Specsavers is a ubiquitous (in the UK) chain of opticians. The outward appearance is that it is all one company, but I suspect it is a fairly loosely connected collection of franchises. Inter-branch communication is all but non-existant. A combination of moving from one branch to another, while having had an eye test at a third branch, has caused all sorts of problems for Mrs Rob’s Blog. There’s a central call centre which doesn’t seem to talk to the branches, the end result being that you have to explain the whole story from the beginning every time you call someone.
The current problem is that they insist Mrs RB hasn’t had an eye test for over two years and they are now legally required to stop supplying her with her monthly batch of contact lenses. Her insistence that she has had an eye test recently is to no avail. Evidence in the form of her meticulously maintained diary is of no interest to them. They need to see The Official Prescription, which the other branch don’t seem to have.
Not so long ago eye exams as a precondition for receiving contact lenses were something opticians did because it’s a sensible thing to do. But around a year or so ago I remember getting from my optician a letter that this was to become a Legal Requirement.
Presumably that means that while once upon a time a customer’s insistence might have satisfied an optician that all was in order, there is now Paperwork that must Satisfy Government Officials. Mere reason is no longer enough.
Fly to Romania. Take the prescription with you. Walk into an optician. Present them with the prescription. Go to the pub. Stay in a middling hotel. Repeat until the contact lenses are ready. Fly home. The whole thing will probably cost less than just getting them in England.