Non-motoring > Haggling at the opticians Buying / Selling
Thread Author: WillDeBeest Replies: 34
View Threaded 

 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:28 
 Haggling at the opticians - WillDeBeest
I wear glasses for distance, all day on the days I don't wear contacts. My current pair are not yet two years old, rather hi-tech looking and were very expensive, but somehow I've never quite bonded with them. They're perfectly fine, of course, but...

...I've got a new job to start next month, and part of me fancies a change. And I've seen a new pair I really like. I can't justify them practically, of course - especially since I wear contacts instead two days out of three. But that got me wondering.

Since I don't need them, the shop will have to make me want them enough to part with the asking price, which starts at close to £400 with 1.6-index lenses. Now, I could go to one of the various online dealers who advertise the same frame for £215 with 'free' lenses, but I value the personal contact in the shop and keep thinking of the colleague whose defining mannerism is pushing his bought-online glasses up his nose because they don't fit.

But at £400, someone's making a huge margin, aren't they? I get the impression that some regard opticians as akin to dentists, whose pronouncements and prices are not to be argued with, but at the dispensing level that's no more so than, say, a tyre shop. So who here has had the conversation on price with an independent high-street optician? And how did it go?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:32 
 Haggling at the opticians - Runfer D'Hills
I need glasses for reading these days. My wife has deposited a pair in every room in our house and a spare pair in the glovebox of my car in the sure and certain knowledge that I will lose them several times a day and at least once a week sit or tread on a pair.

Fortunately the pound shop does them for, well a £1.

Yes of course I know those aren't good for you but they're a £1.

;-)
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:38 
 Haggling at the opticians - WillDeBeest
That's why I mentioned that I wear them all day. At least it means I don't lose them - although a well-known airline (bizarrely) lost a pair for me once, which is how I ended up with the swanky ones I have now.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:40 
 Haggling at the opticians - Runfer D'Hills
I've got a "posh" pair somewhere. Not just entirely certain of of their exact current location to be honest.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:45 
 Haggling at the opticians - commerdriver
If your eyes are not a problem I would agree

Up to you the value you put on your sight
I have had glasses for more than half a century.
Now, I need varifocals with extremely strong left lens, I also wear mine constantly so have to be comfortable & look good & suitable for everything from driving to several hours a day for last 38 years looking at a screen.
My last bill for a single pair with light, thin lenses with VDU coating in decent frame was somewhere the wrong side of £700.
But for me they were / are worth every penny
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:46 
 Haggling at the opticians - Zero

>> decent frame was somewhere the wrong side of £700.
>> But for me they were / are worth every penny

Blimey, I thought mine were dear at 400 quid. A pair of frameless uber light varifocals.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:48 
 Haggling at the opticians - Runfer D'Hills
My pound shop ones are fine if you shut one eye.
Reply to this message | Report message
      1  
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:54 
 Haggling at the opticians - Skip
If I buy a cheap pair off the net from the likes of Spex4less you can guarantee that i will have them for at least 2 years until my prescription changes. However if I splash out on an expensive pair within a month i will have lost them or stood/sat on them !
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:57 
 Haggling at the opticians - Zero
>> My pound shop ones are fine if you shut one eye.

Probably explains why you crash your cycle all the time.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 18:35 
 Haggling at the opticians - Runfer D'Hills
I very rarely crash my bike while reading.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:56 
 Haggling at the opticians - Bromptonaut
>> Blimey, I thought mine were dear at 400 quid. A pair of frameless uber light
>> varifocals.

Mine were about £600 for varifocals in a Ray Ban aviator frame that was exactly what I wanted. 'Free' sunglasses too.

Keep taking them off to read or use the PC though. Constantly lose them round house and was VERY lucky not to tread on them grind then in sand on summer campsite. I need one of those things to keep them round my nek!!
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 17:58 
 Haggling at the opticians - Zero

>> Mine were about £600 for varifocals in a Ray Ban aviator frame that was exactly
>> what I wanted.

How very 70s.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 18:02 
 Haggling at the opticians - Bromptonaut
>> How very 70s.

I can't use the letterboxes that fashion has dictated in recent years. Not even as single vision never mind varifocals.

In spite of the RayBan label they're quite discreet. Not like the goggles I had in seventies. But when I'm wearing them I cannot see the frame.

Job Done.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 18:00 
 Haggling at the opticians - madf
My varifocals with variable tints were £350 at Vision Express: work perfectly. I am long sighted with a weak left eye so wear all the time (except when walking or gardening). With the new ones, I can now read very small print (again)..
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 19:02 
 Haggling at the opticians - John Boy
>> Keep taking them off to read or use the PC though.

