Contact Lens Cost Cutting article discussion

Pssst

wishiwasarichgirl wrote: »

just to be pedantic Pssst, most standard daily lenses are "hydrogel", the new generation material is "silicone hydrogel". Eventually all lenses will be silicone hydrogel as it is a much better material, and the lenses will drop in price.

Lets hope so...:money:

iwant2asave

Hello,

Can anyone advise where the cheapest "colour" contact lenses are? I have seen the Bausch and Laumb ones for about £9.50 GBP at lensbase. Are there cheaper ones available? Thanks,

Sam

ChapelGirl

I have just tried to place an order with Contactforlenses and I would urge all of you to be very cautious about buying from this supplier.

The site took payment from my credit card but then I got an email as follows:

we request you to kindly fax (044-800-471-5234) or email ([EMAIL="support@contactforlenses.com"]support@contactforlenses.com[/EMAIL]) us your latest credit card statement or a copy of your driving license to to verify the payment details of the person who has ordered goods with us.

I NEVER send copies of my card statements or other such personally identifiable details to online retailers because there is no guarantee that they will not fall into the hands of a fraudster or identity thief. Fax and email are not secure, and even if they were, there is no guarantee the recipient is honest themselves!

I suspect they are doing this to save them having to pay for a secure card verification service or something.

Because I refused to send them this information, they are refusing to process my order (it was for £75 so as these things go it is not exactly a huge order).

However, I now must wait for my credit card to be refunded, since they have already debited it before shipping the goods, or it seems before even confirming the order.

There is no mention of this condition of sale when you place your order.

My husband rang their contact number today, as he was equally appalled by this business practice. The number is a call centre in Guernsey, who refused to give him the registered address of the company. Please beware. If they won't give out their registered address then what chance is there that they will be compliant with any data protection laws either?

benfilan

guys i've decided to go back to an opticians for contact lenses, after a year long absence. does anyone know of good high street deals at the moment?

ChapelGirl

Further to my post of 12th November the guy at Contactforlenses gave me a credit card refund reference number which turned out to be false. At any rate, my bank confirmed that no such refund was visible in their systems.

I asked my bank to process a Visa chargeback and they did so, although since the amount was under £100 I do not believe they were under any obligation to do so.

The website domain is registered to an address in St. Helier, Jersey.

Once again I would urge you NOT to buy from these people. When we spoke to the person on the end of the phone he kept saying it was being dealt with by "other departments". We believe this to be a one-man operation and the best possible light we can put on it is that they use your money to provide the working capital to finance their operation, which is not the practice of a reputable retailer.

The worst case scenario is that they are harvesting customers' personal details for other purposes!

nwray

You quote £199 as the cheapest for a yearly supply of daily lenses. Specsavers offer daily lenses at £16 a month for 30 pairs with free aftercare coming to £192 for the year (with cheaper spectacles if on the direct debit scheme - 50% off frames with single vision lenses)

nwray

ozzage wrote: »

I agree with the "nanny state" comments on the previous page.

People are responsible for their own actions and decisions. Not every country requires a prescription before selling standard contact lenses over the counter or over the internet, and they seem to manage perfectly well.

I was amazed when I moved here, ran out of contact lenses and then couldn't buy them immediately because I didn't have a prescription (which I'd lost - I just use standard Focus Dailies). In hindsight, I should have checked, but it didn't even occur to me!

I now order from an overseas supplier over the internet and it's both cheap (180 lenses for less than £60) and I don't need to prove anything to them.

Anyone that supplies lenses without the need to "prove anything" is not interested in the health of their customers eyes. Lenses supplied to the wrong specification (material/specification/prescription) can have serious detrimental effects on the health of the eyes. Lenses of the wrong prescription will not provide the best vision which at best is an annoyance to the wearer and at worst is a disaster (consider someone driving with vision not up to standard and causing an accident). Asking for an up-to-date sight test and contact lens check is the only responsible thing for a lens supplier to do and any who do not should not be trusted

mapcr77

Any suggestions of where can I get a cheap after care examination for contact lenses?

Cheers!

pmduk

the cheapest way I've found is to buy the very minimum from specsavers on direct debit and then all after-care is free. 10 pairs a month is about £8-10 I think

GlasweJen

at asda you pay a one off £15 and get all your aftercare for free, even if you don't buy from them.