Avoid: Spectacle Hut Vivocity & Singapore Polytechnic (SP) Optometry (Eye) Centre/Center

Wanted to post this earlier, but somehow didn't get to it. Every once in a while, I think about it and it upsets me quite a bit. So, I'm going to post this now.

First, avoid the Spectacle Hut outlet @ Vivocity. That little kiosk of a shop across from Cold Storage, outside Giant.

A few months back, I needed some glasses done and because I didn't know of a better place, went to Spectacle Hut @ Vivocity that's nearby for me.

They were having a so-called sale for frames and lenses. After choosing from their very limited number of lousy-looking frames, I finally settled for one that I didn't like. It had heavy and cheaply/poorly designed sides that hurt when sitting on the ears.  The sale package was only for these limited number of frames in a showcase.

Pathetic frames aside, let's talk about the main problem:

The guy who tested my eyes took an amazingly long time. 1 hour or more. No kidding. It was so long, my bro was upset waiting outside at the showcases.  An experienced pro takes only 10 minutes or so.

I didn't get his name, but it was obvious he was inexperienced and not a professional in the business. He has small eyes (single-eyelids), about 30~32 years old, rectangular jawline, quite fair, around 1.65~1.70m tall, slim-built, black polo shirt and black pants. Looks like from China but his speech sounds local.

Spectacle Hut has the habit of rotating the staff so that the same "eye testers" (I wouldn't call them optometrists or even certified) are seldom seen at the shop. Later, I was informed that this guy can also be found at the Harbourfront outlet (and I saw him there).

This was the first time an eye-test for a pair of new glasses took so long.

He appeared to be uncertain and unable to determine which lenses were suitable as he kept messily taking out and putting back the different trial lenses on the optometrist's trial frame that I wore (the one that looks like a pair of over-sized cartoon spectacles).

When finally he prescribed the lenses for my new glasses, it was wrong.

I took it back to the shop and after doing another eye test,  he said it could be some kind of effect of my eyes, and recommended that I should check at the Singapore Polytechnic Optometry Centre that "very few" people know about and that it's "cheap and good". "Only $5" for complete testing by students. He assured me that they were very good when I questioned about them being students.

Another thing was that at the start, he had wanted to know my age in order to... I would say, assume I have a certain age-related eyesight problem.

So far, none of the spectacle shops I have been to, ever asked for my age in order to make a new pair of glasses. Spectacle Hut  at Vivocity is the first.

What has a customer's age got to do with giving a correct and accurate lens prescription?  An accurate prescription should be done based on the results of the eye test alone.

After his testing, I still did not have a correct prescription and was asked instead to take a test elsewhere. I am the customer, but I am being asked to make a trip elsewhere to get my eyes tested, and then get that prescription and come back with it so Spectacle Hut can make my glasses. 

That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever come across in making a new pair of glasses. Spectacle Hut takes the cake.

Yet,  despite feeling unwell due to my anemia, I made a trip to Singapore Polytechnic soon after. I should have just bought my glasses from somewhere else. 

At the Singapore Polytechnic Optometry Centre, there were few "customers" there when I went in. There were however, plenty of student "staff" hanging around in white lab coats outside their white cubicles, waiting for "customers".

At the reception counter, I only entered my name, but they wanted the rest of my personal details such as age and address etc...

It was obvious the "customers" were test subjects for their Optometry course. 

While I was aware from the start that  they were students (since the Spectacle Hut guy told me), I wasn't prepared for their ineptitude, their rude supervisor and the amount of time it would take for just an eye-test.

How long did the eye-testing take? An amazing 3 hours. No damn kidding. 3 hours.

And how was it done? 

I was led to a small white room with a chair and a table of stuff at the side. First off, a male student introduced himself and asked if it would be Ok for two female students to observe while he did the testing. Although it felt like I was a test subject, I said Ok (because Spectacle Hut guy had recommended them saying they were "good").

Shortly, an older woman with short hair and glasses came in and I guessed she was their lecturer (since this is after all a polytechnic). 

She did not introduce herself, but just walked in and started behaving with attitude. Lording over things, questioning the male student in a very stern and offensive way about what he was doing and why, as if he was a small boy.  

