Specsavers sorry over ‘optical records’ confusion

Specsavers has been forced to apologise for a letter mistakenly informing islanders who had never shopped there that their eye records had been transferred to its new store in Lerwick.

The town’s two locally-owned opticians were furious this week, claiming the nationwide chain had sent out letters to Shetland residents trying to sign them up as customers.

Specsavers has taken over the former Clive’s Record Shop on Commercial Street. In a letter intended for registered customers, Specsavers stated that “your optical record has been transferred to ous Specsavers Lerwick store”.

However, the owners of C Kelly opticians and Miller’s Opticians have been contacted by irate patients who had never used Specsavers before demanding to know why their records had been handed over.

Interviewed for this week’s Shetland Times, Christine Kelly said that one customer was “very upset” and “annoyed”. She stress that both Kelly’s and Miller’s would never hand details over to other companies.

A Specsavers spokeswoman said yesterday that the organisation was sorry for the confusion, caused by it “inadvertently” writing to those who had booked appointments with Specsavers but never attended.

“We are amending the database to ensure that this does not happen again. We would like to apologise for any confusion this may have caused.”