Vision Express

I visited Vision express a few weeks ago to have my eye tested as my eyes were playing up a little bit.
Why Didn't I go to specsavers? Well, I was just sitting in college and the first optician that came into my mind was vision express. I went on the Vision express website, hoping that I could book an appointment online instead of travelling all the way to town.
I logged onto vision express.com, to my comforting surprise the website was actually advertising how everyone could just book an appointment online in their nearest vision express rather than travelling, which of course could waste a lot of time.

However, booking an appointment online was pretty easy, all I had to do was to select my location which had to be Crawley as there isn't any vision express in Horley although vision express opticians are scattered through out the U.K, enter my full name, time and days of appointments needed, mobile or telephone number. I however only entered my mobile as I was not going to be home as the website had promised to call back on the same day (business hours only).
I booked my appointment at around 12pm, my local vision express called me back at around 2pm and I booked a 2.40pm appointment for the same day. I guess I only got the appointment because they were not busy (that's what the receptionist said) so your appointment could rollover to the next day if you're not lucky.

However, I went for my appointment which I was advised to arrive 5minutes early. When I got to the vision express in County Mall Crawley, I was greeted by a friendly lady who just asked my name and told me to take a sit and gave me dozens of magazine. It did scare me as I thought that I had to wait a long time, the thought was not too strong as I was the only one waiting to be seen. Nonetheless, after five minutes of waiting, another friendly lady approached me asked my name and told me to come in.
When I got into the examination room, I had to sit on this comfortable chair she asked me a couple of questions in a friendly manner, she was rather surprised that I had only one eye test in my life, which isn't healthy for the eye as everyone should have an eye test every two years.

Nevertheless, after a couple of questions which really didn't turn out to be 21 Questions like I thought it would be as I was new to vision express. After the questions actually found out that I was eligible for the NHS treatment (as I was eighteen years old and a full time student), suggesting that I didn't have to pay twenty pounds for the eye test. This was a bonus, so I recommend all those people whom are still eligible for the free NHS treatment to get the eye test done quickly and save some cash.

Before we even started the tests I told her that I don't like pain so she had to tell me if any of the test are painful and she agreed of course. My first eye test was to see if my eyes were healthy by taking a picture of my eyes. This was rather hard for me as I kept blinking every time the flash of the device flashed onto my eyes as it was very bright but wasn't blinding like other flash lights. The lady didn't seem to be annoyed at all, she was actually advising me what I could do to avoid blinking when the flash was about to flash. This was rather pleasing, as I would have got annoyed if someone kept blinking whilst I'm trying to do my job and have other appointment waiting etc. Finally, after minutes of trying she finally decided that she had taken enough pictures to show her that my eyes were clear and healthy and had no popular eye reaction such as blood clouts and swollen eyes etc.

Finally, it was time for the main test, which was to see if my eyes needed glasses or not as they got blurry at times when I try reading things from far. I had to wear these strange looking glasses which I was warned that they were not comfortable at all. The lady was right, the glasses were not comfortable at all and I am the one who had to wear them for a couple of minutes. I got sat on this chair and I had to read letters and every time it got hard she would change the lenses of the glasses I was wearing.
The lady who was examining me seemed very friendly and we were talking and laughing together every time she changed the lenses. The lady really seemed to enjoy her job. However, the eye finished and I finally had to take off the strange glasses.

My results came out and yes, it was bad news for me. She told me I was short sighted, and my eyes were getting blurry because my brain was getting tired blah blah blah. Therefore, I had to wear glasses when I watch T.V, use my laptop/PC and when I drive or anytime I just want to see far. More bad news came, I had to wait at least six months till I can consider wearing contact lenses and I had to come for another eye test in a year rather than two years.
She did try her best not to make me panic, I wasn't very surprised when she said it could be generic as my mum used to wear glasses (she doesn't have to anymore because her mind got used into seeing properly again), she also mentioned that there was a lot of short sighted people in The U.K. It really did make me feel better as I knew I wasn't alone and to make it better she said it could go away, the more I wear glasses the better, as they don't really recommend people to wear contact lenses for a long time as it's not good for the eyes.

After, the comforting conversation she gave me my prescription which I could use in any optician in the U.K. It was time for me to chose my frames which I had to pay for, but I got told I would get £35 off any frame which the NHS would pay. My lenses were free if I wasn't eligible for the free NHS treatment they would have cost me around £75.
I was however spoilt for choice as there were hundreds of frames which had different shapes, from different designers and different colours. I however, did not have enough time to go through all the glasses so I asked them if I could come back another day as I had to go to work and they said, yes.
The receptionist printed me off my voucher for the frames which took them seconds. I could use the voucher in any optician that provides NHS services including boots, specsavers etc.

I came back the following week on a Friday and started browsing the specs. Browsing was made easy as the glasses where split into two walls (men and women). Therefore, all I had to do was browse the women's wall, whereby the specs were split into other sections e.g. the rimless glasses on their own, the cheap specs on the bottom etc. The prices of the specs were clearly printed beside every pair of spec and you could try the specs on to see which ones suit you best.

After I chose the specs I wanted the optician told me to either come back the next day or wait an hour whilst they fit my prescription lenses unto the frames. However, if I wanted them on the same day I had to pay an administration fee of £5 then come back after an hour to pick up my glasses. I chose the express services as I did not have enough time to come back the next day or the next few days. I hanged around the mall for exactly an hour and went back to collect ma glasses. As promised ma lenses had been fitted and was ready to go.Overall I was rather impressed by the vision express service and I recommend them to everyone out there. They had informed me that if I did not like my glasses I could bring them back within 30days or if I found them cheaper elsewhere they would refund the difference. Now I'm back from my holiday and I just realized that I left my glasses. I went straight to vision express and they have me another prescription and the optician helped me to chose my new glasses. However, I wasn't covered by the NHS this time as I lost them. If I had broke the glasses I would have got £50 off my new pair of glasses.
For more info about vision express jus click on their site (vision express.co.uk) or pop into one of their hundreds shops around the U.K.