Re: Boots Opticians - Chesterfield, Derbyshire Booked an eye test at boots in chesterfield, was told the appointment will take 25 minutes. In total the entire process took around 1.5 hours. The low paid, recently graduated lady who did my peripheral vision, eye puff tests etc was great, friendly and efficient. I booked an eye test - making sure i didnt "tick" anything about contact lenses - walked into the examination room with the optician and he proceeds to sit and waste 30 minutes of my time trying to sell contact lenses to a person who has been told by every other optician (for 30 years) that contacts are not suitable for my prescription. The actual eye exam took less than 2 minutes after which he told me my prescription in my right eye hasnt changed at all in the 5 years since my previous test (my prescription has changed every year since the age of 5 - so i have very little faith in specs when they finally turn up) After this he starts to ask about driving, I tell him no less than 3 times i dont drive so he calls an assistant to help me choose frames - i'm left in the shop looking for frames while she sits in front of the computer for 20 minutes and when i finally ask her to help choose frames, her input was to ask if the nose pinches. I'm blind as a bat, i cant see myself or the glasses in the mirror and i need to know if they suit me - the lady hands two pairs to me and says "just choose one of these two pairs" - then hands me a feedback slip at the end of the appointment! All in all i get home having been charged £400 for one pair of single vision glasses - £115 for the frames and the rest for dispensing services - including "Drivesafe", "UVProtect" and "Duravision", none of which were discussed with me and were added to my bill (remember i told them 3 times i DONT drive) AVOID boots at all costs - hard sell, lack of professional standards and ethics, rediculously priced, extras added without discussion and abysmal customer service to a blind man trying to pick out frames! I have used them my entire life, from D&A to today - not only will i not be using them in the future, i'll also not shop at Boots again and will advise family, friends and colleagues to use other optometrists/opticians in the future.
Original Comment Report...

I rang Boots Optician Chesterfield on 13 February 2019 to make an appointment to see an optician. Two days earlier I had realised that there was a problem with the right eye, in seemed that there was a shadow across it. The next day quite late on I realised that I could hardly see anything out of the right eye and clearly needed to see an optician. So I rang on the Wednesday morning to make an appointment. I explained to the assistant who answered the phone what had happened. She asked me if I was in any pain. I replied I was not. She asked when I wanted an appointment, to which I replied 'as soon as possible'.She offered ma an appointment on the morning on Friday, 15 February which I accepted, thinking that was quite a long time to wait, but also thinking that it was probably not too serious and Friday would be fine. When I saw the optician on the Friday, he was very thorough and obviously very concerned. He diagnosed that the retina, he thought, had become detached and he then advised me to go immediately to the Halndmshire in Sheffield to the Eye Walk-in Centre, which I did. His diagnosis was correct and on the following Monday, 18th, the operation was done and I am recovering well. The point of writing to you now is to suggest that those who answer the phone need to be given more training to spot when situations are serious and either need appointments straight away or to be given advice to go to the hospital on Sheffield where there is always specialist and emergency treatment.If I had been seen on the Wednesday, the situation may have been less serious. I do not wish to get anyone in particular into trouble over this, but suggest you need to review your procedures and training to offer a better service.
Original Comment Report...