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Glasses

Making your money go further
GeoffF100
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Re: Glasses

#395887

Postby GeoffF100 » March 15th, 2021, 7:00 pm

I spoke to a lady who was much more helpful this time. I have ordered a pair of Rufus glasses (round is good for my prescription) with standard lenses and a 1.75 intermediate addition. At £49, they should be a decent pair of computer glasses.

GeoffF100
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Re: Glasses

#399769

Postby GeoffF100 » March 28th, 2021, 1:41 pm

GeoffF100 wrote:I spoke to a lady who was much more helpful this time. I have ordered a pair of Rufus glasses (round is good for my prescription) with standard lenses and a 1.75 intermediate addition. At £49, they should be a decent pair of computer glasses.

The glasses were useless as computer glasses. I thought that I must have been given someone else's prescription by mistake. I made an appointment at Specsavers and complained. I was invited back for a retest. It turned out that the glasses did not have a 1.75 intermediate addition as I was told. They had a reading addition instead. (If Boots were right, they could not have legally supplied a 1.75 addition, because that was not on my prescription.) The second test was done by old fashioned methods, including test at reading distance and another a monitor distance. I now have both a near and an intermediate addition on my prescription. They are making up glasses with a 1.50 intermediate addition. Hopefully, they will do the job.

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Re: Glasses

#399839

Postby stevensfo » March 28th, 2021, 4:56 pm

GeoffF100 wrote:
GeoffF100 wrote:I spoke to a lady who was much more helpful this time. I have ordered a pair of Rufus glasses (round is good for my prescription) with standard lenses and a 1.75 intermediate addition. At £49, they should be a decent pair of computer glasses.

The glasses were useless as computer glasses. I thought that I must have been given someone else's prescription by mistake. I made an appointment at Specsavers and complained. I was invited back for a retest. It turned out that the glasses did not have a 1.75 intermediate addition as I was told. They had a reading addition instead. (If Boots were right, they could not have legally supplied a 1.75 addition, because that was not on my prescription.) The second test was done by old fashioned methods, including test at reading distance and another a monitor distance. I now have both a near and an intermediate addition on my prescription. They are making up glasses with a 1.50 intermediate addition. Hopefully, they will do the job.


This is the first time I've heard about this 'legally' bit. I wonder if they're simply making it up to sound more professional?

I can't stand Specsavers. Over a decade ago, they upset all of us when, after years of me going in with our young children to be all tested together, they said that they had specific days for children, and we couldn't have appointments at the same time any more. So after 10 years, I tried them again. Totally screwed up my varifocals and I realised that sometimes, it pays to go to a real professional, pay a bit more, but get glasses that work!

Steve

GeoffF100
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Re: Glasses

#399871

Postby GeoffF100 » March 28th, 2021, 6:38 pm

Specsavers is a franchise operation. My local Specsavers is an independent that decided "if you can't beat them join them". Specsavers is packed and literally turning people away. Boots and Vision Express are empty. There are lots of independents in the Yellow Pages, but which are the good ones?

88V8
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Re: Glasses

#400703

Postby 88V8 » March 31st, 2021, 10:41 pm

GeoffF100 wrote: There are lots of independents in the Yellow Pages, but which are the good ones?

Yes indeed.

The previous owner of our house recommended us to what turned out to be a very good private dentist.
But his favoured optician has been taken over/retired.

Twelve years ado I went to an excellent independent where we lived previously but he was murdered in Africa whilst on charity work.
Here, we've been to Kodak - not particularly impressed - and Boots who are OK, but their first appointment is 2 months hence....

I have an eight-year old PVD in both eyes, and vertical diplopia in one. Recent sunny days have revealed that bright light is more noticeable than last summer.
So I would like to find a good independent. But as you say... how?

V8

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Re: Glasses

#400800

Postby pompeygazza » April 1st, 2021, 10:56 am

I bought some reading glasses (+1s the optician referred to them as) from the Poundshop to enable me to see closeup stuff with my contact lenses in. They had quite a range up to +-2.5. For a pound, well worth a punt.

GeoffF100
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Re: Glasses

#402566

Postby GeoffF100 » April 8th, 2021, 11:26 am

GeoffF100 wrote:
GeoffF100 wrote:I spoke to a lady who was much more helpful this time. I have ordered a pair of Rufus glasses (round is good for my prescription) with standard lenses and a 1.75 intermediate addition. At £49, they should be a decent pair of computer glasses.

The glasses were useless as computer glasses. I thought that I must have been given someone else's prescription by mistake. I made an appointment at Specsavers and complained. I was invited back for a retest. It turned out that the glasses did not have a 1.75 intermediate addition as I was told. They had a reading addition instead. (If Boots were right, they could not have legally supplied a 1.75 addition, because that was not on my prescription.) The second test was done by old fashioned methods, including test at reading distance and another a monitor distance. I now have both a near and an intermediate addition on my prescription. They are making up glasses with a 1.50 intermediate addition. Hopefully, they will do the job.

I collected the glasses and they appear to be unchanged. Still useless as computer glasses. They seem to work as reading glasses, but that is not what I ordered. They seem to be fobbing me off. I am really not sure what to do now. Perhaps I should try to find another optician who will confirm that the glasses still have a reading prescription. Is it worth chasing Specsavers again, given that each iteration takes a few weeks? Probably not.

