08702202020

Disclosure: in the business of laser eye surgery - independent ( non OE, non UL non Optimax)

Debatable whether it is Optimax or OE at the bottom of the pile.  Financially Optimax may be ahead. Medically OE have standardized technology throughout ( crap VISX laser) and processes good or bad. Optimax have been using technology dating back to the 90s - no wonder they are so profitable and getting poor results. Changed over to Schwind but not universally.

My biased view is this is surgery and needs to be directed by doctors, rather than businessman - the. Patients best interests may be served.

"My biased view is this is surgery and needs to be directed by doctors" - what a load of tosh, it already is directed by doctors - dishonest, low life ones

@ reading - youre the one with a close and personal relationship with Moulsdale - that's probably why you want to defend him online for free and get used by him until one day he will probably tell  you you haven't got a job through his trusty PA whilst he's probably sat on a beach somewhere getting wasted .

I'll wear my cocktail dress for my party thanks but you should definitely attend Moulsdales party - it might be his last one - and just in case his PA is the only woman who attends this year -you better make sure you are there to rescue her from Moulsdales potential urges  - you have a very important job.

Ps you can come to my party if you want- if you like class.

Can you post your email address so we can arrange to meet ?
Why don't we make a party of it since your so obsessed with parties - my shout if course - anyone else want to come ??

@Ona
Interesting info.  Both Optimax and Optical Express are bottom feeders.  Apart from being regularly pestered by Ultralase no info on them.

No recent financial info on any of the three.  Both OE and Optimax were able to "get away" with older/poorer technology when times were easier.  They could cherry pick easy patients.  As times got harder they were forced to take on more difficult cases and that's when complication rate really started to climb - not helped by the use of key performance targets for the shopfront salespeople.  Scarily, they are now branching out into complex invasive procedures.

Limited medical info suggests no real difference between OE and Optimax complication rate, so Sasha's 95% from OE is either an invented figure or a direct and predictable consequence of dropping Optimax as a target in her campaign

Your view is not biased, just common sense.  Doctors sign up to the hippocratic oath which is binding.  Shop staff, sales assistants and other "advisors" are more influenced by performance targets.

@The dude
tosh, yes, but from you, not Ona.  Most OE and Optimax patients hardly see a doctor.

@ Anon.

The Optimax Ultralse merge however Ambrose tackles it is Exactly the leverage he needed. Jobs may go but it won't be due to his lack of diligence and maturity as it is Ultralse who have ultimately failed to survive .

On the other hand moulsdale has been  running his business into the ground all by himself and I feel sure with the optical business had he been able to find a buyer / buyers he would have .

Hence natural conclusion is that given The track record of the leadership - i reckon good times ahead for Ambrose - in particular if he sees the opportunities around The position / positions the company could occupy .

@Wondering
Jobs have gone - half the Ultralase clinics and over 100 jobs.  More to go after Ambrose has had the time to asset strip. Maturity is not a word often associated with Ambrose

Don't bet your pension on Optimax, every indication that they were in as deep a mess as OE just not showing it.  Acquisition of Ultralase may just slow the collapse or allow them to survive the recession.  Big gamble.

What evidence do you have that the business is directed by low life doctors".  They are hired in at between £30 and £50 a case - cheap maybe but directors no way.

Has to be more mature than Moulsdale !

Yea I notice OE looked like they were in deep [***] when I saw these ( home eye testing) Signs
Things must've been desperate @ OE .

Now . I've got every faith in David Moulsdale to continue embarrassing himself and the company by driving OE into nowhere land with bad decisions , Bad behaviour and bad attitude .

Ambrose has definitely outsmarted Moulsdale. And it looks like no one wants to buy OE and also looking like no one wants to lend Moulsdale money to buy any other companies either ! I'm thinking Moulsdale would have loved to have been the one to get a deal with Ultralase .

Also looks like OE have probably been economical with the truth about how many stores they have closed and how many people have lost their  jobs when their major subsidiary went into administration .

Flagship store Silverburn closed today !!!!!!!!

Anyone interested in arranging a coach party to the Nottingham Hilton for 8pm on Thurs 20th December?

Was the date arranged such that both Wondering and reading with interest will have broken up for the Xmas school holidays?

Why a hotel? so that under 14s are legally allowed in?  7:30 versus 8pm - Wondering not allowed to stay out late?  Surprised that either of you were allowed to stay up so late last night.  What next? Alleged DM under age s*x with Wondering?

@Wondering
It doesn't require genius to own an iPhone/iPad and download a free app called Gangnam Santa.  I understand that there's also an android version,  Wait for a Sasha or Russell Ambrose version.  What do you think would suit Sasha?  Santa, elf, snowman or reindeer?

@reading with interest & Anon (the original)
If you have the dirt on Sasha and Ambrose why not publish it here? or at least a hint as to the content. It's not libel if you actually have the proof and it's not doing any good unpublished.

