Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:13/06/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Date of Transaction: 06/06/2024 13:03:47 Cost of Transaction: $510.40 Description: My wife, an immigrant with english as a second language, went to this location because our son's glasses were broken. They showed my wife a set of glasses and she agreed to purchase them. She was not told about their return/exchange/cancellation policies when she was speaking with the salesperson. This happened at approximately 1pm on the 6th. First thing in the morning on the 7th, my wife called to ask that the order be cancelled and was told that no cancellations were permitted. They pointed to fine print on the receipt that speaks about failing to adapt to new glasses, not about orders having been placed where product has not been received. We have tried to talk through this with them but they are unwilling to budge.We would like a refund for the glasses.

  Business Response

  Date: 19/06/2024

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this complaint.

  This customer's son's glasses were broken and she entered the store and met with an employee.  The employee offered many options and the final version of the sale was agreed upon.  It was noted that it was a rush, since the son did not have glasses.  After payment was taken, the employee rushed the job through the lab.  By the time the customer called the next day, the job was already almost completed, meaning that product had been cut and therefore a last minute cancelation was not possible.  

  On some of what was written by the complainant.

  1-if the mother is an immigrant with difficulties using the English language, that was not evident in her phone message that was recorded where she used several extremely unacceptable curse words when she was threatening our store manager. "You don't want me to come in there you BLEEPING, BLEEP, BLEEP."

  2-she then contacted the store repeatedly and yelled at anyone that would answer the phone.

  3-when the head office advised her that the glasses were done and we would pay to ship them to her, as we did not want her back in the store, given the employee did not feel safe after being threatened, they were mailed and she refused to sign for them from Canada Post

  4-the store has several signs posted in as many as 5-6 places, including on the desk where she placed her order, stating "No Refunds or Exchanges", including on the bottom of the receipt.  While English may not be her first language, she comprehends it very well, can speak it very well, and can write it very well, so there is no doubt the understanding of the signs was clear.

  5-typically if the lab has not started or finished a custom made product, we can cancel, but because this one was rushed to provide better customer service, by the time she called the store it was already too late.

  6-not only did the customer call the store to threaten the employee, when the head office called her, she refused to discuss further on the phone, as she was aware that phone calls are recorded.

  7-then the customer proceeded to post what may be hundreds (our IT department is still working on this) of ONE STAR reviews on social media and ****** Reviews, including all of our locations and several of our Franchise locations.  When she was advised that she should stop or we would seek legal avenues (causing harm to a business intentionally) is not legal, she just doubled down and added more and more negative reviews.

  The only way forward for this customer is to accept receipt of the glasses that she paid for, if we ship them again.  After that aggressive and highly offensive communications (recorded) with our employees, plus her unacceptable effort to harm our business reputation, there will be no refund.

  Laurier Optical will not entertain this matter further.  This customer has cost us enough time and money dealing with an issue regarding a simple transaction that she chose to regret or change her mind on when it was too late.  This is custom made product and had she dealt with our company in a reasonable manner, we could have come to some kind of resolution.  At this point there will be no further response.  If the customer wishes us to mail the product again, she can contact the email address that she has already used.  Otherwise the produce will be kept in our store for a period of six months from the time of the purchase and donated to the less fortunate if not delivered by that time.

  Thank you;

  Customer Answer

  Date: 24/06/2024

   
  Complaint: 21844907
  
  I am rejecting this response because:1

  Responding to their claims:

  & part of 4 - Laurier is gaslighting when they claim that *** is not obviously an immigrant. She speaks with a heavy accent, often mis-orders words, and sometimes misunderstands the meanings of phrases. Just one example of a sentence she wrote in email: To top, noone in this Laurier stores answer my calls. The glasses would need to be adjusted once received.
  

   While she has made incredible improvements in her speech and writing, Laurier cannot honestly say they didnt know she wasnt a native English speaker. This is why this complaint and response were written by her husband (and agreed to by ***). Its reprehensible that Laurier would exploit immigrants like this. 

   

   2 Laurier should not be surprised when customers who are deceived get upset about it.

   

   3- We have only rejected one package that was mailed to us, it was not labeled with a recipient name and did not have any senders information. We do not sign for packages that we are not expecting, from anonymous people, addressed to anonymous people. At this point in time Laurier is committing fraud they have agreed to provide a service and they are refusing to provide it. They are in breach of their contract and should return our money to us.

   

   4- Laurier wants to point to signs it claims were in their stores saying "No Refunds or Exchanges". At no point did *** see any sign with these words displayed. Indeed, it is NOT sufficient to merely post a sign that people may not see in order to obtain consent for such terms. Terms like this should be explicitly stated to a customer prior to them entering a contractual agreement. No terms of sale were provided by the sales representative prior to the order being paid for. 

   

   Further, their receipt does not say "No Refunds or Exchanges". It does say No refunds, store Credits is available. Laurier has never offered store credit, despite their apparent assertion that this line applies to cancelation of orders as well.

   

   5- Laurier wants to assert that it was too late to cancel the order as it had already been started. But this is not what they have said until this point. Indeed, we were not told that at all until this response was received. 

   

   Laurier Optical is not being forthcoming about the situation. At no time was Laurier asked to urgently deliver these glasses to us. We did not pay a rush fee, and were not told these were going to be rushed. When called the receptionist immediately said All sales are final. They did not attempt to look up the order to check on the status. They asked *** to get the receipt and proceeded to point her to the following text:

   

   Minimum 1 year warranty on all manufacturer defects with the purchase of a full set of prescribed

  Eyewear. The prescription is covered by a 60 day warranty in the case that you cannot adapt, a new pair of lenses, judged appropriately, win be offered in compensation. Any exeeeding cost will be assumed by the client. No refunds, store Credits is available.

