Really? That’s MY neighborhood! Thanks!
nm
I understand your pain. It is true that online sites or anybody charge extra for specialty lenses, but still far less than a Lenscrafter type store. The point I was making is that you might duplicate your frame with enough shopping. The quality of these frames is very good with the spring loaded arms and everything. I play with children and mine take lots of punishment. And I paid $34 plus $5 shipping. If you need custom glasses, you may well be better off going to a custom shop and paying the big price. As they say, the price is soon forgotten. Good luck.
Yeah, well, that’s the crux of my problem - I NEED custom lenses, but I can’t afford them. I have to buy frames that can hold the lenses first and look good second. It’s very frustrating - I MUST have glasses to function, my current pairs are wearing out (scratches, coatings crazed and coming off, etc), and I can’t afford to replace them.. Seriously, it’s getting to the point that I won’t be able to drive a car safely anymore, and then what do I do?
Either I go to a cheap place and risk getting imperfect lenses that cause enormous eyestrain and headaches, and may not correct my vision to 20/20, or I attempt to sweet-talk a custom place into a payment plan - but most I’ve encountered are entirely unwilling to make such arrangements.
Sorry, just extremely frustrated.
Here’s my “Ask the…” threadfrom when I was a LensCrafters employee. The information is a few years old, but might be helpful.
I personally recommend checking out the glassyeyes blogas they not only review the various online sites where you can purchase glasses, but also have information on promotions and discount codes you can use when buying online. I will confess, however, that when it comes to my own glasses I am VERY particular about how they fit and feel, so I always go buy my primary pair in the store. I will buy back-up glasses and sunglasses online, but the pair I live in day-in and day-out HAVE to fit perfectly.
I did the Walmart thing. “Independent” doc conveniently with his office right next to the vision center. Exam was quick, apparently thorough, and cost $80.
I then went to the vision center. Ordered my prescribed bifocals, as well as prescription shades (which are not bifocal). Took about a week for the glasses to come in. I’ve had them only 4 days now, but I’m satisfied. Quality seems fine, frames look good. I ended up spending about $400 on two pair of glasses, one of which is bifocal. There were less expensive options available, so you could probably get out with one pair for considerably less than I spent.
I want to thank everyone again for their suggestions and stuff, and say once again that I don’t mean to be grumpy, it’s just that this is a frustrating experience for me. There was a time when I could afford to drop $1,000 on eyeglasses (and on one occasion I did!) but those days are in the past now. Pulling together $100 for glasses would be difficult right now, and I know they’re going to cost more than that!
I think maybe I’ll get a new, really good pair at a brick and mortar store, then look into one of the on-line site for a back-up that don’t have to be the greatest, just get me by in a pinch.
Broomstick, I have the answer to your prayers. It’s $39 Dollar Glasses. They do the retrofit you want where they input new lenses into your existing frames (they did mine, and I’m pleased). You said you have lots of well made frames - pick one and mail it out to them. This is provided of course that you already have an exam - go to somewhere cheap like Target or Wal-Mart for that, then just input your prescription to the website and mail 'em your specs.
Good luck, let us know!
ETA: Here’s the specific link for using your own lenses.
sigh
It’s only $39 for single vision lenses with a common prescription. And, again, it would only be an approximation of of prescription, not an exact match. Yes, I’d consider it for a back-up pair tuned to my distance vision (for driving, for example) but no way could I use something like that 24/7 without being utterly miserable.
I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet for a daily wear pair, and maybe can some approximate cheapos for emergency back up.
You know what? Needing glasses but not being able to afford them has to suck. Having just gone through the new glasses thing myself, I understand that.
Here’s the deal:
PM me your name and address. I’ll send you a check for $50 towards your new glasses. You promise to never disclose my name or location. And not to get all mushy and stuff. Cuz I’m a mean nasty badass, and I don’t do that mushy stuff.
Second Costco.
I used to go to Lenscrafters until I realized that even with their huge discounts and even partial insurance payment, they were about 3 times more expensive than Costco.
What kinda stuff do you have going on otherwise? I’m pretty blind (-6) so I pay to get the thin n’ lite, but still, isn’t it cheaper just to get the lenses instead of all new frames to boot?
Price ALL the online ones. As I stated above, there is quite a price difference between them when you get into the specialty lenses. I priced out 6 different sites when looking for my brother, and ended up finding a $70 pair including all the coatings, high-index, frames, etc. (The highest was about $200.) I promise you, his eyes are worse than yours. Some of the sites WILL let you use your own frames. Check them out. The quality is good.
