance left eye was left at 150 and needs to go up to 200.
Astigmatism axis also inaccurate.
I was also advised to increase the thinning to the third level to match my old specs, in case that is playing in, having been advised last week that second level would be adequate and save me money.

If there are any opticians about in interested in how this can have happened? Did I answer the questions wrong somehow?!

They have ordered new replacement lenses and I need to pay for the extra thinning level.

I would like to know the same. Had 2 pairs made in August and between them they have been remade 5 times! I have been wearing glasses nearly 59 years without ever having this sort of issue.
I suspect part of the problem is there are so many staff in my local Spencer's and it became apparent after so many visits that some are far more highly trained than others and as you rarely see the same person twice there is no continuity in terms of understanding the problem.

Oh dear. This was also Specsavers. Perhaps my mil may be right in saying they're no cop...

Take them back, ask for them to be corrected. This has happened to me in Specsavers where they were just poor at measuring for varifocals and once in Boots where they had the wrong prescription.

I absolutely wouldn't be paying for extra thinning!

I knew it would be specsavers.

They made a mess of mine and led me to believe that my eyesight was too bad for larger lenses. It was utter rubbish - as I found when I switched providers.

I recently got new glasses from specsavers and while the prescription is correct, they had to be remade once because the centre of focus was in the wrong place, and despite having been back three times for them to adjust the left arm, they’re still not sitting comfortably. I’ve worn glasses nearly forty years and this is the first pair that I’ve had these kind of problems with.

I've also had issues with specsavers this week. I'm without my glasses because they need to sort my prescription for a second time, and only got 5 pairs of lenses to last me until the 27th December. I can't see past my arm. Can't drive, can't enjoy anything because I'm bloody blind

It's not you, it's Specsavers!!! I went back, they retested but insisted they were right (apparently my strong prescription i'd had in my left eye since the age of 6 had corrected itself!!). I then had to go to another opticians and have mine retested again, I went back to Specsavers and made them use that prescription to correct my glasses.

Finally gave up on Specsavers after spending more of last year there than I care to remember... by the final appointment, I actually wept with frustration - I'd paid for ultra-thinning and got bottle tops. Couldn't see ANYTHING with them - not even the girl holding out the test card to read. Don't know whose prescription it was (and yes, got all the 'your eyes are too bad... you need two pairs of readers and distance... you can't expect to see perfectly')...

They were really graceless about the refund too, but I wasn't paying nearly £500 for something not fit for purpose.

Went to Boots and they took a second go to get it right, but then they nailed it - and I realised that the Specsavers frames looked really cheap by comparison.

The Specsavers had expanded that year too, but the extra space was just filled with inexperienced kids who didn't know how to take responsibility for a problem and get it sorted.

Gawd. I will have to see what the replacements are like.

SO frustrating! Actually, I found it upsetting, because they're effectively rendering you disabled... 😭

That's crap @butterflysandrobins - can you speed order some contacts online?

Just people bad at their jobs not narrowing it down right. Someone I know who's an ophthalmologist told me not to go to those chain stores because they muck up a lot of eye health issues too.

He said if I can go in store to pick them up the quickest they can do is the 27th or I'll be waiting two and a half weeks by doing it online. So frustrating

Same here with Specsavers. I complained and took them back and they argued with me that they were "correct". They agreed to fix but wanted to charge me for the new lenses, which I refused to pay. The store manager seemed to be the problem, the staff in this store are all so scared of her. Eventually they agreed but next time I'll go elsewhere.

@butterflysandrobins I get contact lenses online from lens direct https://www.lensdirect.com/contact-lenses they turn up quickly and you can just order one box.

Oh no I've just been to specsavers because I wasn't happy with my vari vocals from Asda last time as I never felt they were quite right.

They baffled me today with the different types of vari focals :/

Same. The only time my prescription was off was when I went to Specsavers.
Never again.

Hmm interesting. I had to go back five times last year because mine weren't sitting right, and the guy in my branch of Specsavers who was brilliant at perfectly fitting glasses seems to have left. I used my hairdryer to fit them myself in the end.

I use Vision Express and last time I had new varifocals I just couldn't see even though they were the correct prescription. Turns out it was the type of lens which was wrong for me - they were compensated lenses ( whatever that means) Remade with a different type of lens and all good.

Had this with Vision Express years ago. 2 pairs made - the dark glasses didn't work at all and the normal ones were OKish but I saw double at a distance. Usual bullshit 'you'll get used to them'
After about four months the glasses broke, I put on an old pair and realised that I could see properly again.

The dark glasses had been made with the wrong pupil distance, main glasses had failed to include the prism so didn't rectify the astigmatism.
They refused to refund - just offered to remake them. I had no confidence they would get it right so took legal proceedings against them, full refund plus compensation for lost wages due to the headaches they caused.
The last thing was that after settling they still owed me about £200 for the cost of the frames. They claimed they were having an disagreement with their insurers over who was going to pay it.
I went to the shop and told the manager that I would come in every lunchtime when the store was full, and ask politely but very loudly when they were going to refund me for making glasses to the wrong prescription causing headaches and double vision. He phoned me later that day with a cheque for the remaining amount.

They were just shit opticians who gave bad advice.

I had a similar experience with Vision Express. Twice. Once I forgave, but after the second time I never went back to them.

Yeah, I had this with SpecSavers too...

Issues such as this make me so glad that I've stuck with my independent optometrist.

It's disgraceful that they got it wrong, and now you have to pay more. Due to their error, I'd expect any additional cost to be written off.

I had this problem with Specsavers. They were my first pair of glasses though and I didn't know whether they would work, so I didn't complain. The only way they improved my vision was if I held the glasses backwards and turned them upside down (which is not a great look). I paid extra at an independent from then on.