Charging for services

[Karlen McLean]

There is an ongoing debate among opticians as to whether to charge for services like adjustments or not. The majority still don't charge, but there seems to be a trend recently to charge for, say, adjustments for non-patients, or if nosepads or screws are replaced. Also, many opticians I talk with are giving away "freebies" like lens cleaning kits and cases less often and are collecting fees, even with established customers. And some are charging for their time, like with low vision patients for example. Are you part of this trend? If so, why and how? And if not, why not?

[CME4SPECS]

You should get a lot of interesting comments on this one. We've discussed this many times here.
I charge for my services, when repairing or adjusting glasses that I did not make. I guess I feel that I open the front door every morning to make money and as soon as I turn that key the meter is running.
With the purchase of a pair of glasses I do include a case and a lens care cleaning kit. I can't say I give them away...I include them in the purchase. If someone needs more cleaner or another case there is a charge. Terry Agin

[Dannyboy]

Do you realize the amount of money our profession is losing by not charging? Giving something away diminushes the value of the service. If they bought it from you I can see not charging but if not...it is fair game. I will bet almost every consumer will ask after you adjusted or fixed the eyewear "how much". If you decide to charge for nosepads or repairs offer better quality nosepads and do a better job in the repair.

I also strongly suggest that your nosepads be pre packaged independenly and not give them one of the bunch... If you adjust the frame make it mandatory to ultrasound the frame, replace the nosepads and change the temple tips. Charge a decent amount for the service..
Do a good job. Maybe a nice coupon along with the charge towards an amount off the next frame might go a long way.

I think is our job to point out those ugly green pads and replace the teeth marked temples tips...How many times you replace lenses and leave the green nosepads?? I have seen it done many times. Also always use the darn tools to do the adjustment. Tighten the screws and replace them with the ones that do not come off. Man if we could prepackage those..Hey that may be a great idea...who make pre packaged screws with the little green ends??:cheers:
Dannyboy

[harry888]

I don't charge patients or potential patients, or sometimes those desperate tourists passing though (often those desperate tourists were sent in by family members who are patients).


I make a point of charging those that should have bought the specs from me. I'm not doing free warrantee work for the competition.

Buy local if you want local maintainance.

[varmint]

Karlen read this thread, this has worked well for me.

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8677

[paw]

We take care of our patients, which means that we do free adjustments and screw replacements. Non-patients pay a nominal fee.

We do charge for nosepads, though, for patients as well as non-patients.

We supply a nice case with the purchase of a frame. Any additional cases we charge for.

We charge for cleaner and cloth, although for patients who spent a boatload on glasses we give them a free cleaner and cloth when they pick up the glasses. That is a judgement call on the part of the person dispensing the glasses.

We are business people and for the most part, our philosophy is, if you want something from me (service or materials), then I want something from you (money).

[chip anderson]

Do you realize the amount of money you can make by being nice to people, not charging and actually being able to "properly" adjust glasses? Appearently most of my compeditors can't and only attract customers by huge advertizing budgets and low prices. Once a customer sees you actually know what you are doing, you are willing to shorten temples, add proper angles, stop the temple from digging into the side of the head, take the pressure off thier nose, and will do emergency repairs in-house including soldering.
99% of them will be your customer from then on, not just the next pair of glasses, but yearly.

I have a compeditor (a large multi-physician owned office) in town who has started to charge for nose pads and adjustments and I am loving it, getting about 6 new patients a week who are P-O'd about being charged.

Chip

[spazz]

Do you realize the amount of money you can make by being nice to people, not charging and actually being able to "properly" adjust glasses? Chip

One new patient, that you may not have gotten otherwise, pays for a lot of free nosepads! :bbg:

[Chris Ryser]

.........................to charge for, say, adjustments for non-patients, or if nosepads or screws are replaced. Also, many opticians I talk with are giving away "freebies" like lens cleaning kits and cases less often and are collecting fees, ...........................

Not my idea......................

If I remember right it was Jo that made a posting saying that they have a notice in the store saying that the charge for service given was "a certain amount"

This let's them charge for non customers for service like adjustments and so forth. On the other hand they can let their steady customers know that they just got a freeby service at no charge. Thsi seems to be a super idea and an easy way out of giving everythuing for free.

[Monkeysee]

I know of some opticians who don't charge for adjustments etc., but donate the money they're offered, (most people ask if there's a fee), to the SPCA. I really admire this.

[eromitlab]

The company I work for doesn't feel the need to charge for simple repairs or adjustments, even to outside patients. The thought is similar to what others have said thus far in that if you take care of someone when they are in need of help and do it without asking for compensation, you will almost always get more in return. I call it the "good deed" mentality... where, you do someone a good turn, you'll get it back two-fold.

