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cakebread
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![[*]](./images/oxygen/default_icon.gif) posted on 19-2-2008 at 05:38 PM |
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Cost and Discounts
I had a consultation last week but was amazed at the cost £3790! I had put this off for a couple of years so I had £3000 in mind. I know Optimax start
off at that price and offer discounts for the same treatment.
Provisionally they booked me in for this week but by the time I added what it costs to have the time off work it is costing me over £4000 in total.
Can't offord that. But on hearing that others had been given discounts I thought I would phone them to see what they could offer.
I was quite suprised that after I told them everything i.e. what I could afford they weren't forth coming with any offers. I was left with
nowhere to go with the conversation other than "Oh well I'll have it done with optimax then" they really didn't seem to bothered.
Strange because there was plenty of empty slots to have the treatment and i would have thought they would have wanted to fill them. £3000 for ten
minutes work aint bad is it?
Shame as I had taken 2 1/2 years to finally come this far and I had decided to do it this week.
Now I am out of pocket 1. for the consultation and 2. having to book days of work that i don't now need!
Now I am going off the idea totally!
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Nessie
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| posted on 19-2-2008 at 09:16 PM |
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hey!
dont be too quick to quit on this op! there are other options too... you can look at Optical Express which is considerably cheaper, or there is the
Lasek operation which is about £3k at Ultralase, so more in-line with your expectations...
I too asked Ultralase what they could do for me as I was quoted just £2,190 for both eyes with Optical Express!! but they said they can't offer
anything so I guess they don't really compromise on price. I hope you find something convenient and come back with a great success story!
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heyblondie58
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Mood: Fan-bloody-tastic now!!
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| posted on 19-2-2008 at 10:48 PM |
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The reason Ultralase won't compromise on price (& quite frankly, you can't blame them!)is they give a lifetime aftercare/re treatment
package unlike Optical Express/Optimax etc, who may be a few hundred ounds cheaper, but will only re treat/provide aftercare for 12 months, no contest
really when you think about it, I wish i'd known that for a start!!
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cakebread
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| posted on 20-2-2008 at 10:03 PM |
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To date no body has contacted me to try and find out more about why i cancelled.
They really seem uninterested. If they are like this now before they have my money what are they like once they have it? I am now feeling glad I did
cancel after all!
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Rosie.L
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| posted on 20-2-2008 at 10:58 PM |
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Hi - sorry to be thick - why are out of pocket for the consultation - I thought it was free? Or is it only free if you go ahead with the surgery?
When you say they offered you no discounts - did you speak to the manager of where you had your consultation? I just wondered if this would make a
difference?
I had my treatment with UL on friday,and they did offer me some really good interest free credit deals.Are these any good to you? After you you have
the majority saved already..............Hope you can get something sorted
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cakebread
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| posted on 21-2-2008 at 10:07 PM |
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Hi Rosie
I am out of pocket because-
1. for the day off to have the consultation(i do not get payed for days off).
2. for the 2 days I booked off for the surgery and recovery time.
I told UL that the overall cost (to me) was well over £4000 so My budget of £3000 needed help thats when the disinterest started. They even said there
was no discount for paying the whole amount in one go.
Now I have some experience in sales and you can ALWAYS have money off if you pay the whole amount in full upfront. If you can't get money off
thats just plain greedy!
The equipment and staff need paying if they are working or not so surely it would be better to offer better discounts and keep "bums on
seats" as it were rather than having them do nothing for the sake of say 10-20% discount?
I guess there must a HUUUUUUUUGE markup in the first instance for them not to bother then!
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heyblondie58
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Mood: Fan-bloody-tastic now!!
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| posted on 21-2-2008 at 11:12 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by cakebread
Hi Rosie
I am out of pocket because-
1. for the day off to have the consultation(i do not get payed for days off).
2. for the 2 days I booked off for the surgery and recovery time.
I told UL that the overall cost (to me) was
well over £4000 so My budget of £3000 needed help thats when the disinterest started. They even said there was no discount for paying the whole
amount in one go.
Now I have some experience in sales and you can ALWAYS have money off if you pay the whole amount in full upfront. If you can't get money off
thats just plain greedy!
The equipment and staff need paying if they are working or not so surely it would be better to offer better discounts and keep "bums on
seats" as it were rather than having them do nothing for the sake of say 10-20% discount?
I guess there must a HUUUUUUUUGE markup in the first instance for them not to bother then! |
I think you're being a bit unrealistic here, I never got any discount from Optical Express for 'paying upfront!' &, as has been
ointed out on this Forum on numerous occasions, you're paying more for a virtual lifetime of aftercare!
Sue
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martin...
