Holy mackinoli!!

We had a patient that came in last week to get some polarized brown trifocals. After dispensing them, he was having trouble getting used to his OD. The OMD had given him a new Rx, but he could not adjust to it, so he got a recheck by our OD, who wrote him a new Rx for the right lens. This one he just loves, and when he came to pick them up, he insisted on paying for the remake, saying it wasn't our fault. I showed him the invoice and he included it on his check for the balance.


I'll be kicked to death by little red spiders!

Isn't that like ... normal ?
Happens from time to time to us too ... client pays for the new glasses.
It's not the optician who made the error after all.
He may go to complain to the OD later :)

*sigh* gotta love those patients. And he'll be back because he knows that you'll take care of him no matter what's wrong.

That's awesome. I'd say not normal, either. Some people want you to just keep remaking the lenses until they're comfortable, no matter how many Rx checks they've had or how many remakes you've done. Kudos to That Guy!! :bbg:

WOW!!!!! Keep that patient forever!

Hey Dragon, did you guys suggest he return to the OMD for a recheck or was that too inconvenient for him? I have to agree, it's not too often you find many patients willing to pay upfront to correct someone else's error. He's an old-schooler with those "old timer" ethics/morals. Free case and cleaner for that guy!

Score! that one's a keeper! We get those from time to time, but not often.

Your client deserves praise for his attitude and actions :)

The way i see, the situation in general:

Patient goes to a doctor.
The doctor examines him and writes a prescription.
The patient goes to a drug store, where he buys the prescribed medications.

but...

The doctor made a mistake, so a new treatment is prescribed.
Patient goes to the same drug store.

Would the drug store give him the medications for free ?!

We have had a few cases like this.
After we explain the situation client goes to the Doctor and comes with a new prescription.
If the client is respectful and polite, we make a discount on the new lenses as a sign of our good will.

Not because we have to!
We fulfilled the prescription to the letter and stand behind the accuracy and quality of our work.
Everyone makes mistakes, but we will go to court (and we have, and we won) before taking the blame for someone else's mistake.

Dr. change remakes cost us zero dollars, we in return charge zero dollars. I certainly hope we never descend to the level of finding ourselves in court with a patient, what could possibly be worse for your business???

"If the client is respectful and polite, we lower ourselves to their pitiful level enough to throw them a bone for being submissive to our greatness" ** slight translation **

I'd be incredibly happy to have anyone with that attitude as my market "competition"

Even if you are charged for a Dr. Change remake, the cost of satisfying a patient at no charge to them is well worth the return on investment. You'd be better off simply refunding patients up front for disatisfaction rather then proceed down the slippery slope of figuring out what they owe through no fault of their own.

We pay the full price for EVERY lens we remake. You get yours for free, more power to you :)
If we make an error (nobody's perfect) we remake everything at our expense.
So we are not making a double profit as you are inferring. We are reducing our small margin (...this is Bulgaria) to help a customer, who is suffering from someone else's error.

Since when is defending one's good name and professionalism in court bad?
What could be worse for your "business" than turning your back to the opticians who have done their job well?
Or turning your back to the name and reputation that your clients have trusted for years.
An honest man/company is not afraid of going to court.

Don't be fast to judge people who work in a different market with different rules and regulations.

PS: Here court expenses are not in the $ six figures and customer has no problem in taking a big company to court.
There are no precedents either, it's a Civil law (legal system).


PS2: A clarification:
The customer does not pay for the original (mistaken) pair of lenses either, usually he is reimbursed by the doctor. So in the end of the day, the customer got his (correct) glasses at a lower price (with our discount). He pays for One pair of lenses only.

That's a keeper:). I mean that pacient shows that he has more than common sense. Amazing is that we think at this like an out of ordinary thing, but unfortunately...it's true; he's a different man.