Buying Eyeglasses Online

BrandNewDay

I bought these frames:

http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/release_000/details.php?product_id=Harley

The basic price is £15 + £2.50 s&h (about $30). All you need is the written prescription from an eye doctor - which you can always get by asking when you have an exam done. Not many of them will OFFER to give this to you, but it's certainly your right to have it. The web site asks you to promise that the prescription is less than two years old, which mine is. Releases them from liability, at any rate.

I opted to have the thin lenses, which put the price up to £57.50, still very good.

The web site said that most of the orders were received within 14 days, and only really complicated prescriptions would take longer, with a guarantee of receipt within 28 days.

Well, two weeks went by with no sign of them. I debated calling for a while, and when I finally did, I found out that there had been a computer glitch and my prescription details had been lost by the computer. (Not my billing info, though. heh.) They were very apologetic, and said that somebody should have contacted me about that. They rushed the order to me and I got the glasses one week later.

Well, I was lucky in that the frames LOOK great. I mean, I probably would have picked them out of a full store display - very flattering to my face and stylish (IMO.) But.... there was something marring one of the lenses. Sorta like a bunch of scratches, but I figured that it was really more of a crackle glaze effect on the scratch-resistant coating. I was so tired of wearing contacts all day, every day for a month that I wore the glasses all weekend to see if I couldn't tolerate it. I was just loathe to send them away and be further delayed.

I really, really like the glasses and last night I got the idea that I could order a second pair as back-up (this time paying only £15 and not getting thin lenses), and send back the first pair for repair once those arrived. Customer service agreed to do that - I'll get my second pair in a week or two, then send back the first pair. She seemed to recognize what I was talking about when I described the faint crackle glaze effect - it happens, although rarely. No problems with agreeing to fix them.

For all I know, there may still be problems with the glasses in the future, but I have no real reason to expect so. So long as I've got a pair I can wear, I don't mind sending them back to be fixed. Costs me nothing. The ones on my face DO work, but there's a faintly perceptible fuzziness in my right eye. Since I didn't opt for the scratch-resistant coating on my second pair, I have no reason to expect a problem with them. They'll just be really thick. Good enough for a backup pair!

Soooo.... that was a long-winded post about buying glasses cheaply online! Unless you're VERY fussy about how your frames look, I really recommend it. I lucked out and got frames I love. Saved at least £100, too.