Spectacles - Spends You Have To Make

[The Masked Tulip]

My 80 year od Mum broke her spectacles this week. Turns out she broke her reading glasses a few months back and, well, it was a case of taking her to the optician to buy two pairs.

I cannot believe still, several days later, that, even with a buy one get the second half price, I paid £455.00 for two pairs of glasses. I bought them from a well known chain as well and, gee, they really know that they have you buy the balls don't they. Every sodding frame is some EXPENSIVE designer frame now whether you want it or not and they appear to keep a small selection of incredibly ugly frames. Worse, the lens are in the same ballpark figures that my professional camera lens are.

Of course, I love my Mum and wish her to have what she needs but, heck, I could not help commenting that spectacles seem to have escaped the deflation that we have seen elsewhere such as in clothing, consumer goods, etc. You just sat there and felt that you were being ripped off, that they knew you knew they were ripping you off but...

I went to Tescos yesterday - they now do glasses - expecting to see their prices considerably cheaper than D&H but, surprisingly, they weren't. I might have saved £50 a pair but the choice was much more limited. I fully understand whilst people are now buying 'ready-made' glasses and avoiding opticians altogether.

Anyhow, I am ranting the above because I am trying to figure out what other things have not fallen in price because they know they have you where they want you - certain services such as dentists, plumbers, sparks, etc, but what about goods? You can get away with not buying a new car or some consumer good but you can't get away with not buying glasses or having your teeth fixed. I am told that one dentist up the road from me is grossing about £1,000 per patient visit since he went private whilst the last nearby NHS guy is making a tenth of it.

As we head into recession, a coming HP crash and who knows what else I can't help thinking that there will still be people out there laughing all the way to the bank.

[Rain'ard]

Masked Tulip

If you have an Asda optician near you try them. Glasses are a pain in the a---s

Those who don’t have to have them don't realise how lucky they are.

List of disadvantages for information of those with 20 20 vision

Extra Cost

Swimming collisions

Steaming up under motorcycle helmet visors

Getting wet after winding down car window when raining

Steaming up in hot places.

Being called for eyes

Cant wear sunglasses only those naff old things that flip up ..yuk

Girls in glasses won’t make passes.

Getting them broke when she crosses her legs

Any four eyed old gits know any more

[BTL_MAKING_MONEY]

Masked Tulip

If you have an Asda optician near you try them. Glasses are a pain in the a---s

Those who don’t have to have them don't realise how lucky they are.

List of disadvantages for information of those with 20 20 vision

<snipped>

Steaming up under motorcycle helmet visors

<snipped>

This happens anyway although there is nothing more disconcerting than your glasses misting up rapidly as you pull onto the motorway on the motorbike doing 85mph - suddenly no vision!!!

Seriously, though, if your eyes are suitable for laser treatment and you can afford it, have them done. I had mine done 5 years ago and now have absolutely perfect vision and have not looked back. Got them at a 50% discount from boots (on account of working at the head office) although boots no longer do laser treatment. Over 20 or so years of glasses savings, it just about makes financial sense but all the inconveniences are gone.

[The Masked Tulip]

They've also made them fashion items now so you can't hang onto them for years and years. My Mum has poor vision hence a stronger lens needed which means a bigger, heavier lens which, of course, costs a lot more to have slimmmed down so not to be heavy and ugly looking.

Actually, my Mum worked all her Life and has a small state pension - frankly, she is worse off financially than her cousin who hardly worked. My Mum gets about £10 a month more in pension but because she is ont a 'proper' pension and her cousin is on income support the cousin gets everything at a fraction of the cost that my Mum does - even to having someone come from the Council and, I kid you not, changing broken lightbulbs.

It has been a real eye-opener for me seeing how people who have worked hard, contributed in taxes and have small savings are actually worse off than those who have never worked. As for Council Tax and why my 80 year old Mum has seen her house put up a band PLUS an increase whilst the numerous BTL houses in the same road do not pay a penny in Council Tax as they are let out to students is simply immoral.

