So what are you? The "nice police"?
So what are you? The "nice police"?
Last edited by RuleTheWorld; 11-30-2006 at 05:39 PM.
. Post comments that are constructive and not aggressive or your life here will be short.:finger:Originally Posted by RuleTheWorld
Last edited by mike.elmes; 11-28-2006 at 04:41 PM.
What does it matter if he is an Optician or not. He seems to know the difference between whats right and wrong.
I paid a visit to my local Great Glasses and found that it was still open. When I questioned them they said that they were going to let customers pick out frames but none would be made. I also asked if they were going to dispense the glasses that were already done and they said they were allowed to. A friend that works in Hamilton said that he was still able to get an eye test from the King St. store. I have tried calling the College of Opticians to see who I could report this to but I wasn't able to speak with anyone. Could anyone tell the appropriate people to contact about this????
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Last edited by Refractingoptician.com; 03-02-2007 at 12:28 AM.
I can understand why young opticians question the morality of college of opticians and the ontario opticians ***. 17 stores for five years without any licenses and not one charge. The association has never mentioned what is going on in any newsletter or on the website. And now the two of them are going to give us delegation. This will cost jobs. Do you think that the big chains that have to have two or three opticians on at peak times.
will cut back to only one and have them delegate all dispensing.
The vision council of canada has been trying for this for years.
As an owner of many stores I can benefit from this legislation and as an optician I can talk from both sides. This delegation legislation is plain wrong.
great glasses has been one of the worst things to happen to this industry in all the years I have been in it, and that is very long time.
The failure of the colleges to protect the public is terrible. We all should be asking why.
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Last edited by Refractingoptician.com; 03-02-2007 at 12:27 AM.
Great Glasses continues to advertise sight-testing on their web site at www.greatglasses.ca
The judgement last Friday stated that contravening the court's orders were subject to a 50k/day fine. That being the case, the total fine to day would now be $250k. Ouch.
If Bergez wishes to appeal the decisions, does he honestly think the Supreme Court of Canada will hear his case? Fat chance.
A friend of mine got a hold of this. It was a letter that was sent to all Great Glasses employees after the article about the judgement was printed in the Spectator on Tuesday.
Hi Everyone
Great Glasses has hit a major bump in the road to offering the public a free eye test. The Optometrists in their attempt to take more money from the public have effectively stopped us from administering our free eye test via our eyelogic, for the time being. In an attempt to meet all of Justice Crane's requirements, we have decided to no longer use the eyelogic. (On a side note this system is used legally in several provinces & countries). Obviously it is a huge threat to the Optometrists, they charge the public between $75 to $100 for what we offer for free. We still intend to offer a free eye test, however we will not do it in house. We can still dispense glasses legally as we have Licensed Optician on staff, a few actually.
We will now send people to Optometrists to get their eye exam. However, first we will pick out the best selection of current frames, sunglasses or contacts and then take the fee of the attending Optometrists off.
While this has initially looked bad on our part, the spin from our side will begin to unravel. We offer great customer care at an unbelievable price, the public should not have to pay for an eye test and we will continue to make sure of that.
I will include Bruces email to the Spectator that they so conveniently chose not to print. Your support to date has been overwhelming, thanks from Carla and me. Anything you can do to keep a good word about us out there would be appreciated. Passing this email on to as many people as you can would be a a tremendous help.
In closing, think of the blood pressure machine in Shoppers, it was once done by an attending physician, dentists were initially not allowed to be in malls, they fought hard to keep them out of them but now they are no longer just in Medical facilities but also where the public wants them. Pioneering is hard but eventually the public will win.
Sorry for burdening you with this lengthy email.
Regards,
Scott
From: Bruce
To: Buist, Steve
Cc: bbrown@thespec.com ; Kevin Brittain
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 11:35 PM
Subject: Re: Interview request - Nov. 27, 2006
Hi Steve
I have asked you to provide ample time to elaborate on this later, but given your presure to proceed, on behalf of Great Glasses I suggest you print the following in its entirety.
The decision will be appealed, and Great Glasses will conform with the legislation.
In using the courts as they did, what the College of Optometrists have done to the citizenry of Ontario is effectively tried to force everyone to buy an eyetest from them, at a cost of $80 to $100 per visit, when there is a safe, reliable computerized alternative available to the public.
When OHIP was paying optometrists for eyetests, the Government paid $40. How do you explain the increase that the average optometrist now charges to the citizens of Ontario?
Once I have the opportunity to properly elaborate on this subject, I will show you compelling evidence that the Ontario Government wanted the outcome to be different. The Ontario Government wants the consumer to have a choice in health services, and the Ontario Government wants to reduce the cost of all healthcare to its citizens, including making the purchase of eyeglasses more affordable. This is what is meant by "serving the public interest".
