Glasses Buying Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

Violetta_2

nedmundo wrote: »

For free or would you charge to contribute towards your overheads?

As I've said I'm not the optician, I don't know if they charge or not. But I would be happy to pay if they want me too, freebies are nice but not expected.

bigtel_2

Hi I wonder if somebody can help me?

My girlfriend had an Eye Test on Saturday and we got the Prescription and she is getting new lenses fitted to her current glasses on Tuesday.

She just wants to use these glasses at home and wants a new design for work and when she is out.

We did the trial order on glassesdirect where they send you four pairs to trial and she liked one of them.

Now I want to order them but I'm missing some information on my prescription I think.

On Glassesdirect it asks for...

Sphere (SPH) Cylinder (CYL) Axis (AXI) Near addition (ADD)
I have everything except the Near addition (ADD) and there isn't a space for it on the prescription.

She has these figures on her contact lenses but I'm guessing these might need changed anyway as her eyes have slightly altered.

Is it just a case of asking the optician for these figures when she goes in on Tuesday?

Thanks

Patr100

Near Addition is an additonal optional figure for an adjustment between close and distance viewing. More common the older you get.
Not all prescriptions will require an ADD figure..specially for the under 40s

Violetta_2

For future reference, I saw an optician today, who was lovely & more than happy to adjust my glasses for me & refused to take a penny for it, said to pop back any time.

lofielectronic

coolio wrote: »

Has anyone used www.london-eyewear.co.uk ? Looking to get some frames from them but wondered if anyone has used them before

Couldn't find much in the way of reviews on them myself. I went ahead and ordered from them anyway as they had the frames I wanted at a good price and received glasses as ordered in just unbder 2 weeks. Good email comunication from them on the progress of the order, would/will use them again.

One thing I also like is when ordering from these online places is that you get the correct case and also a cleaning cloth, also there was a seperate kodak cloth in with my order.

Its only the adjustment that is the issue, luckily these ones fit fine, which is a first. I agree I'd be quite happy to pay £5 or £10 to have glasses adjusted at a shop that I didn't buy them from, eveyone needs to make a living.

nedmundo

Violetta wrote: »

For future reference, I saw an optician today, who was lovely & more than happy to adjust my glasses for me & refused to take a penny for it, said to pop back any time.

What a mug! What's the point in him giving you good service when your loyalty will be elsewhere?

punksluck

coolio wrote: »

Has anyone used www.london-eyewear.co.uk ? Looking to get some frames from them but wondered if anyone has used them before

I ordered a designer frame as a present for my Wife from these guys about 6 months ago. Apparently they used to have a store in London but now they operate from a unit somewhere and just do online sales. I got a pretty good deal on a Prada frame although I had to wait a couple of Weeks because it was out of stock. Nevertheless, I saved around a third of the price that Vision Express wanted to charge me.

lofielectronic

Thats it isn't it, its not that buying online you save a couple of quid, you save a hundred or more on the frames to start with.

We had a local independent shop which used to be very reasonable, friends used to buy their glasses there when they visited due to the prices. However the prices gradually increased until they were 'fixed' along with the big high street names.

Steve_xx

lofielectronic wrote: »

Thats it isn't it, its not that buying online you save a couple of quid, you save a hundred or more on the frames to start with.

We had a local independent shop which used to be very reasonable, friends used to buy their glasses there when they visited due to the prices. However the prices gradually increased until they were 'fixed' along with the big high street names.

Yes, what you say may well be so, in the shorter term. This is because the online providers don't have the shop front facility to provide and maintain as well as the complex equipment required to test your eyes. You have to bear in mind that an eye test in England costs around £20, whereas in Scotland that fee is currently £37. You can see from this that the current model in England of charging just £20 for an eye examination would not be sustainable over the longer term if high street opticians were not able to recover more of the eye exam costs from the subsequent dispensings.

The proliferation of online providers is probably having an adverse effect on the amount of high street providers that there are. If that continues you will surely see the cost of the eye test rising commensurately as high street providers have to load the cost of the eye test in order to stay in business. Should this happen, then the online providers may not look quite as competitive as they do today.

hethmar

I just checked out that site as my OH ordered some Prada glasses for himself on Friday. Our local optician (with just 3 branches locally) had offers of up to 50% off a lot of their designer frames - which I took with a pinch of salt to be honest, but just checked out that site and OH's Prada glasses which are costing him £86 for the frames are £50 more on that site. Pleased that we havent been over charged locally.