Got them at a 50% discount from boots (on account of working at the head office) although boots no longer do laser treatment.

Why does Boots no longer do laser surgery?

[Gen-X]

I dropped my glasses the other day and one of the arms had snapped at the end.

So I ordered a new pair of the internet for the first time.

Very easy, selected a frame, typed in the lens prescription from my last visit to the opticians.

Within two days the new pair of glasses arrived on my doorstep. In total they cost me £30

You can't tell the difference between the old £120 pair and the new ones.

[erranta]

My 80 year od Mum broke her spectacles this week. Turns out she broke her reading glasses a few months back and, well, it was a case of taking her to the optician to buy two pairs.

I cannot believe still, several days later, that, even with a buy one get the second half price, I paid £455.00 for two pairs of glasses. I bought them from a well known chain as well and, gee, they really know that they have you buy the balls don't they. Every sodding frame is some EXPENSIVE designer frame now whether you want it or not and they appear to keep a small selection of incredibly ugly frames. Worse, the lens are in the same ballpark figures that my professional camera lens are.

Of course, I love my Mum and wish her to have what she needs but, heck, I could not help commenting that spectacles seem to have escaped the deflation that we have seen elsewhere such as in clothing, consumer goods, etc. You just sat there and felt that you were being ripped off, that they knew you knew they were ripping you off but...

I went to Tescos yesterday - they now do glasses - expecting to see their prices considerably cheaper than D&H but, surprisingly, they weren't. I might have saved £50 a pair but the choice was much more limited. I fully understand whilst people are now buying 'ready-made' glasses and avoiding opticians altogether.

Anyhow, I am ranting the above because I am trying to figure out what other things have not fallen in price because they know they have you where they want you - certain services such as dentists, plumbers, sparks, etc, but what about goods? You can get away with not buying a new car or some consumer good but you can't get away with not buying glasses or having your teeth fixed. I am told that one dentist up the road from me is grossing about £1,000 per patient visit since he went private whilst the last nearby NHS guy is making a tenth of it.

As we head into recession, a coming HP crash and who knows what else I can't help thinking that there will still be people out there laughing all the way to the bank.

You use a computer so I don't know what you ranting about.

The first site I looked @ here

http://www.perfectspecs.co.uk/

Starts @ £20.00 for prescription lenses and a frame???????

And there's MORE!

You are under NO obligation WHATSOEVER to purchase specs through an Optician!!

Just get a prescription for £20.00 odd (even these can be FREE - if you find an online promotion!!!!!!) GO ONLINE, choose your frame and bingo!

I've NEVER paid more than £20.00 for a pair of specs and all mine are fashionionable frames with reactolite lenses

(I do get a small discount coz I have a friend in the lens surfacing business)

[Without_a_Paddle]

Masked Tulip

If you have an Asda optician near you try them. Glasses are a pain in the a---s

Those who don’t have to have them don't realise how lucky they are.

List of disadvantages for information of those with 20 20 vision

Extra Cost

Swimming collisions

Steaming up under motorcycle helmet visors

Getting wet after winding down car window when raining

Steaming up in hot places.

Being called for eyes

Cant wear sunglasses only those naff old things that flip up ..yuk

Girls in glasses won’t make passes.

Getting them broke when she crosses her legs

Any four eyed old gits know any more

I am short sighted (-2.25) and I wear contact lenses.

Glasses are awful for the reasons you describe.

The worst for me was the steaming up. Go into a club on a cold evening and whoosh!

Instant steam up and loss of vision. (and the steamed up look was never in fashion)

My lenses can be left in overnight and are brilliant.

They are not cheap but they are worth it.

[Rain'ard]

This happens anyway although there is nothing more disconcerting than your glasses misting up rapidly as you pull onto the motorway on the motorbike doing 85mph - suddenly no vision!!!

