Buying Glasses Advice

techiatciliaryblue

buglawton wrote: »

The thin lenses costs are the big fiddle factor in all of this, the single reason I've hesitated getting new specs myself.

Hi buglawton,
I work for ciliaryblue and we do lots and lots of thin lenses (higher index) because the public just don't want to pay the High Street prices which are, to be frank, a bit of a rip off! We get our lenses from the same UK suppliers, and I would imgine we make money on the prices we charge, which are less than 1/3 of the equivalent high street price. So have a look around, buy the frame, or use the one you already have and have it glazed. Cheers.

Tweetinat

Horace wrote: »

What worries me about buying specs online is how do you get them to fit? I know that when I visit the opticians that my glasses have to be adjusted so that they fit my ears etc and they have to heat them to do that. Also the optician measures the distance between my eyes and the length from my eye to the lenses so that the lenses don't catch on my eye lashes or even my eye ball.

Just go into your opticians with your new glasses and ask them to adjust them to fit you. I've done this every time I get glasses online (3 x) and in every case the opticians have been more than happy to help and refused to accept any payment for doing so :-) :T

Horace

Tweetinat wrote: »

Just go into your opticians with your new glasses and ask them to adjust them to fit you. I've done this every time I get glasses online (3 x) and in every case the opticians have been more than happy to help and refused to accept any payment for doing so :-) :T

Thanks but there is no way that I will do that with my own prescription, I will never ever buy glasses off the internet.

So when you have your glasses 'made' when you buy them off the internet - how does the company making them know which part of the lens you will look through? This has to be determined when you visit the dispensing optician because there are lots of measurements he needs to take before the glasses are ordered. Mine always checks the distance between my eye ball and the lens, the distance from my ear to the front of the glasses etc. etc - you just don't get this online and you certainly won't get it by taking a dodgy pair of specs that you have purchased off the internet to the optician to get them fixed.

Tweetinat

Horace wrote: »

Thanks but there is no way that I will do that with my own prescription, I will never ever buy glasses off the internet.

So when you have your glasses 'made' when you buy them off the internet - how does the company making them know which part of the lens you will look through? This has to be determined when you visit the dispensing optician because there are lots of measurements he needs to take before the glasses are ordered. Mine always checks the distance between my eye ball and the lens, the distance from my ear to the front of the glasses etc. etc - you just don't get this online and you certainly won't get it by taking a dodgy pair of specs that you have purchased off the internet to the optician to get them fixed.

Each to their own - there's certainly no need to be rude. I obviously thought you had raised a genuine question and tried to answer.

But in answer to your 'concerns' - the only measurement that is essential when you order glasses is your pupillary distance, so the focal part of the lens is in the correct place. All the other 'measurements' you've mentioned only need to be done once the glasses have been made to ensure that they're positioned on your face correctly. The optician doesn't need these to put the lenses in the frames. Whenever you buy glasses, from the internet or in a store, the glasses that the lenses are put into are standard from the factory. It is only when you arrive to try them on that they are fitted to be unique to your facial dimensions. So whether you order from internet or store, you can have that done once the frames have arrived.. as I 'tried' to illustrate in my previous post.

I checked all this out with a good friend of mine who is an optician BEFORE I ordered my glasses off the internet and the very first time got her to check the glasses out as soon as they arrived to be sure the prescription was right etc. So they're certainly not 'dodgy' glasses - whatever you may think.

buglawton

Once in the past I had a prescription done with an error - the HEIGHT of the centre point of the eye had been recorded incorrectly and I found the glasses were only sharp if I held then a few mm higher. Needless to say the Optician had to replace at their cost.

So if you separate buying lenses and frames, who is liable for such an error I wonder?

nedmundo

buglawton wrote: »

Once in the past I had a prescription done with an error - the HEIGHT of the centre point of the eye had been recorded incorrectly and I found the glasses were only sharp if I held then a few mm higher. Needless to say the Optician had to replace at their cost.

So if you separate buying lenses and frames, who is liable for such an error I wonder?

Whoever dispenses them i.e. you or the internet supplier (if you use one of course!).

Personally, I don't think I would have the cheek to buy my specs online and then take them to an Opticians to be adjusted. How is the Optician suppposed to cover their overheads?

Tweetinat

nedmundo wrote: »

Personally, I don't think I would have the cheek to buy my specs online and then take them to an Opticians to be adjusted. How is the Optician suppposed to cover their overheads?

Every time I have done this I have offered to pay for the adjustments, but equally every time they have refused - I don't see the cheek in that. And in any case, this site is about moneysaving is it not? If a service is offered for free, then I don't see why it shouldn't be made use of?

nedmundo

My point is that if they charged you say £20 to adjust them, folks here would think that is a rip-off!.

If everybody did that, there would be no Opticians. We'd all save a lot of money then! Only problem is we wouldn't be able to see. Yes you can save money and yes it is legal, but is it fair?

Tweetinat

nedmundo wrote: »

My point is that if they charged you say £20 to adjust them, folks here would think that is a rip-off!.

If everybody did that, there would be no Opticians. We'd all save a lot of money then! Only problem is we wouldn't be able to see. Yes you can save money and yes it is legal, but is it fair?

I personally would pay to have my glasses adjusted [if not bought in an opticians] as I'm using a service, and I don't expect services to be free. However, if it *is* free, well, I'm going to make use of it.

The reality is that opticians shouldn't have to rely on profit margins from glasses and contact lenses to ensure that they stay in business. I really don't think our eyesight is any different from any aspect of our health, and as such Opticians should be funded by the government for everyone, just like our doctor's surgeries are now. They are just as important as GPs in my opinion! But anyway, that's a can of worms that I think is best left for another day :rolleyes:

nedmundo

Agreed - That chance of that with the current government though!:beer: