Originally Posted by
Mylok
Begin Rant…..
I ran into an issue with an outside lab that we use for most of our lenses requiring an anti-reflective coating. Twice now, in last couple months, I have received a flawed progressive lens. Both had the same flaw, the horseshoe shaped mark on an uncut progressive above the fitting cross is present after the AR has been applied. It is not just part of that horseshoe but the entire mark is present. This is not something that can be cleaned off. It looks like the mark was not properly cleaned before the AR application. And now it appears to have been, for all intents and purposes burnt into the lens.
I have 10+ years experience with managing labs and retail opticals. I know that we have to take into account the nature of the flaw in a lens when found vs the cost of replacing the lens and make a determination as to whether or not the flaw is acceptable and that level of acceptablility varies by individual and no flaw is acceptable if it bothers the patient. I get that.
I call the lab (not naming them) and inform them of the problem. I know that in any lab I run I would want to know of any flaws that got past me or my crew. They asked to have the lens mailed to them so they could inspect. I then received a call from the lab about this lens. They showed it to the lab manager and he said it was “an acceptable flaw”. This person is telling me that he would go with this flaw and give it to the patient.
Breathe….
I know that no one here can see this lens to know just how pronounced it was. It definitely did not fall into my definition of “acceptable”. I told them that they can try to tell me I should go with it all day but each and every time I get a lens in this condition it is getting returned and I will be sent a replacement at no charge. He can call it acceptable all he wants. I am ultimately responsible for the quality of the work going out of my lab, not him, and I will be the one defining what is acceptable.
I have seen many labs with this attitude. My experience is with 2-4 hundred pair a week ones but I would assume that the same would hold true for wholesale size labs as well. They may be able to draw in new patients/customers with promises and good pricing but low quality product comes back to bite you in the end. Patients want a good price but mainly they want something that costs several hundred dollars to be right. Not taking the time to make your product the highest quality you can is a mistake. It can cause you to miss out on repeat business and adding clients through word of mouth. Then businesses wonder why their business is stagnant or has minimal growth.
This is by no means the only issue I have had with them. If it were my call I would drop this lab in a heartbeat, but unfortunately it is not.
In my opinion a lab should prioritize quality and turn around time first and foremost. In that order.
End rant……
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