Charged for adjustments in Chicago??

[idispense]

If I may interject my viewpoint on this , please.

This topic has come up many times and I should like to put a different spin and perspective on it and that is from the perspective of the customer as opposed to the perspective of ourselves.

I know both sides of this argument from the optician/owner point of view and can agree with either side .

First we are really all in agreement and we are all very consistent in our approach and by that I mean that no matter which side of the argument we deal from (charge or not charge) we are all consistenetly applying our own rules inconsistently.

Second from the customer point of view some are insulted that we charge them and some are equally insulted that we did not charge them .

Third when the customer in front of us is charged when his friend or relative or even him/herself was not charged before on a previous visit, then that inconsistency is very confusing to the customer because there is no consistency .

Fourth the most successful businesses are those that replicate their consistencies into hundreds and thousands of similiar stores . A prime example is McDonalds. Their burgers , fries and service is the same in Texas as it is in New York. They succeed based on the public's non-confusion , the customer knows what to expect. These are customer based businesses fine tuned to the customer's desires and expectations not the emotional day to day whims of the owners desires and mental state of mind at any given time during the day.

So I say to you, be consistent with your customers so they know what to expect no matter which way you decide ... charge or not charge.

[idispense]

Next on this subject I will say this:
It is clear to me that most of you approach this matter from a state of mind of guilt. You think you can look at a customer and determine that he/she is poor and can not afford to pay so you decide to "help out" . So I say to you, that person in ragged blue jeans with no belt may well step out of your store and drive away in a new Cadillac . Warren Buffet is a very rich man and he still lives in the same house he bought decades ago for $ 37,000.00 . So what do you really know about the customer standing in front of you ? What gives you the ability to decide to help one but not another ? Can you really look at a person and decide their wealth and ability to pay ?

You can't . You are really making conistently, inconsitent judgements without facts based on your own percieved self guilt.

[idispense]

The only fact you know for sure is that the person in front of you walked into your store to obtain something . That something might be advice , a product or a service. Most people when they walk into any store they know the drill: pick up a product or obtain a service and pay for it at the till.

[idispense]

If you consider a department store selling 80 inch wide TV's for 2500.00 you will notice the customer put one on the cart then proceeds to the DVD section and places some DVD's in the cart then selects a DVD player and then signs up for a high definition box and so on until he proceeds to the till and pays for all of these . Each item he picked up was on a shelf and clearly marked with a price . The customer was not confronted with some confused optician feeling guilty at the till and saying to him " that's ok just pay for the TV , you need help and I want to help you but not the customer behind you so you can have the DVD's for free "

[idispense]

The problem with our guilt and consistent inconsistencies is that we are hurting our customers desire for consistency. We are removing the selection process from the customer by not displaying our nosepads and screws in packages displayed on shelves with clearly marked prices so they can make the selection themselves. We hide these products away in the back room when we should be like the local computer store where the customer selects a hard drive marked with a price and takes it to the instore installation/service department to pay them to install it.

Once a customer picks up a packaged item off a shelf himself then he has already decided he likes that product and the price and he is now in submission and prepared to pay for it.

Why are you letting your guilt get in the way of the customer's decision ?

[idispense]

Now you can let your guilt argue that eyeglasses are so expensive so you should not nickle and dime the customer with nose pads . My answer to that is simple.

None, absolutely none, of you are the size of Wal-Mart or Lowes .


When you buy the delux whirlpool 24 jetted bubble tub at Lowes for 5,000.00 you still happily proceed down the aisle to buy the 600.00 taps to go with it then proceed to the next aisle to buy the 39 cent copper plumbing elbows.

So why are opticians different and why are opticians not the size of Lowes??

The answer is simple :

Lowes is not ashamed of themselves and guilt ridden .

Lowes displays the product visibly and clearly marked with a price no matter if it is ten cents or ten thousand dollars .

Lowes lets the customer decide to purchase .

Lowes does not let it's guilt ridden employees consistently apply inconsistent rules depending upon how they feel at that moment on a case by individual case basis.

Lowes is customer driven not guilt conscience driven.

[idispense]

In summary, whether you decide to charge or not, at least give yourself and the customer a chance . Display your nosepads in a package marked with a price and let the customer select the product off the shelf or wall . If you decide not to charge then mark the package price as 0.00 but be consistent . Or mark the price at a fair number , but let the customer decide .


