OK Here's One

[Golfnorth]

Yesterday afternoon I had a customer come into the store and ask me if I remembered her. I told her that she looked familiar but I didn't know who she was. She explained that she had purchased new glasses from me but found that she didn't care for the look of them anymore and wondered it there was anything I could do.
I called her up on the computer and found that the glasses were purchased about 49 weeks ago or almost a year ago. This after ordering a couple of frames in specially for her (she has a very narrow pd).I suggested to her that I would have thought that if she didn't care for them that she would have come to that conclusion much sooner than now and that there wasn't anything I could do for her.
She said that she debated whether to come in or not and finally did, thinking all I could say was no and I did.

Do these people really believe that things are exchangeable after a year?
Feel free to share your experiences.

Regards,
Golfnorth

[Oedema]

they really do believe they can be exchanged. I had a friend that would routinely return SHOES after wearing them for 6months! :O

[braheem24]

Repeat after me: The manfucaturer will only give us 50% credit for the frame, I will be happy to redo them for you but we'll need to make a new set of lenses to match your new frame.

I never say I can do nothing for them.

BTW, all this is assuming you work for someone with common sense that allows you some flexibility.

[uncut]

This after ordering a couple of frames in specially for he.I suggested to her that I would have thought that if she didn't care for them that she would have come to that conclusion much sooner than now and that there wasn't anything I could do for her.

Is there an echo in this room? Is this a spammer learning english? Or do we have a parrot onboard?

@op: Tons of commercials by the big L elude to "If You don't like them....exchange them. Internut sites offer the same capability. That being said, a lot of people assume that other places have a similar policy. My practice would try to assist in finding something that the purchaser might like, but not exchange. The frame would be converted to another use, such as readers, or sunglasses, or kept as a spare pair, and slight concession would be allowed towards an alternative.

She may have just got bored with them, got a negative comment from a friend, or dislikes the way they perform. Dig deeper! As rosetta might say "win win".

[eyemanflying]

Yesterday afternoon I had a customer come into the store and ask me if I remembered her. I told her that she looked familiar but I didn't know who she was. She explained that she had purchased new glasses from me but found that she didn't care for the look of them anymore and wondered it there was anything I could do.
I called her up on the computer and found that the glasses were purchased about 49 weeks ago or almost a year ago. This after ordering a couple of frames in specially for her (she has a very narrow pd).I suggested to her that I would have thought that if she didn't care for them that she would have come to that conclusion much sooner than now and that there wasn't anything I could do for her.
She said that she debated whether to come in or not and finally did, thinking all I could say was no and I did.

Do these people really believe that things are exchangeable after a year?
Feel free to share your experiences.

Regards,
Golfnorth

Ahhhh, the good ole 'moron worn' warranty; gotta love those weak minded consumers. Tell her you might be able to remake them, but will take 49 weeks to decide whether you can or not.

[NorthStar]

Yesterday afternoon I had a customer come into the store and ask me if I remembered her. I told her that she looked familiar but I didn't know who she was. She explained that she had purchased new glasses from me but found that she didn't care for the look of them anymore and wondered it there was anything I could do.
I called her up on the computer and found that the glasses were purchased about 49 weeks ago or almost a year ago. This after ordering a couple of frames in specially for her (she has a very narrow pd).I suggested to her that I would have thought that if she didn't care for them that she would have come to that conclusion much sooner than now and that there wasn't anything I could do for her.
She said that she debated whether to come in or not and finally did, thinking all I could say was no and I did.

Do these people really believe that things are exchangeable after a year?
Feel free to share your experiences.

Regards,
Golfnorth

I think when they return asking if there is anything you can do for them - they assume it will be FOR FREE or almost free. They often balk at just paying the difference in wholesale cost, nevermind paying for your time in refitting, remaking.

