Black & Lizars Reviews 

I have been a customer of Black and lizard since 2002 and my appointment yesterday was a disorganised shambles. I was due a full eye test only to have a phone call 2 hrs before trying to cancel my appointment. I was lied to 3 times with different versions of the reason and then told to come in at my appointment time. My appointment lasted 7 mins with other lies and a peripheral vision test and told it was ok and then other reasons not to give me a full test which was booked for over a month . I travelled 24 miles to get there. Goodbye black and lizar no wonder you keep closing branches.

I’ve been a customer of Black & Lizars for over 25 years. The past two years have been a litany of negative experiences. From a wildly incorrect prescription dispensed to the inability to order a replacement lens.
Customer service has been dreadful. In the past, the staff at the Gordon Street branch had been so helpful and professional.
I advise anyone to stay well clear.

My routine eye test came up and I was very wary of making the appointment with B&L due to a bad experience with my previous appointment. There is a particular brand of frames that I have worn for many years, am very happy with them and had no plan on changing them. But, to my disappointment, was told by B&L that they no longer supply them.
I then chose a similar frame from an alternative brand to discover there was a problem with the bridge bar obscuring my vision out of one eye. It was immediately obvious to me that I could not accept them as I had driven to the appointment and was not comfortable being expected to drive with this new frame. Amazingly, the dispenser argued with me over my ability to see and even after I physically handed the glasses back to her, she still refused to accept that my vision was obscured. I left the store and had to drive home relying on the vision from the un-obscured eye!
After a day I returned to the store with my husband and we both had to pressurise the staff to allow me to change the frame. After that experience I vowed never to return and I decided to search for an optician who supplied the brand of frame I originally wore. Guess what I discovered? B&L do supply the brand I had originally asked for, just not in the branch I had gone to! When I pointed this out, the staff member said ‘oh, we could have ordered them in from one of our other branches’. I was raging to have wasted all this time.
2 years later, I reluctantly decided to give them one more chance. Routine eye test - good. Came out of the test room to spot the branded frames back in store. I was very excited and wanted to go back to them, but because I had moved on from them due to the last disaster, I did not have those frames with me. I explained this to the dispenser but I got the impression that as I did not have the frames on my person I would have to order a new pair. I really wish the dispenser had said the order can be put through using your old frames. Just drop them into the store asap so they can be sent away. He sort of hinted that he could do it but very quickly moved on and started showing me the new frame options. I am really not comfortable with the order and want to use my old frames. I am going to ring B&L on Monday morning to see if they will change the order. I’ve not got my hopes up given my previous experience and if I am forced to go through with this order, I will be £500 down, with a spare frame gathering dust.

Even 1 star is far too much. This is the LAST TIME I get my glasses from them. They used to be good years ago but they are now abysmally bad. They could not get my lenses right then tried to put the blame on me, they gave me appointments which they did not keep, there is such a long list I could write a book! Go to any other optician if you value your health and your sanity.

A failing company. In the past Black and Lizars were the gold standard. Over the last 10 years or so their service has declined. The good opticians have mostly left leaving a skeletal service. Appointments have to be booked months in advance. Their reception staff are rude impatient and have no idea about customer service. I will be transferring all my family’s business elsewhere.

It is only a matter of time before this company loses all customers.

I have been a customer here for over 20 years spending thousands of pounds over the years on contacts designer glasses and sunglasses. The last few years I felt a lacking and caring customer service, staff always changing. In November 2024 I had my test, was told I needed emergency surgery for torn retina. After the exam the staff started to take my measurements and put in an order for new glasses. I paid £600 cash. After having emergency surgery and follow up the specialist told me I would need a new eye test (I should have never have been told to get my glasses made until I had surgery) I went back with the new glasses they made me and told the girl what the specialist said and also my concern that I could not see well. She treated me like a silly old woman, scolding me and practically bullying me into thinking it’s my fault I have to get used to Varifocals ( I have been wearing them for years) and there’s no way I need another test as optician would have said. I was totally gaslit. So I left. In April4/5 months later kept getting bad headaches and having a difficult time on computer with work. I googled an optician with good reviews Iris Blue Optical west end of Glasgow ……. What a difference 2 ladies run it a very well experienced in customer care and specialist eye care. Have won many awards . My prescription had totally changed she said no wonder your getting headaches ( the £600 glasses from Blk & Lizars I wore for 4 months went in the bin!) I have bought two new pair now (another £800 however they are wonderful I feel I have my sight back. The service and care has been 100% would definitely recommend. I am so disgusted with the service I received at Blk & Lizars Milngavie after being such a loyal customer for over 20 years I and will never be back. People please stay away it’s actually dangerous the stories I’m hearing as well as my experience.

