Lab Troubles

**Java99** · 09-08-2010, 09:28 PM

What do you guys do when you're having quality issues with a lab and can't get any resolution? I am at my wits end with this place, but we've had a long term relationship and they used to be able to handle difficult jobs well. We're high volume and do a lot of weird stuff, which is what makes this so frustrating. This place was great at weird stuff!

We've been having delay issues, lost frames on VSP jobs, wrong lenses sent, and other varied bad things, but this week I got a job back wrong for the second time (second!!). It wasn't a little wrong, it was a 7x28 with one seg at 17 and the other at 24. The 17 seg was also rotated nasally nearly 45 degrees. Never mind that the segs were supposed to be at 26. On a job that's a month out already. The rep won't call me back, customer service says call the rep, and the rep's boss won't answer the phone.

Any suggestions on how to handle this other than dropping the lab entirely? One of my docs was ready last week, and another saw that 7x28 today and got on the phone with about as much luck as I've had.

**uncut** · 09-08-2010, 09:59 PM

It sounds like the lab is having personnel problems, or some key people are on vacation, or have left for greener pastures. A meeting with the lab management is immediately a priority. Failing that......find a new lab. Quite often the only way to get action is to cut them off, and usually someone might notice and call you.

A lab can ruin your reputation.....and remember, it is your reputation.

**BobK** · 09-08-2010, 10:00 PM

There is something seriously wrong with this lab. I don't think you have much of a choice. At the very least I would be talking to and trying some other labs. The fact that no one will even return your calls is telling. Good luck

**Speed** · 09-09-2010, 04:46 AM

Give them some time off to get straight. By the time you get mad at your new lab, they should have fixed the problem.

**Jubilee** · 09-09-2010, 06:15 AM

We went through a similar situation. A lab we had been doing business with for over 25 years was having issues left and right. We knew of a few personnel changes that shouldn't have affected lab quality (customer service, and lab rep) but we were told there wasn't any changes that had been made to the important places on their line.

We met with the lab manager and had a talk. We gave him a list of all the issues we had had for the past few weeks, and he promised to do better. Didn't happen. I had already started to send my AR work to another lab that had a better turn around and pricing for and started to send a bit more work their way. Had a meeting again, promises were made.. only to be broken again. Turn around got worse, they ended up loosing their key customer service person and it was taking 2 weeks to get a simple frame and lens package. I started to send everything I could to the other lab, but our other office didn't have any relationships with other labs and still sent this under-performing lab work.. till 6 months later after about 4 meetings with their lab manager.. they messed up the wrong order and finally the doctor was willing to set up an account for that office using the same lab I was sending my stuff too..

It was sad. This other lab before it became a "partner" with a mega-corp was family owned and operated. We knew everyone and they knew us. Several of their associates came to us for their eye exams. We considered it a great partnership and everyone was making money...That changed. I could not and would not put up with it.

Great thing is that this bump allowed me to finally convince the doctor to get an edger and for us to do a lot of work inhouse. Seeing some great savings due to that change.

This is one of the reasons why I don't like having all my eggs in one basket. It took me a while to get it into the powers that be heads that if I hadn't already been sending work to another lab, we would have no clue who was good and who wasn't.. in all the categories that matter such as turn around, accuracy, craftmanship and value.

No returned calls is bad. Its like they aren't even trying.. time to shop around.

**MikeAurelius** · 09-09-2010, 07:39 AM

Time to go to the very top. Find out who the president is. Send the job with the bad segs direct to him personally, marked "Personal and Confidential". Enclose a letter saying something to the effect that if this continuing problem is not resolved immediately, you will be in search of a new lab.

**optilady1** · 09-09-2010, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by Speed

Give them some time off to get straight. By the time you get mad at your new lab, they should have fixed the problem.

Ha! This is so true. I always say lab quality is cyclical. good for six months, and then they start going right down the tubes. They usually come around though.

**AngeHamm** · 09-09-2010, 08:06 AM

It's the failure to call back that concerns me the most. No cyclical quality control improvement can compensate for an institutional lack of communication.

