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Eye tests, glasses and contact lenses are unavoidable expenses – but savvy shopping can cut the bill. And, as prices fall, more bargains are appearing. During half-term – February 15 to March 2 – for instance, high street optician Vision Express is offering free eye tests to adults who take their child for a test (who also goes free, but on the NHS) at any of its British branches. Here is a round-up of other savings.
Free and discounted eye tests
Standard eye tests can cost up to £30, unless you are entitled to a free test on the NHS (if you are over 60, for instance). For everyone else, there are only a few places to go to get a free examination. Tesco offers free eye tests in all of its British stores with an in-house optician, while Boots is offering tests half price – at £12.50, including digital retinal photography.
Retinal photography – when the optician takes a photograph of the back of your eye to monitor how healthy it is – is a relatively new part of the eye-screening process. It can reveal signs of diabetes and high blood pressure. The digital photograph is usually an added expense when having your eyes tested, with Vision Express charging customers £10, unless customers have been advised to have one by an optometrist on a clinical basis. Specsavers, however, includes this service free for customers over 40 paying for an eye test.
Under health and safety regulations set out in 1992, any employee who works regularly with computers can ask their employer to pay for an eye test.
Glasses
Websites selling discounted glasses are where consumers can get the best bargains, with many offering up to 50pc off the same frames for sale at your local optician.
Opticians are legally obliged to give customers a copy of their prescription so they are able to buy a frame (or contact lenses) elsewhere. First head online, where there is often more choice and lower prices – particularly for designer frames.
Vision Express and Boots both offer a range of Ray-Ban glasses retailing for about £199, while discount websites such as shadestation.co.uk and selectspecs.com offer the same frames for a fraction of the price, at around £70 and £100, respectively.
Susan Whittle, 65, (pictured above) went to Boots for an eye test but asked for a copy of her prescription so she could snap up a bargain elsewhere. Mrs Whittle decided to go online to find a pair of frames, and having used discount website shadestation.co.uk before to buy a pair of sunglasses, she decided to purchase a pair of Bulgari frames for £296. Similar ones from the same designer were retailing for around £400 in the optician’s, she said.
“I would definitely go online for purchasing glasses again, it is always cheaper than buying in store at the optician, and there is a much greater range of styles and designs,” Mrs Whittle added.
Not all websites offer such drastic discounts – and some high street shops are cheap, too. Shoppers can purchase one of Specsavers’ cheapest pairs of frames for £25, including prescription lenses, in store or online.
Contact lenses
The price of contact lenses can range vastly, with the same brand costing much more depending on where, and how much, you buy. Using Acuvue Moist daily disposable lenses 30 pack as an example, we look at the savings you could make.
Tesco Opticians sells a pack of 30 Acuvue Moist lenses for only £14 both in store and online (with free delivery), while Asda charges the same in store and online, but with a £2.95 delivery charge (for orders under £25).
Specsavers also charges a reasonable price of £14.75 for the same Acuvue lenses in store or online (with free delivery).
Websites such as visiondirect.co.uk charge £18.50 per 30 lenses for the same product (with free UK delivery), while getlenses.co.uk charges £18.99 (free delivery). Contactlenses.co.uk is on the more expensive end of the online spectrum, charging £25.50 for 30 lenses.
Bulk-buying contact lenses can make a considerable difference to the cost, however, and purchasing on an independent website usually allows you to do this. Tesco, Asda and Specsavers do not offer a cheaper rate if buying in bulk, so buying 12 boxes of 30 lenses (six months’ worth) from Tesco will cost £168, with each box costing £14 each. Buying 12 boxes will cost £176 at visiondirect.co.uk, with each box costing £14.67 instead of £18.50 – the cost of buying if not in bulk. This is, however, still more expensive than buying from the high street stores.
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