She was very distracting, very disturbing and wasted a lot of my time. 

She was also very rude, which was rather surprising considering that I am a customer (member of the public) and not one of her students whom she can push or lecture around. 

As a customer, I had paid to get my eyes checked, regardless of the amount. So I am not a test subject but a customer. Test subjects do not pay to be in experiments, but instead get paid. Neither was I a test volunteer.

Right off, she demanded to know my age and was not satisfied until I gave it (even though the information was already in the card at reception). Her tone was very rude, very disrespectful to a customer who had come for an eye test. 

Again, what has a customer's age got to do with the optometrist being able to perform an accurate eye test? A pro can do a fast and accurate eye test with no personal questions asked at all.

Second: Wasting my time. Her students would "test" my eyes first, then she would question their methods in a very egotistical and insulting way. After a lot of messing around by the students, she would finally test my eyes herself in a very unprofessional and distracted way. 

I told her I would rather she do the testing, because it was taking too long.  She agreed but didn't do much about it.

When she left the room for a while, I asked the male student what was her name. Anna Yeo, their lecturer. Click on the Optometry link above and you'll see the staff directory.

PhD.  Lacking in public relations skills and social etiquette.  What an embarrassment. I know of professors who conduct themselves far better than her.

Third: When finally, I wanted to leave on the pretext of wanting to go out to buy food, she stopped me, quickly turning friendly and concerned, telling me that it's only for a little while longer. 

She wouldn't let me leave as though I was a hard-to-come-by guinea pig that she needed to complete her experiments on.

Her little while longer took quite a lot longer. 

(I actually refused 2 experiments that required dripping "eye drops" to test blood pressure or whatever crap. Wasn't going to trust them with putting anything in my eyes. ).

Fourth: After 3 long, tedious hours,  she misdiagnosed, giving me Astigmatism that I didn't have, and giving me a prescription that was wrong. I found this out later from another optometrist at another shop called IEC.

Without knowing her prescription was wrong, I gave it to Spectacle Hut and they made my glasses based on it. The result, was another wrongly prescribed pair of glasses.


So this was the 2nd time Spectacle Hut had to remake my glasses.


At the same time, I went to IEC on the next level of Vivocity to make a new pair of glasses. The optometrist Yvonne gave me a prescription totally different from PhD Anna Yeo.

Yvonne did not detect any Astigmatism at all. She also did not ask for personal details such as my age. And the eye test was done in about 15~20 minutes. 

Since the IEC prescription was done on a more professional and certified basis, I took it to Spectacle Hut and told them to change the SP Optometry's prescription to this new one (without telling them that the new prescription was from IEC. Instead, I said this new prescription was from the Optometry Centre that I went back to redo the eye test and that the Optometry people said they had made a mistake with the first one).

Spectacle Hut then remade my glasses a 3rd time.

So at the moment, I have 2 different pairs of glasses, both not perfect. But based on IEC's prescription, they are more accurately prescribed than at Spectacle Hut & the Optometry Centre's 3 hour "testing".   
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Update 19 Feb Wed 2014:  IEC isn't that great. Although the variety of frames is good,  the frames & glasses are very expensive. And the lenses degree measurement is wrong/inaccurate.  Those neighbourhood shops can do better.

Even at the start, after buying a $500+ spectacles (frame+lenses), there were problems with focusing. I had to take it back a few times, but every time, Yvonne the optometrist would say it just needs getting used to.

During the testing, she spent time talking unnecessarily rather than paying attention to the eye check. It thus took longer than usual & was inaccurate.

The glasses had this strange effect: when I looked up across at something, the focus would suddenly go off.  I told her this, and she just gave me some vague explanation and I still walked out with the problem.

After paying so much for the specs, I stopped wearing it after a while because it gave me a headache. Returning to IEC a few times failed to solve the problem.

My current glasses were made recently at a neighbourhood shop. The testing took only around 5~10 mins. Very accurate guy and the whole thing is nicer & cheaper than IEC.  No problems.

And I don't like Rachel @ IEC. Filipino woman. She is still there, I think, when I looked in recently.  She makes very annoying comments and had no respect for me as a customer.