I feel so dirty. I need to take a shower after that. I released a PD for a patient to buy her backup glasses off the internet. QUICK HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS SMELL!?
I feel so dirty. I need to take a shower after that. I released a PD for a patient to buy her backup glasses off the internet. QUICK HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS SMELL!?
You will not smell yourself, when you think that you charged her:
$ 25.00 for taking the PD
$ 45.00 for checking the finished glasses and adjusting them after delivery.
$ 70.00 total, purely for professional service and labour (if you did not do that you made the big mistake)
Nothing to smell and having to shower for. On Liners sell glasses by the thousands and they need your services for the measurements and afterservices. Your knowdledge is worth a commercial fee.
So take the money and don't feel bad.
Great idea... However, my practice is against charging for it.... I am all for it but I am the little man as an optician.
Start your own business, doing it. First in your free time and when you make enough to survive do it full time. You can not loose as the onliners are on the increase and their customers do need service.
Start tracking the money the practice could have made by charging for professional services. That will probably change some minds.
Our office charges and we have the patient sign a waiver that we are not responsible for the measurements if we do not make the glasses.
You ARE however, responsible for accurate measurements regardless of whomever makes the glasses.
Last edited by hcjilson; 06-22-2011 at 05:53 PM. Reason: clean up
"Always laugh when you can. It is a cheap medicine"
Lord Byron
Take a photo tour of Cape Cod and the Islands!
www.capecodphotoalbum.com
The VA state board for Opticians determined that an Optician may be held liable for "errors or ommissions" if we provide measurements for online retailers.
I am wondering how this could be a conflict of interest..........if Gaitorbait starts his own optical service side business with consumers that are refused and not helped by his employer.
It looks that most B&M opticals refuse to deal with customers of on line opticals of which there are several thousand new ones of a daily basis.
This could actually become a good business without the need of stock in frames and lenses, all that is needed are some good tools.
Why is it that opticians feel prescribers MUST release the spectacle prescription to the patient, but they feel they don't have to release the patient's PD?
Your tailor will probably give you the size of the last suit you bought from him, but do you think he is going to give you all the measurements he takes to customize the fit so you can go online to buy your next one?
A lack of planning on your part DOES NOT constitute an emergency on mine!
Talk about mountians out of mole hills. One can either say: "Sure I'd be glad to." or "We don't do that." Be done with it, if the patient comes back with something he bought anywhere else all you are responsible for is having written the PD correctly on the piece of paper. You bear no responsibility for the same having been provided in the product. So if the patient comes back either tell them what the Russian said or charge for whatever you do or time spent.
Chip
I see this all the time on CL patients where the patient has been a happy customer for years, then comes back with a problem and tells me: "My doctor (or insureance company) made me get them from him. I want you to work on them like you always did and make them fit like the ones you fit me with." This is the time that the Russian gets quoted.
fjpod,
Do you charge a fee to your pat's. for exams? If so don't you think they are owed something for services rendered, like an Rx.?
Now, if one of our established dispensary pat's. want's their PD we will give it to them, because they have rendered a fee for the service. (we have had more than a few come back willing to pay the premium for our services/products) However, we will not take PD's for the OD's pat's because they want one, we will not even charge for one. Whoever is fabricating their specs. is responsible for this measurement and we will not be held as a third party to the transaction.
Clinton Tower
The intellect to live free is in short supply
ALT248=°
There was a pretty good webinar back a few months ago where this subject was brought up...
I really liked the idea of providing a patient with a PD if asked, BUT you give them a number written on an otherwise blank piece of paper.
No name, no date, no company name, no indication that it is for a PD.
Just 56, 60 whatever...
It is what I have been doing ever since.
I just email them a pd stick to cut out and take a picture.
"Always laugh when you can. It is a cheap medicine"
Lord Byron
Take a photo tour of Cape Cod and the Islands!
www.capecodphotoalbum.com
The problem there with your advice is here in the great USA....regardless of what you may think....our judicial system is designed so that if you are ever accused of giving a wrong PD it is up to you to PROVE that it is correct. People THINK it is the other way around....but trust me....not so. All you have to do is be accused then you have to PROVE other wise. So blank pieces of paper with only a number on it gives you no documentation or defense of any type.
"Always laugh when you can. It is a cheap medicine"
Lord Byron
Take a photo tour of Cape Cod and the Islands!
www.capecodphotoalbum.com
Again here, for me, this whole interet thingy has made me realize just what services have been (secretly) bundled/included in the fee charged for eyewear. So, if the raw product cost + std retail markup profit is applied to the(lenses or frames) basics, then the professional fees need to be extracted, cited, and determined. Being fair is important, and although I'd luv to really apply in earnest all the fees wherever they'd lie, in truth, we're still at the juncture where charging fees is done "at the bow of the ship." AS we all know, you DON'T want to be the first guy on the block to institute/charge all the fees. We have be patient, and ease everyone into the this whole new idea.
Think of the discussions of 15-20 years ago, when frame companies wanted to charged for excessive returns/exchanges, but the first companies to do so took a really bad PR drubbing, and had to retrench. Nowadays, we're all pretty use to the concept of either time/percentage/total business done as metrics used to determine what is "reasonable".
We'll get there. Just eb patient. You'll like it!
B
Of course one could give them the PD in inches, or any other unsual form of measurement. You can bet the dingies on line will never figure it out.
Chip
I don't think we should accuse the on liners of being stupid. So far they are taking away thousands of Rx's per day, that would have been sold in B&M budinesses.
If the professional does not play along for a service fee and makes some money along the line, there will be a camera manufacturer that is looking for a new niche to sell products and come up with a vendor machine that lets you put 5 bucks in the slot , then look into 2 oculars at a target and it will print a card with a correct PD.
Then you have lost the next step
The next step is that that these days you can learn how to adjust glasses on the web. I put the question to Goohle and it came up with: how to adjust eyeglasses
About 2,460,000 results (0.13 seconds). Here is an example:
Adjusting your eyeglasses
Most of the time, adjusting your eyeglasses that we send you is not necessary because the eyeglasses fit properly when you receive them. Eyeglass frames are designed so that they can be adjusted (bent) if necessary to accommodate most any facial structure. When a local optical profession is adjusting your eyeglasses for you, it is called a fitting. In most cases you will not need to fit eyeglasses, but if you do, you can take your glasses to a local optical store for a fitting. Most opticians will do a fitting for free; if they charge you a fee, we will reimburse you for their fitting fee up to a maximum of $15. Just fax us the receipt and we will credit your account.
Be careful, make small and infrequent adjustments
If you do decide to be adjusting your eyeglasses yourself, first you must be extremely careful. The adjustable parts of glasses are small and thin. If your adjustments are done in the wrong way, you can damage the glasses and the manufacturer or retailer will not replace them. If you adjust your glasses too often, the metal may fatigue and break also.
Why do you need an adjustment?
If you have bought eye glasses online, before you begin adjusting your eyeglasses frame, be sure you know exactly what it is you want to accomplish. The two most common goals are to position the optical center of the lens directly in front of your pupils, and to make the glasses feel more comfortable on your ace...........................
source: http://www.eyeglasses.com/learn_html...yeglasses.html
So even this part of an optical service can be learned on the web for the taking. So the only thing a consumer will not have and that is expirience. That is were an optician can earn some money giving service, or that is also were the optical retail business seriously needs some help before it disintegrates.
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