Has anyone bought spectacles online?
Discussion
From my (limited) experience, the process is easy enough and most reputable places offer a no-quibble money back guarantee so that you can try them on after they arrive, and if they don't fit, send them back for replacement or refund.
However, the quality on some of them can be truly shocking.
I bought a pair in early 2006 for £30 off the Internet. I was driving down the motorway at 70mph and pushed my glasses up my nose with my index finger, and they fell apart and left me virtually blind in the outside lane.
That incident is what prompted me to get laser eye surgery, incidentally :P
However, the quality on some of them can be truly shocking.
I bought a pair in early 2006 for £30 off the Internet. I was driving down the motorway at 70mph and pushed my glasses up my nose with my index finger, and they fell apart and left me virtually blind in the outside lane.
That incident is what prompted me to get laser eye surgery, incidentally :P
I bought a couple of pairs last month - my first online glasses purchase. I used Glasses Direct after being really annoyed by a pushy optician on the High St where I'd been for an eye test. I sent off for 3 pairs of home trial frames and settled on one design, ordered 2 pairs in different colours (one pair with reactive lenses, one normal) and saved about £50 off the price of the single pair the major chain optician with a "special offer" tried to bully me to buy.
http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk
Really efficient service, easy to use and as you can see from this glowing report (and I have no association with them at all other than being a happy customer) I can't fault them at all. I remarked to my OH that if I was going to design an ideal online shopping service their model would be pretty much it and they didn't disappoint at all.
The home trial removes the one issue I had with online glasses sales and armed with a decent prescription (pupil spacing doesn't seem to be included on the slip you take home but it's easy enough to measure) you can save quite a bit of cash.
I also "liked" them on Facebook and got as voucher before I ordered, I think I saved another 20% but they have quite a few offers usually anyway.
I sound like a spammer for them but I genuinely am really impressed, similar companies may offer the same or even better service but I will be going back to them for more when the time comes.
(I also suspect this won't stay in General Gassing for long so don't panic if it disappears, it'll be in another section)
http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk
Really efficient service, easy to use and as you can see from this glowing report (and I have no association with them at all other than being a happy customer) I can't fault them at all. I remarked to my OH that if I was going to design an ideal online shopping service their model would be pretty much it and they didn't disappoint at all.
The home trial removes the one issue I had with online glasses sales and armed with a decent prescription (pupil spacing doesn't seem to be included on the slip you take home but it's easy enough to measure) you can save quite a bit of cash.
I also "liked" them on Facebook and got as voucher before I ordered, I think I saved another 20% but they have quite a few offers usually anyway.
I sound like a spammer for them but I genuinely am really impressed, similar companies may offer the same or even better service but I will be going back to them for more when the time comes.
(I also suspect this won't stay in General Gassing for long so don't panic if it disappears, it'll be in another section)
I've bought a couple of pairs over the internet over the past four or five years, very pleased with them. Have used two different suppliers (unfortunately can't recall which ones at the moment, so won't simply guess as I looked at several before ordering).
As long as you have the prescription, and know what type/style/size frame you want, should be okay. Obviously worth double checking that you've inputted the prescription correctly before finalising, but other than that, fairly straightforward, with a quick turnaround. Most of them even offer advice on how to decipher some opticians' scribbles.
I was a bit wary initially, but would happily do so again.
As long as you have the prescription, and know what type/style/size frame you want, should be okay. Obviously worth double checking that you've inputted the prescription correctly before finalising, but other than that, fairly straightforward, with a quick turnaround. Most of them even offer advice on how to decipher some opticians' scribbles.
I was a bit wary initially, but would happily do so again.
I bought a pair of reading glasses from SelectSpecs mainly as a spare pair plus my optician supplied ones were slightly scratched & from an older prescription although not too different to warrant buying a new pair (from the optician). Admittedly the first pair they sent broke within a few hours & after emailing a photo they were replaced within a week & have been fine ever since. As above, you need to establish your pupil spacing preferably by asking your optician (it's not usually written on the prescription) - I measured my own using a ruler & a mirror. Also, I now use the broken pair, taped up with insulation tape, in the garage!
Thanks for the replies all.
Firstly, apologies for the wrong forum. Didn't think to check for a Health sub-forum.
Anyway, I was unsure about an online purchase but two things have helped - the feedback on here (I've been to Glassesdirect and have ordered some Home Trial ones already) and, secondly, my experience with Vision Express.
Yesterday they performed my eye test, then we sat down to discuss new frames and lenses. I established with the 'sales' assistant that I was only after a price, and at the end of that exercise I then asked for my pupilary distance (aswell as on here I had learnt this from this excellent blog post - http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/5363-buying-glasse...
Anyway, the VE sales rep replied "I cannot do that, as that is part of dispensing." I asked if I could pay for it to be measured, and was told "I'm afraid not".
I left feeling quite annoyed.
All should be well though as Glassesdirect say that they can measure the PD from old glasses, so I'll ship off an old pair.
Cheers All.
Firstly, apologies for the wrong forum. Didn't think to check for a Health sub-forum.
Anyway, I was unsure about an online purchase but two things have helped - the feedback on here (I've been to Glassesdirect and have ordered some Home Trial ones already) and, secondly, my experience with Vision Express.
