Glasses....anyone buy from Selectspecs or eyewearcentre?

FIL!!*_2

I have been a high street optician for many years, I have had my concerns about buying glasses online and have warned many patients of the drawbacks of doing such a thing. Some (but only a few) I think do a really good job and deserve their position on the internet as professional service providers and do so with real care. They have a place that can work along side what we do on the high street. But when I read the comments above, I am genuinely shocked at the contempt some companies have both for their valued customers and the profession to which they claim to be part of! Buyers beware!

SelectSpecs_company_representative

Justusx,

Sorry to hear this. I can see an advisor has sent an RMA over to you to return the frame. I have looked over the ticket and I'm a little confused as the picture of the product is clearly displaying the colour of the frame with the colour of the bridge.

This is the product you ordered:- http://www.selectspecs.com/Glasses/The-SS-Collection/8820/ss8.14.html

justusx

Hi,
Thanks for the reply and some-one has been kind enough to contact me about returning the glasses now... Yes they are the glasses I ordered and the picture does show the glasses with matching frame and bridge.. My point is the glasses I received from Selectspecs don't match, the arms are black/purple and the bridge is PINK! So they don't match.. I would never order pink you see so am very disappointed..
Lisa

Richyhello

First post on the forum so hi. I came to this forum before I used select specs because it was a bit dubious from what I'd read.

But because the ones I wanted were the cheapest I could find anywhere, I decided to go for it despite what I'd read from some of you on here.

So I just thought I'd point out a couple of things in defence of SelectSpecs as they seem to be getting some pretty bad feedback.

Firstly, a lot of it is about time. I wear contact lenses, daily disposable ones and have done for about a year. I just wanted some glasses for those days I needed eyewear but wasn't going out, didn't want to waste a pair of contacts.

So I wasn't in a huge hurry to get the glasses, I wasn't desperate for them so I could wait for a few weeks no problem. What I would say is "IF YOU NEED THEM QUICKLY, DON'T ORDER FROM SELECT SPECS".

I can't understand why they are being criticized for delivery times on here? Some people have been waiting months and that's fair enough complaints but, there are people who have been waiting a couple weeks complaining about them.

The very first thing I did after I decided I liked the glasses was to go onto the delivery information and see how long they would take, I wasn't in a rush, so I ordered. But it tells you very clearly that it could take a few weeks for the order to come, it even says the delivery time itself could be upto 25 days and that's AFTER they've ordered the frames and made the lenses.

If you're not happy with the stated delivery times, don't order. Simple.

Although I ordered mine on the 1st of Feb (I think) and received them on 17th from Japan, I would have been happy to wait a lot longer before complaining.

Secondly, they have been criticized for their customer support. And this really stupefies me to be honest because right there, right there on their website once you log in you have the option to chat to a live customer service person. That's much easier than phoning anyway, why do you need a number when you have that?

If you're going on at some stupid time in the morning then of course they're not gonna be there but, go on in the daytime, they're ready to help you.

In fact I used the service, I was just curious at what stage my glasses were at and a real person at the other side told me exactly what was happening.

Many of these companies don't have this service so if you're a customer at Select Specs consider yourself lucky to have such good customer service.

That's all I can think of ATM.

In conclusion, if you're going to complain about them taking ages to come, go and pay 4 or 5 times more for a pair of glasses at specsavers.

Don't complain about the customer service if you're too lazy to tap your keyboard and speak to one of their live representatives.

smh.

