D&A withdraws free test offer

Dollond & Aitchison has had to pull a 'free eye test' offer on its website after the promotion attracted thousands of requests from patients, many of whom then reportedly took their free prescription to rival outlets.

Earlier this week, D&A confirmed to Optician that it had axed the offer because of unprecedented demand for the incentive after it was flagged up by various media outlets and received widespread exposure.

Details of the offer were published in a woman's magazine and various web portals such as moneysaving expert.

In a statement, the company said: 'D&A has run numerous promotions of this type in the past. We decided to halt this particular incentive due to the unexpected media coverage it received. We did not want this to interfere with our ability to provide great service and care to our customers.'