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| posted on 22-2-2008 at 01:41 AM |
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Hi, Looking at all the prices quoted here im astonished the money that people pay - I was -9.5 and +1.25 astigmatism and paid a 3 figure sum for 2x
lasek treatments with an 18 month guarantee with another provider. The way i look at it - if i need a retreat in 10 years time than i will pay
another 3 figure sum and get a further 18 months guarentee - by the looks of it i'll still be £2500 better off but as im better than 20/20 at
present i could not be happier both on price and aftercare although i do admit it has taken me awhile to get to where i am. Have a lookout there -
There are deals to be had - vouchers to be used and bids to be placed if you know what i mean.........
Ah what the heck - My total treatment cost me £760 and £60 was for the consultation although i did have 2 weeks off work in June 07 and Jan 08 ( at
no cost to me) and a slow recovery.
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martin...
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Mood: Optimistic
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| posted on 22-2-2008 at 02:03 AM |
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Sorry forgot to say - I had the basic Lasek Treatment - No Wavefront. £760 was for my initial treatment june 07 and 6 months later had a free
retreatment.
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cakebread
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| posted on 22-2-2008 at 04:43 PM |
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That is a very good point that Martin makes and one that i had not thought about. I will think about it now though, Thanks for the info.
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cakebread
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| posted on 27-2-2008 at 10:34 PM |
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guess what? UL still haven't contacted me. Some customer service eh?
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woodpeckersparadise
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 posted on 29-2-2008 at 11:54 AM |
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cost of treatment
I paid £3390 for both eyes at Optical Express, Lasik with wavefront and intralase. As my RGP lenses cost me about £10 a month, and glasses maybe £100
every few years, you might ask, why bother?
Because I CAN SEE now! I was bad before, more than -8 in both eyes with astigmatism. Now I wake up and see. I get up, I still see. I carry on seeing
until I go to bed. It's cheap at the price.
If Optical Express were to offer to reverse the surgery (impossible, I know) give me back my old vision, plus contacts and specs, and refund all my
money, would I take it? No way! I'm 44 and I've waited long enough to see what others can see as a matter of course. It's a matter of
having faith in the process, and taking the plunge, while knowing there will always be a modicum of uncertainty.
Optical Express do issue vouchers. If you introduce a friend, and they book a free consultation, and they then book surgery on consultation day, they
get £50 off treatment with the voucher, and you get a £50 'kickback' when they have had surgery. There is no limit to the number of people
you can refer in this way. So I just need 68 "friends" with poor eyesight!
My sister lives in Bahrain, one brother in Southern Africa, another in Greece. All have said they would rather have surgery in non-UK locations: in
Bahrain, Turkey or S. Africa for example, because of the price.
However, I live in the UK so does my mother, and we have both had UK surgery (my Mum on NHS and I privately) relatively locally, because of the
continuity of aftercare. In other words, I have my check ups in the same place as I had my treatment. This feels important to me; however, this may
not be a deciding factor for others who choose surgery.
Initially I thought the cost of my treatment would be about £1000, because I believed the adverts. I was disappointed after popping in to Op Ex to
find that this would not be the case, so I just went away and thought about it for a month before booking a free consultation.
I came to believe, over that time, that the cost of good eyesight was worth more than £1000 to me, and I would not stint on options such as intralase
or wavefront.
This is obviously a very personal decision and I hope you'll come to the one that is right for you.
Helena
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cakebread
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| posted on 25-3-2008 at 08:59 PM |
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Thought I would wait and give UL the benefit of the doubt. But they still can't be bothered to contact me. Great customer service they promote in
their Adverts on TV.
Non existant I say!
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mikemcg
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| posted on 26-3-2008 at 06:55 PM |
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Cakebread,
If you come off as negative and 'the world owes' me attitude in real life as you do on here then I'm not surprised they didn't
call you back!
You get what you pay for and in the grand scheme of things £1000 over x years is not that much.
As for your days of before you had a date that is really your problem not UL.
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karlgjones
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| posted on 26-3-2008 at 10:46 PM |
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Hi Cakebread,
I've worked in sales for over 20 years and totally understand the concept of 'haggling' for a deal, but sometimes you just can't
haggle because the company you are dealing with have fixed costs, if you go into Waitrose and spend £100 on food shoping for example, do you say to
the cashier "I'll give you £80 for cash"? no you dont because their prices are set.
You've tried to get a deal, it did'nt work, so go to another company, im sure Ultralase would rather lose your business then start a
discounting war for every future customer which would cost them a whole lot more.
I paid £3770 for my op, got a excellent interest free package and cant fault their aftercare, personally, I'd pay double the competitors price
for lifetime care on my eyes..
I hope you make the right decision.
Carl
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HarrietJLaird
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| posted on 27-3-2008 at 05:59 PM |
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Hi Cakebread,
I am very sorry that we haven't been in touch about the reason for your cancellation - did you explain this to the person when you made the
cancellation? I'd like to look in things further so wondered if you'd drop me a U2U with your name and postcode?