Have been a client for many years, but recently had eye surgery privately, so no need for glasses anymore. Recently, I started to get eye floaters suddenly and they were quite big; I managed to get an emergency appointment at the Paisley branch. My fear was the retina was tearing. I paid the £50 for extensive retina scan and the quite abrupt optitian there told me the retina was fine. She was quite adamant there was nothing I could do and scolded me for not using eye drops often enough. Thank goodness, I went back to the private clinic for a second opinion: my retina was indeed tearing and I was referred to the Glasgow NHS specialist the next day for laser treatment. Will never trust these people again.

how difficult can it be to get an appointment?
"can I have an appointment please in the coming weeks"
"when do you want one?"
"how about Friday 30th August"
"we don't have any appointments that day"
"when do you have appointments available?"
.....silence....

Still waiting to a response to two emails I sent. Horrendous customer service.

£50 for 10 min contact lense exam
Examiner didn’t introduce themselves
Very very basic short exam
Had wrong light setting on and so bright hurt my eyes so couldn't continue exam
Was recommended Euan on corner of Rose street location by a medic friend of mine
Had all my family go to him for years
They moved to Trotters on George Street and now Lothian Road
Haven’t seen Euan my main contact for years
Will not be going back
Ps the examiner tried twice to upsell me to get them to supply my contacts

Similar to other reviews, good luck getting an appointment. The diary is either “not open”, calls not returned or no weekend slots.

I’ve been a customer for 30 years and have always rated and raved about black and lizars. However, shouldn’t be this much of an effort to get an appointment. You might say it’s … shortsighted. I’m now with a rival and it’s night and day the booking and flexibility.

Only gave 1 star because couldn't give nothing. My daughter spent £500 on glasses and contacts, waited 3 weeks until she contacted them twice then told she didn't have an appointment on the day she was given one, they had no idea what she ordered, lenses found to be BROKE. Never ever will our family use them again.

Visited B & L mid August told will contact me end August when Sept appointments are fixed - No contact just visited them again 8 Sept only to be told the same again - Shambles couldn’t organise a hot dog stand let alone eye appointments- if I could give minus 10 I would

Called six times; impossible to get an appointment, keep receiving contradictory info, appalling service.

Called Black & Lizars on Friday 14 July to arrange eye test. Lady in head office said all July appointments were already taken and the August diary would not be open until 24 July, so I should call back then. Unhappy with this attitude after many years with Black and Lizars, I booked a test on 14 July with another opticians and the test was done on Monday 17July. Pity, it used to be such a great company.

I don't usually post reviews, but I wouldn't want anyone else to lose out in the way that I have: Three years ago, I paid over £3000 for hearing aids at an Edinburgh branch of B&L, largely due to the promise of good ongoing support (which I'd always had with my glasses). Less than a year later, the Edinburgh branch stopped offering hearing services & I was told that I would have to go to Clements in Glasgow for checks & updates. This wasn't really practical, but B&L simply ignored all of my emails and phone calls. So I haven't been able to get an updated hearing test, or get the aids adjusted since. I'm assuming that a lot of profit is made on selling the hardware, and the support is expensive, so nobody else in Edinburgh is keen to take this on (I have been quoted £1000 for example!). When I checked this week, the service from Clements now seems to have been transferred to Milngavie and nobody even has a copy of my records. So I'm completely stuck.