There are plenty of labs out there, and they want your business. Time to start shopping.

**MikeAurelius** · 09-09-2010, 08:14 AM

btw, if you do any glass jobs, I'd be happy to have some business!

**eyeguy21** · 09-09-2010, 11:52 AM

Our lab seems to go through managerial changes ever year or two and in that time where there is no clear cut lab mgr the quality and turnaround always seems to lag. Most recently they were without a manager for several months. I can't say we saw a huge decline in productivity/quality but it definitely seemed to improve when he actually got here.

What you can do is just make a chart or log in which you record every lab remake/rework as they pop up and then you have something to show them when you get to the P.I.C. In our case our Optical mgr may have lunch with one of the lab higher-ups every couple of weeks and go over any issues one of our locations might have. Believe me they don't want to lose any business in this economy and usually will bend over backwards trying to correct the issue.

In the end if you've given them every opportunity to correct the issue and they haven't, then you owe it to yourself and your reputation to part ways and move on.

**WFruit** · 09-09-2010, 12:33 PM

Get a new lab yesterday.

Quality issues happen, human error happens. Extended amounts of time with sever quality issues is very bad. Not calling back is completely inexcusable. Obviously they don't want your money, so give it to another lab that does.

**gmanlook** · 09-09-2010, 02:29 PM

You can't stay on with a lab that treats you that way. There apparently is no accountability any longer. It sounds like somthing has changed. Don't continue with them there are other labs that will do you proud. I geuss the worst part of it is that no one is even looking at the jobs before they leave the lab. SCARY!!

**conantoptics** · 09-10-2010, 12:15 AM

get together with the LAB fisrt, see what is happending there;
tell them that you are going to put some jobs to another LAB; and do at once.

If they want your business, they will work harder to earn

**BMH** · 09-10-2010, 05:56 PM

I would say a new lab is in order! All of the suggestions about meeting with lab managers and multiple conversations sound out right ridiculous. I don't know about the rest of you but I am far to busy to help ANY lab fix THEIR problems. They have a job to do and a business to run. If they don't know how to do it then they are in the wrong business.

If you have a problem in your optical shop with equipment or personel changes do you expect your patients/customers to help you figure it out?

This lab should be ashamed and embarrassed if you are the one fixing their issues!

**Wes** · 09-10-2010, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by BMH

I would say a new lab is in order! All of the suggestions about meeting with lab managers and multiple conversations sound out right ridiculous. I don't know about the rest of you but I am far to busy to help ANY lab fix THEIR problems. They have a job to do and a business to run. If they don't know how to do it then they are in the wrong business.

If you have a problem in your optical shop with equipment or personel changes do you expect your patients/customers to help you figure it out?

This lab should be ashamed and embarrassed if you are the one fixing their issues!

Spot on, and I say that as a lab guy.

**harry888** · 09-10-2010, 08:16 PM

I've noticed quality issues in labs about to get sold. Staff knows what's down the pike, morale is low and noone cares.

Harry

**Java99** · 09-11-2010, 01:13 PM

Thanks for all the advice. I tried more phone calls and got promised call backs that never happened, and then a lab rep from a lab with whom we used to work 2 years ago came into the office. I had the nightmare job in my hand, trying to take pictures. He saw it, started laughing, and took it with him to personally drop off at his lab. That rep just earned our business back!

**MaggieS** · 09-12-2010, 04:46 PM

Difficult situation. My experience is that labs have a tendency to go hot and cold and believe me, they don't do it on purpose. The best man/woman to talk to is the lab manager. Asking how you can help make his obviously difficult job easier may open the lines for communication. Sometimes, talking to one particular customer service person or sending the Rx with special instructions, can make all the difference. And as always, if you are serious about staying with the lab, the honey method gets you much further than the screaming and threatening.
Good luck

**sharpstick777** · 09-13-2010, 11:52 AM

This is exacty why I recommend using more than one lab... send your work to whoever is best at the time. Drop the underperforming lab immediately, they won't make changes until the orders stop coming in. You are doing them a favor in the long run.