Do you do this, warn people? Everyone? Just the really old/messed up ones? Just the ones not bought at your shop?
How is it handled where you work?
I broke a nosepad arm the other day.Now I warn people if the frame looks bad or old but this was just your standard everyday adjustment. It must have been cracked and I didn't notice it. I have adjusted thousands of nosepads with never a break.
Of course it was a discontinued frame. Luckily, the rx was mild and not expensive to replace.
When a pt asks for an adjustment, my first question is, did you purchase these here? If yes, I examine frame briefly and warn that there is always a possibility that they could break. (knowing that if they do, our policy will eat a replacement, even out of warranty, within reason) If no, I examine a little more closely and ALWAYS warn of the possibility of breakage and that it might not be possible to replace the frame if it does break.
It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it has saved my butt more times than not.
If the glasses were not purchased here, we have them sign a waiver. Most sign and nothing happens. But there have been a few that refused to sign. We didn't adjust those.
A 2 minute adjustment can always turn into a nightmare specially if they are low quality internet bought online glasses (sorry could not help myself).
CNG
Many years ago, back in the sixties, I broke a customers old beaten up frame while trying to be a good guy. The glasses were not purchased from us and were so old that their manufacturer was long out of business. To make the cheese a little more binding the customer (and I use the term loosely) was a savage attorney who immediately went over to the frame bar selected a new frame. He returned to the dispensing table and informed me that I could glaze some new trifocal lenses into the frame. Being somewhat naive I took some measurements and filled out a record card and totaled up the charges. I was informed by the customer/attorney that I had to fabricate the new eyewear at no charge if I knew what was good for me as I had busted it.
I checked with the boss and he immediately called our lawyer who informed us that the Commercial Code placed liability on us for any damage done to the customers product regardless of its condition once we took it into our possession. We had to replace the glasses totally at our loss. In additional, a signed waiver is of no value. You break it you buy it.
Perhaps our resident legal council, shanbaum, could check in and set us all straight. Chances are his fee will be less than we paid all those years ago.
When I worked in retail, *if the glasses were not purchased from us we always charged for frame adjustments. 10.00 per adjustment was our going rate with 7.50 per pair of silicone nose pads added on if new one's were requested or required. While we had a few decline the service many took advantage of the offer and left our office with better fitting glasses and a nice boost to our bottom line.
Yes, but what was your policy if the frame was broken during adjustment?Originally Posted by Plausible
If this happens to me, I simply follow with "I guess I ate to much Wheaties this morning>"
B
Any movement of frame parts......supplied or otherwise causes a caution that..." I must put stress on this part to realign it, ....as much stress as the blow/action that caused it to be misaligned....the consequence might be destruction, on your dime". HOLD YOUR BREATH!!!" And , they do.
Eyes wide open
I go so far as to warn the patient, that if the frame breaks, the lenses may be useless if there is no substitute frame in stock which fits.
Our Doctor / Owner always did what the customer felt was right (either soldering or out right replacing). The owner considered the monies made from adjustments was greater than the rare occasion of replacing a frame that was broken during an adjustment. I bet we didn't have to deal with a frame broken during adjustment more than 2 or 3 times a year and the remainder of the year it was charge, charge, charge for adjustments.
when re-glazing in a client's used frame we stamp our invoices with an "at customer's risk" and point out beforehand that we are not responsible for any frame damage which can occur during handling. people "get it" and it is an extremely rare occurrence - i learned the hard way many years ago and it left an impression...
I'd think about always saving discontinued or patient discard silhouette rimless chassis's around. With 3dbls and in-house drilling, I can think of no lenses that can't effectively be remounted.
b
I have had to replace a few over the years, every practice is different regarding policy on adjustment breakage. I always warn them and if I think it's a strong possibility it may break due to extreme stress I tell them "It's very likely this may break if I try to fix it but I am willing to try if you are". I usually get "It's no good to me the way it is so please try and I won't hold you responsible".