Have been a client of Black & Lizars for over 15 years ranging over 4 branches. Yesterday I had an eye test at Anniesland branch; what the practitioner called my "annual routine test", but in fact an appointment I made because of perceived changes in my vision and not through being contacted by B+L. From the start the practitioner had a "couldn't be bothered" attitude, trying to race me through a procedure that I value as essential. His manner made me particularly stressed during the actual vision testing of my eyes [the alphabet board]; on afterthoughts, I believe this to be potentially dangerous and detrimental to my next year's vision ability. At one point he commented on my "IOLLA" frames; he then asked me why I "went there" [none of his business, I thought, but answered him - if B+L could sell frames as stylish as IOLLA and at IOLLA's prices, I might come to B+L]. At the end of all the tests he told me I had "significant" change in my right eye and then asked me if the Varifocal lenses I currently have were from IOLLA too. They are. He then went into a quite hostile spiel about why I should order my lenses from B+L - basically insinuating that Varifocal lenses from IOLLA were inferior in some way. He printed out my new Examination Summary, folded it into 4 and handed it to me in a manner nothing short of contemptuous; when I asked him for the protective folder that B+L have always presented their examination results in, he said that they "don't do them anymore; cost cutting".
Black + Lizars have a duty of care to NHS patients to provide an optimal service that the NHS itself cannot provide itself. Any medical examination [an eye test is just that] can have serious consequences; Black + Lizars failed miserably understanding that. As to the question of "attitude" and "customer service", it has totally lost the plot there!!!!

I needed an urgent appointment. Tried phoning them half a dozen times for two day's, even emailed. Turns out I was wasting my time
Don’t waste yours

Same rubbish service from the Anniesland branch 2 appointments cancelled contact lenses not delivered. Decided just to order my own lenses from now on ordered Tuesday 8.30 pm delivered next day b4 7pm and 30% cheaper from Lens Store. was advised by store to return the lenses when they eventually arrive for refund low and behold no one there to process the refund. complete waste of time after 25 years will never return to them

I have been a patient of Black and Lizars since childhood and the company always had a reputation for excellence. They were always slightly more expensive than other Opticians, but the service and care was worth the additional cost. I have been in many practices over the years and for the last 15 years or so, went to the Shettleston Practice. The opticians and staff there were second to none, providing a caring and helpful service. Last year I had an issue with a dentist freezing my eye and the Optometrists were so helpful and even called my mobile when they finished work for the day to make sure I was ok. However, the wonderful staff in that practice have left and unfortunately, it has closed, and it is small wonder. Over the last couple of years, my contact lenses never arrive on time and every 3 months I find I am chasing them up, despite the fact I pay by direct debit on the 1st of the month. It would appear to me to be some form of cost cutting exercise. The staff were always apologetic and tried to resolve the issue but as the practice is closed, I have had to deal with head office. 3 months ago I spoke with Colin (Customer Services Manager I think) and he reassured me I would never be in this position again and that my lenses would arrive on 1st month. He simply paid lip service and did absolutely nothing about it, although he talked a lot, he did not action what he said he would. We are now on 11th of the month and I still don't have my lenses. I spoke with him again yesterday and he did nothing to reassure me. He told me he would call me back and let me know what the position was. He did not call and I e-mailed again at 5.15 last night and I still have not heard from him. I have however, spoken to Stewart Saunders and Liz at the Giffnock Practice and they have been very helpful and hopefully I will receive a small supply of lenses to keep me covered for the next couple of days. The ones I am having to use are from Lenstore and although they are the correct prescription, I can't order the 'low or high' lense which I need for each eye (I am very short sighted) and this means I am now wearing stronger ready readers and I am getting headaches. I have always tried to look after my eyes, hence the reason why i I went to Black and Lizars, but this cannot be good for my eyes. It is utterly ridiculous that I find myself in this position, when I pay by direct debit.
I apologise for my rant, but I cannot explain how bad my experience has been with Black and Lizars Head Office, e-mails are answered sporadically and no-one takes responsibility for anything, however, leadership comes from the top! In conclusion, this is not the Black and Lizars of old and this company is trading on the name of a quality business (and charging the price of a quality business) but not providing the service. After being a patient for over 40 years, I will find another firm of opticians who will provide a better service than this.