Surely, that means they're not right? I thought the whole point of bi or vari focals is that you don't have to do that.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 19:28 
 Haggling at the opticians - Bromptonaut
>> Surely, that means they're not right? I thought the whole point of bi or vari
>> focals is that you don't have to do that.

I think it's more failure to adapt on my part. The reading segment is in the lower bit of lens, where it would be on bifocals. I need to adjust how I look through them for that and to lesser extent the mid distance bit.

It's just easier to take them off........

If I were still working full time at an office workstation I's sort it out properly, even if that meant a monitor on blocks etc.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 18:14 
 Haggling at the opticians - No FM2R
I always haggle at the opticians although typically I use Vision Express in the UK.

There is an amazing amount of potential for movement. Both in absolute cash terms and in addition of coatings, additional frames etc.

I should think we've settled around 60% of the starting position. Though there is much less haggling and much more acceptance of the inevitable these days.
Reply to this message | Report message
      1  
 Mon 19 Jan 15 18:39 
 Haggling at the opticians - CGNorwich
It's worth haggling nearly everywhere these days. Quit surprising how often you can get something off the price. Wife tends to walk away though.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Mon 19 Jan 15 18:48 
 Haggling at the opticians - Stuartli
Two friends of mine (both of whom served their time with top local opticians) eventually linked up and opened up their own business supplying glasses, including the necessary work involved making the lenses, ordered by various opticians in the area.

Eventually, however, they reasoned that they were doing 95 per cent of the work whilst making a reasonable living, but that the opticians were coining it big time for little effort.

So they decided to open up their own retail outlet, supplying top quality lenses and frames at very reasonable cost, and have been hugely successful.

In addition, another local firm that makes glasses for opticians, supplies them over a wide area of the North West and operates a daily delivery service.
Reply to this message | Report message
      1  
 Mon 19 Jan 15 20:11 
 Haggling at the opticians - BiggerBadderDave
"I value the personal contact in the shop"

Grope?
Reply to this message | Report message
      1  
 Mon 19 Jan 15 20:22 
 Haggling at the opticians - Crankcase
Went through this only a couple of months ago. Quote from favoured optician was just over £600. Tried a haggle, which I'm ace at. Not a penny would they shift.

Went to the usual other places in town, went through all the process, haggled, got about £30 off. Total waste of time. Perhaps Cambridge operate a cartel.

Anyway for that kind of savings I couldn't be bothered wi it after the fourth go round, so paid the full price back at preferred opticians.

So haggling was a failure for me.

I have however successfully haggled both at John Lewis, and rather surprisingly, at the till in Tesco.

I also haggle for a living; it always seems a lot easier to get a £50k bill down to 30k than it does to get a fiver off for some reason.
Reply to this message | Report message
      1  
 Mon 19 Jan 15 23:38 
 Haggling at the opticians - WillDeBeest
So, to summarize: one resounding yes, one firm no, some useful insight on the inner workings of the business - and quite a lot of rubbish. Reasonably typical C4P, then. At least nobody's (yet) told me it's better at Aldi.
}8---)
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Mon 19 Jan 15 at 23:41
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 01:37 
 Haggling at the opticians - Armel Coussine
My eyes are different, and I need glasses for distance and reading. So I have to juggle two pairs, and the readers especially are getting a bit scratched from being negligently stuck in my side pocket with mobile and keys... I don't like hanging them on poovy strings round my neck. Soppy of me I know.

Only proper opticians can make proper glasses, and they charge the earth even for cheapo frames that make you look like the Kray twins, They won't give you the essential measure of pupillary distance unless you lie on the floor screaming, and they'll probably try to mislead you even then.

That meant that my first attempt to get very cheap correct glasses on the internet failed. My attempt at doing it in the mirror following instructions didn't work properly. Perhaps I should demand the measurement next time and try again.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Tue 20 Jan 15 at 01:39
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 07:25 
 Haggling at the opticians - smokie
My Mrs measured my PD for an internet order, which was a success and much much cheaper. You are entitled to ask for your prescription which will have your PD on it. I would imagine once you know your PD it really doesn't change, unless you are Marty Feldman.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 11:29 
 Haggling at the opticians - Ted
>> My eyes are different, and I need glasses for distance and reading. So I have
>> to juggle two pairs,

Ha...Girly number of glasses...I juggle 4 !

