Glasses Buying Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

carnet

Having bought several pairs of glasses from various online opticians this has been my experience, which might be helpful to someone ;

BudgetSpex - as they charge extra for thin & light lenses, I bought plastic frames (which hide most of the lens thickness) with the free basic lenses just for wearing round the house etc. Frames were cheap but excellent quality and service was great. Have used them more than once and never had a problem.

SelectSpecs - usually have a great range of (even further) reduced price frames, including flexible and give you free thin and light lenses. Again, used more than once and always great products and service.

The Spectacle Case - OK, but nothing special.

See4less - Cheap bifocals and varifocals. However beware -they will fit bifocals to unsuitable lenses (ie too small !) and should they be doing varifocals at all without a face to face fitting ?!

Spex4less - can be a little more expensive for certain things but occasionally have special deals like polarised sunglasses where you pay just for the lenses and get the frames free.

SpexManiac - tried them once but sorry to report that I would never go near them again. Nothing but problems and the glasses arrived full of faults. I ordered my reading prescription and they put in my reading prescription in only one lens - and my distance prescription in the other ! Both the frames and the lenses were "rough" (ie looked unfinished) around the edges in places - and the legs were not even parallel ! The spectacles were obviously not even cleaned before being sent out as they arrived covered in white powder, smudges and finger prints. Worst of all, their customer service appears to be non-existent - despite numerous emails and letters they have not even had the decency to reply once and I've had to refer the matter to the appropriate authorities.

So, my advice would be to ;

Try BudgetSpex if you're not high index or for plastic frames if you are.

Try SelectSpecs for free thin & light lenses.

Avoid SpexManiac as they are truly awful.

Fides

I have bought glasses from a number of the sites listed and I can say that some have been awful, some good quality and service good.

Budgetspecs - pay extra for thin lens and quality so so - nothing to write home about and paying extra for things on other sites that you don't need to pay for - they got my prescription wrong.:eek:

selectspecs - looked at their site - you start off with cheap specs and because they are fitted with only 1.56 lens you have to pay GBP20 extra for the 1.6 lens that comes free on other sites

Spex4less - my mother tried them good glasses and service - recommended by a friend:D

Spexmaniac - my husband and I tried them good glasses and service - recommended by a work colleague:D

Just make sure you check all the prices and what they offer before you buy - that's my advice and of course if you have had good reports back from family or friends.

brinky_2

https://www.spex4less.co.uk and https://www.justrimless.com get my vote. Both really good companies and really good service.

justrimless are doing a different offer every month this month it is free tinting.

they also have a clearance section. i got gold memory metal rimless AR multcoated for £30.

bernie822

I have just bought some distance specs from Glasses Direct for a total of £17.50 and they look really good value. I put the necessary details from my prescription on their website and got my glasses within days. Excellent. Bernie

honest_geezer

Looking to order a pair from select specs but can't seem to get hold of them by phone or email.

I'm looking to order semi-rimless or full rimless but I have a prescription that is roughly -6.5 in each eye. Has anyone any experience with 1.6 versus 1.67 lenses for this type of frame? There is a £35 difference or I wouldn't bother

Any help would be greatly appreciated

nemo2

Have you tried http://www.nuglasses.co.uk I bought from them. They were very helpful and the glasses were great. Ask for Annabel she was terrific.

grunnie

I can't believe the prices you are all paying for glasses. Boots have a basic range for £30 including single vision lenses. Boots also have a £20 off coupon if you spent £10 instore. So glasses for £10 a pair.

froggy27_2

Does anybody know the eyeexpert.co.uk? they have frames I really like but would like to know if anybody had good or bad glasses from them before ordering.... 25gbp is a good price but i want to make sure before spending it
thanks a lot as usual.

nemo2

grunnie wrote: »

I can't believe the prices you are all paying for glasses. Boots have a basic range for £30 including single vision lenses. Boots also have a £20 off coupon if you spent £10 instore. So glasses for £10 a pair.

But I've looked at them and they didn't look that great to me. The truth is they just don't compare in terms of quality to what you can buy from the good online suppliers such as http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk or http://www.nuglasses.co.uk

VIJAY_FROM_KENT

nemo2 wrote: »

But I've looked at them and they didn't look that great to me. The truth is they just don't compare in terms of quality to what you can buy from the good online suppliers such as http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk or http://www.nuglasses.co.uk

I agree that the quality of glasses from http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk is much better than Boots for comparable price. The Boots cheapest glasses look cheap, while Glasses Direct glasses are of a decent quality. I spent £20 on a pair for my mum from Glasses Direct a few months ago and they are fab! :T :T :beer: :T :T