I have been going to Lenscrafters for several years, mostly because I could afford it and because I am impatient.
This year I decided to use my vision care insurance and go to a regular optometrist.
First appt: March 23rd. Over 2 hour examination (not normal, but he wanted to be thorough, and I can live with that).
Second appt: April 2, getting frames fitted (I had selected the frame I wanted but they didn’t have the right size, so they had to send for it). Turns out they no longer made the frame I wanted, but they had some substitutes in the right size, and I found one that was ok. They now have to send the frames out to get the lenses ground. Should have the glasses back in a week or so.
Third appt: not yet. Maybe Monday or Tuesday next week. They had to send the frames back because they included long temples and I needed shorter temples.
Good grief! Tuesday will be 4 weeks after the first appointment. This is beyond ridiculous. I understand that Lenscrafters has lens grinder people on-site. The optometrist I used to go to years ago had a lens-grinder person on-site and it still took a week or two to get the glasses. How is this a reasonable business model? How are these guys still in business?
All rhetorical, I guess. This guy is still in business probably because he delivers better results than Lenscrafters. Only a lot s-l-o-o-o-w-e-r…
Roddy
Lenscrafters can stay in business because they tend toward the high end of glasses and service. There is a market for that. The one time that I went there, the least expensive frames they could get me into (you know, that one pair of butt ugly ones) was $375. For. Frames. WTF! My insurance would only cover $200 on frames.
Six years later, had I payed for the ones that I’ll pick up Monday, I would be getting an exam, one pair of titanium frame trifocals and one pair of inexpensively framed backup glasses for about $415. With insurance for the more expensive pair and the exam, I’m out of pocket $120. I’ve used this optical place before and know that they’ve always done a good job fitting me.
Lenscrafters did a good job, but the only thing (for me) that they had over my current place is how quickly I could get out of the door with new glasses on my face. YMMV.
My experience with my optometrist/eye glasses place has been phenomenal. Service there typically has been the the following:
Schedule an appointment to have the optometrist figure out what my prescription will be.
Go in the day of my appointment. Optometrist does his thing. I then go and pick out the frames I want with the assistance of one of the staff there, who are very knowledgeable. The frames I select are the actual frames I will end up wearing, so all that needs to be done is to have the lenses ordered, which takes about 1 week.
3)Show up one week later and have my new glasses tweaked and fitted properly.
When I’m done, I have the glasses I want that are fitted to my face perfectly. If I ever need to have the adjusted, they adjust them for free. I just have to take them in and within about 15 min I am all set.
There are some other things about this place that have really impressed me.
I once had my frames break right on the bridge after having them for 3 years. I took them in and found out the frames were no longer being made, but the sales person there was able to cobble a pair of decent looking frames for me that not only fit my lenses, but also fit my face… for $5.00. Long enough for me to schedule an appointment and get a new set of good frames. $5.00. Hell yes I’m taking my business there again.
Another time I went in for my regular 2 year check up and found my prescription had not changed, so I decided to get a pair of Rec-Specs (Glasses designed for rough sports). They normally went for about $250, but the sales lady told me they were on sale and was able to finagle it so that between the sale and my insurance, I only had to pay $26.00 total. She didn’t have to go the extra mile for me to get this price, but she did. Hell yes, I’m taking my business there.
So I guess what I’m saying is that you should not assume that your one experience with a bad optometrist is representative of all of them. Try another one next time and see how it goes, or go back to LensCrafters if you really like them. Just like other services, YMMV.
(By the way, the place I go to is called Heimstra’s and it is based in the Kalamazoo, MI area.)
I very much doubt that Lenscrafters has lens grinder people on-site, because no one grinds eyeglass lenses to order. They’re made in a factory to the correct specifications. What Lenscrafters does (and many other eyeglass stores do as well) is to have a cabinet full of various types of lenses manufactured to the most common specs. They can then cut them to fit various frames. I chose new glasses about six months ago, and because the prescription was fairly common, I was able to pick up the glasses the next day. Even when the lenses weren’t available on-site, I’ve never had to wait more than a week for them to be obtained.
Not so - some prescriptions (progressives, bifocals, unusual amounts of cylinder/astigmatism, polarized sunglasses) can be ground - the more common term is “surfaced” - right there at your local Lenscrafters. What they CAN’T usually do (on site) is anti-reflective coatings. And since optometrists often recommend the anti-reflective coat, it’s helpful for night driving, among other things - so people get used to having their order sent to a bigger lab for that reason.
Little known fact: You can get a nice discount at Lenscrafters if you have AAA. Or at least you used to. Of course, this is a discount off their grossly overpriced product. Last time I got glasses, I paid nearly $300, with the discount. I haven’t gotten glasses since I got my eyes lasered.
Another shameless plug for Costco, which sells glasses and contact lenses for a fraction of what LensCrafters charges.
Keep in mind, you can get your prescription from your regular optometrist and get it filled anywhere- it’s like a drug prescription in a lot of ways.
I’m pretty partial to Pearle Vision- they’re relatively fast, very customer service oriented, and not terribly expensive either. Don’t know about quality- the lenses improve my vision and have no obvious flaws, so they seem good enough to me.
Still feeling the sting from today’s visit to my local optometrist. My prescription needed updating after 4(!) years. Then I decided to have sunglass clips made for my old frames so I could read outdoors. Then I got talked into a second pair which was stupid and gutless on my part as I’ve never felt the need for a spare pair. Plus I like varifocals so I can read and look up and still see. All in all, that’s one bill hubby’s never going to see!
My problem with the online places is that they have very cut-and-dried rules about which frames they’ll put a bifocal lens in. My optometrist is much more flexible about that.
Actually one of my best friends worked at a Lenscrafters for years, and they did in fact grind to order. She used to work on mine ‘extra’, to get them to work correctly, because I’m apparantly the world’s worst patient when it comes to guessing ‘Which looks better, x or y?’ and they were invariably wrong. Thank gods for her fine-tuning!
