Great Cheap Glasses Hunt

scrummager

I use SMART VISION LIMITED
1A Preston Road, Westcliff-on-sea, Essex. SS0 7NB tel 01702 343260.

Its like a little scientists lab.
Lots of very good personal attention. A wide range of glasses / lenses / repairs by very helpful and knowledgable guys, and a lot cheaper than the high street shops.

bkilcoyne

layces wrote:

I have just bought Varilux varifocals with antireflection coating including frames for about £120 delivered from the US. Delivery took about a week and I am delighted with the quality. The link to the company is https://www.39dollarglasses.com. You need to fill in details from your prescription and the site takes you through all the options with helpful details on the choices. Highly recommended!

This sounds roo good to be true. I have used varifocals for several years now and they are never right first time I try them on. They have to be adjusted for fit. The staff allways make this seem like a skilled procedure.
Has any one any tips on how to get round this problem?

lordgaz

Can anyone suggest a good way of measuring up for glasses. I only wear contact lenses, but need some of these cheap glasses to give my eyes a rest!

I had just been quoted £400 for a pair which is stupid seeing as I will probably sit on them.

This goggles4u looks good, but I am a bit unsure what size I should be looking at.

I don't really want to go into an optician to get measured if possible.

Cheers

Gaz

lordgaz

kalico wrote:

Can anyone clarify the situation with Customs when buying specs from the USA or China etc? (or anything else for that matter, but specs may be classed differently).

I understood that 'importing' goods worth more than about £32 gives rise to duty. Also, if it is deemed that duty is payable, then many courier firms will automatically pay on your behalf and then will not release the goods until you pay them the duty.

Anyone else with experience of this?

Just to follow up on this, the standard rate for prescription glasses is 2.9% (quite a few counties of origin are free)

It is free with a GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) agreement -

We have imported glasses before from China (non prescription) and the duty should have been 2.9%, but we paid nothing using a GSP

If you ever want to find out the commodity code / rate for import, call the classification help line: 01702 366077

MissDe

Hiya

I bought a new pair of glasses on Saturday 8 October from Opticians Express. I placed the order and walked down the road and looked in The Eye Society which had advertisements for 25% off and saw the glasses i had just ordered which was costing me £130.00 in total. The same pair at the eye society was £89.95 including lenses and had 25% discount on top of that. I went straight back to opticains express and told then i wanted to cancel my order due to the price difference and they matched the price and relensed my old glasses for free.

The gentleman who did this seemed flustered and commented on he couldnt believe how much discount he had given to me and i replied if it were to get him into trouble i will go elsewhere he then replied with "no its my commission."

twhitehead

Beware when hunting for a 'bargain'
I have v dodgy eyes and over the years (50+) have had some glasses made up in High Street opticians which were wrongly prescribed/dispensed. This year I went to a reputable chain and had test and glasses (£360). When I tried them on the result was worse than my previous pair and to cut a long story short ended up having fresh glasses to prescription, then retested, new glasses to that prescription etc. and finally money back. In total the chain made four sets of glasses, none of which were any improvement on my old pair. I then went down the road to Specsavers who tested me and made me a fresh pair (£170). When I put those on I had 20/20 vision immediately. I shudder to think what problems I would have had if I had ordered from Hong Kong. If you need glasses to see where you are going it is false economy to try for the cheapest, to be able to sit in the shop until the optician fixes things or you get a refund is worth lots of money.
:wall:

Cornwall2000

I can recommend https://www.selectspecs.com. I got some lovely Pierre Cardin specs with a tint for £55 all inclusive. They give you a 5% discount for paying by cheque. Delivery takes about 10 days, but was quicker than they quoted initially. They have all sorts of frames from Versace, Armani, Diesel etc; ranging from £50 to about £120 all inclusive. They also do non designer specs for £15. Delivery is £2! Very prompt replies to email, the glasses are made in Kent.

Another tip - Dolland and Aitchison give free eye tests for AA members. They didn't even want to see my card in the end!

Also - ask for your "PD" pupillary distance when you get your prescription as you will need it when ordering. They say it doesn't make much difference on weaker prescriptions though. I measured my own in the mirror.

jnaughton

Poundland `as it sez` a pound a pair, only for reading though, I went to boots for an eye test and was told by the optician that the `pound ` glasses were ok to use, I have about six pairs as I tend to lose them..

arnoldmonk

After being immensley pressurised to order a £200 pair at T*sco opticians I walked out with just the prescription.

I entered the prescription detail into https://www.GlassesDirect.co.uk and 7 days later (they quote 28!) my new specs came and are brilliant for £27.50 inc P+P.
The website has a clever bit where you can try the specs on your photo - worth trying just for the fun of it! They will also send you some frames to try before you buy. I am chuffed to bits and will definitely order from them again.

The tip for a free eyesight at D&A is worth looking for - you just have to be determined to walk out with the prescription without placing an order.

richardaverill

As many of you have done, I was pressurised by my local opticians into paying over £300 for a pair of glasses with high refractive index lenses (I have a high prescription), only to lose them somewhere a few weeks later. I despaired, and resolved never to pay this kind of money again to pay for smart shops. I find that a lot of the high street stores' special offers don't really help where more expensive lenses are required - specsavers two-for-one for example is only on frames and standard lenses which at my prescription look like bottle tops!

Internet to the rescue - I was sceptical whether I would see anything for my money, but I came across https://www.specsonthenet.com (run by FocusFix in Cardiff) and ordered a perfectly good pair of glasses for £30 with thin lenses index 1.6 for under £30 on top with anti-reflective and anti-scratch coatings for free, they arrived a few days later. Absolutely perfect, I would highly recommend this site.

They also sent me vouchers for 10% off for further orders for friends & family members.

For contact lenses I always use https://www.visiondirect.com, ship from the USA, very cheap for my toric lenses and lenses are despatched very efficiently.