I’ve experimented with buying eyeglasses through an online vendor, and I was pretty pleased with the results. If you have your prescription in front of you, and can take the sizes from an existing frame, then it’s pretty straightforward. However, I used a prescription that’s a couple of years old, from the last time I got an exam and bought glasses during the same visit.
Now I’m looking at going in for an eye exam and then just taking my prescription and leaving after the exam is over, instead of just being passively routed to the racks of sample frames. My question is: Have you done this, and if so, how did it go? I’ve heard that glasses are like the snacks sold at movie theaters: they offer the exam at a loss and then make it up by soaking you on the frames and lenses. I’m wondering if I can expect some pushback if I decline to buy glasses after the exam. I have absolutely no qualms about asserting my right to get the exam and leave, but I’m wondering what the reaction (if any) will be.