A few months ago, I bought new glasses at Specsavers, but after a few times returning to the shop to get them adjusted, I decided I will just have to settle for them constantly slipping down my nose! The only cure Specsavers offered was to keep bending the arms using their heat gun. This didn’t work well and I had came to the conclusion I should just put up with them! Yesterday, they snapped in half.
It was my fault. I was sick of continuously having to push them back up my nose. So, I tried to bend the glasses at the middle joint and snap, the frame broke in half.
Jane was straight onto social media trying to find if there was an optician nearby that might be able to glue the frames together. She found an optician called, “MiOptica” situated about 100 metres from our apartment in Playa Blanca where we’re staying for 3 weeks.
It was 7:00pm and within minutes, I’d put my t-shirt on and walked to the optician, which was open until 8:00pm daily. At seeing my broken frames, Celia, the assistant, said she could find replacement frames to put the lenses in, but would need a couple of hours. I was so excited by the prospect of a solution. She suggested she would What’sApp me the following morning when she’d found a selection.
Two hours after the shop had opened at 10:30 am, I received a text stating Celia had found several frames and invited me back to try them. Within five minutes, I was back in the shop. Celia had predicted the pair I would choose and had already put the lenses into the frames. They were perfect and fitted me so well.
I had already phoned Specsavers in Wigan and requested they send a copy of my prescription. They did so quite promptly. So I gave the prescription to Celia and asked if I could order a second pair. I selected a frame from their decent range and paid up. Here’s the thing. The price of the replacement frame (I’m wearing them in the photo below) was 59 euros, much less than they would have cost in the UK. The price of the second pair with prescription lens was 82 euros and they will be ready for collection in 3 days maximum.
Celia couldn’t do enough to help me. Her customer service was something I have never received in England. The price is much lower than UK prices and the time to deliver is days, not weeks. What on earth has happened to our country? Specsavers are the largest chain of opticians in the UK, yet their range of glasses is limited (in Wigan), their prices are not cheap, and their customer service leaves much room for improvement. Yet here in Lanzarote, a small store in a back street (though part of a chain) offers so much more, on an island a little over thirty miles in length.
I know where I’m getting my glasses in the future!
On A Lighter Note . . .
Lighter Note 1:
When I got back from the first visit to MiOptica, Jane was laughing at me. She said, “Did you know you have your t-shirt inside out and back to front?“
I was so embarrassed. I’d just been to the opticians dressed like that. In a hurry to get there, and without any glasses on, I’d not checked my attire.
When I returned to the opticians the following morning, I mentioned to Celia, “About my T-shirt yesterday…” Before I could continue, she broke into a big smile and knew what I was going to apologise for. She saw the funny side, thank goodness.
Lighter Note 2:
Because I was left without any sunglasses, and the sun is so bright in Lanzarote, I decided to go to a Chinese shop and get some temporary ordinary glasses to tide me over.
I paid 6 euros for these bad boys and although my vision was blurred wearing them, I thought I looked so cool! And I could gawp at people without them knowing! Sadly, they’re redundant for the time being!