Distance, which are not a lot different than naked eye. Polaroid, essential to cut any glare after various eye ops. Readers, 4.5 X 5 dioptre......too powerful for varies. Then I have a £1.25 pair for use at the monitor. Readers won't do, need to be closer for them.

SWM's just come home from the opty's with her new ones...£400.....sob ! I could get a car for that !
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 17:53 
 Haggling at the opticians - bathtub tom
>>SWM's just come home from the opty's with her new ones...£400.....sob ! I could get a car for that !

That's what I got for the old KIA!

Have you tried flogging her?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 18:04 
 Haggling at the opticians - Crankcase
>>
>> Have you tried flogging her?
>>

What, so she won't do it again you mean?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 07:25 
 Haggling at the opticians - Duncan
>> So, to summarize: one resounding yes, one firm no, some useful insight on the inner
>> workings of the business - and quite a lot of rubbish. Reasonably typical C4P, then.
>> At least nobody's (yet) told me it's better at Aldi Wetherspoons.
>> }8---)
>>
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 14:53 
 Haggling at the opticians - John Boy
>> }8---)

For a long time I thought that kind of thing was the result of clumsy typing. I know better now, but still haven't found a good dictionary for it. Can anyone help?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 18:04 
 Haggling at the opticians - Fursty Ferret
Just bite the bullet and pay for Intraocular Lens Replacement surgery. My parents both had it approaching 60 and leading active lifestyles and now no longer need glasses for anything, and never will.

Not on the NHS though for obvious reasons.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 20:16 
 Haggling at the opticians - Duncan
>> Just bite the bullet and pay for Intraocular Lens Replacement surgery. My parents both had
>> it approaching 60 and leading active lifestyles and now no longer need glasses for anything,
>> and never will.
>>
>> Not on the NHS though for obvious reasons.
>>

Or wait a few more years until cataracts develop and then have the cataract removed, lens fitted and, if you're lucky better than 6/6 vision.

All on the NHS.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 20:21 
 Haggling at the opticians - Zero

>> Or wait a few more years until cataracts develop ********* and then have the cataract removed,
>> lens fitted and, if you're lucky better than 6/6 vision.
>>
>> All on the NHS.


******** is the 24 month wait.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 20:27 
 Haggling at the opticians - Duncan

>> ******** is the 24 month wait.
>>

If you mean waiting for surgery, there wasn't a wait.

Perhaps you know the wrong people?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 21:56 
 Haggling at the opticians - Zero
>>
>> >> ******** is the 24 month wait.
>> >>
>>
>> If you mean waiting for surgery, there wasn't a wait.
>>
>> Perhaps you know the wrong people?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2363857/Thousands-elderly-losing-sight-NHS-rations-cataract-surgery.html.


My mother paid for hers privately, because the NHS had an 11 month waiting list and would only do one eye.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
 Tue 20 Jan 15 22:21 
 Haggling at the opticians - Ted

I had my cataracts done on the NHS at the Royal Manchester Eye Hospital. Very little wait and everything brand new and up to the moment.

When I got secondaries, there was a wait of about 4 months. We would have missed the Summer so we went privately. About £1600 IIRC. The wait was then 3 days and the same people did it who did the NHS work. It was done in the evening in the local Alexandra Hospital by YAG laser.

My consultant, Professor Stanga also cleared a number of retinal bleeds with a new device he'd devoloped called the Pascal Laser. This ' mapped ' the bleeds into the computer and then fired laser beams at them all in one shot. Seemed to work very well. No pain, just a ' fluffing ' sensation as the lasers hit the retina.

Never regretted it for a moment.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
Latest Forum Posts
Fri, 2 May 2025 22:34
Non-motoring
by zippy
Sycamore Gap Tree
And this at the crown court. Perhaps his friends used ...
Fri, 2 May 2025 21:34
Non-motoring
by Kevin
Local Elections...
>Getting used to the most popular party being right-wing nut-jobs ...
Fri, 2 May 2025 20:33
Non-motoring
by CGNorwich
Conclave
or A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance ...
Fri, 2 May 2025 20:14
Non-motoring
by Robin O'Reliant
Conclave
Religion - A demonstration of the cleverness of the few ...
Fri, 2 May 2025 20:10
Non-motoring
by James Loveless
Sycamore Gap Tree
Not sure if I'm allowed to be serious for a ...
Fri, 2 May 2025 19:52
Non-motoring
by CGNorwich
Conclave
It’s a definition certainly but so broad as to be ...