Glasses Deals Discussion

travelmonkey

Hello fellow 4 eyed peeps.

Does anyone know if I have a NHS voucher for up to £30 if I could redeem this online on one of these cheaper direct glasses sites? Apologies if this was mentioned elsewhere but my searching led me here...

Thanks TM

Peregrine1

I can only say beware of these online glasses offers. I took up an offer from this site for very cheap glasses with Lensway a few months ago and it was a complete disaster. The glasses eventually arrived and the quality was dreadful - to the point that one of the arms fell off the first time I tried them on! Very shoddy workmanship. I found it impossible to get through to Lensway on phone so emailed and it takes them a few days to respond, but they do and try to be helpful. They emailed a label to return the glasses. I intended to go for a refund but they apologised profusely and said that if I wanted they would arrange to have the glasses reordered and shipped next day at no cost to me, so I decided to give them another chance. The second pair were equally awful (rimless type), not put together straight and with scratches on top of lens and weird red dots. This after they had assured me the glasses would be strictly checked before they were sent out! They were a complete joke and I had to return them again. Lensway did provide a full refund and offered a £40 voucher for me to buy something else from their website. I tried ordering some contact lenses to try but the £40 voucher did not show up, as they had said it would, so I emailed them again and was told that I had to email when I was ready to order and they would then apply the credit. As it takes them about three days to respond I knew that I would have to pay for them in full and them await another refund so decided to give it all up as a bad job. Shame as I had high hopes. I don't know how good Glasses Direct are but personally I will never order glasses online again after that experience. I would rather pay more at my local optician and know what I am getting.

Wormella

redbeard2000 wrote: »

Unfortunately, after reading the fine print, it turns out they can't accommodate my prescription because it's more than +/- 8!

I'm looking at some of the other retailers mentioned here in the guide and would make the following comments:-.

I've got a very strong prescription and I was disappointed that couldn't use GlassesDirect.

I've then used ExclusiveEyes for a while - I think I brought 10 or so pairs from them since they didn't charge extra for my prescription, up until my last pair, where a slight change in my prescription, suddenly they were £60 more expensive. It turns out they'd changed their lens supplier so the rules had changed. I did argue my case and they dropped the extra charge in the end - but they did point out the possibility of the price hike in the small print

I don't really care about extra costs for thinner lenses, but then I almost always have thick, rimmed type glasses so you can't tell.

I now check with companies what the deal is 'complex' prescriptions are before ordering.

socks_uk

I've never worn glasses before but I need glasses for reading and distance. Is it possible to use one of these companies for your first purchase or would I be best to buy from the high street first? Vision Express have 2 for 1 glasses from £49.

I have no idea if I will get on with bi-focals or varifocals but I will need to buy prescription sunglasses at some point. I have optical nerve damage to my left eye due to benign intracranal hypertension which was picked up with a routine ASDA optician appointment. Any advice (or point me in the right direction) would be very grateful. (Looking to purchase in the beginning of Feb while we don't have to pay the council tax!)

northern_rose_2

socks_uk wrote: »

I've never worn glasses before but I need glasses for reading and distance. Is it possible to use one of these companies for your first purchase or would I be best to buy from the high street first? Vision Express have 2 for 1 glasses from £49.

I have no idea if I will get on with bi-focals or varifocals but I will need to buy prescription sunglasses at some point. I have optical nerve damage to my left eye due to benign intracranal hypertension which was picked up with a routine ASDA optician appointment. Any advice (or point me in the right direction) would be very grateful. (Looking to purchase in the beginning of Feb while we don't have to pay the council tax!)

I started wearing glasses in November and bought them from the Optician shop. It's really useful to try on LOTS of different frames to get an idea of what suits and fits you. Most of the online sites seem to offer to send you frames to try before you buy but only 4 or so pairs at once - it would have taken me about 5 lots of these to work out what I wanted.
My advice would be to try LOTS on in a shop and work out what suits you and what fits you - get the optician to tell you what size bridge and lens the best fit are. Then send for samples to try on from an online supplier with those measurements.

I spent £99 on two pairs with a very simple prescription and no coatings (now regret this as driving at night is awful without anti-glare) in the shop. I've just used Martin's £20 voucher code at glasses direct and ordered some for £32 delivered with sunglass tint, anti-glare and scratch resistant - big saving to buying them in the shop as was quoted £120!!

socks_uk

northern_rose wrote: »

I've just used Martin's £20 voucher code at glasses direct and ordered some for £32 delivered with sunglass tint, anti-glare and scratch resistant - big saving to buying them in the shop as was quoted £120!!

Thanks for the advice. I suppose I really wanted to take advantage of the Glasses Direct £20 voucher too but didn't know how to do it. Seems like I need to go to the high street first. I could have afforded an offer pair before the council tax free months if they are a good deal.

BOBS

Discount code giving me £10 off ....

ETA oops - its because i bought cheapest glasses!!

Missi

Dammit !
Dog chewed up my current pair of specs Friday night.
Remembered the "£20 off" special offer on MSE.
First thing Saturday morning logged onto the site, chose my frames, completed all the prescription info (including calling my current opticians for the PD - that was like getting blood out of a stone as well), got to the "checkout" and input the online discount code - only to find out it expired the day before !! Grrr (that's me this time, not the dog)
Glasses Direct do seem to have some good offers though, compared to the high street opticians. 2 pairs for £49 - sounds pretty good to me.
M x

steve6375

Genius85 wrote: »

Hi,

the Data Protection Act

I reminded them that they were legaly obligated to provide any personal information that they held about me, and that I could drop off a request in writing, but then they would be legaly obligated to give me a written answer. I was on hold for less than an minute then she gave me the measurement over the phone.

This trick may not always work, the data protection act does indeed say that all personal data must be provided, however they can charge up to £10 for providing it!

Matg

I've just used this website and was really impressed with the service.

I ordered a pair of Armani specs with prescription lenses (Ormix 1.6 Crizal Forte with Scotchguard).

I ordered them midday on Friday and they arrived today (Tuesday) by special delivery. Total cost was £148. Vision Express (whose staff I admit were very lovely) quoted £300.

Wanted to post this review as I took a leap of faith when ordering - the only review I could find was on this forum (thanks Carol from Glasgow).
And no, I'm not Paul from Lincolnshire....

Mat (from Southampton)