Ignore her, she's complaining again.
Nov. 11th, 2006 06:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustWent to the optician this morning to collect my new glasses. I'm not wearing them yet, because they make the world look very bright and sharp, and I'm not quite ready for this: not wearing them now in any case, because they aren't the pair I wear from screen work.
I knew, when I went in for my eye test, that I really did need a new pair of glasses this year, and I knew that they would be expensive (I don't have expensive tastes in designer frames, but the lenses are complex, and need to be in ultra-thin glass, which costs).
And I knew that the "get a second pair free" offer was not going to work out for me, because it never does. I did once, before I started wearing bifocals, manage to wangle a pair of prescription sunglasses out of this deal, and I loved them for many years, but my prescription has now changed enough that I really can't wear them any more. So it's a sore point that I can't afford a second "free" pair to replace them, but I was philosophical, and went through the whole conversation with the salesman (who turns out to be the store manager, but that only emerged this morning).
Was I sure I wouldn't like a second pair of glasses to this prescription, think how useful they would be, perhaps a pair of sunglasses? And I, having been caught this way before, pointed out that if they made up sunglasses to this prescription with the plastic lenses covered by the offer, the left lens would be half an inch thick (no, literally, one shop did actually make up a pair - that's why I no longer fall for this) and unwearable. He did the sums, and pointed out that I could upgrade to the super-thin glass for a mere £90, and I pointed out that there was a fair distance between free and £90. It obviously pained him to see me missing out on a freebie, and he suggested I take a second pair of frames free. Why? Oh, well, they might be useful - say I broke the frame, I could simply transfer the lenses to the spare.
I'd rather have a reduction on the price of the glasses I was buying, but this wasn't an entirely silly offer, and we agreed on it.
That was several weeks ago. In the interim, there've been a sequence of phone calls from the opticians: sorry, my new glasses were delayed, sorry, my new glasses had arrived but the edge of one lens was slightly chipped and they were sending it back, sorry, my new glasses had arrived but they couldn't provide the second pair of frames I'd ordered as that design had been discontinued, would I like to come in and choose a different pair? No, I said, there was no point, why didn't we forget the frames and just find me a discount? Oh, she couldn't possibly... No, I was sure she couldn't, but perhaps she could talk to someone who could, and we could sort it out when I came in to collect them.
Hah. When I turned up this morning, of course, nobody knew anything about this. But eventually we routed out the manager, who recalled our conversation, and seemed a little miffed that I was having second thoughts: he was confident that if he put an e-mail around their branches, they could find a pair of my chosen frames. By now I was weary of the whole deal, and suggested that he simply offer me a discount. Oh, no, that wasn't possible. But, said![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler, he'd been given a 25% discount a few years ago, and there hadn't been any problem with making him a second pair, he just hadn't wanted them. That was before they'd had these tills, it seems; in the old days they could have disguised it as a student discount, but now...
That's the point at which I think I deserve brownie points for not swearing at him: I know that all those "free" second pairs aren't free, they are subsidised by the pair I pay for; I hadn't realised I was also paying extra to subsidise a reduction for students, and I wasn't pleased at the news. Some students are very hard up, but some aren't, and Durham has more than its share of the latter. I try to avoid pizza parlours which charge me extra because I've graduated (I always knew it was a mistake...), and that goes tenfold for opticians, where the expenditure is so much greater.
Still no discount, though, just a promise that they will rummage around their other branches and see what they can find me.
That was long and boring.
When I first started this journal, I was surprised to see how positive my entries were: in real life, I'm sure I complain more than that. Evidently, the mask is slipping...
I knew, when I went in for my eye test, that I really did need a new pair of glasses this year, and I knew that they would be expensive (I don't have expensive tastes in designer frames, but the lenses are complex, and need to be in ultra-thin glass, which costs).
And I knew that the "get a second pair free" offer was not going to work out for me, because it never does. I did once, before I started wearing bifocals, manage to wangle a pair of prescription sunglasses out of this deal, and I loved them for many years, but my prescription has now changed enough that I really can't wear them any more. So it's a sore point that I can't afford a second "free" pair to replace them, but I was philosophical, and went through the whole conversation with the salesman (who turns out to be the store manager, but that only emerged this morning).
Was I sure I wouldn't like a second pair of glasses to this prescription, think how useful they would be, perhaps a pair of sunglasses? And I, having been caught this way before, pointed out that if they made up sunglasses to this prescription with the plastic lenses covered by the offer, the left lens would be half an inch thick (no, literally, one shop did actually make up a pair - that's why I no longer fall for this) and unwearable. He did the sums, and pointed out that I could upgrade to the super-thin glass for a mere £90, and I pointed out that there was a fair distance between free and £90. It obviously pained him to see me missing out on a freebie, and he suggested I take a second pair of frames free. Why? Oh, well, they might be useful - say I broke the frame, I could simply transfer the lenses to the spare.
I'd rather have a reduction on the price of the glasses I was buying, but this wasn't an entirely silly offer, and we agreed on it.
That was several weeks ago. In the interim, there've been a sequence of phone calls from the opticians: sorry, my new glasses were delayed, sorry, my new glasses had arrived but the edge of one lens was slightly chipped and they were sending it back, sorry, my new glasses had arrived but they couldn't provide the second pair of frames I'd ordered as that design had been discontinued, would I like to come in and choose a different pair? No, I said, there was no point, why didn't we forget the frames and just find me a discount? Oh, she couldn't possibly... No, I was sure she couldn't, but perhaps she could talk to someone who could, and we could sort it out when I came in to collect them.
Hah. When I turned up this morning, of course, nobody knew anything about this. But eventually we routed out the manager, who recalled our conversation, and seemed a little miffed that I was having second thoughts: he was confident that if he put an e-mail around their branches, they could find a pair of my chosen frames. By now I was weary of the whole deal, and suggested that he simply offer me a discount. Oh, no, that wasn't possible. But, said
durham_rambler, he'd been given a 25% discount a few years ago, and there hadn't been any problem with making him a second pair, he just hadn't wanted them. That was before they'd had these tills, it seems; in the old days they could have disguised it as a student discount, but now...That's the point at which I think I deserve brownie points for not swearing at him: I know that all those "free" second pairs aren't free, they are subsidised by the pair I pay for; I hadn't realised I was also paying extra to subsidise a reduction for students, and I wasn't pleased at the news. Some students are very hard up, but some aren't, and Durham has more than its share of the latter. I try to avoid pizza parlours which charge me extra because I've graduated (I always knew it was a mistake...), and that goes tenfold for opticians, where the expenditure is so much greater.
Still no discount, though, just a promise that they will rummage around their other branches and see what they can find me.
That was long and boring.
When I first started this journal, I was surprised to see how positive my entries were: in real life, I'm sure I complain more than that. Evidently, the mask is slipping...