Example:

Had a patient come in two weeks ago with snapped screw in the eyewire barrel. For the life of me, I couldn't get either end extracted (found out she had the screw "fixed" at a local competitor, by gluing it in), so I had to drill it out. Long story short, she's back a few days later to buy two new pairs of eyewear on top of having an exam. Turns out she decided to come back to my store based on the fact that I took the time to fix her old glasses and clean 'em up real good plus explain what I did for her and that we didn't charge her for anything. I've had a number of people come back for the same reasons, so I believe that it is a good thing to not charge for most simple repairs since it can actually help your office grow, not just business-wise but also by reputation.

[Chris Ryser]

.................................so I believe that it is a good thing to not charge for most simple repairs since it can actually help your office grow, not just business-wise but also by reputation.

Actually what you are saying is the way the opticaL retail world has worked forever. Give them a better service than the competition and they will come back.

I have the impression that the consensus on other threads on the Optiboard is leaning towards a certain charge for services. Maybe people have changed and buy glasses cheap at some chain outlets and then go to an optician with a good reputation for adjustments and service.

[dadoody]

As a consumer, I'm used to getting free adjustments and replacements from the last place I went.

They were always nice, and fixed/adjusted my glasses right away. No charge. I would have bought another pair of glasses from them, if they weren't so limited in frame choices.

But I could understand being charged for adjustments if I didn't buy glasses from the place. If I am charged for simple adjustments from any retailer I bought my glasses from, I don't think they would recieve any repeat business from me.

[Blake]

... Maybe people have changed and buy glasses cheap at some chain outlets and then go to an optician with a good reputation for adjustments and service.

Well, it cuts both ways I suppose - if they need a repair on the weekend when the optician is off and the chains are open for example. Or they may go to one chain (not gonna name names) to buy the glasses cheap, then go elsewhere (even another chain) for service. Of course what really gets my goat is when they proudly announce they got them at Walmart (darnit, I wasn't going to name names), then proceed to get MAD because you can't fix the glasses their big Aunt Sally tried some "hindsight" on!

[JennyP]

I didn't mind our free adjustments or nose pads, etc, until several "shoppers" mentioned that an associate from the other mall optical store had sent them down to us because we had free stuff. :angry:
And then a former co-worker (who had crossed over to a medical office) started sending his patients over for free stuff that he could have easily supplied and I just about blew a gasket. (Especially when those patients were complimenting how well that young man adjusted glasses....my response was: well, you know he trained here, don't you??) But now we are allowed to charge other buyers a low fee for parts (which is really a parts and time fee) but we still don't charge for adjustments.
I just can't for the life of me figure why some people will come in and ask for free services and then loudly announce to anyone in the store that they got their glasses from XYZ where no one knows how to adjust them, but they are really cheap! And if they get uppity because I need to take care of my paying customers first... :angry: :angry: :angry:

[For-Life]

Very interesting subject. I have read some of your posts and I would like to play on some of them.

Free Adjustments: In my city we have have a lot of OD's, some strong chains, a few low end dispenseries owned by an optician, a mid-end owned by an optician, and a higher middle end (us) owned by an optician. In our province you have to be licenced to dispense, and to fit and adjust. However, in the OD's office their college does not regulate it, and it is illegal for a licenced optician to work with a licenced OD. So what happens is that a lot of OD's who do retail have staff that have never been properly trained on how to dispense. They have been trained by the staff who works there, so their adjustments are extremely poor. At the chain the staff here sometimes will do a good job, but many other times will not, and at the low end dispenseries the situation is similar to the chains, as many of them are not very good at adjustments.

In our store we have staff that are very good at adjustments, so when a consumer comes in and you adjust them for them it is something that really established you from the others. When someone can come in and leave with their frames feeling 10 times better, and even, potentially, have better vision they will develop a respect and value to you as a professional. Even times when someone is looking and they are very subspecious of what you are showing, because they were told the same thing last time by someone else and are unhappy, we sit them down, fit them up properly, and they not feel like you are a friend.


Free Screws and Nosepads: At my old location before we moved we charged non-customers. The reason for this is that we did not see a correlation between the freebies and new customers gained, and instead saw more of a correlation to non-customers abusing us. In our new location we stopped doing that, because at our old one we were there for over 40 years, but we did not want to punish those in our area at our new location. We all wanted to bring in more customers in our new location, so we put away with the charge. Many of these people have now come out and had exams and purchased glasses from us. We are in a location where there is not a lot of competition, so by doing this we have made the people in this area happy.

We never charged our customers. Our customers have paid for that service through their purchases, and I feel the freebie is what we have to give up to maintain our relationships.

