Coleraine Specsavers Store Review and lovely new glasses

Hey lovelies, I am back today, with something a little different. I was contacted by the lovely team at Specsavers to see if I would like to take part in a store review. My local Coleraine store, is where I have been going for a number of years now, so I was thrilled to be involved. The team sent a very generous voucher out which I could use for eyewear and testing etc.

With Specsavers you can book online or by phone and I decided to call up to see when they could take me. The lovely Sinead told me they had appointments the next day so we made an appointment that suited me, and the next day off I popped into town.

Specsavers Coleraine is a gorgeous large and airy store, which is lovely and bright and you are quickly greeted. Megan came and spoke to me, and took some details. They are using Ipads now for this, and this was just the start of the up to the minute technology!

They were aware that I was snapchatting the day and Stephen the Customer Service Manager kindly gave me the wifi code as the network wasn’t great, and we all know how temperamental snapchat can be.

I waited in a lovely bright area for Sinead to come to take me to do my clinical assessment. This included lots of explanation as to what she was going to do and what it allowed them to see. She used a non contact tonometer to blow some puffs of air into my eyes to test the pressure inside the eye. She then took a measurement from an auto refractor which gives out an approximate prescription.

Following on from this Hugh the optometrist was waiting for me to have my full eye test carried out. The room again was bright and airy, and I felt very comfortable in it. Sometimes I feel these rooms can be really cramped and dark and I can get very anxious, but I felt totally at ease here. Hugh explained the test, and he also asked me had anything changed since my last visit. We talked about the fact I was having more headaches again and then proceeded with the test.

Again Hugh was very thorough and informative at every step. He explained why he was doing the test and what he would gain from it. We spoke about my diabetes and he talked about why examining the retina was so important.

When he finished all the tests, he concluded that my sight hadn’t really changed and he felt the headaches I was having would maybe be down to me not giving my eyes enough rest, (says the woman sitting on a laptop for 3 hours straight woops) He gave me great advice and tips on how to rest my eyes and let them readjust etc.

We then discussed contact lenses, it’s always something I was interested in but never felt I had the confidence to even have someone try them on me. Hugh made me feel very comfortable so I said I would let him try. Being someone who adores make up, I could spend 30 minutes on my eyes for a night out and then put my glasses on and it gets hidden, so lenses even for nights out would be great. I was nervous there's no denying it, but again Hugh talked me through everything, and when he put them in I was honestly so shocked at how easy it was. Where have these magic things been all my life!! He told me to go choose my frames with them in and see how I felt and he would take them out afterwards.

Off I popped out to the lovely Jessica to get some expert advice on choosing frames. She really knew what she was talking about and she took so many different aspects into account, including my face shape, hair colour and what my daily fashion style is. Again she used an Ipad to take videos and pictures so that I would have a full 360 degree view of what they would be like. After a lot of laughing, advice and trying on, I chose a gorgeous white frame with black and white legs from Max&Co. You can find them here

We did a live snapchat poll whilst in store and over three quarters where saying the white ones, but I must admit it is hard to choose when they have such a diverse range available.

Jessica then took me over to a seat where they do all the fitting and measuring to get them just perfect as we really don’t want them sliding down our nose do we. She took some pictures on her ipad and explained to me that this was a pupil distance measurement and did you know NI was the pilot region for this technology!  

She explained they had an in house lab that hold lenses up to a certain prescription and they can turn around the frames in an hour. I think this is such a great service as people may not be able to come back etc and if you are anything like me, once I know I am getting new frames I literally want them there and then. Unfortunately if your prescription doesn’t fall into the available lenses they get sent to England and come back to have the anti glare glaze on them if you have chosen to have this done.

So off hubby and I popped for a coffee while the team got to work making my perfect glasses. We went back after an hour and they were ready and waiting for me. Again everything was double and triple checked and I really was chuffed with my choice.

I honestly couldn’t tell you how fab my experience was. I have been with the Coleraine store now for years and since the move to this bigger store with the lab they seem to have just got better. People sometimes say you can’t get the same individual service in a high street chain store, but I really feel this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not once have I felt like just a customer in there, any questions or worries I have they have always dealt with fantastically, including the one time the cat broke a leg off my frames, don’t ask that’s a story for another day, but seriously the team give great advice and they are all so knowledgeable.

One thing I love about Specsavers as a brand is that they will have a frame and budget to suit everyone. As I said earlier I was very kindly gifted a voucher which covered these glasses, but I have had many styles and priced ones over the years and I can’t fault any of them. They always have the great 2 for 1 offers on which you really can’t beat.

Overall I had a great experience and now that Hugh has alleviated my contact lense fear, I can’t wait to get booked in for some daily lenses for nights out.

I just want to thank Specsavers for allowing me to be involved in this project and the Coleraine team for making it so fab.

This was not a sponsored post, but as previously stated I was kindly gifted my glasses. All opinions are my own.

So lovelies, I hope you have enjoyed this review, please come over and let me know what you think of my new frames.

Until next time preeners

Ali xxxx