[For-Life]

I remember one case many years ago. A lady came in a week after picking up her glasses. She said her children (in their teens) and husband did not like the frames. They were just single vision, no AR (which she decided to get and in 1998, we were not doing a lot of AR), so we decided to let her take a frame home and show her kids (we were so ignorant of what could potentially go wrong). The kids were fine with the frame and we switched them up.

Two years later, she came in complaining about the reflections. We told her that she declined the AR and there was nothing we could do at that point. She then told us that she never liked the frame and asked us to switch it. We told her we could not help her.

We never saw her again. I am glad that we haven't.

People have to accept responsibility for their decisions. There are things I have bought and I have never used. That is not the company's fault, that is my fault. If I buy a shirt and I decide I do not like it, I have to live up to it. I find it bad enough if I want to change sizes later on, but if I do, I at least come back right away and will ALWAYS take store credit over a refund.

[kat]

Blame this mentality on places like Target, Wal-Mart, Neiman-Marcus, etc. They will return/exchange anything even if they are socks with holes in them that you bought 3 years ago. Now on the plus side, they are starting to recognize the abusers and give only store credit, but as consumers, we have been taught to bring back anything that we don't like, regardless of how long we have had the product and not have any problems with the store we made the purchase. Unfortunatly, that puts our custom made lenses in a grey area, people think they are not created just for them, also they think that we can just "sell" the frame again. I once asked a lady if she would want to buy a "used" frame, as she wanted to exchange after 9 months too. She was insulted that I would ask her that, even though she had suggested it first! LOL

[Ory]

Repeat after me: The manfucaturer will only give us 50% credit for the frame, I will be happy to redo them for you but we'll need to make a new set of lenses to match your new frame.

In my opinion this is a terrible idea. You have just told the patient that every year or so they can get a new frame for 50% off just by complaining. Sure they don't get to keep the old one but if they want to make a change for fashion reasons then the old ones are of no use anyway.

[Striderswife]

In my opinion this is a terrible idea. You have just told the patient that every year or so they can get a new frame for 50% off just by complaining. Sure they don't get to keep the old one but if they want to make a change for fashion reasons then the old ones are of no use anyway.

Sometimes it's just one of those things you've gotta do. I really hate having to do a frame restyle; I try my hardest to get the patient to commit to a frame they really like before I place the order for lenses. If it comes down to it, then, there you go.

It is easy enough to put some riders on that suggestion, though, like giving it a time limit from the time of order (6 months at most? 9 months?), and letting them know it is a one-time replacement. Anything they do after that point would be considered a totally new sale. This is how I explain frame warranties. If we refreshed the warranty when a pt got their replacement frame, noone would ever have to buy a frame ever again! No, it doesn't work that way. I've said those exact words to patients more than once.

[braheem24]

In my opinion this is a terrible idea. You have just told the patient that every year or so they can get a new frame for 50% off just by complaining. Sure they don't get to keep the old one but if they want to make a change for fashion reasons then the old ones are of no use anyway.

50% off retail on frames and full price for lenses is a bad idea? There are opticals making a living selling bogos and 50% off complete pairs you're averaging 25% off if the lenses are same price as the frame, in the case of progressives much less then 25% on average and you're guaranteed a sale before the end of the year.

Dont worry about what they're getting away with, worry about your bottom line instead, send them to Florida, I'll give them 50% credit for the frames you sold them and thank you.

[One science]

Yesterday afternoon I had a customer come into the store and ask me if I remembered her. I told her that she looked familiar but I didn't know who she was. She explained that she had purchased new glasses from me but found that she didn't care for the look of them anymore and wondered it there was anything I could do.
I called her up on the computer and found that the glasses were purchased about 49 weeks ago or almost a year ago. This after ordering a couple of frames in specially for her (she has a very narrow pd).I suggested to her that I would have thought that if she didn't care for them that she would have come to that conclusion much sooner than now and that there wasn't anything I could do for her.
She said that she debated whether to come in or not and finally did, thinking all I could say was no and I did.