Now, you must ask "Who is not acting in the public interest?"
Given this, as always, the consumer has the ultimate choice in where they want to obtain health care services. Consumers have expressed thanks to Great Glasses by voting with their feet.
The smart consumer will continue to purchase their glasses from Great Glasses, tomorrow, and in the future as they always have. Great Glasses will conform with the legislation.
In paragraph 88 of the decision, Justice Crane describes "Great Glasses as a business activity that is economically harmful to the professionals who are providing health care services in accordance with the law in the fields of optometry and opticianry. It is a predatory practice on the health of the public and on the legitimate and economic interests of professional competitors."
From time to time, technologies do emerge that change industries. Would you, as a reporter, want to revert back to a day of the typewriter versus using your wordprocessor?
What was missed in the decision was subsection 3 (2) of the Health Professions Procedural Code, which states that the College has a duty to serve and protect the public interest.
Great Glasses has always acted in the interests of the public, providing free eyetests, seven days a week, and offering three pairs of glasses for the price your optometrist charges you for one pair.
The appeal process must be respected.
Bruce Bergez
Very interesting letters. Clearly GG's standards for an 'eye test' differs (and frankly is much lower) than the standards defined by the professions and the courts.
Optometrists do not charge $75-100 for just an 'eye test', or what GG refers to as a refraction. In fact, in my practice a consultation consists FAR more than just a refraction for this fee. Our consultation involves numerous phases -- history, data gathering-- acuities, binocular vision testing, refraction dilation, anterior and posterior segment examination, retinal imaging, etc etc etc. The consultation meets the standard of care and aids in detecting asymptomatic disease.
If the GG standard for 'eye testing' were applied to medicine and pharmaceuticals, birth control pills and viagara would be found in vending machines! :finger:
Thanks Mike
Last edited by RuleTheWorld; 11-30-2006 at 05:39 PM.
I think we are all really curious to know who you are "RuleTheWorld"? You wrote that the Concerned Patient is obviously not an Optician when you yourself aren't an optician. You've put that you just work in retail optical. Your positioning on this argument about Great Glasses leads me to believe that either you work for the company or you work for a company that is illegally dispensing. You have the same arrogance as Bergez. One creep like that is enough.
Just because I work in an optical doesn't mean that I work for Bergez. I don't. And I don't dispense illegally. I just think it is funny that people worry so much about what he and Great Glassses are doing and not thinking about how they can increase their own market share.
I'm sure you increase market share by being so nice.
Here is an email this Guy sent to staff back in September of 2006
----- Original Message ----- From: Bruce
To: GreatGlasses@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 11:26 AM
Subject: Annual Report (from Bruce)
Hello Everyone
The end of August marks the end of the twelve month cycle for Great Glasses bookkeeping.
Great Glasses originally opened September 1st of 1993, on James Street in Hamilton, with a first month gross sales of $8692. At the time, it was trying to regain its position in the marketplace as a high end, one-for-one optical.
We were trying to revisit the glory days of the old Spectacle Gallery, which was sold in 1989 to forge ahead with Balloon-A-Rama.
There was quite a bit of scrambling in the early years, as Joanne and I still were involved with the balloon business. My focus then was not really the optical business, and during the years 1994 to December 1997 I had a business partner who was, by our definition of today, a “piker”.
In January of 1998 Great Glasses re-marketed itself under its current format, with the piker partner gone, and under the marketing promises of “three-for-one”. By March of that year, we were the first in Ontario to receive the Eyelogic System, and began marketing our second promise, the infamous “Free Eye Test”. It must be remembered then that OHIP covered the eyetest, and for everyone, the test was free. We were pioneering a change well in advance of the eventual delisting of the eye-test. The delisting came in November of 2003.
We also began to **** of some optometrists, but in our infancy, we were too small for them to worry about.
Sales began to esculate in those early days of our rebirth. The first month of our rebirth we did a paltry $5,500. Yes, you read that correct. Only five-grand. However, by the end of August of 1998, the little store on James Street did the average of $25,000 during the months of June, July and August.
Then came the move to the plaza on Dundurn Street.
There was to be a two week time frame for the move, but my eager friends at the time decided to move the location over the labor day weekend. Of those friends, Chris Borgerink of the Cambridge location deserves a thank you.
Most notably in the move were these highlights. For the first two weeks in September, we operated;
(a) without a sign,
(b) without a telephone,
(c) without a paintjob,
(d) without a debit machine,
(e) without a fax machine,
(f) without any advertising and
(g) until Fran Osborne (now of Etobicoke location) walked in, without any “partners”.
