What’s the story with buying prescription lenses online? I’ve tried it once, from FramesDirect.com, and I wasn’t that thrilled with the results. While it was significantly cheaper than buying lenses at any of the local optometrist/optician outlets, chain or otherwise, the glasses werent’ quite right.
The prescription was given to me at my optometrists, who has made glasses for me, from the same prescription, before, with entirely satisfactory results, so that’s not where the fault was.
I’d happily continue to buy glasses at a brick-and-mortar optician, but difficult financial circumstances right now (laid-off wife, mortgage, etc.) dictate that I buy everything at the lowest possible cost. And I’m generally unhappy with the pricing practices of the opticians around here (NYC) anyway. It seems impossible to get lenses at the advertised price (I rarely buy frames – I’ve had the same ones for years). There’s always some catch.
So can anyone recommend an online optician who will get the prescription right?
Oh, if it makes any difference, my prescription is for pretty ordinary bifocals (although I think I may be due for trifocals). No progressives or “blended” bifocals. Correction for distance vision and for reading. They’re not that strong (no coke-bottle thickness lenses), but I do need them.
The online joints tend to be hit and miss. Right now, I’m wearing a pair of bifocals I had made by the “39dollarglasses” folks - top ground for computer screen distance, bottom ground for reading. They’re fine, but it took two tries. The first pair they sent, the bifocal split was at a different height in each lens, which was pretty distracting. They didn’t argue when I sent them back.
Buying glasses online can work out great if you have two things going for you.
You have a single vision (no bifocals) Rx.
It’s relatively simple and medium to low power.
If you have a high powered Rx, (upwards of + or - 4) picking out the right frame size and getting a correct pupilary measurement is crucial. You can still do this with an online place, just ask your eye doctor to measure your pupilary distance for you, and include it on your Rx. Next, go into a brick and mortar eyeglass store and try on some frames, find a frame shape you like, and a size where your eyeballs line up in the center of the lens area without a lot of distance around the outside or inside edge. If you have a high plus Rx, avoid narrow rectangles, and if you have a high minus Rx REALLY pay attention to how much distance there is between your pupil and the outside edges of the frame, try to minimize it.
However, if you have a bifocal or multifocal Rx, particularily a progressive or no-line bifocal, getting an accurate Rx online is very difficult because some of the measurements needed depend on the frame, and can only be measured accurately by an optician with the frame on your face. While someone else could do the measurements for you, if they are off by two or three milimeters you won’t see well out of the glasses at all.
If you explain your situation most optical places would be happy to help you get the measurements you need, but the problem remains that they need to see you with the frame on your face, and that is difficult when you are ordering the pair complete from an online retailer.
You could order frames online, but with that type of Rx the frames are the cheap part of the equation. That said, don’t pay a ton for frames, unless they are some fabulous designer style like Tommy Hilfiger, or Guess, or Ralph Lauren, and you luuurrrrvveee it, a frame you like can be bought for under $100 at many brick and mortar stores. Most frames that are priced cheaply are made by the same manufacturers as the ones that make the designer frames, you are paying only for the name or the particular design. The only frames I would pay large amounts for are Nike Flexon by Marchon, or perhaps a botique designer frame that I loved just for its unique look.
The other number to pay attention to is the temple length, i.e., how long the “arms” on the frames are. On most glasses, that number will be printed somewhere along the inside of the arm, and will typically be a number like 142 or 145. If you get frames with arms that are too short, they won’t be long enough to hook over your ears properly, which is really, *really *annoying. Too long, and the glasses might not hold properly on your face, sliding down your nose every time you tilt your head down.
All of these things together (stuff I’ve mentioned and that AquaPura has pointed out) is why I’ve used a cheap-o online place only for my computer glasses. The only time I ever wear them is when I’m sitting in front of the monitor, so the only thing that really matters is the focus at about 24". The “reading” part (the lower part of the bifocal) is non-critical, since I’m not sitting here reading a book - I just need to be able to read something on paper that I’m referring to. And the “fit” part is non-critical, since I’m not phyically active while wearing these glasses. For my “real” glasses, I buy them in person.
That said, the ones I got are just fine. But I already knew my pupilary distance and template length, and my prescription is strong but simple: +3 (+4 for computer distance), and add +2.25 for reading (+1.25 on the computer glasses), with no astigmatism.
I’ve bought two pairs of progressive bifocals from Zenni Optical. The were fine and seem optically identical. I’m rather impressed with the quality of the fames, lenses, and workmanship. The price was 1/6 of what a local shop charges.
The fames will adjusting to fit properly. Doing this yourself can be tricky. If you’re comfortable adjusting your own frames, it should work fine.
There’s a blog devoted to this subject here. I followed some of his advice, used one of his coupons, and am now wearing glasses bought over the internet. I paid 1/2 or so what I normally pay. If I didnt spring for the anti-scratch coat and the thin lens it would have been much, much cheaper.
It’s really kind of hard to figure out how the frames would look on you, FYI - they all start to look the same. I got three pairs for quite a bit less than one pair would have cost me here, though, and they’re all quite attractive. I was really glad, because I forgot my glasses at home a couple times because I only need them to watch TV and drive at night (LASIK), and driving home at night scared the crap out of me. So I got a pair that lives in the car and never leaves it, a pair that lives by the TV and never leaves it, and a pair for my purse that I wear most of the time when I need them. Couldn’t be happier, would buy again.
I’m hoping this doesn’t qualify as a zombie since the relevance doesn’t go away.
Has anyone ordered from Zenni in the last month or so? My wife ordered a pair from them last year and got a notification almost right away. Had her glasses in a couple of weeks, I think. However, she ordered three pair about three weeks ago, and hasn’t heard so much as a peep from them. I ordered two pair from them last weekend as well, and also haven’t heard anything.
I hope it’s because their popularity has exploded, and they’re just severely backordered. But there’s a small part of me that is growing concerned that they may have gone out of business or are going out of business, and are still taking people’s money anyway. And since they aren’t based in the U.S., I don’t know if I’d have any recourse if that were the case.
Has anyone heard anything, or is anyone experiencing similar issues?
I ordered last Friday. In my experience it takes about 2 weeks to get them, they say longer if you have progressive or other special features. I got a confirmation the same day, and then an email today saying they issued me a credit (I only ordered frames for 1 pair).
Everything seems to be on track, you can check back in two weeks if I didn’t get them by then.
Where are they based? Their address is San Rafael, CA.
The lab is based in Hong Kong, but their customer service center is in San Rafael.
I just spoke to them on the phone. My wife’s order is apparently stuck in customs somehow, along with 2,286 other pairs of glasses. But they shipped on the 18th, which was less than a week after my wife ordered them, so they do seem to be pretty speedy normally.
But they shipped on the 18th, which was less than a week after my wife ordered them, so they do seem to be pretty speedy normally.