Seriously, though, if your eyes are suitable for laser treatment and you can afford it, have them done. I had mine done 5 years ago and now have absolutely perfect vision and have not looked back. Got them at a 50% discount from boots (on account of working at the head office) although boots no longer do laser treatment. Over 20 or so years of glasses savings, it just about makes financial sense but all the inconveniences are gone.

I’ve consider laser treatment, but at the moment I wouldn’t want to have to dip in the old FTB fund, but maybe after a couple of years and HPC comes my way I could

MEW To View

MT “tell me about it!!!

[The Masked Tulip]

You use a computer so I don't know what you ranting about.

The first site I looked @ here

http://www.perfectspecs.co.uk/

Starts @ £20.00 for prescription lenses and a frame???????

And there's MORE!

You are under NO obligation WHATSOEVER to purchase specs through an Optician!!

Just get a prescription for £20.00 odd (even these can be FREE - if you find an online promotion!!!!!!) GO ONLINE, choose your frame and bingo!

I've NEVER paid more than £20.00 for a pair of specs and all mine are fashionionable frames with reactolite lenses

(I do get a small discount coz I have a friend in the lens surfacing business)

Whilst my Mother is 80 she is a still a woman and still proud of her looks. Glasses, to a woman, are more than just something to see through. Making sure they fit comfortably, etc, is important also. However, I get your point and I will certainly look at online options in the future if I need a pair.

I know we are all talking about spectacles but I started this thread more as a way of trying to figure out who will still be raking money in come any recession as a result of a HP crash - private dentists no doubt and, so I thought, opticians. I imagine most people still buy their glasses via an optician. Undertakers, no doubt, are another profession who can charge what they wish. Who else?

I’ve consider laser treatment, but at the moment I wouldn’t want to have to dip in the old FTB fund, but maybe after a couple of years and HPC comes my way I could

MEW To View

I only have 4 experiences of laser eye surgery.

1. A work colleague who had it done back in the mid 1990s - TV cameraman - and he swore by it.

2. An eye specialist who told me he would have it done - in 20 years time when it was no longer experimental.

3. An optician - ditto the eye specialist.

4. A BBC radio programme talking to people here in the UK whose laser eye surgery had gone wrong.

[erranta]

Whilst my Mother is 80 she is a still a woman and still proud of her looks. Glasses, to a woman, are more than just something to see through. Making sure they fit comfortably, etc, is important also. However, I get your point and I will certainly look at online options in the future if I need a pair.

T.M.T.

You make them 'fit properly' by bending the arms/nose bits with PLIARS - just like the optician's assistant does - when they disappear behind the curtain!!

Simple as that

Edited October 8, 2005 by erranta

[clv101]

I will certainly look at online options in the future if I need a pair.

Try these guys: http://www.goggles4u.com/

[Rain'ard]

Sorry MT it was me that diverted your the point of your thread. I think professionals can always survive economic downturns much better than the rest, as they usually have a strong professional body that is more `closed shop` than any trade union or artisan can achieve. They have a tendency to be single minded and focused on their problems and not be distracted by internal differences and more able to stick together and maintain tariffs.

The ordinary bod unfortunately just gets confused, sacked or take less. This is only an opinion. Someone could come up with a more educated explanation, but this one suits me.

[The Masked Tulip]

I think that is a very interesting observation. The 'old boys' network' as such.

[Rain'ard]

Your right Erranta. They go around the back and bend them across their knee like putting a bend in half inch copper tube. If your not satisfied you go back the next week and he bends them back

[Saving For a Space Ship]

The optician cartel appear to be a particlularly strong one . They are prepared to take ebay on in court re: contact lenses http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money-savers/...19&in_page_id=5

as I posted on a previous Hpc ebay thread

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...0&hl=ebay&st=20

"Court case in sight for eBay

Sean Poulter, Daily Mail

29 September 2005

THE Internet auction site eBay is being prosecuted after being accused of allowing the sale of cheap disposable contact lenses.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money-savers/...19&in_page_id=5

Trade Associations (cartels), Retailers & industry trying to slow the slide to online trade is surely a sign of an increasingly desperate high street . In one way, its good ebay are too big to take on now, the big boys would destroy many smaller players.