Yesterday they performed my eye test, then we sat down to discuss new frames and lenses. I established with the 'sales' assistant that I was only after a price, and at the end of that exercise I then asked for my pupilary distance (aswell as on here I had learnt this from this excellent blog post - http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/5363-buying-glasse...
Anyway, the VE sales rep replied "I cannot do that, as that is part of dispensing." I asked if I could pay for it to be measured, and was told "I'm afraid not".
I left feeling quite annoyed.
All should be well though as Glassesdirect say that they can measure the PD from old glasses, so I'll ship off an old pair.
Cheers All.
Getting a PD from your dispensing optician can be a total PITA.
Mine ( a local indy) wanted to charge me £25 ! They got REALLY arsey when I asked if I could have it. Why do you need it I was asked ? Err - because I want to order some glasses ??
I spoke to the local Specsavers, guy said pop down, no charge - took about 3 minutes.
My usual optician quoted me in the region of about £700 for a new pair of prescription Oakleys with transition lens, a cheapo reading pair, and black prescription lens fitted to my old (current) Oakley frames.
Specsuperstore did the whole lot for less than £300 !
Massive con.
Mine ( a local indy) wanted to charge me £25 ! They got REALLY arsey when I asked if I could have it. Why do you need it I was asked ? Err - because I want to order some glasses ??
I spoke to the local Specsavers, guy said pop down, no charge - took about 3 minutes.
My usual optician quoted me in the region of about £700 for a new pair of prescription Oakleys with transition lens, a cheapo reading pair, and black prescription lens fitted to my old (current) Oakley frames.
Specsuperstore did the whole lot for less than £300 !
Massive con.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I haven't bought them personally but noticed the place I got mine did them:http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/help-varifocals-and...
Turn7 said:
Getting a PD from your dispensing optician can be a total PITA.
Mine ( a local indy) wanted to charge me £25 ! They got REALLY arsey when I asked if I could have it. Why do you need it I was asked ? Err - because I want to order some glasses ??
I spoke to the local Specsavers, guy said pop down, no charge - took about 3 minutes.
My usual optician quoted me in the region of about £700 for a new pair of prescription Oakleys with transition lens, a cheapo reading pair, and black prescription lens fitted to my old (current) Oakley frames.
Specsuperstore did the whole lot for less than £300 !
Massive con.
May I ask what line of work you're in, just wondering if you'd be willing to give out free stuff?Mine ( a local indy) wanted to charge me £25 ! They got REALLY arsey when I asked if I could have it. Why do you need it I was asked ? Err - because I want to order some glasses ??
I spoke to the local Specsavers, guy said pop down, no charge - took about 3 minutes.
My usual optician quoted me in the region of about £700 for a new pair of prescription Oakleys with transition lens, a cheapo reading pair, and black prescription lens fitted to my old (current) Oakley frames.
Specsuperstore did the whole lot for less than £300 !
Massive con.
They won't be Oakley lenses from Oakley though will they?
The eye examination is way way too cheap it should be something like £150, if it was then Opticians could do specs for £25 too, the online traders are parasites sitting on the back of the professionals.
I used Glasses Direct again recently after having a few pairs from a local optician because they seemed to be the only ones with the frame I wanted at that time.
As before their "try on at home" service was really efficient and the order process was too, however when I got my glasses through the post one of the arms was bent up at a weird angle and it had a mark on it so I ended up sending them back.
Their "blue reflect" coating was also incredibly reflective when looking out and I didn't like.
I reordered an identical pair minus the blue coating and they came with no issues for £30 less than the first pair.
These were Ray Ban frames with their lenses and coatings, I paid less than 1/2 of the price it was going to be in the local place, under £100 all in.
So not flawless but for the money saved I was still happy and I've never had issues with them like this in the past so think I just got unlucky,
I tried glassesdirect and had to send them back. I have quite short sighted (both eyes > -10) but there are no other complications and I gave them all the correct measurements.
I know I don't have much tolerance for the PD being out, and as soon as I put them on I could tell they were miles away. I'd only bought them as spares just in case and took them to my local optician when I was having some made up there anyway, and they confirmed they were way out.
Glassesdirect told me there was nothing wrong with them and they had been made within their tolerances, but the customer service was very good and they refunded me very quickly.
So, in summary I think they're good if you don't have 'difficult' eyes.......
I know I don't have much tolerance for the PD being out, and as soon as I put them on I could tell they were miles away. I'd only bought them as spares just in case and took them to my local optician when I was having some made up there anyway, and they confirmed they were way out.
Glassesdirect told me there was nothing wrong with them and they had been made within their tolerances, but the customer service was very good and they refunded me very quickly.
So, in summary I think they're good if you don't have 'difficult' eyes.......
I'd thought about this, but as I have varifocal lenses and the positioning is critical AIUI. How do they get that right?
And my last varifocals had the issue with a small usable area, because of the prescription, which I'd said I wanted to avoid. I have even thought of getting single vision sunglasses, which would be OK for driving, but legal?
And my last varifocals had the issue with a small usable area, because of the prescription, which I'd said I wanted to avoid. I have even thought of getting single vision sunglasses, which would be OK for driving, but legal?
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff