Local independent optical practices have scored highest in a new Which? survey among 8,500 members of the market research firm.
Independents were deemed the best place to have an eye test and the best place to buy glasses. Membership warehouse Costco finished second in the survey.
Of the larger high street chains, Dollond & Aitchison, now completely rebranded as Boots Opticians, was placed third with an overall customer score of 78%, while Asda Opticians and Leightons scored 76%, Specsavers 73%, Boots and Vision Express 72%, Tesco Opticians 70%, Scrivens 68% and David Clulow 63%.
The eye test, product quality, price, value, after sales, customer service and store environment were among the services rated by Which? members.
Optical Express scored lowest in both the general opticians and laser eye surgery surveys Which? conducted.
An Optical Express spokesperson said the company was extremely disappointed by the survey and it strongly rejected its findings, saying they were based on the opinion of a very small sample of people.
The spokesperson said: ‘Only 82 respondents in a survey of over 8,200 Which? members actually rated Optical Express – that’s fewer than 1% of all those who took part.’
Optical Express said the survey misrepresented the views of the hundreds of thousands of highly ‘delighted patients’ it saw every year.
‘In a survey of 252,179 Optical Express patients, over 99% told us they would recommend us to their family and friends. We are also rated as “excellent” on independent customer review platform, TrustPilot. The website’s rating is based on over 4,000 patient reviews,’ it added.