"

Edited October 8, 2005 by Saving For a Space Ship

[HomeAlone]

Forget Speccies, you should have gone to another well knows supermarket *patts backside*. Give me your mums prescription and I'll tell you what it would cost, the absolute most you can spend on a reading pair of reading glasses is £228 and that's for ultra super thin lenses with a anti glare anti scratch coating in a designer rimless frame. The cheapest she could get is £24, that's for a plastic frame with basic CR39 lenses.

I've seen people's faces drop when I tell them my prices, the problem is people tend to believe what they are told when it comes to glasses. I went with a friend to Speccies (he wanted a designer frame which at the time my place couldn't supply) to give honest advice and was shocked to hear the assistant talk such utter lies. She had him believing his lenses would come out like jam jar bottoms when his prescription was only minor.

Despite this I worry about my job, even though we can beat any price hands down we still don't get enough people through the door. It's like doctors and dentists, people go to the same one they've always gone to out of loyalty, habbit or because they can't be bothered to shop aroound.

[right_freds_dead]

I dropped my glasses the other day and one of the arms had snapped at the end.

So I ordered a new pair of the internet. In total they cost me £30

You can't tell the difference between the old £120 pair and the new ones

thats because your eyes are bad.

[The Masked Tulip]

Dentists, how can they make £1000 per patient when for example I am private (as a dentist friend of mine said I am very private when he asked how much I pay) yet I dont I pay him that sort of money in fact probably not even 1/10th of that money and he lives just down the road from me as well. However a young lady I dated briefly did pay £25k to have enamels done, funnily enough at the same outfit I go to, so it might be possible they get that sort of money but I would doubt it!

I suppose they can make the money because they have the combination of a captive market and people in pain. This is Wales and, whilst it probably does not get the attention it deserves elsewhere in the UK, there are virtually no NHS dentists left in Wales. So people only call on the services of a dentist when in pain and, at which point, you will pay anything to get relief.

My own dentist is currently one of the few NHS ones remaining. When I visit there are always people in there begging for him to see them because such and such down the road has asked about 1K to treat their problem.

It is obscene. It is immoral.

[right_freds_dead]

Quite frankly too many dont take account of their own actions when things go wrong but are happy to take the credit when things go well.

i said that. but i didnt say the first thing you said.

[Rain'ard]

I’m a fat person with bad teeth. You would think that after all the money I paid for in national insurance I could find a dentist. I can’t get one more pizza down my throat because of this b------y toothache. When are they going to bring in fat peoples legislation for wider dentist chairs so people like us can get our fat ar-s’s in.

I went to the doctors yesterday and told him every time I have a fag I get this cough. I said I’ve done every thing I could about it, changed my brand, shut the windows and all he come up with is give it up, b-----y defeatist. What are we all paying our money for and what’s my cough bad teeth and fat guts got to do with house prices, stupid doctor couldn’t even tell me that.

[izzy]

I suppose they can make the money because they have the combination of a captive market and people in pain. This is Wales and, whilst it probably does not get the attention it deserves elsewhere in the UK, there are virtually no NHS dentists left in Wales. So people only call on the services of a dentist when in pain and, at which point, you will pay anything to get relief.

My own dentist is currently one of the few NHS ones remaining. When I visit there are always people in there begging for him to see them because such and such down the road has asked about 1K to treat their problem.

It is obscene. It is immoral.

As a dentist I have to disagree. I work mostly in the NHS (in priority care and access) and part-time in private practice. Dentistry isn't nearly as lucrative as most people think, the running costs are enormous. Consider this, when you have a crown made you are paying 3 people, not one (dentist, dental nurse, lab technician) and you are paying overheads: staff such as cleaner, receptionist; running costs and the price of materials.

Secondly, changes to the way NHS dentistry is being orgainised is FORCING dentists out of the NHS. Please view my previous post on this subject.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=16461