Lab Rant

[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……

[NeGlassesGirl27]

My rant with the labs we use is that (maybe this is common) when I charge a patient for a particular AR coating..that's what I want. I don't charge a patient a QV "D" Coating Avance with Scotchgard for VSP only for them to send back a QT "C" Coating Alize.

Last week, I ordered an Avance with Scotchgard on a drill mount for a patient. I got it back today, was checking it in and low and behold they put..Komodo Extreme?!?!? I called them back asking 1st of all, wth is even a Komodo Extreme and WHY was this applied when I ordered an Avance with Scotchgard? I got the typical response, "Oh well it's comparable to Avance...but not as good and it was in stock so we just used that to cut the time down." I sent them back and told them they needed to remake them with what I ordered..not what they thought was "comparable" and "cut time down". THAT is my issue with the labs.

And that is my lab rant...

[Audiyoda]

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……

I'm thinking I know this lab...small little 'Big E' partner lab in Dallas? My most recent gig we were forced to switch to them after never having an issue with big ol' Omega. I had issue after issue - nothing was ever resolved. I sent a half dozen rejects back to our corp. office - I was told that since none of the other stores were having any issues, mine must be bad luck.

Anyway, the lab manager basically told me the same thing after I sent back a particularly bad AR coat. Even told me he wouldn't run a new lens - I had to take the loss and run the new lens from my stock and send it down for AR (he's comp me the AR however - yippee).

[Speed]

As all labs become the same lab, (if you know what I mean) the attitude will get worse. This is because the "manager" handled the problem. The "managers" boss was not disturbed. The marks you are talking about were probably caused by heat from blocking being absorbed by the ink of the factory marking causing a surface pucker. If you look for it, you can probably see the complete image. You can redraw the factory mark with out a chart. They are concentrating so much on the turn around time that you mention, they forgot to see to the quality. These marks can be removed, however, labs have no step in the production line for this process. They usually go away in time. However, if you apply AR before they are gone, you will always find it easy to reapply the fitting/verification marks. There is no sufrace inspection in between removing the factory applied markings and the A/R application. Labs hate to add a process that will slow production. After all, the customer is standing over them tapping their foot, waiting to get the job so they can get that $ into the cash box.

[Jacqui]

I would find a new lab

[optilady1]

If it were my call I would drop this lab in a heartbeat, but unfortunately it is not.

[/FONT]

It is very frustrating when you don't have the final say in who you deal with. Do you have more than one lab? I find a good way to show a naughty lab what you think of their misbehaving is to start leaning on your second lab more.

It's been my experience that once a year every lab goes through a major quality control issue. Whether it be rx issues, coating, edging, etc...The first few I take with a grain of salt, and then I draw a line in the sand. I did just have a set of lenses come in with a 'belly button' on the bottom of each. I was shocked, had never seen and couldn't believe it got through final inspection. When I called the lab, instead of getting a 'woops' or a sorry, they just told me, oh yeah, that happens sometimes.

I have worked in a lab, and I can say that quality does go in spurts. Suddenly, everyone will just get wacky and mess everything up. I can honestly say that I've sent lenses out to be inspected, without catching it myself, edged upside down, eye for eye, small, and super scratched. There is no excuse, other than making mistakes and not paying attention. Thankfully, someone always caught the mistakes as they were getting final inspected. However, there is no excuse for rudeness when being told of your (or your lab's) mistakes. I hope it all works out, we all know how frustrating it can be.

[MikeAurelius]

And then there are those jobs, the ones we jokingly call "the job from hell"...from the get-go, it goes flat out wrong. Lenses break in generating. Pads come off in surfacing. Scratched during surface inspection. Pad slips in the edger. Edged undersize. Wrong pattern selected.

After the 2nd or 3rd redo, you begin to wonder if the job is cursed.

[braheem24]

If you can't switch labs, you can switch brand of lenses and brand of A/R.

It's usually the cheap no-name brand PALs that have the embedded markings.

[rdcoach5]

i would find a new lab

ditto !!!!

[optilady1]

And then there are those jobs, the ones we jokingly call "the job from hell"...from the get-go, it goes flat out wrong. Lenses break in generating. Pads come off in surfacing. Scratched during surface inspection. Pad slips in the edger. Edged undersize. Wrong pattern selected.

After the 2nd or 3rd redo, you begin to wonder if the job is cursed.

Ha! Testify brother! You need to do an exorcism on those jobs! I'll never forget the day that my lab manager took one of THOSE jobs after the 4th or 5th time redoing it, and just dumped it in the garabage and walked away. I think he went out and cried.

[MikeAurelius]

Ha! Testify brother! You need to do an exorcism on those jobs! I'll never forget the day that my lab manager took one of THOSE jobs after the 4th or 5th time redoing it, and just dumped it in the garabage and walked away. I think he went out and cried.

I can remember chucking a blocked lens at the wall, and it stuck in the sheet rock!! About an hour later, someone pulled it out and circled it in red marker and wrote "Mike did this".

[optilady1]

I can remember chucking a blocked lens at the wall, and it stuck in the sheet rock!! About an hour later, someone pulled it out and circled it in red marker and wrote "Mike did this".

I was always afraid the generator was gonna throw a lens into the wall behind it. I had hear horror stories from the 'good old days'. when we first went to wax, I swear, lenses were debloxing left and right, and we were all suffering from PTS. The sounds in the lab were like being in a war zone. I couldn't even drive home with the radio on, because I needed the peace and quiet.

[Optixx]

How about maybe these being the labs that make the online orders and patients can deal with these "acceptable" flaws on their own as penalty for ordering glasses online....No protection from your local opticians! Bwa ha haha ha ha!

[skt]

this is one of the reasons I work where I do...total control over what lab I use..total control over the product I buy...definitely makes up for other negatives

[Java99]

Was the job a flat top or 7x28? I've run into this, as Avance can't be applied to FT lenses. Or at least that's what my lab tells me when they call about the job in question. Komodo is a decent substitute, but not as cleanable as Avance. We've done quite a lot of Komodo, and have not seen it coming back scratched.

My rant with the labs we use is that (maybe this is common) when I charge a patient for a particular AR coating..that's what I want. I don't charge a patient a QV "D" Coating Avance with Scotchgard for VSP only for them to send back a QT "C" Coating Alize.

Last week, I ordered an Avance with Scotchgard on a drill mount for a patient. I got it back today, was checking it in and low and behold they put..Komodo Extreme?!?!? I called them back asking 1st of all, wth is even a Komodo Extreme and WHY was this applied when I ordered an Avance with Scotchgard? I got the typical response, "Oh well it's comparable to Avance...but not as good and it was in stock so we just used that to cut the time down." I sent them back and told them they needed to remake them with what I ordered..not what they thought was "comparable" and "cut time down". THAT is my issue with the labs.

And that is my lab rant...

[NeGlassesGirl27]

Was the job a flat top or 7x28? I've run into this, as Avance can't be applied to FT lenses. Or at least that's what my lab tells me when they call about the job in question. Komodo is a decent substitute, but not as cleanable as Avance. We've done quite a lot of Komodo, and have not seen it coming back scratched.

Some are SV some are multifocals but none of them have been FT lenses.