What we give a customer upon purchase: Presentation is everything. When I come out with the product I have the glasses in the nice, clear bag, in a nice case. Additionally, everyone gets a cleaner and a cloth. I use a smaller cleaner bottle but encourage the customer to come back when empty to get a refill. The smaller bottle ensures that they will be back once, twice, or thrice before their next purchase. What this does is it develops a relationship with the customer. I can guarentee you that if you see a customer three times between the time they buy from you and the time they need new glasses you got a much better chance at making the next sale compared to not seeing them at all.

Final Word: To charge or not to charge that is the question. A few months ago a poster from Arizona whose dispensery was across from a Walmart mentioned that Walmart does not fit their glasses and instead sends their patients to her for free adjustments. I felt that in this situation she had to charge her non-customers, because it was flagerant abuse by the customer. However, we have to keep in mind what charging can do to potential customers.

We can say that we are losing out on money, but I do believe that sometimes a little money lost here will mean a lot more money there.

And that my friends is my two cents.

[varmint]

As a consumer, I'm used to getting free adjustments and replacements from the last place I went.

They were always nice, and fixed/adjusted my glasses right away. No charge. I would have bought another pair of glasses from them, if they weren't so limited in frame choices.

But I could understand being charged for adjustments if I didn't buy glasses from the place. If I am charged for simple adjustments from any retailer I bought my glasses from, I don't think they would recieve any repeat business from me.

The question is "How do you as a consumer feel about being charged a nominal fee for expert service from a retailer from whom you did not purchase your eyewear?"

[varmint]

Whether we like it or not our industry has changed dramatically over the past 5 years and it doesn’t matter how many freebees you give away, people will go to either the office listed on their insurance card, or the best running advertised special at the time they need new eyewear. We take less markup on our services & product than we ever have in this industry and I still have to buy all the nose pads & repair parts you all feel we need to give away to stay in business. I'm also still expected to remake any & all Dr Prescription errors at my cost to maintain a referral relationship with the Dr's who now have competing eyewear stores in their practice.

For-Life I don't understand your thoughts on charging at your old location & not at your new location giving you're still providing the same expert service. How can you think you are punishing them, because you have been trained & are experienced to give them something they don't receive elsewhere? You say you make their frames fit & feel 10 times better and they developed a feeling of professional respect, but you shouldn't be compensated? Are you trying to make friends, or are you providing a professional service.

I happen to be the poster from Arizona who charges for these services to our non-customers and pt's being sent to us for our exemplary talents are not limited to Wal-Mart, but our other competitors, as well as word of mouth from the patients who cannot find this service anymore in our industry. For me this new policy has proved a very positive response and I have acquired new patients who absolutely agree we should be charging for this service when they didn’t purchase the eyewear from us.

[dadoody]

The question is "How do you as a consumer feel about being charged a nominal fee for expert service from a retailer from whom you did not purchase your eyewear?"

Oh, then I answered it in my post.

If I didn't buy my glasses from a certain retailer and need adjustments made. I would expect that they charge me a fee. I would not mind, and I would support it. You have no business sense what-so-ever if you adjust people's glasses for free that aren't your customer.

[For-Life]

For-Life I don't understand your thoughts on charging at your old location & not at your new location giving you're still providing the same expert service. How can you think you are punishing them, because you have been trained & are experienced to give them something they don't receive elsewhere? You say you make their frames fit & feel 10 times better and they developed a feeling of professional respect, but you shouldn't be compensated? Are you trying to make friends, or are you providing a professional service.

In our old location we were established there for years. So if a consumer, in my opinion, has every chance to buy from us if they were in that area. We found in that area that free service was, just that, free service. In our new location we were in a different part of the city. We had new possibilities for clients that were never in our previous location and we still retained our current clientele. Additionally, another doctor around that area closed down his dispensery and went to go do refractions for a chain. So we had a lot of new potential clients in that area. Since many of those clients never could make it to our previous location I understood why they never purchased from us before. For instance, when opening up a new store you cannot charge non-clients in the first week, because they are non-clients, since they never had the opportunity to buy from you.

So you ask, shouldn't I be compensated? Well my answer to that is that through this I have been compensated. Most of them have purchased from me since offering these services.

Now I am glad that you responded, and sorry that I forgot who posted about your situation. Your instance was a perfect example where you had to charge, because your service was being abused. I used your example to show that not every situation is the same. In some situation if you do freebies you will be abused and in some situations you will build a relationship with new clients. This is where the decision is not uniform and has to be examined by each situation.

[PAkev]

I knew this post would go for a while and finally decided to chime in with my .02 worth.

