I went into my local store in York a few weeks ago and chose a pair of red Prada frames and a pair of free sunglasses - all of the staff were very helpful, extremely knowledgeable and friendly and made the process very easy. A few days later I went to pick up my new glasses, quickly tried them on, thanked the staff and then took them home...
Hmmm... on closer inspection on the free sunglasses I noticed two big scratches on the metal frames but thought oh well, I suppose they were free and I would just be wearing them for driving.. Then on the Prada glasses I firstly noticed a big scratch through the red colouring down to the bare metal on the front of the bridge and then as I looked closer and closer I realised that the entire frames were covered in tiny scratches, the most noticeable being on the inside of the bridge where there was hardly any paint left, on and around were down to the bare metal - obviously not happy with this I then looked at the lenses. Both lenses had a ridge on the top and bottom, the coating had started to peel away on one lens and when I looked at a certain angle there were about 10 curved cracked lines across the entire lens! 1 - this is not the quality I would expect from a genuine pair of Prada frames (perhaps if I had bought them from a dodgy seller on Ebay and knew they were fakes then fair enough!) 2 - how on earth did this amount of damage on two pairs of frames and lenses get past their quality control or even the person who made them?
I returned to the store and explained the problems and they told me that they would 'sort them out'. 3 phonecalls later I found out that the frames were actually discontinued and they had tried to find a pair at another branch but had been unsuccessful. I was offered a few options - one being to have the frames for free and just pay for the lenses (which were also damaged) I turned this down obviously, said I would just like a refund and that I would pop in in a few days to get this. I was then told that their Head Office would send me the refund instead so I thanked them for their help and left it at that. Over a week later as I still hadn't heard anything I phoned Optical Express' Head Office to see what was happening and they told me that their refunds take 28 DAYS!! Not being particularly impressed with this after all the hassle and a credit card bill to pay for the glasses which I no longer had I queried why it would take so long - I was told I was in a queue (makes you wonder how many other people have had the same problems as glasses aren't really something you change your mind about and pop back to the shop for a refund are they?) I told them I was near the shop that afternoon and asked them to inform the branch I would be going in for a refund - they told me that this wasn't possible and that their 'machines don't do refunds' (hmm.. I have worked in retail for years and have never come across a machine that wasn't set up for this..) To cut a long story short I got a bit cross as I think under the circumstances they should have gone out of their way to make the refund as quick and easy as possible and they 'rushed' my refund through and I received a cheque by special delivery the day after.
All in all the staff at the branch were fantastic but if the end product cannot be produced in an undamaged condition and their Head Office policies on refunds are absurd then unfortunately I cannot recommend Optical Express.
Thanks for reading - and the Prada frames were rimless VPR52F if you want to avoid those too!
Advantages: Very efficient and knowledgeable staff, good layout and painless service Disadvantages: Not the most friendly service - emphasis on efficiency, prices nothing special
Sep 12th, 2008
very helpful by (100%):
