General Buying Group Questions
C&E members enjoy one monthly bill and online account access to enable them to concentrate more on their practice. We offer convenience and exceptional pricing on all major brands of optical equipment and goods.
- Who is C&E Vision?
- C&E Vision is an optical buying group. Our goal is to save each of our Independent Eyecare Professional members time and money by providing tools and services that help make managing their practice a bit easier. C&E Vision is the only buying group in the nation that offers the variety of services available from iDOCS to manage your invoices, statements and industry information to BeyeRight which helps you quickly and easily maintain your frame displays by showing you the top selling frames.
- What is an optical buying group?
- An optical buying group is a 3rd party billing service that helps you manage your accounts payable. You, the Eyecare Professional, order your frames, lenses, and supplies through the vendor of your choice and charge it to your C&E Vision account (much like using an American Express charge card). Each month your participating vendors submit your purchases to us, so that we can consolidate your purchases on one easy to read statement. Collectively, our members do a large volume of business, which allows the C&E Vision Buying Group to negotiate with manufacturers and distributors for lower pricing and exclusive deals on products that you use in your practice every day.
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- Why should I use C&E Vision as my buying group?
- C&E is proud to help the independent eyecare professional and that is why we make sure that we save you more money and time than anyone else. Contact our consultant anytime and ask for a Free comparison. Our helpful and knowledgeable staff with compare your current group with C&E Vision and customize your account to guarantee maximized savings.
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- What makes C&E Vision the buying group of choice?
- The C&E Vision Buying Group works hard to make sure that each of our members needs is met. Since we have been in business since 1983 and we are the large buying group we are able to truly customize each member account to offer a variety of options to make managing your practice easier. With large volume discounts, great incentive programs such as a monthly prompt pay discount we are able to save our members a large amount of money. In most cases our members are able to save approximately 6% to 15% more than billing direct.
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- How can C&E Vision save me time?
- C&E Vision has invested a great deal of time and effort in creating services that help reduce the time spend in your practice. Each of our services was created with the sole purpose of taking a specific task within a practice and streamlining it. The iDOCS service allows our members to reduce the amount of time spend balancing the books. By providing you 24/7 access to vendor invoices, monthly statements, online payments and most importantly reports to help get the answers you need we are able to save our members nearly 80 hours a year. Just imagine the amount of money that would save you or allow you to see more patients. C&E Vision offers nearly a dozen online tools and services, visit our services pages to learn more.
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- How can I obtain a copy of your vendor list with discounts?
- Easy!, Simply complete the information request form with your contact information. Once verified, we will email, fax or ship an information packet to you. It is important to understand that since each account can be customized to fit your needs some information provided might change. We recommend speaking with one of our consultants at (800) 346-2626 to learn more and find out what options are best for your practice.
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- Why are your discounts larger than my current group?
- Most buying groups receive the same discounts; however, how the buying group chooses to pass the discount on to the member will make the difference. Since C&E Vision is able to customize your account, you can choose which discount list and options work best. C&E does offer exclusive programs with many vendors that can also save you a great deal of money.
Becoming a member of C&E Vision
- How do I become a member of The C&E Vision Buying Group?
- Simply complete the New Account Application and member agreement by clicking here. Once your application has been received you will receive an email confirmation that you will need to reply to. It usually takes about 24 hours for the credit process to be completed; you will be notified as soon as your account is established. At that time, you will receive your C&E Vision Buying Group member number.
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- What do I do if I purchase a C&E Member's practice?
- If you purchase a C&E member's practice simply complete a New Account application and Member Agreement. Once approved and a letter from the prior owner, stating they have sold the account, has been received the prior owners account will be closed and replaced with your new account. In most cases nothing else is needed.
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- Is there a fee to become a member of The C&E Vision Buying Group?
- No. C&E Vision does not charge a fee to join.
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- How long after I return my application will I be notified?
- The turnaround time is usually 24-48 hours. You will be notified by phone upon approval and you can start ordering immediately.
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- How do I start using my C&E Vision Buying Group account?