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Re: Glasses

#403125

Postby Snowbadger » April 10th, 2021, 10:29 am

Hi Geoff,
as the only retired optom on the site that I know of ( and a former Specslaver ) let me see if I can help.
As I am sure must have been said, lenses are measured in Dioptres as they are nice chunky numbers and less fiddly than
focal lengths. So to work out your reading addition, measure the distance from your forehead to the screen in metres. So 1D = 1/fl, therefore if the screen distance is 0.5m , 1/0.5 = 2.0D. The most commonly used intermediate power is 1.5D which is focussed at 67cm.
This can vary a little for tall or short people PC or laptop.
One common problem though as I guess this isn't a youth forum :0) is the decline in visual acuity with age which is more pronounced with computer screens due to the lower contrast compared to the black on white of a book. If you are unhappy, you must make the store director aware as it is their neck on the block if you escalate it to the head office in Guernsey. If you get the optom partners name and write them a calm friendly letter outlining your problems I'm sure they will want to see you personally to resolve your issues.

Let me know how you get on,

All the best,

SB

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Re: Glasses

#403128

Postby Snowbadger » April 10th, 2021, 10:32 am

88V8,
what part of the UK do you live in. Although I retired several years ago I may be able to recommend someone for you.

SB.

GeoffF100
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Re: Glasses

#403291

Postby GeoffF100 » April 10th, 2021, 7:51 pm

Thank you very much SB. I am a physicist by training, so I had worked that out the optics for myself. There is a small correction because there is a space between the lens of the eye and the glasses lens, but that should be negligible. The distance from my eye to the screen as I type is about 57 cm. That suggests a reading correction of +1.75.

The ophthalmic partner did the original Specsavers eye test. I had stated in writing on my online booking form that I wanted computer glasses, but he only did distance vision tests. He put a near addition of +2.25 on my prescription, but no intermediate addition. I said that I wanted computer glasses, and he said that he would talk to someone. She annoyed me so much by persistently trying to sell me new distance glasses, that I left. I made another appointment and returned the next week and agreed to buy a pair of £49 glasses with a +1.75 addition. I collected the glasses and tried them with my computer monitors and found them to be useless as computer glasses.

I complained and was offered a retest. Another optician did that test. He said that the new glasses had a reading addition of +2.25. I took along the very old reading glasses (held together with a piece of wire) that I use as computer glasses. He measured the strength of those, but I do not know what the results were. He did a test with a card at what I said was my reading distance, and what I estimated was my viewing distance from the monitor that I use most frequently. As you rightly say, I find it harder to read text on a monitor than on paper. The contrast is less good. The image is pixelated and not as sharp. I can also get cobweb like shadows with a backlit monitor. (I have had floaters in the past.) The second prescription differed only by 0.25 dioptres in a couple of places from the previous one. The second prescription was more consistent with previous prescriptions. I do not always get it right to 0.25 dioptres, but I am usually consistent. He gave me a prescription with an intermediate addition of +1.5 dioptres.

I was told that the glasses would be re-glazed with the new prescription and the intermediate addition of +1.5 dioptres. When the glasses arrived, they appeared to be unchanged. They seem to work as reading glasses, but I have not tried to read more than a paragraph or two. They are still useless as computer glasses.

I emailed Premier Vision, and they suggested that I pay for a private test at £29. I popped into an independent optician down the road. The young man was very helpful. He had offered to measure the strengths of the lenses in the new glasses and the the old ones that I am using as computer glasses. I am going back on Monday. That should enable me to take stock of the situation.

I live on the periphery of Bradford.

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Re: Glasses

#403389

Postby Snowbadger » April 11th, 2021, 12:07 pm

Hi Geoff,
0.25 as I am sure you know is pretty insignificant and usually when I hear of these sorts of unresolved problems it has more to do with the ageing of eyesight. Perhaps best discussed via a private message but I can't work out how to do one. :0). Let me know if you are happy to discuss on the board.

Cheers,

SB.

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Re: Glasses

#403435

Postby tjh290633 » April 11th, 2021, 4:38 pm

Snowbadger wrote: Perhaps best discussed via a private message but I can't work out how to do one. :0). Let me know if you are happy to discuss on the board.

Click on the poster's name. On the left of the screen that comes up you will see "Contact GeoffF100" and below that "PM Send Private Message". Click on that to compose and send your message.

TJH

GeoffF100
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Re: Glasses

#403473

Postby GeoffF100 » April 11th, 2021, 7:28 pm

Hi SB,

I greatly appreciate your help. I am happy to discuss on the board or via PM. Whatever you think is more appropriate. At age 71, I am told that I have the beginnings of cataracts, but that my eyesight is still good. I have one pair of glasses that works as computer glasses and one that does not. Indeed, my distance glasses are probably better as computer glasses than the "computer glasses" for use with a screen. I have got a suspicion that my eyes are not working together well with the dodgy glasses. Perhaps the centres of the lenses are incorrectly positioned. Raising the glasses does not seem to help. Hopefully, I will have more information from measurements tomorrow.

Geoff.


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