Prescription lenses - where to buy cheap

Joanstarling

I took someones advice on these forums and went to online glasses direct to get my varifocal sunglasses reglazed. I was quite impressed as the service I received was very good for an online retailer. I got them for a third of the price that my Optician quoted me for and they were exactly the same branded lenses! :j

I was previously told by my optician that I couldn't buy varifocals online and that I was wasting my time - who are they trying to fool!? :mad:
I got them for a third of the price that my Optician quoted me for and they were exactly the same branded lenses! Are these high street opticians having a laugh at our expense - how can they justify such high prices? :mad:

nedmundo

Simple - less buying power and higher overheads.

melbonator

I agree......low cost doesn't necessary mean good value, thats why I keep telling people how impressed I was when I used onlineglassesdirect.....I got a well named branded len for half the cost of a high street opticians.....what what research does for you!!!!!!!

ilove2save

FIL!!* wrote: »

Terf,
I know you've had your reglaze done and it was ok. There is a site called https://www.ciliaryblue.com (for future reference) that do reglazing only, so they are well geared up for this, they even post box to you to send the frames back! Definately worth a look, they supply to Optical trade too, so they know what they are doing! I've used them at my own practice.
Cheers.

Agree with FIL!!* I have used CB twice for glazing frames.

Shrimpergarry

melbonator wrote: »

I agree......low cost doesn't necessary mean good value, thats why I keep telling people how impressed I was when I used onlineglassesdirect.....I got a well named branded len for half the cost of a high street opticians.....what what research does for you!!!!!!!

I e-mailed both Ciliary Blue and Online Glasses direct yesterday for a quote on some reglazing of some varifocal sunglasses.

Ciliary Blue came back within the hour, I am still awaiting a reply from OGD nearly 24 hours later! Not so impressed with them so far.

Anyone got a discount code for Ciliary Blue?

Shrimpergarry

Just by way of an update, I e-mailed 4 vendors yesterday with the same brief - to reglaze my wife's prescription sunglasses with wideview varifocal lenses and a graduated tint + UV, anti-reflection and anti-scratch coatings. Quotes came in as follows;

Direct Specs (Basildon) - who we've used many times before (walk in service, not internet vendor) - £200

Online Glasses Direct (slow to reply to my e-mail) - £175

Glasses4all.co.uk (very quick to reply) - £102.95

Ciliary Blue (very quick to reply) - £110


Ciliary Blue clinched it because they were offering an identical lens to the one my wife is using in her everyday glasses (which we know works for her) - they then also came back (because I was cheeky and asked for one!) with a 10% discount code, which makes the total cost £99 (including P&P BOTH WAYS as they send you a postage paid box to send the specs in).

I hope the results are as good as their service to date.

Shrimpergarry

Shrimpergarry wrote: »

Just by way of an update, I e-mailed 4 vendors yesterday with the same brief - to reglaze my wife's prescription sunglasses with wideview varifocal lenses and a graduated tint + UV, anti-reflection and anti-scratch coatings. Quotes came in as follows;

Direct Specs (Basildon) - who we've used many times before (walk in service, not internet vendor) - £200

Online Glasses Direct (slow to reply to my e-mail) - £175

Glasses4all.co.uk (very quick to reply) - £102.95

Ciliary Blue (very quick to reply) - £110


Ciliary Blue clinched it because they were offering an identical lens to the one my wife is using in her everyday glasses (which we know works for her) - they then also came back (because I was cheeky and asked for one!) with a 10% discount code, which makes the total cost £99 (including P&P BOTH WAYS as they send you a postage paid box to send the specs in).

I hope the results are as good as their service to date.

Just by way of an update, a week has now passed since Ciliary Blue received my specs. As they are varifocals I think they have to order the lenses in from the supplier and they are still waiting for these.

Ciliary Blue have been excellent so far in responding to my numerous queries.

