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★☆☆☆☆

“Untrustworthy”

written by another_reviewer on 21/10/2012

My consultation with
Accuvision started with the scans, after which the optometrist asked if I had
been told I had Keratoconus before. I had never heard of it, so he explained
that it is a degenerative eye condition that can cause blindness. He compared my
scans to scans of Keratoconus to back up his diagnosis. He asked if anybody
else in my family had Keratoconus, as he said it ran in families. He said it
was stable but that it may deteriorate, and need cross linking, at any time,
with or without the surgery.



I asked why nobody had
diagnosed this before (Optimax said I was fine) and he said Accuvision were
experts in Keratoconus, and so they were better at diagnosing it. He later
emailed that comparing them to Optimax was like comparing apples and pears. He quoted
a price for surgery, and another for cross-linking, but he wanted to check the
surgeon was happy with his plan. As I left he gave me an Accuvision leaflet on
Keratoconus so that I had more information on my condition.



The main focus in my consultation
was Keratoconus. The only warning I remember him giving was that there was no guarantee
I would be able to read the bottom line of the chart after surgery, but that the
second lowest should be fine. He was very confident and I was left convinced I
had Keratoconus.  I was so worried about
my eyes that I refused to risk going somewhere with less experienced in
Keratoconus. 



He emailed to say the
surgeon was happy to do the surgery, but that due to the shape of my cornea (which
he had said was Keratoconus) it would cost £1000 more. There was a new price
for cross-linking too. He stated that there was no guarantee I would have perfect
vision after surgery but it would be much improved.



I only had a few weeks free
so I asked if I should delay the surgery until later, but they gave me
extensive confirmation that my eyesight would be better within the time I had. Their
emails state that, though my eyes would still be recovering, by the time I had
my bandage contact lenses removed (a few days after surgery) my eyesight would
be better than it was prior to surgery. Their patient care promise says they “
will be
honest about potential outcomes for your vision”, and they claimed to have a
cautious approach, which made me believe that they were being realistic about
my recovery.
At no point was I told that for months after surgery
my eyesight might be worse than before.



Even when signing to accept
that I might need a 2nd surgery, I had a staff member saying that it did not
really apply to me, as my prescription was so low.



At my 2nd check-up
after surgery I was told that my eyesight would improve within 72 hours, but
after this one eye was still far worse than before surgery, and so I emailed
Accuvision. They admitted later that they saw something was not right but they
did not say this at the time, and just left me not taking drops and with no
check-ups for 2 weeks.



Finally they admitted
that it might be months before my eyesight returned to its pre-surgery level,
let alone improve. If they had said this before I would not have had surgery:
so much for their patient care promise. I was left rearranging my plans and my
work, and being kept away from my family.



Then when I asked another
optometrist if Keratoconus was the cause of my problems he replied that I had
never had Keratoconus. Before going to Accuvision I had not heard of this
condition, and it was why I paid an extra £1000 and why I chose to have surgery
with them. Now hearing I had never had this condition seemed unbelievable.



For 3 months I took the
drops I had been put back onto and I used a contact lens in one eye (which I
had never done before). When I first ran out of drops they said to still use
them and a new bottle was sent to me. When I ran out again I emailed Accuvision
but I got no reply.



With promises having gone
unfulfilled, so much conflicting information (including whether I had a serious
eye condition) and also emails regarding my aftercare being ignored I was left
very disillusioned. I sent a complaint to them, but they just asked me to attend
a check-up.



The check-up showed
that my eyes had improved but were still not right. As they could not do a 2nd surgery
until my eyes were stable they promised to send me some new lenses. They
repeatedly promised that they would order them straight away as I was going
abroad shortly after.



As I left they asked me
to have a meeting about my complaint, but I said I did not want to. I had come
about my eyes, and I was not prepared for anything else. Despite this I was pressured
into it. At this point if Accuvision had apologised and really addressed my complaint
I would have been happy, but they did not. The head of the surgical team (also
founder of Accuvision) led the meeting. 
He was the one who had decided to charge me the extra £1000. I found him
condescending and insincere, and he made me feel very uncomfortable by touching
my arm.



He said that I had
never had Keratoconus, and that they had never said I did. He said he knew my
case, and as I had not thought about how focused on Keratoconus my consultation
had been for ages I felt unable to defend my point. I just felt bullied by him,
but as I have said I had not heard of Keratoconus before my consultation with
Accuvision.



He also said the extra
£1000 was so cross-linking could be included in the price, which directly contradicts
the emails they sent prior to surgery. Whether he was lying to me, or whether
he had forgotten why he set that price I was left disgusted when I reread the
emails and saw this contradiction. They have still not even acknowledged this
discrepancy.



After this he asked
what Accuvision could do to make things better and I asked them to return the
£1000 I paid because of Keratoconus. He then promised they would write soon.



Despite their promises they
had still not been in touch after 10 days, and no contact lenses had arrived. I
emailed them, and they called to say they would write soon. They also said the lenses
had not been ordered yet so they would not arrive before I left the country, despite
all the promises. He said they would post them to me abroad. Obviously they had
forgotten all their promises. Later in emails they even claimed they had posted
the lenses abroad at my request, which is ridiculous given it was due to these forgotten
promises.



The letter arrived with
a small contribution towards refunding the extra I paid. Combined with the
broken promises, and their attitude in the meeting, the amount reinforced the
feeling of insincerity that I had been given.



They claim to have
maintained their professionalism, despite using disproportionately aggressive
and threatening language, and making accusations against me, including claiming
I have written things that I have not. One website even asked if I had said I
would post negative reviews if I did not get more money. This had to be
Accuvision, as they have made similar claims to me directly. I have even
re-read every email to make sure I have never said anything inadvertently, and I
can honestly say there is nothing like this anywhere. I asked them to show me
when I had said this, but I have had no reply. They have the same emails I have
so I cannot see how they can defend their position on any level. This has
caused me a lot of stress, and the loss of lots of sleep, especially as I have
to go back to them, as my eyesight is still not right.



So I agreed to surgery,
and paid an extra £1000, based on the fact that they said I had a degenerative
eye condition, when I just had a strangely shaped cornea: a big difference. I
have repeatedly been given conflicting, and contradictory information, and I
have been faced with unfounded accusations made by senior members of staff. I wish
I had
gone somewhere trustworthy
(whatever the cost), but I fell for a great sales pitch, and claims of
superiority, with no substance behind them.
They still refuse to
explain, or justify my experiences.

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