Location: Canada
Background: When I first started wearing glasses the optometrist would just give me a piece of paper that I could take to any shop to get my lenses made. Then they started refusing that paper and insisting I either leave my frames with them for two weeks, or that I buy new frames.
And now it seems like even asking for the script, or the measurements, is ‘against policy’.
I recently went in for an eye exam and some new glasses, and the optician said something I have never been told before.
I had asked if they could give me the prescription for my sunglass lenses since they don’t deal with the brand that I prefer, and he said that I would have to schedule another appointment at a shop that deals with that brand, because the prescription was not enough, and I would also need the measurements he took.
I asked if I could have those measurements and he said it was against policy.
Is he lying to try to get me to buy new frames from his shop? Or is there something to what he is saying?
Confession - When he walked away I took a picture of the measuring app he had used which seems to show all the measurements.
Would this be useful to another shop? I’m just trying to buy lenses without spending a fortune on yet another frame.
It all feels like a scam.
Did you actually pay for an eye exam or was that a service the shop offers their customers?
I’m not in canada, so I don’t know how it works there, but I think this is a crucial difference.
I also assume you’ve been to a private Optician shop, not an official health care provider?
All eye care in Canada is private. As far as I know I’ve never heard of anyone offering eye exams for free. It’s usually $150-$200. For some people the government covers the fee, but it’s still a private practice and they get their money. Zero reason they can withhold the prescription.
Your healthcare doesn’t include ophthalmologists? Like eye doctors?
Where I live opticians usually do the test for free or for a small fee (maybe 20€) with the expectation that you buy your glasses from them.
If OP paid $150-200 they have every right to be pissed off.
Germany by any chance? I‘ve two pairs of glasses and never paid a cent for testing.
Correct. In Canada your eyes and your teeth are not part of your body apparently. They are not covered by health care. (Routine stuff anyways, some surgery’s could possibly covered, not 100% sure).
Free test with purchase of glasses, and obviously not giving out prescription, is completely reasonable. Unfortunately that is not what’s happening in Canada.
It was actually 220 :/