Times must be getting desperate at Boots Opticians if the bait and switch nonsense I just had to endure is anything to go by.
I had an appointment at the Holborn branch at lunchtime and duly got my eyes tested, found they'd got a bit worse as they do with mildly worrying regularity, and was advised to invest in some new glasses with a stronger prescription. So far so fair enough. Every year or so I need, and therefore buy, stronger glasses.
I picked some frames and was told that since I was buying a full-priced pair of glasses I could have any second pair for just £50 (a local variation, I imagine, to this offer on the website). Since I need some new prescription sunglasses too, I duly chose some frames and took them to pay, to be told that oh dear my prescription was quite complicated (yes, it is - being opticians who've just tested my eyes it is perhaps a little obvious to pretend at this stage that the complexity of my prescription comes as much of a surprise) and the only lenses that would fit the frames I'd chosen would cost me an extra £70 on top of the £50 I'd been offered. A rather dull argument about contract law with a manager who knew little or nothing of the subject later I left empty-handed, defrauded of an hour of my time spent choosing glasses I'd been offered under false pretences but, more importantly, not £70 lighter having declined the bait and switch.
Now, I understand that lots of businesses make a margin only by abusing their more timid and clueless customers into parting with more money than is remotely necessary (if you've ever had a proper haggle with your mobile phone company you'll appreciate this policy). But this seems feeble, and on reflection I'd rather buy my glasses online since the first people I came across on Google - SelectSpecs - did the glasses I'd have paid Boots £300 for at £180. No wonder times are desperate at high street opticians...