If you want to go to an opticians where the owner completely lacks empathy for anyone with debilitating eye conditions and shouts flippant remarks at you about your sight, then this is the right place for you. My mother who is very short sighted due to an eye condition visited Lauder & Rees opticians in November 2023 to purchase new glasses. This is one of the worst experiences I have had and witnessed. The owner of the opticians, Shabeer Dawood was initially very helpful when helping my mother choose some frames (ridiculously overpriced), although not very attentive and quite pushy for her to purchase these specific frames of which in total cost her £1,100 for the frames and lenses due to the very high prescription. When she received the glasses, she noticed that an error had been made with one of the lens prescriptions, therefore the glasses had to be returned and rectified. But at each visit, my mother mentioned that she was unable to see out of the other lens clearly or sharply and her concerns were disregarded and she was told that she would get used to it. When the new glasses were ready to pick up, again my mother reiterated that without completely adjusting the frame, she couldn't see sharply or clearly. Shabeer insisted her eyes would get used to these glasses and to preserve which is what she did. However, as time went on and after seeking advice elsewhere, it didn't feel right that a pair of glasses that she had just spent a lot of money on to enable her to see were of no real use to her. The final time we went back to the opticians about the ongoing issue (February 2024) (please note, not once was she difficult or rude, she was always polite, patient and understanding, considering the circumstances), Shabeer was adjusting the frames yet again when he began shouting at my mother and then at me in an unprovoked attack saying 'I HAVE DONE ALL THAT I CAN DO', 'THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT I CAN DO' and 'YOU HAVE POOR VISION' (bit of a silly comment to mak

My mother was made to feel like an inconvenience for having a severe eye condition of which the establishment owner Shabeer Dawood did not care about and instead shouted at us both with comments such as 'YOU HAVE POOR VISION' and 'I CANNOT DO ANYMORE' he was only interested in the money and fobbing us off. If someone is paying a large amount of money, or any amount of money at all, then they should be taken seriously and NOT shouted at in an aggressive manner. It is shocking behaviour for a man of his profession to lack such customer care in such a disgraceful way and be a bully towards two women. Please be careful and do not be fooled by the so called 5 star reviews as we unfortunately were. Please ensure you read ALL of the reviews before you consider this place. There is plenty of competition out there where you will find caring, professional and understanding opticians. Do not fall for the fake nice act of Shabeer Dawood. Once he has your money, he is not interested.

I went today for my annual contact lens check and an eye check plus I wanted the lens changed in my glasses to vari lenses. I ended up paying £900 for all of this. If I hadn’t said no to reading glasses at £200 (which I can buy at Boots etc for circa £20 the total bill would have been more. Absolutely extortionate prices. My original appointment was for 12.30 which was then changed the day before to 2pm. On arriving at the opticians it was clear that a more important customer had wanted my original appointment. This important customer spent £50! Just not feeling like a valued customer and they just wanted to make money out of me. WON’T BE RETURNING NEXT YEAR!
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