During that first month, we managed to pull off $37,000 in gross receipts, despite the “withouts” mentioned above. For the next few months, Fran and I floundered about with a few pikers for partners, and then, in walked Kevin Brittain (now of Thornhill and Richmond Hill).
The enthusiasm for Great Glasses demonstrated by Kevin has never waivered. Despite having a few pikers around at the time, it was the triumvirate created by Kevin, Fran and myself that ensured that everyday, no matter if one of us was off, would be a day filled with energy, organization, and effort to the max. We played hockey, even if it wasn’t identified as hockey back then. We even had time for the occasional game of checkers every once in a while!!
The month before we opened the Mountain location, which was August of 2001, we had expanded our team to include Anna Mifsud (now of Brampton) and concluded the single store chapter in Great Glasses history with August gross sales of $105,000. We were proud of ourselves to say the least.
Once the Mountain location opened, Kevin and Anna departed to chart new grounds at that location. Out into the parking lot went Kevin, and within the store stayed Anna. Then, on the 11th day of the month, a few guys from the other side of the world decided to knock down the twin towers in New York. Quite frankly, and with all due respect, they did a damn good job. Not only did they accomplish their mission, they sent shock waves of fear into the world. Suppliers even called me to warn me that our expansion was ill timed, and that we should retract.
Not being one to be easily dissuaded, and having Kevin prodding us along, Great Glasses moved forward and opened the Ikea location as scheduled, two months after the towers came down. Once again, with any expansion, comes disruption to the team, as new teams need to be forged. We managed to complete our expansion, and essentially the first year of operations, until August 2002, the average monthly gross for the three locations went like this;
(a) Dundurn averaged $65,000
(b) Mountain averaged $41,000 and
(c) Ikea averaged $48,000.
Early the following fiscal year, in October of 2002, Great Glasses entered another phase of its life. A few guys from Toronto, known as the College of Optometrists, decided that they would have to take out the triple towers of Great Glasses. Try hard they did, but to no avail. Many of us suffered at the hands of the abuse of the optometrists, but none stayed more positive than Anna and Karen Easlick, (now of the Oakville location). Other notables who remain within Great Glasses today from that period, include Ashley Haughen, Mike Cairns, Renee Willis, Bettyann Barnard. All have been troopers in keeping up the faith. I thank you all.
That year between August 2002 and September 2003 was a crazy year. For one, the ships sailed leaderless, as I took on a new role of learning the legal profession. Then, virtually each and every day some disrupting person from the College would phone, or enter the store, causing a nuisance and attempting to send fear into Great Glasses. “You’ll be shut down in months” we were constantly told. Those fires were always put out by reason and logic, and everyone in the know then understands what we at Great Glasses are all about.
We concluded that twelve month period almost the same as the year before. Collective average sales the year before saw the three stores doing and average of $147,000, and for 2002-2003 we raised the collective by a few thousand to $153,000.
While those numbers may not seem stellar by today’s standard, they were fundamentally great considering the amount of disruption in our lives caused by the optometrists.
However, as the saying goes: “whatever doesn’t kill ‘ya, makes ‘ya stronger”. We were not shut down, and in fact, the judge ruled we could keep on using the Eyelogic System. Five years had gone by since that damn system came to Ontario, and the optometrists did not achieve their goal. We were then, as we are today, permitted to use the Eyelogic System.
The first newspaper article hit the streets. Everybody called me concerned. Little did they know, sales actually increased. The marketplace is not stupid. People see through the bull****.
Half way through that year, we created something entirely new. On the last day of February, notably that year was a “LEAP YEAR” we unveiled hockey, in its formal state. Hockey was explained, teams were reshuffled, and Dora Baner joined Karen and Anna at the Mountain store to redirect its course, [and Kevin went off to have the first of his nervous breakdowns caused by me]!!
While it took a few months to get things right, the time between September 2004 and August 2005 saw the greatest improvements, largely due to a committed and focused group of individuals. For that time frame alone, each of the three locations averaged almost $100,000 per month for the entire year!!!
The Dundas location opened, and in its first four months did an average of $46,000 per month. Mike Kelly and Renee moved from their locations to Dundas, and Mike eventually went on to pioneer Milton.
Highlights of that year were these sales figures;
(a) $128,000 for Dundurn in April; and
(b) $122,588 for Mountain in October; and
(c) $119,003 for Ikea in October.
Our hockey formula was working. We now had a reproducable selling system.
Couple those numbers, and the lineups to get into a Great Glasses location, and the increased exposure Great Glasses received by expanding its logoed car program from just associates to strangers, and you can see why the optometrists are ****** off. The logoed car program is one fundamental aspect to our system. Do not let it die!!
As I drive from location to location, especially in this area, I am amazed. I see one car everyday at least. It is quite an impressive program.
