Glasses Buying Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

I bought some DKNY frames with a mild prescription from Glasses on the Web for £100 all in (£65 frames, £35 lenses). My choice was restricted as I could not find a UK store based outlet that would supply the one I wanted. I have no relationship with these folks btw.

Turns out they are the web base of an Essex based optician.

Am very happy with the results - have had much better service from them than Specsavers who managed to put my lenses wrong way around one year and I had to demonstrate this by putting them on upside down.

I recognised however that having them glazed away from home was a risk and decided that if they were wrong, they would either be returned or I'd accept the £35 and get someone local to re-glaze. Like I said couldn't get the damn things for love nor money in shops anyway!

Has anyone considered getting the frames supplied from such e-tailers and a quote from a local supplier for supply & fit of lenses?

smokieUK

I'm not sure anyone doubts the usefulness of an optician carrying out the eye test: as has been said before they are properly trained and qualified to carry out not only vision checks but also check for other health indicators.

I *do* think that the stores grossly overcharge for their products. And my last in-store experience was dire (SpecSavers). The store "allowed" me to buy a frame for reading specs which was really too small, and the frame for my distance specs did not fit at all well. Despite three return visits to the shop they were unable to make the right adjustments so I did it myself with hands and pliers...

As a result I used their prescription to buy specs on-line (optical4less), and get Mrs S some at the same time. Both pairs came to under £50 in total. Mine were fine on arrival and she had hers adjusted at D&A where they commented on the high quality of the frame...

Opticians have essentially held a high street monopoly on sale of specs but pressure will now be on them from internet stores, Costco and others to reduce their prices. If they don't respond they will go out of business like many "corner shops" (butchers, greengrocers etc) did when they failed or were unable to respond to the competition from the supermarkets.

tluscombe

Thanks Martin!

Just bought a new pair - usually cost me £350 to £400, Goggles4U under £100.

They are absolutely fine despite complex prescription. Will buy new sunny's soon.

dazco

Very interesting to hear the scaremongering views of the opticians on here. I used to wear glasses and can assure you that if the glasses are not right then you will notice.

Everyone buying on-line will have had a full eyetest and any irregularities/complications would have been pointed out at the time and, I assume, written into the prescription.

If your on-line glasses do not fit correctly then it does not take a great deal of intelligence to bend a thin piece of metal in the correct place and make them fit. If a spectacle wearer accidentally bent their frames then would they pay an optician £200 ( this appears to be the average saving ) to straighten them. No? But fitting is being touted as a good reason to use a high street optician. Do it yourself. Save 200 quid.

I feel glasses must have THE biggest mark up out of any shop on the high street. £180 for some bits of wire that contain not much workmanship at all. Think about it, you can buy sunglasses for £3 and these are manufactured in the same way as a pair of designer glasses that may cost 100 times that.

As for suggesting that a poor pair of glasses can cause a fatal road accident, that is ridiculous. Do you really think the intelligent folks on this forum would not know that they cannot see through their glasses? Do you get your car inspected every day by a mechanic? Because faulty brakes or a sticking throttle CAN cause fatal road accidents.

I am afraid the good times are over for the greedy opticians. Why not just bring your prices down a lot and have every customer in a 10 mile radius buying off you?

And if you say that you are not greedy then I challenge you opticians to let us know what profit you make on a pair of rimless glasses, thin lenses with anti reflective coating.

BUY GLASSES ON LINE AND FORCE THE GREEDY OPTICIANS TO LOWER THEIR PRICES

vibrem

I totally agree with Dazco.
I ordered some rimless varifocals with anti-reflective coating from https://www.newspecs.co.uk which cost £66.99. The glasses are just as good as those at specsavers which cost more than £250. I think that opticians have to realise that unless they stop ripping us off, their businesses will suffer in the future

VB

obsessive_2

I'm due to visit Hong Kong and Singapore in a month or so. Does anyone know of a cheap, reliable opticians in either of those countries? I need varifocals, so I'd rather go in for a fitting than buy them over the net from the UK.

Patr100

While a regular eyetest is important to check your prescription and for glaucoma etc, frankly i haven't had any other "service" expert or otherwise, from my high st optician for what must be at least 7-8years or more , other than him taking my creditcard money for regular contact lenses at 6months worth a time- which i find I can now get online for half what he charges. I even got my last eye test free at D &A with a voucher instead of going back to them..
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egduj

If you want prescription glasses at the best possible price, you can't go wrong with WWW.GLASSESDIRECT.CO.UK. I had an eye test at D&A and ordered online quoting my prescription. Within 12 days glasses arrived, absolutely superb! unbelievable price and quality and you can also see what they will look like on their website.

raeble

obsessive wrote:

I'm due to visit Hong Kong and Singapore in a month or so. Does anyone know of a cheap, reliable opticians in either of those countries? I need varifocals, so I'd rather go in for a fitting than buy them over the net from the UK.

When I was in HK last year there was an opticians that was everywhere but I forget the name. I would ask on the tripadvisor hk forums if I were you. There are plenty of locals that frequent the boards, plus regular travellers.

curly_2

Hi, in response to you post. I have a very high prescription so I appreciate what you say about the cost of lenses etc.. Last year I purchased a pair of Rimless frames with a 1.6 high index lense from https://www.39dollarglasses.com these cost me just over £80 including postage, and they are absolute fantastic and there service was excellent, and if I hadn't been happy with them I could have returned them with problem.

It's definately worth giving them a try, even if they are just for a spare set of glasses