Hidden Costs for "Free" Contact Lenses Trial at Specsavers

Saw that Specsavers offers "Free Contact Lenses Trials" so decided to go in to check them out as I'm not a huge fan of my glasses. Booked an appointment at the Cuba Street branch - the appointment is advertised as including a "standard eye exam including a free OCT exam". At the end of the appointment I was told that the charge would be $60 for the eye exam. I replied that I was under the impression that it was a free contact lens trial and the eye exam was part of it, the lady said that the trial pairs of contacts were the free part but the eye exam is not free. I didn't want to make a scene so sure I pay the $60. Later on I check on the website under Free Contact Lenses Trials to see if its stated anywhere that the eye exam is not free - it isn't. You have to actually google the price of Specsavers eye exams to find out how much they cost.

When you get a contact lens trial, they insist on meeting with you again a few days later to ensure that you didn't run into any problems and make sure that the contacts are the right ones for you. I was quite literally bombarded with texts and emails from Specsavers telling me how important it is so I don't hurt my eyes. I went in today for this appointment, and then afterwards the lady told me that the cost of the appointment is $40, which is waived if I order 30 days worth of contact lenses. I was planning on ordering contact lenses anyway so it wasn't a big deal for me personally but this still seems incredibly predatory. Once again I was never told that this follow up appointment would cost money, and if I wasn't going to order contacts I would have just refused to pay.

Does this seem like a really shady business practice to anyone else? I feel like information about these costs should be included somewhere very visible when you book.

My advice to anyone wanting to test lenses is make sure you know your prescription already so you don't need to take the test, politely decline when they direct you to the optometrists office and just say you want the free lenses. If they tell you that the eye test is required then ask them why it's advertised as a "free" trial if there's a mandatory $60 cost associated with it.