And it costs companies like Specsavers around £2 to have those lenses cut. Insane markup.

You do realise there are costs involved in running businesses?! They can't give free /virtually free eye test and then not make profit on the sale of the specs?! How could they survive as a business?!
Until people are willing to pay a fair going rate for their eye tests then the costs of providing eye care will always have to be subsidised by glasses sales. In terms of what a fair going rate is, the average cost per hour of running a testing room is roughly £300. (That's excluding dispensing opticians costs etc)

If you have a normal/glasses prescription, whoever is doing your contact lenses should be able to take that and convert it for you.




They are obligated to, so just ask for it if they don't offer it. I didn't have to ask last time I went to Vision Express, unlike Specsavers.




That's a pretty normal price for any high street optician. Last time I paid that sort of money I got some nice designer frames and quality lenses that lasted me 10 years until my prescription changed. My next pair of glasses were £30 from Glasses Direct and they've been awful - frames are okay but the lenses are terrible, really hard to keep clean and I'm not sure they're the right prescription as I get an almost instant headache when using them. I'm using this free eye test to double check my prescription and then hopefully get some better quality glasses that cost somewhere in between, although I'm considering laser eye surgery so might just put the money towards that instead.




That's an Amselr grid (not answer grid) and it's used to test for macular degeneration - it's not going to give you your prescription. In fact, if you need glasses you need to wear them to do that test and it clearly states "using the chart doesn't mean you should skip annual visits to your eye doctor, because you can easily miss signs that only a trained eye care practitioner will find" and "The chart below is an approximation of the printed chart used by eye doctors. For more accurate detection of macular damage, you will need a comprehensive eye exam."

You'll need to book a contact lens consultation and free contact lens trial. You can only do this though if your eye test prescription is less than a year old.

The fact that the optometrist was not NHS registered actually means that they cannot conduct NHS tests, let alone issue vouchers (NHS tests being those for kids, over 60's, diabetics, family history of glaucoma etc...). Your son couldn't have had a test from a non NHS approved optom, which means either the story was confused or they were doing something shady. Equally you shouldn't have been able to have another NHS test a week later - there are minimum interval periods except for special circumstances.

It is not a bad deal from a rip-off high street opticians. However six months supply of toric lenses from Tesco is £68 so unless the lenses were something fancy, £62 sounds expensive (as I mentioned before ASDA will supply a complete set of spectacles with thin coated lenses for £50.

Not in England they aren't, unless you are a child, an OAP, or poor.

Ill only use this if they do lol

Not sure. My wife was given a prescription with the pair of glasses she purchased from them-which was handy, as only 2 months later she needed it to purchase some more after losing her £130 (that had £50 off!!)glasses from them. Found the identical ones at Specsforless for nearly £50 cheaper.

They are supposed to. I know a few opticians that don't give the prescription automatically. You are well within your rights to ask for the prescription and take it elsewhere for spectacles regardless if the sight test was conducted privately, free or conducted free on the NHS. Either way your entitled to it.

I can still see this getting hot though :wink:

Strangely enough Vision Express owns Tesco Opticians.

Some people don't like Tesco so another option appreciated.

Tesco has sold off their opticians business to Vision Express so expect some changes.

Far, far better is to take your free prescription to an ASDA optician.

ASDA supply thin lenses for no extra cost if your prescription needs it (on a sliding scale, so the worse your eyesight the thinner the lens).

The last pair I bought from them was £50 including coated 1.7 index lenses.

I found them very reasonable. All the "premium name" brands were around £120-£200. I didn't think much of their double digit frames either, but I think it depends on your budget & also if you will wear them 24/7 (I'm short sighted so willing to pay 3 figures as I need to wear constantly). If you only wear to read, I would feel differently!