With regard to the issue of discounts, we simply don't offer them on an individual basis - we do have a B2B scheme, whereby members are offered a
discount but otherwise it isn't something we do. The prices we set are reflective of the treatment we deliver, and the excellence and investment
in clinical processes, technology and clinical staff along with things like our aftercare programme and lifetime care guarantee.
Hopefully hear from you soon
Kind regards
Harriet
Ultralase Forum Administrator
Consultation Booking Line: 0808 144 20 20
Clinic Advice Line: 0800 096 2070
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cakebread
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| posted on 28-3-2008 at 06:39 PM |
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to mikemcg
what a grand statement about being negative and that the world owes me!
If you see getting value for money and the best deal possible as negative then I would love to sell you a car or something. I bet they see you
coming.
I want and expect value for money and good customer service. The later I have not received which puts me off having the surgery.
If you do not expect much from life, then so be it. there are others who do!
I worked as a Saleman for a while and I know how it works and what can be knocked off the list price. Especially since I know that others have done
exactly the same thing. Guess they were all negative as well.
You are correct though with regards to my days of work for the appointment. They are my problem. Something that you have never obviously thought
about. If you had you would have realised that the "Actual" cost to the individuel is MORE than what UL charge. Do you understand?
If you see my statement as a negative attitude then it is due to the non existant customer service from UL. Which has been.....Negative.....to me!
to karlgjones
Yes, I can see where your coming from. Perhaps there are no discounts. But people still like to feel like they get "a bit more" for their
money don't they?
Most people seem to "accept" prices a bit to easily though, wouldn't you agree? Even in supermarkets which are well know to inflate
some items. we act like sheep, pay for it and grumble later outside at the price. If you don't ask you don't get. It's just a bit odd
that for the odd few quid UL could have "discounted" me, They could have filled the empty slot and made a nice few quid.
to HarrietJLaird
Yes, I did tell the lady on the phone my reasons, mainly affordability. But with nothing forthcoming from her it left me with nowhere to go. I
wasn't going to go back to her and say "well actually i can now afford it since you haven't offered me anything better" was I?
Since I had no Customer Service after this conversation It really left me with "Negative" thoughts on the whole idea. I cooled off to the
point where I was over 2 years ago!
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mikemcg
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| posted on 30-3-2008 at 06:30 PM |
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Cakebread,
I though it was a grand statement thanks.
They did see me coming, and yet I still got 20% off so I didn't do too bad, but then I did something about it rather than whining.
Let me guess car salesman?
LOL - its you they saw coming and decided the headache was not worth it.
Why don't you go for the £299 an eye option? DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!!
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ranson2
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| posted on 13-4-2008 at 09:32 PM |
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Hey Mike, How did you get your 20% off. what treatment did you have? what did you do? Everyone else hasn't had any discount!
Sue
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northernway
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| posted on 29-4-2008 at 12:01 PM |
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Yes Mike, I would be very interested to know how you got a discount. What did you say to them?
Joe
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HarrietJLaird
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| posted on 6-5-2008 at 12:44 PM |
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Come on folks! Everyone is entitled to their opinions and to post them on here - it's good to "debate" but don't turn it into
anything more than that or get personal!!
Thanks for the response cakebread - I think the difficulty is that if people call to cancel and give a reason for their cancellation, they
wouldn't be happy to have us call them again and ask more questions - it looks pushy and more like a sales tactic. We understand that some
patients decide not to go ahead with treatment and hope that if they change their mind in the future, that their experience of Ultralase means that
they will get back in touch! I can understand how this may have looked when you expected a call in return and I think each situation needs to be
judged individually. if you could drop me your postcode and name, I'll get in touch with the department you spoke to?
Thank you
Mikemcg - was it the corporate discount you received? That used to be 20% however, has recently be revised to a 10% saving.
Harriet
Ultralase Forum Administrator
Consultation Booking Line: 0808 144 20 20
Clinic Advice Line: 0800 096 2070
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ranson2
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| posted on 9-5-2008 at 07:45 PM |
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Mike, I ask you again, how did you get your discount?
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Mike_Morgan
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| posted on 13-5-2008 at 11:32 AM |
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I got a 10% discount for being in the forces. If I remember rightly ultralase offer the same 10% dscount to police/fire/ambulance and loads of other
agencies too.
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northernway
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| posted on 13-5-2008 at 02:54 PM |
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10% That's not bad concidering you dont have to haggle for it.
Hey mikemcg
Why have you gone quiet on your discount?
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PB111
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| posted on 13-5-2008 at 05:49 PM |
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I told UL of the massive price difference between them an OE c. £1100. So UL then agreed a 10% discount and offered me 3years 0% interest on the
remainder with a very small deposit.
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