The art of making price enquiry

We understand that you like to shop around to get the best price and so need to do price comparison. However, do note when making price enquiries, at Evershine Optical or other shops.

For spectacle frames, it’s pretty straight forward, just give us the frame brand and model. However, when it comes to spectacle lenses, it’s not so straight forward. For instance if you are interested in Hoya lenses, asking us “how much is your Hoya lenses” will not get you any answer because there are so many categories within the Hoya brand or any other brand of lenses. It’s like going to a mobile phone shop and ask “how much is your Samsung phones” or going to a jewellery shop and ask “how much is your diamonds” .  You get the idea.

Take Hoya lenses for example. There is single vision lenses. Within this category, there are a few sub category. Then you have progressive lenses. Again, there are a few sub categories within the progressive lenses. And then there are other add-ons like transitions and blue control.

So when a question like “How much is your Hoya / Zeiss lenses” is asked, how can we give you a specific reply when the question is so general ? Other questions to avoid :

  • How much is your contact lenses ? You should ask, how much is xx brand and type.
  • How much is your progressive lenses ? You should give information like brand, type, category, index etc. We are not in telemarketing so do not expect us to provide you all the product that is available on the phone.
  • Do you have any promotions  ? (for this, please refer to our promotions page)
  • How to go to your shop ?

We want to answer whatever enquiry that you have but we appreciate that you do it through whatsapp, facebook message, email or submit the contact form here. Our manpower is very limited (we don’t have a call centre) so any price or product enquiry over the phone will be made very short . We hope you understand.

What are the lens options

Some people come into our shop and ask us the above question. This is like going to a pharmacy and ask what medication you need. Seriously, if we know nothing about your eye conditions and what your needs are, you want us to tell you all the available lenses and the options available ? That is why we recommend you go through a consultation with us first and after checking your eyes and understanding your needs, we can do a recommendation on the available options. We usually don’t present all the options for you because it may confuse you. We will also discuss with you what are the best options rather than give you all the options. This will simplify decision making .

Eyewear is a very personal and highly customizable product. Our eyewear are customized for individual needs. We do not set a price category ( like some Japanese chain stores) and hope your needs fall into those price categories . Shopping is made easier like this for you because there are not so many pricing consideration. However, this also means your choice is limited.  It’s like going to a restaurant and they only serve set lunch or dinner.

2 replies on “The art of making price enquiry

  • Winston

    Hi Disgruntled Reader, read what we have posted carefully. The whole point of this post is asking shoppers not to call us on the phone if you have any questions, especially about specialised products which is difficult to explain over the phone since they can be quite technical. And if you insist on calling us on the phone, make your questions very specific. There are also no reasons to call us when product information are also readily available on the internet nowadays.

    “We want to answer whatever enquiry that you have but we appreciate that you do it through whatsapp, facebook message, email or submit the contact form here. Our manpower is very limited (we don’t have a call centre) so any price or product enquiry over the phone will be made very short ”

    Otherwise, we are happy to answer whatever questions you have through the above mentioned channels.

  • Disgruntled Reader

    Are you serious right now? Trying to make a passive aggressive dig at your customers? Suck it up, it’s customer service.

    Do you expect the customer who is a layman to know that Hoya has different ranges? You cite Samsung as an example, but the layman knows that Samsung has different phone models. Anyone who buys diamonds know that the size, cut, brand makes a difference and if you’ve ever been to a jeweller’s, the price is pretty much stated on display anyway. It’s straightforward unlike Hoya, which most people know as a type of lens only.

    To add on, you’re telling your customers to avoid asking you, presumably “stupid” questions. You’re providing a service here, you have to expect all kinds of customers and certainly answer ALL enquiries. If you can’t cater to answer questions promptly, don’t make your problem the customer’s problem. It’s your business, your marketing practices are what makes the customer shopping experience EASIER and SATISFACTORY, not the other way round.

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