Glasses Buying Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

jstyles

strikingredhead wrote: »

First post here guys

I am looking for the cheapest way to have lenses for my new prescription put in to my glasses. I dont need frames as I two pairs of glasses I like and just need the lenses updated. I have an HC2 certificate for help with health costs as I am on benefits. Any suggestions as to how to do this the cheapest way?

All advice very gratefully received. Thanks

PS I have a straight forward prescription - nothing too fancy required

Hi, Striking Redhead!

The company I work for, Fashion Specs Direct can put new lenses in your existing glasses (we call it a reglaze) from £12.50 for standard lenses in a full-frame : details here.

You can get it even cheaper if you use one of the discount vouchers on the Voucher board!

On the other hand, you can get two brand new pairs for specs from us for only £19.90 if you fancy that instead!

Hope this helps.

spiro

pistjordy wrote: »

I work for the NHS and since I work with computers we get our eye tests paid for so most people should check with their employer about similar schemes. We also get £30 knocked off the price of any glasses we buy - however, our employers have sneakily said that they will only pay the £30 if the optician admits we ONLY need the glasses for using display equiment. So if you need glasses for driving, TV, reading AND using computers you won't get £30! Sneaky.

You need to question your optician because when I was last tested (about 1.5yrs ago) I was told the typical reading distance for reading is about 12 inches whereas a computer screen is normally more like 18-24 inches away. Therefore the prescription is different so you can end up needing distance, reading and PC glasses in which case your employer should pay for the PC ones.

abr

@jstyles

do Fashion Specs Direct sell varifocals

i have to use several pairs of glasses e.g. reading,(2.5 ) computer(1.5) been told to try varifocals
these can be very expensive on the high street

anyone have any experience of buying these online:o

patbateman

Hi abr,

I would be very wary of buying varifocal glassses from internet sites.
These lenses have to be very precisely measured (using the frame which the lenses will be glazed into) as they are a much more optically complex lens, with far more distortions than a straight forward distance/reading lens. Any errors in the lens centration would mean you are looking through a near vision correction for far distance or vice versa and also experience far more peripheral distortion than necessary. Even if you strike it lucky and the specs "do the job", you can be pretty sure that if they were precisely measured, the quality and comfort of vision would be far better.
If you are going to go down road of internet supply, definitely seek one which gives no quibble moneyback guarantee.

sb44

If you only need reading glasses and don't mind what they look like ie you are only using them in the house, try you local markets.

I don't mean seconhand or anything.

A new trader has just set up a static stall in our local market so it looks like he is going to be there for a while.

It looks like he only sells reading glasses but he had them for about £5 a pair which he makes up from your prescription.

sandy2_2

My husband bought his vari focals online from Zennioptical, (with some trepidation on his part) But they are fine and excellent value. They were not his first pair of varifocals ever, so he knew what his vision with them should be like. His optician provided all the measurements he needed

patbateman

Your optician will be unable to give you all the required measurements for varifocals purchased from the internet, as the frame is required for these before the lenses are fitted (Unless of course he happens to have exactly the same frame in stock to reference from -unlikely-, or the internet sends you the frame before glazing)

jstyles

abr wrote: »

@jstyles

do Fashion Specs Direct sell varifocals

i have to use several pairs of glasses e.g. reading,(2.5 ) computer(1.5) been told to try varifocals
these can be very expensive on the high street

anyone have any experience of buying these online:o

As of this moment in time, I have decided against selling Varifocals on our site for the reasons outlined by patbateman.

It doesn't seem worth the risk to the customer, despite money back guarantees, etc, to jump through all the hoops necessary to get a pair of perfectly fitting varifocals in my view.

That's not to say we won't consider it in the future if we can find a more customer-friendly and accurate way of doing it.

patbateman

When considering purchasing varifocals, bear in mind that there are dozens of different designs, with every optician having their own favourite which they are likely to recommend (and not always the most wallet friendly one!)
Some modern designs can easily cost around the £300 mark or over but with some shopping around, you will be able to find varifocals for around the £50-£60 mark. If you do a job where good peripheral distance is critical (i.e professional driver) or where you perform a lot of close work over large areas and at different ranges (i.e architect) then the more expensive designs may be appropriate, but for a large amount of people who maybe only use them for occasional reading/computer use then these lower priced options are perfectly viable.

sghughes42

SWMBO has just had her eye test and has been told her eyes have got worse and so she will need new lenses. She already needs a very strong prescription, so it looks like the new lenses will cost her around £300. She is on income support at the moment so will get £75 or so towards this, but as you can imagine she will find it very difficult to find the balance. Apparently the lenses need to be thinned a lot so they will fit her current frames. She doesn't want thick lenses due to the appearance - she is suffering depression at the moment, so please don't make light of this as she needs everything to help her self-esteem she can get.

Is there much in the way of savings to be had by shopping around on the high street when you need glasses this strong? She went to the same small, local optician she has always used, rather than a big 'chain' but I don't know if that matters for the more specialised glasses. (I don't need them myself, so I don't have any experience of buying)

I've seen discussions about buying online - is this likely to be an option for such a strong prescription? I understand from other threads there may be some risks associated also - how much should she be worried about this?

Any advice on this would be most appreciated...