Glasses Buying Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

Mr_Edd

I have to say that sounds like a very good price - think what you are getting: Varifocal Spectacles (therefore Distance, Intermediate and Near, all in one lens) AND Varifocal Contacts in a disposable form - I assume this includes your aftercare if you have problems too?
I would be really cautious about trying for cheaper - you'll lose serious quality and wont get the clinical support these lenses require.
You wouldnt choose the cheapest surgeon and request the cheapest parts for an operation...
Good luck with your specs etc!

tiptoes27

Hi
Thanks for the reply
Yes this includes aftercare etc.. but I am used to paying about 25.00 for reading glasses so it seems such a lot. I was just thinking of looking round for a cheaper optician - I get the imprerssion that Specsavers on the high street might be cheaper but do not have any experience of them.

Mr_Edd

Lucky you! Compared to your readers it is a lot, but its a lot more product for the money. I wear Rigid Gas Permeable Lenses which last me about a year, and they cost approx £200, but I also have new specs most years which cost about 3 to 400 depending on what frame I choose. I've never used a chain optician myself and would be sceptical about ordering online - for a really cheap option theres probably a discount spectacle shop near you (theres about three near me) probably on an Industrial estate who do very cheap specs, but you get measured and get to try the frame on so its safer. However, if you use the d&A offer, then £150 is pretty good, and I think you're in safer hands! After all, its only £1.31 per day - I bet the cat eats more than that!!

didan_2

raeble wrote: »

Funny how we seem to have a load of opticians on this thread warning people about the evils of buying glasses online. I went into Specsavers a couple of years back the cheapest pair of glasses frames that suited me were £100. This is just for the frames. I then had to get the lenses. This cost me another hundred and something. I then needed another pair of glasses for the spare pair as I wear my glasses all the time. I was able to find another pair, I had to pay for the lenses again. My bill at the end of this was £347 including the eye test. It took three weeks for my glasses to be returned to the opticians and fitted.

Less than a year later the most expensive pair started falling apart. So I was on the spare pair as I couldn't get to the opticians. These hadn't been fitted properly so they were wonky. I needed to get another pair of glasses but didn't fancy forking out another £300+. When I looked on this site and saw a thread recommending goggles4u with specs at £15. I didn't see what I had to loose. I got get twenty pairs from there for what I had paid for two pairs in Specsavers.

So I got a free eye test with a voucher from D&A, asked the girl who was taking my details what my pupil distance was - they measure it for their records incase you buy a pair of glasses with them. Then I went online and bought a pair of glasses from goggles4u. This took eight days to get to me from Pakistan. Instead of the twenty one days it took in this country, the glasses also included high index lenses and coatings at no extra cost.

I have not experienced any headaches, unlike sometimes when I have bought glasses from these so called "Professionals". Professional rip off merchants is more like it. Opticians have had it all their own way for too long. Now with the internet they are finally getting serious competition.

i think you are just bitter about having to pay a high price for thinned down lenses due to a high prescription in the past!


bottom line is, high street opticians subsidise their eye test via glasses sales. i just hope that eventually the inevitable will happen that glasses will become cheaper on the high street than on the net and you pay the TRUE value for the professional eye test which is approx £80-£100!!! I'm sure then moaners like you will be happy!

didan_2

dazco wrote: »

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

High street opticians subsidise their eye test via glasses sales. i just hope that eventually the inevitable will happen that glasses are in fact cheaper on the high street than on the net and you pay the TRUE value for the professional eye test which is approx £80-£100!!! I'm sure then moaners like you will be happy!




SOME people want a free/cheap eye test, cheap glasses, cheap everything! Can someone explain how this is an effective business model when a resident Optometrist will command a salary of between £30-£50k?? Not to mention support staff and operating costs?!


Gets right on my nerves when all people see is the price of the glasses and nothing else!! One day when eye exams go up to their true value, then all that will happen is the everyday member of the public will not be able to afford to have their eyes tested AT ALL! Private medical insurance will have to cover it via expensive monthly premiums and then you have the sort of situation you have in the states.

The more people buy specs online, the quicker this will happen, so go for it and take the risk of impaired vision and eye strains to save a few quid!


"OPEN UP YOUR EYES PEOPLE AND LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE!"...This is a business, not a charity! Yes the high st is expensive, there are huge mark ups on their prices.. BUT there are NOT massive profits to be made, as operating costs are also very high!...and as with everything in life, you get what you pay for!


I may also add, my brother in law IS a director and optometrist, so i can speak from direct knowledge without bringing any professional bias! People need to stop being so SHORT SIGHTED when it comes to the price of glasses!

teajay_3

It seems to me that everyone I know, who visits an optician, always ends up needing glasses.

Makes me wonder if they really do need the glasses or if they are being conned into thinking they do.

Anyone else come across this or am I just being cynical?

Stompa

teajay wrote: »

It seems to me that everyone I know, who visits an optician, always ends up needing glasses.

Makes me wonder if they really do need the glasses or if they are being conned into thinking they do.

Anyone else come across this or am I just being cynical?

I suspect it's more likely that people will often only visit the optician when they're having a problem with their eyesight (in which case they probably do need glasses). And those who don't have eyesight problems tend to visit less frequently, or not at all (even though they really should).

echelon101

@didan

What if they made the glasses cheaper but then upp'd the price of an eye test to truly match the salary of the optician?

To all

I recently returned, Wednesday week b4 last, my Bolle to Glasses Direct as I felt the arm length was too short. I used the free returns form which included a packing stamp. I then got a call a few days later in order to authorise a transfer of £5 to upgrade to a different pair of frames, which I had wanted. I then received an email yesterday saying that my new glass will arrive on Monday. Great customer service, they had no quibbles whatsoever.

nedmundo

teajay wrote: »

It seems to me that everyone I know, who visits an optician, always ends up needing glasses.

Makes me wonder if they really do need the glasses or if they are being conned into thinking they do.

Anyone else come across this or am I just being cynical?

Opticians do rely on repeat custom. If we recommended specs to someone who didn't need them, they wouldn't be very impressed and wouldn't return, except for a refund!

Not a good business strategy. The other post by Stomps hits the nail on the head.

Traviata

Just recieved my second lot of glasses in the post from glassesdirect.

My first pair were prescription sunglasses, which I was very pleased with.

These are just standard glasses, I got the Mojito frames as they looked pretty stylish and funky.

They came with the nice touch of a glasses case, cleaning cloth, free compact mirror and a gummy eye to eat!

I really like this company, plus it looks like they gave me a discount for coming back to them.

I'd recommend them.