The concept of charging for adjustments needs to foster a mutually positive experience for both the dispensers and patients. If the patient does not leave with a positive experience you will not see them for their next eyewear purchase. The problem is that patients expectations have been developed to walk into our dispensary sit in the chair for a little frame tweeking and be off to their next order of business within 5 minutes. The dilemna out of all this is that the patient often considers this to be a semmingly insignificant event and places little value on your ability to bend their frame or turn a screwdriver in a matter of a few hurried minutes. However, the dispenser considers it to be very significant when an average day is consumed by patients with adjustments.

There are indeed some adjustments and/or repairs that can take longer than it takes to manufacture a complete pair. This can not be understood by most patients because we tell them their eyeglasses may take a few days to manufacture and they end up walking away from the transaction with a tangible product with a few less dollars in their pocket. The point I am getting to is that dispensers often make time consuming repairs and/or adjustments seem too effortless at the cost of short changing patients expectations of their professional abilities.

Although we normally don't charge for adjustments, our dispensary charges for time consuming repairs and we request patients to leave the eyewear with us for a day or two so that we have sufficient time to do a good repair job and the patient does not construe our efforts as an "easy fix".
HOWEVER, we give folks paying for repairs a voucher for the cost they have paid us off a complete new pair of eyewear purchased from us withing 60 days. The only folks that usually have a problem with this are the ones that respect your professional abilities to fix their aged eyewear as a "Band-Aid" appraoch until they find a good deal somewhere.

Kevin

[karen]

I was in one of my accounts last friday and a patient came in who purchased her glasses there and needed an adjustment. She had been out of town and lost a nosepad. She went to a Lenscrafters that charged her $10.00 for a set!! The optician teased her a little bit about how next time he'd have to remember to do that and straightened her out, cleaned them up and sent her on her way. She was suffering a little from sticker shock and was not planning to be anywhere near a LC anytime soon! 10 bucks seemed like an awful lot-my account actually took those off and put on ones that fit her nose better. I think it is fair to charge someone who didn't purchase from you but I always used to say-"Oh, there is no charge for that, just remember me when you need a new pair!"

[varmint]

Don’t get me wrong, I never charge anyone who has purchased something from my store, even if the eyewear I’m presently adjusting were made elsewhere. (Like clients who have a eye exam here and buy their glasses in mexico)

I do have a sign posted advising of a nominal fee, $5.00, for doing adjustments along with a free bottle of lens cleaner and a coupon for a $5.00 credit on eyewear purchase within 6 months. That’s a pretty good value for my services I feel. I never used to charge and most patients would tell me I shouldn’t do it for free. I rarely have anyone who thinks this is unreasonable. I think by charging a small fee, doing an excellent job for them, and giving them a couple useful items with my business info on them is building a relationship with prospective clients. I’ve been charging since early 2004 after attending a CE class by Michael DeSanto where he addressed this issue. I have even had patients give me more than the $5.00 I charged them because they were pleased I took the time to do a proper fit and give them something extra to boot. I’ve had others come in with their $5.00 in hand stating I fit their neighbor/ friends eyewear and they were so impressed, they came to get theirs fit also because they’ve never been able to get them adjusted properly before.

I noticed Dadoody had posted as a consumer, so I asked his thoughts and he responded just as my clientele has. Unless they purchased the product from us, they don’t expect us to give our services away, which leads me to believe it is ourselves who don’t feel our time and expertise has any value. I have worked as a dispensing optician for over 33 years, have had my own office for over 11 years, and when I first put out my display stating my policies and fees, I was very hesitant to charge until a couple clients handed me the fee before I asked for it and thanked me for doing the best fit they ever had. Now I take more time than I ever did with each client no matter how busy I am, I make sure to make mention of at least one new technology in our field, and we both feel good afterward.

[Rophod]

:idea: Maybe we should take a lesson from Starbucks and put a tip jar on the counter:D

[CB]

You guys are being Wayyy too hard on yourselves. I have never, ever had a bad experience with an optician regardless of the circumstances. Anyone with kids who wear glasses knows how wonderful it is to be able to walk into any optician's office and get a bow fixed, a screw replaced, a lens put back into a mangled pair of glasses...there's nothing quite like being on vacation in another state and having an eyeglass 'blow-out'. You walk in sheepishly and leave with a happy,glasses wearing kid.

Sometimes you are charged for the service, sometimes you're not. Either way, sometimes the need is immediate and the service is always quick and friendly. As an experienced eyecare consumer, I can tell you that every time you charge for a service, it's o.k. and even when you don't, you get a surprised, happy customer who (if not on vacation in an alien state) refers friends to you like crazy.

If you get sick on vacation and need a doc you're kind of screwed. If your glasses break...I think everyone knows they can get them fixed rather quickly and it's not the end of the world (or your vacation). Opticians provide just about the only healthcare that can be had for a song.