Then also put a donation box near the exit or on the dispensing desk. again the customer can decide if he wants to donate or not.

Whatever price you decide at least let the customer choose, not your emotions or guilt.

[Johns]

It is clear to me that most of you approach this matter from a state of mind of guilt.

Count me out of your guilt theory. I have no reservations about the prices I charge, the quality of products and services I deliver, nor about the ability of the customer to pay for them. If I were the only person on earth that had the ability to adjust a frame or replace a nosepad, I might think otherwise, but nobody is dragging anybody off the streets and forcing them to come into my office.

We charge what we charge, and have no qualms about it. If you feel guilty about any aspect of the business you are in (regardless of what it is), you should get out.

[idispense]

Can you explain then why some feel the need to first discover if the customer is a tourist or non-tourist, a customer that bought from you or did not before charging ?

[idispense]

but although you say this : Count me out of your guilt theory. I have no reservations about the prices I charge, the quality of products and services I deliver, nor about the ability of the customer to pay for them. If I were the only person on earth that had the ability to adjust a frame or replace a nosepad, I might think otherwise, but nobody is dragging anybody off the streets and forcing them to come into my office.

We charge what we charge, and have no qualms about it. If you feel guilty about any aspect of the business you are in (regardless of what it is), you should get out.





still you also say this :

I think everyone should charge for adjustments, and nosepads. Having said that, I have to say that I rarely charge.

I do "profiling" and include adjustments and pads with my extremely high(not really) frame prices. If I know they're not mine, I ask them how long they've had them. If it's recent, I charge...if not, and they say they can't wait to go back to them...I charge.

Like any situation, you have to play it by ear. At my urban store, we charge everyone, because we make so little on the original sale (medicaid?) anyway. We do hardly any adjustments there. Because they are free to them, they usually break or lose them before they need to be adjusted.


So why with a chain of 9 stores would you promote individualistic profiling that can not be consistently applied as you expand ?

[idispense]

When I go to buy a pair of shoes today , I will ask the owner why he places the polish and replacement shoestrings out in full view with a price on them.

I will also ask him why he never gives me free polish or strings.

[opty4062]

For heaven's sake that's a lot to read through, all making the same point. As for us, we don't charge for adjustments, nose pads or screws no matter from where the frame came. That's all I can personally speak to, going back to the OP question as to what different offices do and how the patients feel about it.
Having worn specs the last 30 years I have had occasion to visit optical offices for adjustments and repairs, when travelling, for example. Sometimes I have had to pay a small fee and sometimes not. Neither of which left me with near as much lasting impression of the office as the quality of the help did.

[RIMLESS]

When I go to buy a pair of shoes today , I will ask the owner why he places the polish and replacement shoestrings out in full view with a price on them. I will also ask him why he never gives me free polish or strings.

Good point +1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Johns]

Can you explain then why some feel the need to first discover if the customer is a tourist or non-tourist, a customer that bought from you or did not before charging ?

Certainly...they want to qualify them as to whether they have the potential to be a profitable customer, or a drive-by user of their services.

I'm not seeing where guilt would play into this. Instead of guilt...how about "appreciation"? Today, a lady brought her sister in to buy glasses from us. She has a -3.75 cyl. and the sister does as well. We did such a good job on her glasses, that she wanted her sister to experience the same.

The woman bought a Lightec Frame, digital(house) progressive in 1.67 w/AR, and a Chemistrie system with 2 clips. She spent $1400 on a pair of glasses. I thanked her for driving 45 miles to see us, and I thanked her sister for the referral. I then gave them the name of a local restaurant in town, and told them to have lunch on me. (We run a tab there for such occasions). I did not buy them lunch out of guilt. She got an excellent deal on her glasses, and I know that she will have as much fun wearing them as she did picking them out. I bought them lunch as a gesture of appreciation.

If I had an office in OBX, I would charge $20 min. for any adjustment/repair. These folks just spent $300 in gas to get there, $8k for their condo, $100's a day in meals, $500 fishing charters, and any souvenir their kids desire...and I'm going to feel guilty about charging them for a repair that will allow them to continue the vacation they have so much invested in? I think not...

[Now I See]

To the OP...I don't charge. I also do little to no advertising, so for my office the savings we get by not advertising goes toward the freebies. I could probably charge, but I choose not to, because, on occasion, I have seen that 1 freebie turn into 1+ sales.