During that time, I had the pleasure to meet another group of people who had the necessary “stickwithitness” at Great Glasses. Notably;
(a) Mark Brunette who left with Anna to forge Brampton, and
(b) Michael Curic who left with Karen to forge Oakville; and
(c) Dora Banner who left to join forces with Scott and Carla Arsenualt to secure another spot in Burlington; and
(d) Michael Friday and Aunty Pam who convinced his dad Glen to soak his life savings into Upper Stoney Creek; and
(e) Lillian Cicotti who convinced her husband Al, the Elvis impersonator, that she could still be successful if she told all her customers that “itsa****in o.k.”
(f) Poala Rogano who convinced her dad Fabio to soak his life savings into St. Catherines; and
(g) Kim Borgerink who, after meeting me in 1995 in a mall in Burlington, watched on as the plans for the rebirth of Great Glasses were drafted, finally convinced Chris to take the plunge; and
(h) Carol Mullen who heads up Dundas now; and
(i) Chelcia and Vasa, who after being part of the instrumental group who headed up the big changes in the Hamilton locations are forging forward in the heart of Toronto; and
(j) Bill Duncan and Jeff Buss who are fighting the good fight in Brantford; and
(k) Jeff Shiekh, who is Anna’s protégé from Brampton, is heading up Clarkson Village; and
(l) Those at the corporate stores which, as of late, seem to have taken the brunt from having my life turned upside down by the optometrists.
Well, you can imagine how ****** off the optometrists were before hand, after not being able to knock down the original three locations. Now the expansion to seventeen locations surely has set them off. Although not everyone has reported their August sales as of yet, it would be safe to say that the store that started with a five grand month has now effectively grown to an enterprise taking in over fifteen million dollars on an annualized basis.
While the road has been long and fraught with many people wanting to put obstacles in our way, the true measure of success comes from associating with people who are not pikers. Many individuals have been enriched by Great Glasses, and many more can be. To effectively achieve this, we need people who believe. The new phrase for this year is “believe or leave”.
There are so many things I have been teaching people over the past few years. Too many to mention here. However, some of the key themes have been;
(a) see yourself as successful, and work to achieve that success; and
(b) you can become the best person to test eyes and sell eyeglasses; and
(c) understand this equation, opportunity plus ability equals success.
Despite the onslaught by the optometrists this year, 2007 will be another successful year. Great Glasses already has seven additional locations that will open in 2007. We will be expanding broader and further from the home base of Hamilton.
This provides many of you the opportunity to one day become the operators of your own locations.
I thought I might share a photograph with you!!
One of the worlds leading sports car makers phrases success this way;
Find the line, and never stop perfecting.
Which simply means, take what has worked, stick with it while enhancing it. Change for changes sake is unnecessary.
Another business person stated;
‘tis not the winds, but the set of the sail, that determines where you go
The winds don’t always blow right, and often lately the winds have been set against us by the optometrists, but if we set our sails correctly, and believe me, they are set firmly in place, we will go where we want to go!!
I asked everybody this question once “DO YOU WANT TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE?”
I think those who answered yes a few years ago will categorically agree that we have accomplished greater things that originally planned for. Now is the time to supercede those accomplishments.
Build your teams, logo your cars, advertise wisely and continually practice good hockey. Believe me, five thousand dollar days can be the norm!!!, not the exception.
Great Glasses is just simply that: GREAT. I thank every one of you for that.
Take care
Have a nice labour day weekend.
Bruce
It's becoming quite obvious...especially by your last comment that your interest in opticianry ... how opticianry is viewed by the public at large... how the public is being swindled..and where opticianry may be headed... is of little interest to you. By the sounds of it you're not looking to stay in this industry for any great length of time.
Put your life into this so called career... better yet open a store...run it within the proper guidelines and then stand there with your mouth taped shut when Bergez or others like him open up around you and steal your clients by NOT operating within the guidelines.
This is a discussion board... so this is where people in the industry come to discuss their concerns...etc. If you find this amusing (funny) perhaps you would be better served at www.thejokesonme.com
Bottom line this man Bergez was/is operating illegally... and that is where the concern is coming from. The mans market share is not the issue... it is how he has hood winked the public into thinking they are getting a legitimate service for their dollar. This is bad publicity for opticianry... and if not tended to will only open the flood gates for others to attempt to operate in the same fashion.
p.s.: I find it funny that you have the time to read and post your comments... shouldn't you be spending you precious time figuring out how to sell more glasses ?
Last edited by The Critical Eye; 11-30-2006 at 07:19 PM.
Oh ! Was I being too Critical ? :finger:
Anyone see how quick "RuleTheWorld" was to change his replies......mmmmmm
Anyone see how quick "RuleTheWorld" was to change his replies......................mmmmmm I wonder why
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