- First, your vendors need to change your billing status so your purchases are billed through the C&E Vision Buying Group. You can either do this yourself by calling the vendors directly, or allow us to take care of this for you. By providing us the vendor name and your account number with them we will send notification to each vendor and as they confirm we will contact you to keep you updated. Your Member Services Rep can help you, just call (800) 346-2626 for assistance with this process.
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- Can I bill a vendor through C&E Vision that is not on your vendor list?
- Yes, C&E Vision is always interested in signing up new vendors. Simply have your vendor sales rep notify their corporate office to contact C&E Vision's Member Services Department.
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- What is an administration fee?
- An administration fee is charged by buying group who pass on the entire volume discount from the vendors. The administration fee is what the buying group charges in order to continue business. Some buying groups do not charge an administration fee, this is because they have reduced your discounts in order to make up for this fee. If you have questions concerning how C&E compares to your current group or other groups you have been looking at, simply call our Member Services Department at (800) 346-2626.
- Can the administration fee be reduced?
- Yes, although the administration fee is how a buying group makes its money, because of C&E's size we are able to reduce a member's administration fee various ways. Whether it is through incentives, such as monthly volume rebates, state society dues credits or extra vendor discounts can effectively reduce or eliminate their administration fee. For more information on C&E's incentive programs or how you can reduce your administration fee, simply call our Member Services Department at (800) 346-2626.
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- Why does The C&E Vision Buying Group require a personal guarantee?
- Due to the large credit lines extended by C&E Vision, we want to protect our members from increasing rates. The personal guarantee is a way that C&E Vision can insure that bad debts, writes and other financial burdens are kept to a minimal which in turn allows C&E Vision to effectively collect outstanding debts from members who have a chosen not to pay their balance. With very few unpaid balances C&E Vision is able to offer more incentives, rebates and sponsorships to our member base.
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- What is the difference between a Buying Group and a franchise group?
- Buying Groups were founded on the principal that a group of individuals can earn larger discounts with vendors as a group compared to an individual practice. Today buying groups are billing services that offer consolidation, discounts, and unparalleled customer service and in the case of C&E, offering a variety of tools and services. A franchise group is a company that offer a discount that can sometime be larger than the buying groups, but their fees are usually based on the practice's gross receipts. For example if you purchase $50,000 of merchandise through a buying group account you may pay a nominal fee or receive a net discount on that order, but with a franchise group you do not pay on what is ordered, you would pay on the $500,000 in revenue. On average a practice would need approximately a 15% higher discount through the franchise group compared to the buying group.
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Payments and Buying Group Terms
- Do I pay C&E or my vendors directly?
- Each month you will receive a statement from C&E. You will remit your payment to C&E Vision for any products purchased with your C&E Vision Buying Group account number. Payments can be made via mailed check, ACH or credit cards.
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- What are your payment terms?
- To receive full discounts, payments are due in our office by the date printed on your statement. C&E does offer our members a grace period to help in those months that cash flow may be tight. In some cases you will have up to 50 days before payment is due.
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- Does The C&E Vision Buying Group honor deferred billing programs offered by my vendors?
- If a participating vendor applies deferred terms to your order, C&E will honor those terms which will reflect on your monthly statement. C&E Vision also offers deferred billing terms themselves. If you purchase a stock order and your vendor does not offer terms, simply call your Member Services representative and we will gladly provide you with terms. Some restrictions may apply.
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- Who do I call if I have a problem with my statement?
- You may chat with any of our representatives by clicking here or you may speak with any of our knowledgeable member service representatives at 800.346.2626, Monday thru Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. pacific standard time. Click here to chat now.
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- Does C&E Vision accept credit card payments?
- The C&E Vision Buying Group does accept credit card payments with Visa, MasterCard or American Express. A small convenience fee may apply but can be waived based on your monthly sales.
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- Why does C&E Vision charge late fees?
- To provide C&E Vision members with vendor discounts, C&E must pay the vendors on time. For those members who pay on time with C&E the discounts are applied to their statements, however, when a payment is not received by the date due we must make efforts in order to collect the payment. In this case C&E uses the discount withheld to pay for the services needed to collect the outstanding balance.
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