Do these people really believe that things are exchangeable after a year?
Feel free to share your experiences.

Regards,
Golfnorth

Honestly, this is hilarious. Was she too innocent or she really thought that she was intitled to change its?
And thinking that i feel bad changing something that's not ok after 2 days.

[One science]

Ahhhh, the good ole 'moron worn' warranty; gotta love those weak minded consumers. Tell her you might be able to remake them, but will take 49 weeks to decide whether you can or not.

Good point lol; and also free manufacture, but interest for each day:D.

[Ory]

50% off retail on frames and full price for lenses is a bad idea? There are opticals making a living selling bogos and 50% off complete pairs you're averaging 25% off if the lenses are same price as the frame, in the case of progressives much less then 25% on average and you're guaranteed a sale before the end of the year.

Dont worry about what they're getting away with, worry about your bottom line instead, send them to Florida, I'll give them 50% credit for the frames you sold them and thank you.

Sorry, I just assumed the OP wasn't fleecing his customers and driving a Maserati. Generally BOGOs are overpriced to begin with, so a 50% discount is nothing. If your prices are good without gimmicky sales then 25% is a huge chunk of your profit. If you feel like conditioning your customers that complain=25% off you go right ahead.

[Johns]

Sorry, I just assumed the OP wasn't fleecing his customers and driving a Maserati. Generally BOGOs are overpriced to begin with, so a 50% discount is nothing. If your prices are good without gimmicky sales then 25% is a huge chunk of your profit. If you feel like conditioning your customers that complain=25% off you go right ahead.

Yes, Braheem has a fleet of Maserati! And I'm sure he got them all by "gimmicky" sales techniques such as making money while keeping the customer happy!

What a total Fleece Meister he is! ("Generally" of course...)

On the other hand, I drive a Maserati (Ford makes them right?) but I mark my products up just high enough so I can pay my light bill. The Maserati was a gift from my customers in appreciation for giving my goods and services away.

[Ory]

Johns, you probably have a quarter-warehouse full of Maseratis (Maseratii?) next to the pallet of 200,000 yellowed Cr-39 in +3.00 to +6.00.

[Wes]

50% off retail on frames and full price for lenses is a bad idea? There are opticals making a living selling bogos and 50% off complete pairs you're averaging 25% off if the lenses are same price as the frame, in the case of progressives much less then 25% on average and you're guaranteed a sale before the end of the year.

Dont worry about what they're getting away with, worry about your bottom line instead, send them to Florida, I'll give them 50% credit for the frames you sold them and thank you.

Brilliant. Have you been talking to Johns?

Yes, Braheem has a fleet of Maserati! And I'm sure he got them all by "gimmicky" sales techniques such as making money while keeping the customer happy!

What a total Fleece Meister he is! ("Generally" of course...)

On the other hand, I drive a Maserati (Ford makes them right?) but I mark my products up just high enough so I can pay my light bill. The Maserati was a gift from my customers in appreciation for giving my goods and services away.

Hmm, Looks like it.

[Johns]

Johns, you probably have a quarter-warehouse full of Maseratis (Maseratii?) next to the pallet of 200,000 yellowed Cr-39 in +3.00 to +6.00.

Actually, I'm down to about 29,000 lenses, and Lenny bought all the high plus from me last year (really!).

My Maserati doesn't get much use though, as you can only haul so many bales of hay in a two seater:bbg:...

[braheem24]

Brilliant. Have you been talking to Johns?

Just got off the phone, we were discussing which sheers to buy. That man will fleece the fleecing company!

[Ory]

You guys are about as funny as a screen door on a battleship. :)

[Johns]

You guys are about as funny as a screen door on a battleship. :)

Now you're showing your age.:finger::bbg:

[DaQuano]

Ahhhh, the good ole 'moron worn' warranty; gotta love those weak minded consumers. Tell her you might be able to remake them, but will take 49 weeks to decide whether you can or not.

That's fantastic! I think I'll use that one!!!!