My legs are grey, my ears are gnarled, my eyes are old and bent.

I seem to be at that funny age (mid 40s) where I’ve suddenly gone from never having to even think about my eyesight to needing much longer arms.

Are they all much of a muchness? Any reason to chose or avoid the high st names (boots, specsavers etc) over an independent?

Tesco – Use Clubcard points that I earn with my fuel for free / cheap gregorys.

Independent every time. The high street places give carp service while ripping you off. Small independents deserve your support and won’t get things wrong. If you need varifocals an independent will have the time to spend the 30 minutes or more needed for measuring your eyes so as to get the lenses perfect.

what about if you’ve already got a prescription thanks to work funded eye test?

Any reason to chose or avoid the high st names (boots, specsavers etc) over an independent?

mainly down to whether you want to support a local business, or not IMO (same as with bike shops).

I had poor service from an independent (I don’t think I was the only one; he was close to retirement and obviously not that fussed any more) but the independent I use now is great.

Alternatively, I’ve had great service from the optometrist at Vision Express (very professional) just expect the hard sell when you go downstairs to choose your glasses! (sales staff outnumbered optometrists by about 3 to 1!)

ASDA, varifocals included in base price.

My nice rimless thinner varifoacals cost £100, local independent charges upwards of £400 for same spec. Also ASDA head office is in Leeds, so that’s pretty local anyway(ignoring the Walmart aspect of things).

Small independent chain. The big chains work on high volume low margins, limited choice – and the hard sell. Small chains will have decent buying power, all the examination toys, and not need to sell so hard to “meet targets”.

Disclaimer – family run a small chain 😉

My local independent is one of the few in the country who has an MRI scanner for the retina, which really gives you a good picture of your eye health and has already alerted several of his customers to impending problems. That’s good enough for me.

I’ve been an optician for 20 years, working in independents and most of the High street chains. I’ve known the most coldhearted lying sales techniques from family indys and worked with genuinely lovely teams for supposedly ruthless chains. Not much help there, go wherever is local and feels pleasant.

Every major high street opticians I’ve been to has screwed up my prescription, so now I always go back to the small one we’ve been going to for years.

Any Opticians is only as good as the individuals in it.
The most successful ones normally give great service and don’t rip you off.
Honestly, go in, have a chat and see what you think.

Honestly, go in, have a chat and see what you think.

Well…. this was my reason for asking really. My local optician is pretty much always shut. If they publicise the hours/days that they’re actually open then then they must be doing it in a font too small for me to see.

ASDA
Last 6 years no issues at all

Mom and pop.

Well, milf actually. But that’s another story….

Specsavers is a franchise type business model, so the stores are often individually owned. They sell only their own various brands of frames, but their range of contact lenses is probably no worse – and possibly better – than an independent’s since they offer a wide variety of main brand contact lenses repackaged under their own brands.

So I guess they would not be your first choice if you want a particular brand of frame, such as Oakley prescription glasses. Otherwise, I suspect Specsavers’ group requirements for the franchises and desire to protect their brand should mean that the stores are required to meet various service and quality standards, whereas independents may vary more, and it may not be easy to identify which independents are not good, and which are better than the chains.

mrmonkfinger – Member
what about if you’ve already got a prescription thanks to work funded eye test?

I have this, it’s been proven to be wrong having visited an Indy…

Small independents deserve your support and won’t get things wrong

For balance, my mum’s independent optician of 20+ years missed her glaucoma (as in didn’t even measure pressures or do fields) right up to the point where her fields were so poor she couldn’t drive safely

My nice rimless thinner varifoacals cost £100, local independent charges upwards of £400 for same spec. Also ASDA head office is in Leeds, so that’s pretty local anyway(ignoring the Walmart aspect of things).

I doubt it a good top end thinned vari cant be bought at cost for less than £100 by the opticians, where as far iferior lenses can………

I live in Hong Kong, and make a visit to my London optician while I’m there.

I’m 100% confident in what the optician does, but the woman who decides what frames I’m having has been amazing over the years. 8)

I thankfully still only have experience of having an eyetest and not buying glasses so far. Our local Specsavers has had the same guy running the show since it opened which must be nearly 7/8 years. Very professional and over the years has only ever suggested year on year that my eyes weren’t quite as good as last time and glasses may help when eyes are tiref for reading etc. Just got my 7.50 retest voucher through and will be going along again soon.

For balance, my mum’s independent optician of 20+ years missed her glaucoma (as in didn’t even measure pressures or do fields) right up to the point where her fields were so poor she couldn’t drive safely

Exactly the same happened to me (at least to begin with). Swapped to Specsavers to save money, and the first eye test I had with them they spotted a slightly wrong pressure test, followed by a questionable field test, so I was referred upwards. Still being monitored every 12 months.
Specsavers now have my business.

I posted the same question on here about 3 weeks ago. I went to Asda in Harrogate & got 2 pairs of varifocals for £119. One pair are wraparound sunglasses & both pairs of specs are pretty much perfect. If I’d gone to the local independant I’d have paid around £150 or more for one pair (& well over £250 for sunnies) & wouldn’t be able to see any better.

If you need varifocals an independent will have the time to spend the 30 minutes or more needed for measuring your eyes so as to get the lenses perfect.

Like the guy in Asda did with me. (well ok, about 25 mins)

mainly down to whether you want to support a local business, or not IMO (same as with bike shops).
I had poor service from an independent (I don’t think I was the only one; he was close to retirement and obviously not that fussed any more) but the independent I use now is great.

Alternatively, I’ve had great service from the optometrist at Vision Express (very professional) just expect the hard sell when you go downstairs to choose your glasses! (sales staff outnumbered optometrists by about 3 to 1!)

Same here but with independent and boots…
Boots now keep offering me a free eyetest voucher .. the indy waited until after 2 yrs then the day later sent a “your prescription is now invalid” letter…

Based on my ability to read stuff the indy presciption was never correct in the first place…

So j8st been to the aforementioned Specsavers. Great service, plenty of tests, looked through pictures of my eyes and previous pictures too for comparison. Seemed very professional. Result being, slight loss of short sight but increase in long sight but still no need for glasses or hard sell to help me read easier etc.