Will let you know the final results when the glasses eventually arrive.

marksmith_uk

Shrimpergarry wrote: »

Just by way of an update, I e-mailed 4 vendors yesterday with the same brief - to reglaze my wife's prescription sunglasses with wideview varifocal lenses and a graduated tint + UV, anti-reflection and anti-scratch coatings. Quotes came in as follows;

Direct Specs (Basildon) - who we've used many times before (walk in service, not internet vendor) - £200

Online Glasses Direct (slow to reply to my e-mail) - £175

Glasses4all.co.uk (very quick to reply) - £102.95

Ciliary Blue (very quick to reply) - £110

Hello all, this is my first post on MSE so please be gentle with me folks!
The reason this thread has grabbed my attention is because I'm a qualified Ophthalmologist living in the South of England and own a small high street practice in South London so I'm the guy that all the online retailers are competing against, not that I mind as it's a different market and there is room for everyone.

I would just like to point out that of all the companies you listed above, I would be very,very concerned about the type of lenses that are being offered by Ciliary Blue and Glasses4all as you specified that you wanted a quote for a lens with a wider field of vision. The only lens, in my professional opinion, that is worth it's salt is the Varilux Physio 360 as it uses the latest 'Free Form' technology. My suspicions were aroused as I know these lenses at cost price to me are around £130 so how on earth can these guys be selling something similar for that price?!!! I also noticed that on the 'Ciliary Blue' website they don't actually state which lens brand that they use, they just state 'premium' or 'elite'.

If I were you, I would call them to make sure that they are providing you with the lens quality that you asked for. Direct Specs and Online Glasses Direct seem to be the only people who are showing realistic prices for these grades of lenses as I sell them for around £280 to my customers. I'm not knocking the fact that you have chosen to buy your glasses online because that is your prerogative, I'm merely pointing out that for the price you were quoted I'm almost certain that you won't be getting a Varilux Physio 360 lens or anything near that kind of optical quality.

I see so many customers every year that have bought cheap lenses either online or through one of the major high street optical chains where they are being charged less than £100. They end up experiencing very high levels of distortion because of the poor design of the lens. They come to me and I end up putting them into either a Varilux or Nikon lens and they walk away extremely satisfied. The problem is that the customer ends up paying twice when all this could have been avoided in the first place.

I personally wouldn't recommend to anyone to buy spectacles online but then I'm hardly going to promote my competitors am I?;) I would, however, recommend that if you are planning on buying things like 'varifocals' which are specialist lens then you shouldn't cut corners and compromise price over quality. Go with an online retailer that can provide you with a good grade, premium lens such as Nikon, Ziess or Essilor who make the Varilux brand. As I've said, just my professional opinion but one that you may ignore at your peril!!

killion_echart

Hi Mark, your first post was interesting reading. Unfortunately for some of us on low incomes the internet is the only way to purchase a good product at an affordable price. I have used two companies so far this year, Online glasses direct and Savvy specs . Both have given me very good service and top notch lenses. In fact onlineglassesdirect gave me a Varilux lens that was by far the cheapest I'd come across on any site but I think that's because they provide lenses for high street retailers as well so they probably get good supplier discount anyway. Savvy specs offered me a really good pair of sunglasses which I was really pleased with for under fifty quid.

Both these companies provided me with very good service and I didn't really have to wait that long for them. I think I had to wait just over a week for my varifocals and around 4 days for my sunglasses. This was after many hours searching around for quotes online and being told, "yes we can do it for cheap", then finding out that the lenses they were going to sell me were one's I'd never even heard of!! So I think on that level you are correct in recommending to make sure you are being sold a good quality lens.

I appreciate that you are a professional in your industry but i think you really can pick up a great deal if you shop in the right places. I'm over the moon with what I've purchased so far and will continue to buy my glasses online as I now have two companies I can trust with my eye sight and know that they are also professionals in their industry (prescription lenses).

Actually mark, I wanted to ask your advice on something for future reference; what is the difference between 'Free form' and the standard lenses that most opticians offer?

gnvqsos

pats06 wrote: »

http://selectspecs.com/reglaze.php

They recommend sending the glasses recorded delivery and you get anti relection, uv400 and scratch resistance coating for free if you choose the "thin and light lenses".

I ordered a pair of glasses on 25th April and got notification today that they should be with me in a few days (quicker than if I had gone to a large opticians).

Hope that helps

Susan
(my first post! Thought I better pay back some of the fantastic advice I have had from these forums)

As a recommendation Gordon Brown uses antireelection specs-they seem to work!
Adele