   

   This paragraph is clearly referring to delivered eyeglasses. We did not have eyeglasses delivered when *** called to cancel. Only 5 business hours had passed between the time of the order and the time of calling to cancel. We were not asking for a refund for delivered products, we were asking to cancel an order. Further, No store credit was offered, at any point in time.

   

   6- We have told you we will not speak on the phone about these issues precisely to have everything on record.

   

   7 - As a consumer, we have the right to review businesses that we do business with, even those we do not if we do not like their business practices. It is not illegal to review a business truthfully. Truth is an absolute defense in any legal proceeding these kind of veiled threats are not taken lightly by us, and Laurier would be well advised to avoid making defamatory statements about our conduct. If Laurier is so concerned about their ****** and social media reviews they should consider treating their customers with respect and working with them in good faith. We will not abdicate our rights just because Laurier doesnt like the truth being made public. If Laurier wants to make it public that they are trying to muzzle unhappy customers, were happy to assist them in that endeavor as well.

   

   As a side note: If your IT department is struggling with a few reviews, its time to get a new IT department.

   

   

   The only way forward is for Laurier to accept that they have made a mistake here, return to us the money we paid for glasses we havent received, and let everyone move on with their lives.

  
  Sincerely,

  
  *****************

  Business Response

  Date: 27/06/2024

  While I said the last response would be final, I feel it necessary to respond one more time to the false statements or misrepresentations being made by the customer response.
  1. We did not and do no exploit immigrants or anyone for that matter.  At no time was this customer discriminated or treated any differently than any other customer.  She was provided with excellent customer service, excellent price and speedy fabrication of her son's glasses.  As for the voice on the phone when I called, I merely commented that I did not note any accent, and this does not mean I am discriminating in any way.
  2.  The package that was mailed and rejected what certainly not unexpected by the customer.  She was advised on the phone before hanging up on me, and was informed by email,which she definitely received as she replied back that she would not accept the package.  She was told that Laurier Optical would mail the glasses to her,free of charge, as they were ready and based on her aggressive and threatening behavior, she was not welcome in the store.  The package was NO surprise,because she already indicated she would not accept it.  So saying they didn't know what it was is not truthful.
  3.  There are several signs around the store indicating policy, and one was directly in front of the customer when she purchased the glasses.  Should she fail to notice one of 5-6 signs posted, then I don't have any response.  We cannot be expected to have neon lights flashing around all of the signs. 
  4.  The customers glasses remain ready, and if the customer agrees, we will mail them one last time,however, failing that, the glasses will remain in the store and be donated to the less fortunate after a period of six months.  Why the customer would pay for glasses and not accept them is not for me to determine.  There will be no refund and I only await acceptance to mail them one final time. I am not going to keep spending money to mail them if the customer will not take ownership of the package.  I will even have LAURIER OPTICAL printed on the package if that will help.
  5.  The IT department does not "struggle with a few reviews", it struggles to understand why one customer would post dozens of false reviews on stores of a company she/they did not shop at.  Trying to tarnish the name of a company is malicious and harmful behavior to any business.  It is recommended that customers that search out such a means to harm a company be sure that said company has no legal avenues available to them to stop such unacceptable harm to their business.

  
  Summary
  There will be no refund issued.  The glasses are ready.  Do you want them shipped one last time at our expense?  Reply through the BBB and we will ship.  No further responses will be provided.  Thank you.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/07/2024

   
  Complaint: 21844907
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Yes you are exploiting an immigrant by specifically not telling her the condition of the sale, which was final. You chose not to disclose it until I called to cancell only a few hours later. 
  
  Could you send a proof rhat you did send this glasses? If so, rhe attach it here for everyone to see what you put as a recipient and sender. Like normal people, we do not receive any packages that did not have sender or recipient for safety purposes. If your business failed to fill up a simple information, that's on you, not us.

  However, I would still have to come in to adjust the glasses as a part of the term of sale. As you are well aware, glasses fit differently on everyone and ypur store policy stated that adjustments are needed. If you failed to adhere to your own policy and term of sale, why are ypu charging us money? We won't be able to adjust this glasses ourselves. 

   

  you shouldn't be changing the customer for it. 
  
  3.  There are several signs around the store indicating policy, and one was directly in front of the customer when she purchased the glasses.  Should she fail to notice one of 5-6 signs posted, then I don't have any response.  We cannot be expected to have neon lights flashing around all of the signs.
  
  
  The signs posted was only for no refund. I have nothing to refund. The item was not even in my hands yet. This is a final sale term ypur staff ****** failed to mention the customer. 
  
  There is no mailing it one last time as you never did to begin with and you will not be donating the glasses if you are making us pay for it. We purchased this to be picked up in person, since it will need to be adjusted. Either ypu give us the glasses and have us adjust it IN the store or you can cancel this order as we requested hours after this misleading purchase. 
  
  What is the IT department doing checking out honesty reviews? Isn't  this supposed to be your legal team's job? Do they not have something better to do ? My reviews stayed as they are honest experience made by a paying customer. 

  
  Summary
  If you are charging the glasses, tpu will complete the purchase accordingly by having it adjusted in the store like any other paying customers. Otherwise, you can cancel the order and reverse the payment. 

   

   

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************