I am not in a touristy area at all...small town, with lots of repeat business and referrals. However, if I were in a different situation/area I would certainly entertain the idea, but for my office, right now, it's not what we want to do.

[idispense]

I'll buy into the "appreciation " vs guilt as per your explanation and buying lunch was a really nice touch . Thanks for sharing that .

[idispense]

The fact that they walked into our store, is that not enough to convince us that they need no further qualifying as a customer ? It may be a traveller needing an emergency repair but they may still buy some Chemestrie clips or you could add them to a mailing list for plano suns, so should they not also qualify for the freebies ?

I recently did a simple repair for a traveller from 3000 miles away then explained to him the value of a second back up pair and told him I could have them ready in two days or mail them to him . He chose the mail option. A few months later he had lost those and he called me up to duplicate the order. Then he sent a business associate referral to me when he was travelling through the area because he remembered I had a frame line that would interest his associate.


So should we prejudge who does and does not get the freebies ? Does our inconsistencies hurt us or help ?

[Johns]

The fact that they walked into our store, is that not enough to convince us that they need no further qualifying as a customer ? It may be a traveller needing an emergency repair but they may still buy some Chemestrie clips or you could add them to a mailing list for plano suns, so should they not also qualify for the freebies ?

I recently did a simple repair for a traveller from 3000 miles away then explained to him the value of a second back up pair and told him I could have them ready in two days or mail them to him . He chose the mail option. A few months later he had lost those and he called me up to duplicate the order. Then he sent a business associate referral to me when he was travelling through the area because he remembered I had a frame line that would interest his associate.


So should we prejudge who does and does not get the freebies ? Does our inconsistencies hurt us or help ?

I understand where you (and others) are coming from, but your customer did not become a repeat customer and a referral because you did some thing free for him...he became a customer because you did something good for him. (and he probably would have whether you had charged him or not)

[idispense]

while I was slowly doing something free for him , he was listening to the sales pitch

[idispense]

Talked to my shoe salesman today , corporate head office sets policy and the accessories pay the rent

[THE MEB]

Can't believe one person had so much to say about charging or not charging for adjustments. We simply tell them that not charging them for an adjustment is all part of the service we provide, and if you like it, please consider coming back to see us next time you're in the market for another pair of eyeglasses. Our business is thriving with this paradigm, we like to call it old school service. In any event, charge or not charge, there is no way I could write 25 paragraphs aspousing the virtues, or not, of charging for adjustments. I sometimes get the feeling some people have such a big ego that they think people actually don't get bored in reading opinion after opinion from the same person,lol

[Barry Santini]

I dont think its ego. Some people work out their thoughts through writing (as I do)

B

[CNG]

Dont charge and you will be on the list of optidiots who service internet eyeglasses. The internet is here to stay no way around that. If you sell your eyeglasses, you should service them. If you bought them elsewhere then you should pay. Yes it is ok to profile in this indusytry why waste your time and your staffs time to do the free adjustment. People dont care. Im here to service the public but at the same time we have to make a living addressing paying customers...or if in the middle of an adjustment mr. good customer comes in do you stop and take care of him dont think so. I believe that those opticians who address this issue as service have a couple of agendas on their mind such as: 1. Are employees and simply dont know or care about cost 2. Have an internet business on the side. or are plainly an ignoramus. Its ok to charge get over it.

Here is what an optiidiot does: Customers comes in shows all the frames (including specification as well as frame stylists time). write the number or model, researches the color, writes a price and then gives them the pd ad seg height. Patient leaves go to mr honorable internet pseudo optician via his computer while wearing his pijamas choses the frame, puts the Rx, pd and seg height. Glasses come in and then he races to your optical to get them adjusted...then six months the road he races back and has them adjusted and changing the green nosepads...then six months after comes back and again starts the process. Yes that is what an optiidiot is.


CNG

[Fezz]

optiidiot......I like that...a lot!

I am so stealing that!

[Chris Ryser]

................................. there is no way I could write 25 paragraphs aspousing the virtues, or not, of charging for adjustments. I sometimes get the feeling some people have such a big ego that they think people actually don't get bored in reading opinion after opinion from the same person,lol

idispense is a very passionate member of OptBoard and contrary to many here, makes posts that are very explanatory. Not just the +1 or the 3 word, one line post as the majority does.

So just relax, lean back and read them. If you don't like the theme, go to another post which is more along your taste. I never get bored of a thread..............I just ignore them, but the explosive answer you wrote indicates you did not like the theme.