Optical Consumer
Complaints Service
If you are receiving, or have received, goods or services from an optician* registered with the General Optical Council, you can lodge a complaint with the OCCS if you feel that you have a reason to be dissatisfied with the product or service that you have received.
However, before we can take on a complaint, we do need to be satisfied that you have first told the optician of your complaint and tried to resolve the matter.
* ‘Optician’ means any Optometrist, Dispensing Optician, Contact Lens Practitioner or a company practising as any of these.
If you are unable to complain for yourself, then a relative or friend can do so for you, but we will need your written authority for your relative or friend to represent you. A form of authority can be downloaded from this website, signed and posted or emailed to us. [Click here for download]
To comply with data protection legislation, we must have an authority signed by you, or on your behalf, before we can deal with a your complaint. This is because we may need to ask the optician to provide information which is confidential between you and the optician.
Please note that we offer a service that seeks to resolve a complaint by mediation, which is an informal process that attempts to find a resolution acceptable to the parties involved.
The OCCS role is as a mediator to help the parties to arrive at an outcome that they are prepared to accept.
We do not take sides, make judgements or give legal advice; but we can offer guidance and help to develop effective communications and build consensus between the parties.
The objective is to reach a common sense settlement acceptable to all parties.
Who can complain?