America’s Best Eyeglasses has 2 pair for $69 with a basic exam. I only needed one pair so it cost me $49, but for $20 more you might as well have a spare. They charge extra if you want fancy schmancy coatings on the lenses, etc. and they have more expensive frames (2/$99 or 2/$129 if you want to go with that, but that’s up to you - I took the basic glasses and they were just fine. You do have to wait about a week for them to arrive, they don’t do it on the spot like Lenscrafters.
Walmart is good too, again you have to wait about a week. They do have cheap frames but I find the selection is limited; I didn’t care for the styles they had at the lowest price, but you might.
I’m nearly -8.00 on my good side, plus the correction for astigmatism and some other stuff going on. AND I need bifocals now.
Yes, it’s cheaper for just the lenses, but lenses for me ain’t cheap. So far I’ve always had to have custom lens blanks made. That is cheaper than it was 40 years ago, thank Og, but it’s still not bargain-basement prices.
This situation is not helped by the face I work in construction now - I recall one optician who scolded me about how I cared for my lenses and went into a long lecture about special cloths and cleaning solutions and avoiding at all costs dusty environments…
…um, yeah. I work in environments with concrete dust, sawdust, metal shavings, dust, dirt… not to mention copious amounts of my own sweat which, like all human sweat, can be corrosive due to salt content. I’m not delicate. I need glasses that can stand up to all this.
That’s why I bought titanium frames - I have broken five frames over the years, in two cases into several pieces. I need durable frames. I haven’t been able to break the titanium ones (have broken a few screws - went to the local hobby shop and got better ones than are standard in eyeglasses. Now I just swap them out first thing). I consider them worth every penny.
I’m very interested in this conversation, as I’m in the same boat as the OP, visually and financially. These online sites sound interesting. Is it socially acceptable to go to an optometrist for the prescription only? I mean, I figure they’ll do it, but will I be frowned upon in the future for doing so?
I’ll chime in with the WalMart recommendation.
I went there years ago when I had no vision insurance and was able to be fitted quite well. For a number of years, Wally World wasn’t in my vision provider’s network, so I shopped elsewhere.
I found that even with insurance, I was out about $400 at Lenscrafters and they were the worst fitting pair of glasses I’ve had in thirty-something years of wearing them. Value Vision was ok…wound up with two pair of bifocals that fit reasonably well for less than what my insurance covered, so I was only out the co-pay for the exam.
This spring, WalMart was listed once again in the insurance network. I went in, got the same optometrist that I had about 12 years ago and got a complete pair of tri-focals with titanium frames under the $200 insurance coverage. For another $80, I got a spare pair with less expensive frames.
That wasn’t all. The optometrist also caught a retinopathy problem before it became a larger issue and set me up with a specialist. He also told me that if the treatment changed my 'scrip within 6 months, they would replace the lenses in my glasses free.
I’m hard to fit with frames and WalMart tends to be the place that takes the extra care to make sure the fit is good. Whatever you think of their business in general, IME, they can’t be beat for glasses.
This happens all the time. I’ve never gotten my eyeglasses from the same place where i had my prescription made. Not even pre-internet. The optometrist at Costco, for example, doesn’t get a cut of any eyeglasses you buy there.
It’s illegal that they deny you a copy of your prescription. But it used to be a real racket, where you had to buy from the same place you got your prescription, despite the fact it’s two different things.
My eye doctor didn’t blink when I asked for 6 months of contacts (what my insurance covered) through them, and a copy of my prescription. I hopped on visiondirect.com and bought the little suckers for half the eye doctor’s price.
I don’t think you’ll be frowned upon; so many people are doing it these days that it’s not out of the ordinary at all. Will they dislike it? Sure, they’re not making the 50% profit margin they used to. Oh well. If anything, it’ll be the front desk people who are jerky, never the doctor. The doctor has nothing to do with all that.
Actually, last time I went to the optometrist he asked me flat out “Are you buying your glasses from me, or from somewhere else?” with no sign that he cared either way (he probably would prefer I buy from him, but with the maze of insurance requirements these days I’m sure there’s a significant number of people who go to him for an exam whose insurance won’t cover them for buying eyeglasses from him). As it happened, I bought my glasses from him (actually, just new lenses that time) but he insisted that I take a copy of my prescription with me. It’s really nothing unusual for folks to ask for a copy these days, and the optometrist shouldn’t give you any grief over it.