by Hope
My eyes are terrible. Now granted I can still drive without glasses (even according to the DMV test you take when you renew your license.) But I rarely do.
And forget seeing anything on my phone, a book, or my computer screen. I literally went into a panic when my glasses broke earlier this year and I had no money.
With all our prescriptions well past expiration, and my recent panic moment about my glasses. I knew that getting an eye exam was a priority for me. And it turns out it was for both my daughters as well. Yes, we all NEED glasses, but only I need, need them. They can function without.
I started calling around for quotes on eye exams, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Sam’s Club exams start at $67. They go up from there if you want dilation or need a exam with contacts in mind, etc. but for just the basic exam. It was doable. I booked our appointments for a Sunday, when everyone is off work and school, and we met half way between our house and Princess’ apartment at college. (Not all Sam’s Clubs have a doctor, so that made choosing a place to go relatively easy.)
After our exams, we all left with new prescriptions, but no glasses ordered. And then enjoyed brunch before heading our separate ways.
Sidenote: I met Princess and her boyfriend a few weeks back at a different Sams because she needed something from the house. She’s now been added as the second adult (free) on my membership since Sea Cadet and his girlfriend switched to Costco. He was the second adult. I digress. The three of us went into Sams and all ate for less than $15 – pizza and sodas. It’s a steal to eat there at their little dining area. Just saying.
Ordering Glasses
Here’s where it gets tricky. Glasses can get expensive quickly. Especially when you are like me and half 3 pairs. I have a pair of single vision glasses for my computer work, a pair of sunglasses (they are about 2-3 prescriptions old, I don’t update their lenses often,) and then my daily wear bifocals/trifocals, I’m not really sure. These daily ones are the ones I broke in January.
I knew I couldn’t afford new glasses yet, but I’m prepared with prescription in hand when I can.
But the girls moved forward with ordering theirs already.
Princess went back to her local Sam’s Club and ordered hers. Nothing fancy, a black plastic frame with single vision lenses. Because of our Plus membership, she got 20% off but they were still a couple of hundred dollars. (Her old frames were in need of replacement.) They took about a week to come in.
Beauty ordered hers online at Zeelool.com and I believe she got a BOGO offer because she ended up with two pairs and I think they cost her between $20-40.
Sea Cadet has been using online glasses providers for several years and has been really happy as well. But his are also single vision.
Here’s my question, for people with BAD EYES, meaning you require bifocals, trifocals, whatever. Have you had luck with these online places? As I hope to be able to order some new ones for myself in the next month or so, I want to hear from people who have more complex eye issues. I know if I use somewhere local or Sam’s Club I can reuse my same frames. All three of my frames are in great shape which would save me at least a hundred on each pair. But online…maybe cheaper and get a new look? I’m torn.
But my glasses are key to my daily life. So do you have more complex eye prescriptions and have you ordered your glasses on line? From where? Results? Give me all the good and the bad feedback?
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
I’ve used online glasses dispensers with great success and helped my mum order bifocals online as well. Some sites have really nifty tools, like using your laptop or phone camera to “try the glasses on” in real time while you move your head around. My mum’s bifocals were stylish and only around $70 all in!
I got night driving glasses with a very minor prescription for astigmatism for about $50 and they are a GAME CHANGER with all those crazy bright halogen bulbs on cars nowadays. I can finally feel safer driving at night.
My eyes are horrible. I’m talking can’t see 3 inches from my face without glasses horrible. I used to spend so much money on glasses after the high Rx and the thinning out. I was also buying glasses for my kids left and right because their glasses were constantly breaking during their sports. Then one of my employees told me about Goggles4u. This is where I started getting my kids’ glasses. $20 for the pair and I always got them a backup pair. I then discovered Zenni and Zeelol. Even with my high Rx, I never spend more than $60 on my glasses. I hope this helps. They always have some sort of deal.
This kind of personal experience with these online options is exactly what I was looking for, thank you!
I have a pretty simple but high powered prescription. It’s a single vision prescription, but it costs more. My glasses are a backup for my contacts and rarely worn, so I don’t do much in the way of coatings, progressive lenses, etc. I just get high index lenses.
The last time I needed glasses, I tried ordering online. I ordered a couple pairs. In terms of cost, the frames themselves were cheaper but the lenses were about the same price I ended up paying at my doctor’s office. My main issue with the glasses were the looks. I didn’t feel like the online try-on systems really reflected how frames looked on my face, and didn’t end up liking the glasses I had picked. I didn’t want to drag out the process more than necessary, so I ended up just getting my glasses through my eye doctor.
This is the exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for, thank you!
I would definitely at least price out the online options. I may be the outlier in terms of experience. As far as costs, I have good vision coverage and my eye doctor offers steep discounts on glasses if you buy your contacts through their office. If that weren’t the case, the glasses would’ve been cheaper online.