P.s I forgot the mention the glasses themselves lol. They seem really good, even though I used the average pupillary distance they are good! They seem no different quality to the last ones I got from the high street or some I got from glasses direct last year (which are much more expensive).

p.p.s I do have a minor criticism, although the glasses are wrapped in plastic when they come, the case they come in really isn't suitable for the glasses when they're out of the wrapping, mine is just plain plastic inside which seems like it would scratch the lenses. So either SS are really confident their lenses wont scratch or it's just a cost cutting measure (Which I don't mind at all because I have quite a few glasses cases at home, who doesn't?)

bandit4576

I recently ordered two pairs of intermediate distance glasses from selectspecs for work and home use. After several weeks waiting and working with strained eyes they finally arrived. I was extremely disappointed to discover however that they had been made as reading glasses and not to my order for Intermediate distance lenses. After many e-mails to the company's customer service dept I have finally assigned myself to putting this down to a bad experience of an online retailer notorious for it's poor customer service. These were cheap glasses so I wasn't expecting too much quality wise, I wasn't too surprised then to find the frames and lenses of the lowest quality. I still expected them to be usable though, but, the frame arms were so stiff 3 in 1 oil had to be applied to the arm hinges so I could open them. The very thick lenses have distortions so bad they make me feel sick when using them for reading. I would like to be able to say this online spectacle retailer is a fantastic money saving discovery but to be blunt IT ISN'T It has cost me money for glasses I can't use. The review companies on the Net are rife with similar or worse experiences of Selectspecs than mine so buyer beware do your research & avoid these clowns!

SelectSpecs_company_representative

Bandit, sorry to hear this, can you give me a name and order number so I can look into this for you?

I feel I must comment on the following areas:-

bandit4576 wrote: »

online retailer notorious for it's poor customer service.

Sorry but I disagree with this statement, many of our customers have no problem with our customer services, we reply to customers by email within 24 hours (often sooner) where possible, we also have a live chat service.

Please can you provide constructive critiscm what went wrong so we can make improvements?

bandit4576 wrote: »

These were cheap glasses so I wasn't expecting too much quality wise, I wasn't too surprised then to find the frames and lenses of the lowest quality. I still expected them to be usable though, but, the frame arms were so stiff 3 in 1 oil had to be applied to the arm hinges so I could open them. The very thick lenses have distortions so bad they make me feel sick when using them for reading.

Please advise what frame this was? Our lenses are sourced from the same providers as high street opticians. It may be your prescription was too high for the chosen lenses, we do recommend higher index lenses for higher prescriptions. We will only make lenses to the details you gave us, if we made a mistake then we have no problems with getting a replacement to you FOC. If you can provide an order number I can check the details for sure.

bandit4576 wrote: »

The review companies on the Net are rife with similar or worse experiences of Selectspecs than mine so buyer beware do your research & avoid these clowns!

When we have looked into the majority of these reviews we have discovered that the problems are to do with delivery, which has now been resolved. Each case is individual though and problems have often been associated with customers not providing the correct prescription details or items arriving damaged due to postage, all of which can be resolved by contacting our customer services team.

nedmundo

nedmundo wrote: »

I still think it's a poor show if issues have to be resolved on a public forum - why don't you improve you communications set up, so that customers can contact you, get a straight answer and have their issues resolved without the need for a whole thread on a forum?

My thoughts remain the same.

girl_withno_name

My experience with SelectSpecs was that they randomly dispatched my order to an address in Bristol - I live in Newport so this obviously didn't match the address on the order (and isn't even an old address which I may have accidentally entered... just completely unrelated to me!!)

After much fighting with them I finally got a refund out of them but, from their responses, they appear to believe that they are above DSRs and other areas of the law.

However, I have previously ordered from Glasses Direct and would recommend these - the delivery was prompt, there were no issues and they offer a free trial before you order to help you decide between frames.

ChristopherM87

Hi all,

I mixture of reviews here. I'm thinking of getting a pair of Prada Linea Rossa 05AV glasses with 1.74 lenses which are about 50% cheaper then on the high street.

What make are their lenses?

pinkcloud

What am I to do?

Having originally seen Selectspecs on here as a money saver I was just about to send my specs for re-glazing when I read all of this.

They are plain plastic fully rimmed specs unworn and the prescription is very basic too for distance only -1.75 and -1.50.

I need them for my holiday in 3 weeks time. Shall I risk it?

It is worth mentioning that having seen Selectspecs promoted as cheap, the very cheapest price for this is £44 which does not seem particularly cheap.

pinkcloud