So everyone always warn people for EVERY adjustment? Really?
I have always given the warning I cannot be responsible or I will not replace if they are broken during adjustment. If the frame is old or really in bad shape I will simply not adjust them or tell them that since the frame is effectively broken I wont replace it if and when it most likely breaks. The frames that were the most mangled never seemed to break though.It was always the new expensive frames.
In reality though when I worked retail it didn't matter what I told them before hand.If they talked to the manager or district manager they got new glasses. I always felt horrible when this happened so when they got new glasses I felt better.
For the office I worked for, yes on non patient adjustments. It was part of the office policy to find out first if the patient needing an adjustment was one of our patients or one that was new to our office. The Doctor / Owner had the adjustments set up as a service with a fee for a non patient and free adjustments for patients who purchased eyewear from us and again we had to know which one we were dealing with before proceeding to the adjustment area. Being in a mall type setting the practice was pretty straight forward and worked well, any non patient not wanting to pay for an adjustment never made it to the adjustment bench.
Yes, within reason. Habitual adjustment needing patients, I may not reiterate it every single time because we have an understanding. But especially if I don't know if the glasses are from our office or not, yes, every time. :)
No, but you know if it's an older frame or not one of yours so you warn those. If it's a current frame, current patient I already know if I break it I'm going to replace it. It so rarely happens though.
we tell every frame owner that did not buy them at our shop, or if they're more than a year old.
My brother does same thing, verbatim.
We do have a counter card that says we will gladly adjust/repair all glasses but will not be held responsible for breakage.
although, if they were purchased from us or not, any breakage is handled on a per case basis.
Just today I had a guy come in who had clearly just been in a car accident and his frame needed an adjustment badly. I told him I was happy to do it, but I could not promise the frame wouldn't break. He kept saying that I could just use the machine to adjust it so it wouldn't break. Repeated it 3 times. He finally left disgusted with me and my service. Damn super moon.
Up here we have a waiver that i make people sign if their frames are not ours, or old. if ANYONE uses an old frame and wants new lenses i make them sign aswell. have had a few break at the lab. if they are patients of our we always help them with adjustments as much as i can, if the frames are "iffy" i will explain to them that we run the risk of them breaking, and i pretty much make them verbally give me permission to affect repairs on the frames win or lose.
ESPECIALLY if its not from our office i point out every single defect in the lenses and frame. every scratch, every abraision, every ding, EVERYTHING. to the customer. i do this because the average consumer (who believes they are the greatest thing since sliced bread and honestly believes you where born last night) will allow you to adjust the frames knowing there is damage on the lenses them try to act like YOU damaged the lenses. after a few snobby old biddies trying to pull that on us we dont fool around anymore. If the frames or anything DOES break, i at least offer to order them a replacement (at retail price of course), or a replacement part (if available). if they are not our frames, (depending in how decent the person is treating me) i will call the place their frames came from, if they know, and try to get them to cover them if they are still under warrantee.
I used to own an optical shop. I used to get mad at people who wanted free adjustments. So I changed my policy. When people came in and asked me to adjust frames they bought somewhere else, I would say, "no problem" and proceed to break them on purpose. Then I would call them names and belittle them for buying from my competitors. I am not sure if this is the reason, but soon my business dropped off and I was forced to close the store. I declared bankruptcy and stiffed my lab and frame suppliers. I opened a new store down the street under my wife's name.
All joking aside, I like the waiver idea. Even if it does not give you an actual legal release, more often than not, it can bail you out of potentially tough situation. If someone won't sign, let them go somewhere else. If someone does sign and you break them, I have faith in the integrity of people and hope that in 99% of the cases, they will be reasonable.
Ironically, because many opticians place so little value on what they do/know, many of them assume that the consumer is expecting a free adjustments, when in reality, most are content to pay for our services. Yes, consumers have been trained to get free adjustments at chain stores, but they've also been trained to have someone hand them a cart when they walk in the door also.
You get what you pay for...
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
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