@all conspiracy theorists
"Kevin Brooks" posted the video on Facebook.  The app has only been released in the last day or so. Are Kevin, Watching from the wings, Sasha and a few others all the same person?  Does/did Kevin work for OE?

Are reading with interest and Wondering one and the the same person - working for OE to get this thread closed? or at least stop people reading it because it's so boring.

OMG!!
WE LOVE IT-THANKS!!
www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=4907141487093

OE shop closed in Gloucester. A scandal can exist for a long time before anyone notices ! People are now noticing !

Why has it closed?

@anon -  Dr Steve Schallhorn

Doctors are corrupt as the rest of them, yes they take an oath, that doesn't make them saints. This is about money, doctors, optom's, business men etc.. There is no difference

@ anon

As I said earlier .

Ambrose doesn't have the track record - in my view - of purchasing businesses and driving them into the ground that Moulsdale does .

Banks were willing to facilitate the Optimax Ultralse deal but seemingly unwilling to finance the continuation of one of Optical Expresses major subsidiaries .

I think that speaks volumes for Moulsdales leadership credibility and financial credibility , I think Moulsdale would have loved to by Ultralse if the banks agreed . At the moment looks to me like moulsdale can't convince the banks to lend and he probably can't convince anyone to buy OE either !

@The dude
No-one mentioned saints.  The hippocratic oath is a legally enforceable oath.  That's the difference.  Doctors can and are prosecuted or breaking it - including the fundamental "first do no harm". Yes, as medical director, Schallhorn should take responsibility for clinical practices within OE and, if proved to have made or encouraged medically questionable practices, is personally liable.

@Wondering
Another name for purchasing businesses and driving them into the ground is asset stripping.  Something which is regarded as normal business practice and which Ambrose is currently doing with UltraLase.  If it were a bankers decision rather than too low an offer from Moulsdale, I suspect that  Optimax were favoured over OE because the combined businesses were a better fit.  As per Onas comment Optimax has very old equipment and they are already stripping newer equipment out of closed UltraLase shops.

Neither OE or Optimax were in a good financial position before the purchase of UltraLase, but OE were able to drastically cut their infrastructure costs in closing shops and were in a better position than Optimax in terms of equipment.  Optimax have been thrown a lifeline.  Question is whether it will allow them to survive the recession.

A flyer was put through letterbox saying store had closed, and details of the Cheltenham branch's location (10 miles away)  were included. The refractive surgery industry companies are skating on very thin ice, and the effects of the recession, plus the fact that the scandal of them ruining peoples eyes for ruthless business profit will come out very soon, means that mass high st businesses in this industry may (hopefully) become unviable !

@ Anon

If optimax are asset stripping  i find it a lot more acceptable method of conducting business than calling in administrators to avoid paying rent and putting people out of jobs at very short notice as OPtical Express seem to have done .
From what angle do you see the bankers decision to run with Optimax in the Ultralase ( more premium) deal being due to the better fit ? I don't think OPtical Expresses decision to compete in the same space ( position ) as Optimax has anything to do with in my view their initial intentions to avoid discounting which I don't think they would have wanted for their brand or brand perception ( which I would have agreed with)  but nevertheless an avenue they seem to have gone down regardless in the last few years .Optimax were already discounting so actually in terms of position and taking on your comments re technology OpticalExpress would or should have been seen as the better fit .

Just for the record . I don't hate Optical Express- I am
Saddened to hear of the problems and the store closures . But at the same time due to my observations of the leadership And in my view the serious cultural problems which I believe are now unrectifiable I do not believe that OE can continue as it does and think it best for everyone - customers employees etc if Moulsdale sells so OE can cAn have a better chance under better leadership .People work hard in there . I think it is crazy for you to suggest that David Moulsdale has not run the optical business into the ground .
I think he has.

I personally think that his attitude towards work has been arrogant , I think he has treated a lot of good people badly and also made a lot of bad business decisions .It's really really sad .

Very naive to think a bank would give a jot who was a "better fit"!  

The banks wanted to recoup as much as they could & Russell Ambrose put in a higher bid than than Optical Express.

@Watching from the Wings
"Very naive to think a bank would give a jot who was a "better fit""  and both naive and obtuse of you to think that we were referring to the bank selling Ultralase and not the banks potentially funding OE and Optimax in trying to purchase UltraLase.  They would be looking at who was more likely to be able to make the most of the purchase and therefore safeguard their investment.

@Wondering
As I see it, the fit is in business need.  Both desperately need more customers in a shrinking market, so buying market share is an option.  OE have too many shops which cost an arm and a leg to run if they are not bringing in the patients.  They also have more modern (if not particularly good) equipment.  Optimax have much older equipment which needs replacing.  Buy UltraLase and Optimax get market share and some newer equipment.

I dislike both Optical Express and Optimax - for the damage that both have done to patients eyes and for trivialising eye surgery.  A plague on both of them and their so-called advisors