Glasses Buying Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

markku

I just thought i'd share my experience with glassesdirect.co.uk

I have a moderately high prescription (-6.50 being my worst in the sphere, -2.00 with the cylinder) so I checked with the glasses direct FAQ regarding their prescription strengths.
To quote: "The maximum prescription we can sell is: ±8.00 SPH (sphere) and ±4.00 CYL (cylinder)"

Great I thought! So I ordered my 10 day trial of 4 glasses and found one I really liked and I was going to get the Platinum ultra thin lenses to boot. However, when placing the order and entering in my prescription details I got the message. "Sorry, we cannot accommodate your prescription needs. Your eye powers are outside our range." Huh? This goes against their FAQ's?

Shame, I seem to have ran face first into a brick wall. I'm not amused

sandy2_2

I trust you contacted Glasses Direct about this. What was their response?

glassesdirect_company_representative

markku wrote: »

I just thought i'd share my experience with glassesdirect.co.uk

I have a moderately high prescription (-6.50 being my worst in the sphere, -2.00 with the cylinder) so I checked with the glasses direct FAQ regarding their prescription strengths.
To quote: "The maximum prescription we can sell is: ±8.00 SPH (sphere) and ±4.00 CYL (cylinder)"

Great I thought! So I ordered my 10 day trial of 4 glasses and found one I really liked and I was going to get the Platinum ultra thin lenses to boot. However, when placing the order and entering in my prescription details I got the message. "Sorry, we cannot accommodate your prescription needs. Your eye powers are outside our range." Huh? This goes against their FAQ's?

Shame, I seem to have ran face first into a brick wall. I'm not amused

Hi Markku,

I'm really sorry about that, our FAQs need clarifying on this issue.

The FAQs are correct in one way that we will glaze prescriptions up to ±8 and a cylinder of ±4. However, we have another limit - which needs to be added to the FAQs - that the *combined* power of the prescription (i.e. the Sphere + the Cyl) cannot be over ±8, which unfortunately yours is.

The reason for this is that above this figure we feel that a customers will really benefit from a face to face consultation. I'm really sorry we didn't make this clear before you ordered, I'll update the FAQ to make that clearer.

If you really like the frames, you could still buy them, and have them glazed elsewhere.

I'll message you privately to get your details and arrange a refund of the Home Trial fee.

markku

glassesdirect_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Markku,

I'm really sorry about that, our FAQs need clarifying on this issue.

The FAQs are correct in one way that we will glaze prescriptions up to ±8 and a cylinder of ±4. However, we have another limit - which needs to be added to the FAQs - that the *combined* power of the prescription (i.e. the Sphere + the Cyl) cannot be over ±8, which unfortunately yours is.

The reason for this is that above this figure we feel that a customers will really benefit from a face to face consultation. I'm really sorry we didn't make this clear before you ordered, I'll update the FAQ to make that clearer.

If you really like the frames, you could still buy them, and have them glazed elsewhere.

I'll message you privately to get your details and arrange a refund of the Home Trial fee.

Thanks for your reply.

I understand now why my prescription cannot catered by glassesdirect. This was my first time ordering glasses online and in the past I had never really paid much attention to my prescription, as lets face it, you'd let the opticians take care of it all.

I had no idea you had to combine both the SPH and CYL, and maybe a couple of words explaining this on your website would be most useful to avoid similar occurrences. But like you said, you're updating the FAQ's and hopefully people will pick up on this.

But I phoned up and ordered my frames without the lenses, and I can't wait to get them! The price is top notch too.

Thanks for your help!

coffee_prince

Just went shopping in the highstreet, the glasses are far too much money.. came home and took a gamble on two very cheap pairs of glasses from glasses direct. I have ordered two pairs from them before, pretty good service, wish it was quicker but I can't complain.

Really wanted to try the hometrial but what if itgets lost oi nthe post? I'd have to pay for them all, plus I am not sure ohw efficient the service is i.e. Do they confirm to you that the glasses were recieved? Do you have to wait for them to arriive before ordering etc?

found a 10% off code that worked


highsummer2009

foreign_correspondent

I looked into buying glasses online, but then when I called in at specsavers for an eye test, they had 2 pairs of glasses for the price of one - lots of choice and diffferent styles, I ended up buying 2 really nice and different pairs for £75 - all the ones I liked online were about £30+ anyway, so not much more expense and could try on all I liked... may buy some online at a later date though...

coffee_prince

good point. I pretty much checked every high street store except that one as there wasn't one in my shopping centre

glassesdirect_company_representative

coffee_prince wrote: »

Just went shopping in the highstreet, the glasses are far too much money.. came home and took a gamble on two very cheap pairs of glasses from glasses direct. I have ordered two pairs from them before, pretty good service, wish it was quicker but I can't complain.

Really wanted to try the hometrial but what if itgets lost oi nthe post? I'd have to pay for them all, plus I am not sure ohw efficient the service is i.e. Do they confirm to you that the glasses were recieved? Do you have to wait for them to arriive before ordering etc?

found a 10% off code that worked


highsummer2009

Hi Coffee_prince,

On the Home Trial, we have only on rare occasion not had an HT package delivered successfully. If a packet is not received, we normally investigate and work with the customer and Royal Mail to try and figure out what happened to it on a case by case basis.

On the confirmation side, we send you an email when the frames are dispatched (we aim to dispatch next working day), and again when they're received back into the warehouse, plus emails reminding you to return them if you're approaching the end of the 10 days.

You can order them whenever you want, as soon as you get them. Simply go to the website, the glasses in your home trial will be displayed on your homepage, and you can just pick the one(s) you want, or phone up and one of our opticians will take the order. You don't have to wait until they've been returned.

Hope that helps.

coffee_prince

Hi that is helpful for next time.

Am I able to send them back by recorded post? I wouldn't mind paying the extra just to make sure they get there.

I have ordered two pairs last nght so just waiting for them to arrive. I will post on here how the service is!

glassesdirect_company_representative

coffee_prince wrote: »

Am I able to send them back by recorded post? I wouldn't mind paying the extra just to make sure they get there.

You can certainly send them back recorded post. Unfortunately, it's not a service we can offer ourselves though, so you'd have to arrange that yourself, but there's certainly no problems our end if you want to.