Pearle Vision could use a work on their customer service.

The BBQ Pit
1

(I don’t start Pit threads very often. Forgive me if I’m not up to the venom-spitting standards we’ve all come to expect.)

I have reached an age where my vision is not quite as sharp as it once was. I get by okay, but I really notice it at restaurants. The combination of dim lighting, small text, and black print on a grey background is more than I can manage anymore.

So I developed a plan. I have a good friend in the Seattle area whose taste I trust, and I was planning a trip out there. I hadn’t had my eyes checked in a long while, anyway, and figured I’d get a better fit and more accurate lenses if I had a proper exam. So I went to an eye doctor, traveled out to Washington, and went with my friend to help me pick out frames.

That was on August 9th. They said it would be a week to ten days for them to ship them to me in Boston. So I got back from my trip and waited. Nothing. Finally I called them on the 27th. The glasses were ready on the 15th, but they called me to confirm the address and my voice mailbox was full. Apparently they only try once. So I confirmed the address that they had, and the woman I spoke to said that since it had been so long that she’d try to send them next-day air.

Again I waited. Nothing the next day, or the next. This afternoon I called them again. She looked up the tracking number for the shipment. All it said was UPS Ground and the city it was coming to; no delivery date. But since it’s been a week already, they must be getting close.

She gave me the tracking number, and when I checked the page I saw the same thing. However, I tried it again just now, and there’s an update. There’s an origin scan in Redmond, WA, at 9:00 this evening.

Somebody has been sitting on this package for a week, and I doubt it was UPS; estimated delivery is now the 10th. I’m not exactly brimming over with confidence that they’ll be right even if they do ever get here. I think the guarantee is 30 days. Pearle better not try to weasel out of it if it takes 32 days just for the glasses to get here.

2

You can see how upset I am by the typo in the thread title.

3

No I can’t; I can’t find my glasses.

4

Say it ain’t so! The company that made this commercial can do no wrong!

edit: Bonus fact: For the first time in recent memory, I actually have overdue library books this morning (forgot to take 'em over last night).

5

Don’t they sell glasses in Boston?

6

Not that it justifies the long delay and other nonsense you’re on the receiving end of here, but for fuck’s sake: empty out your goddamned voicemail box.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to call clients repeatedly only to be told their voicemail box is full. I’ll call five or ten times over a few days, nada. Cut to a month later, I get angry phone calls about how I’ve dropped the ball, how dare you not get in contact with me to get this taken care of?

It is 2013. There is literally no reason for your voicemail box to be full. Want to save your messages? There are other ways to save your messages. Are you just too lazy to hit “delete” (or 3, or 7, or whatever kind of phone you have) after you listen to your voicemails? I don’t get it! The only thing more rage inducing is “This number has not yet set up their voicemail. . .” Rawr.

7

No, they sell glaaaahhhsses.

8

I bought a pair of glasses off the internet once; I’m never getting glasses from a brick-and-mortar store again. They are so cheap! And they’re just the same as the overpriced ones from the store!

But yes, that is completely crap service from Pearle Vision. And clean out your voicemail box. :slight_smile:

9

Yes, but I lack taste; didn’t have the faintest idea what kind of frames to get. The friend whose judgment I would most trust on such matters is from my Seattle days and still lives in the area. I was there, she was there, glasses were there; how hard could it be?

I did, probably only missed their call by a day or two. If they’d tried again, they’d have reached me.

10

Well, I guess you got that question answered. :slight_smile:

I usually just ask the people at the store what looks good. That’s what they are there for and, as far as I know, they haven’t steered me wrong.

11

I will say that UPS will sit on ground packages after they pick them up and not scan them for several days.

12

I’d say it more likely that the warehouse that Pearle Vision was shipping from has a deal with UPS where they print their bills of lading and scan the package as they put it on the pallet. UPS then comes and picks up the pallet when it is full whether it be that day or 3 days down the road.

13

The problem I have with buying new frames is that I need eyeglasses to see. So I put on the sample frames with the zero-prescription lenses and then I need to get right up against the mirror to see anything. It’s a huge hassle. So I follow the usual formula; round face, get rectangular or square frames, squarish face, get round or oval frames.

14

That does make me want to cut them a little bit more slack.

I hadn’t heard that rule. What does it recommend for someone whose face is lumpy and misshapen?

15

Dark glasses for everyone in your vicinity.

16

Next time call Warby Parker. The service is excellent, the prices are insanely cheap, and the quality is top notch. They have a program where you get 5 pairs to try on free for five days. Pick out five that look nice to you, go outside, and take decent pictures of yourself with all the different frames on. Then you can upload the pictures to facebook and let your friends vote, or if you hate facebook, text the pictures over to your more stylish friend(s).

Seriously, $95 for a pair of glasses WITH lenses. You can’t beat it.

17

Actually, you can beat it. There are online places like Zenni Optical (no connection except as a customer) that sell frames starting at about seven bucks. With single-prescription lenses, you could get a pair of glasses for about twenty bucks.

18

I have EXTREMELY poor vision and my lenses are $30 at Warby Parker, which is the best price I know of. That, coupled with the selection of stylish frames, the wonderful service, the 5 for 5 trial, and the fact that they donate glasses to needy people, makes Warby Parker a winner for me.

But you’re right-- there are lots of great online deals for glasses. I personally will never buy glasses in a brick and mortar store again.

19

You could try these:

20

I can’t really work up much sympathy for you. Buy your glasses where you live, so you can take the fucking things back if they pinch or don’t work or something. And, empty your damn voicemail.