Amherst Optical Shoppe

Well I am going to be the first one to give these people a good review, I haven’t had insurance till this year for eye wear and have been paying a pretty penny out of pocket since. Back when I had no insurance I wanted to find a hassle free shop that would give me the best optics. This place was the right one. Initially i tried lenscrafter and had terrible success, lots of chromatic aberrations and reflections everywhere. while they took maybe a day, not same day, they did it in house and helped find the right glasses with knowledge. They asked which frames I wanted, I went through about 3 – 4 of them, trying to find the most durable as most glasses break within a year on me, to be redirected to seiko’s due to weight recommendations, fit for my face, and titanium durability. I was redirected due to my prescription for slightly higher index 1.6 and good carl zeiss plastics no polycarbinate because of plastics better optic quality and some good anti-​glare protection. Had them in my hands the next day and never had an issue with them since, best pair lightest weight ever and the price wasn’t too unreasonable if I remember they were about 500 – 600 dollar glasses.
8 years later I now have insurance under my employer plan. I went out to get similar glasses, insurance doesn’t cover high index, doesn’t cover carl zeiss, doesn’t have any titanium frames or any frames that are somewhat light. Went out got the best I could, plastics with anti-​glare, and even transitions. Can’t use them why because they came out crooked, and are unfinished with reflections on all edges I see 3 road lights when driving. It is now 8 years and I am back to the same glasses, can’t even use my new prescription as I have almost gotten into a car accident on the first day because I tip my head forward I see my spedometer 3 times, backwards I see the cars lights on top and bottom inversed to the middle lights going opposite directions, up a little higher I can see the lights from the cars behind me, almost caused a car crash once. So I am back to using my old seiko’s with an older prescription luckily not a big change occured, I still can see about 20 – 25 in one eye and 20 – 30 in the other. I think overall if they will sell me a good pair of glasses that last 8 years without issue, I will go back to this place without insurance again and get a solid pair. I have been unsatisfied with any place but this one so far to date as they all seem to be just having errors to make a decent piece of glass, its not rocket science, it is simple quality is quality.

Avoid them like the plague! they charged me $ 15 to replace a screw because it took them «quite some time» to look for the right screw. Everywhere else in the world it would have been free. And to make the scam seem more believable, they tell you to come back in an hour or two (really? for a screw??) These people have no shame.

Not a great experience with these people. Unfriendly service, sky high prices. I brought in a pair of my own frames to have lenses mounted in, and the attitude just didn’t stop. And they charged me $ 75 fee to mount the VERY expensive lenses in my glasses. Really???

DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH THEM! One Star is too generous!
I’m all for supporting and doing business with locally owned shops around town but… (Our household spends $ 1300.00+ on prescription glasses annually, we also like fun and good looking/​quality frames).
A couple of days ago an $ 800 pair broke, and the distributor said we should go to Amherst Optical Shoppe (AOS). We called, and here is where the list of rudeness, snobbishness, petulance and lack of respect toward potential customers starts:
They were really bothered by our phone call; Jim was genuinely put out saying: «…well, I’ve never done this before and I have to spend 15 minutes of my time to contact the company to see if they will be willing to fix your glasses… since we didn’t make the here I don’t know if they’ll take them…»
REALLY it bothers you to make around 70 bucks to make a phone call and give the box to your UPS guy who comes in every day?!? Since they are the only shop in town that has a business relationship with Italee (Swiss Eyephoric 2.5 gram frames) we decided to go into the shop and put up with the attitude and the rudeness of (owner?) Jim.
Guess what?! We got the same treatment in person! But I persevered… I had called the shop in Nevada where the glasses were made, and they said they’d charge me $ 72 to send them in, no problem (but we were really trying to go local for our business). I had also called Italee directly (to save him some of his precious 15 minutes), who said they didn’t care where the glasses came from or who made them; they would repair them at HQ in L.A., and I would be charged whatever he optical shop’s rate was. Jim, after not getting away with the «well I don’t know if…» argument since I’d done all of the work for him, responded: «well, IF I send these glasses in for repair who will be responsible for the if they break or get lost?»
ASK ITALEE, since YOU are the one with a business relationship with them!!!
From experience, we know that the repair is not free and they would make a cut. (Usually this kind of repair costs around $ 30 – 35, a shop usually doubles the price, and makes a 100% profit… nothing wrong with that so far.) I pushed them for an estimate (like pulling teeth), and was told the repair would cost a minimum of a $ 100 but they weren’t sure, maybe more (to a co-​worker: $ 150 do you think?).
We insisted that they call us with an estimate before doing anything with the glasses, and just in case, asked for some proof that they had my glasses (you know, just in case they break or get lost!) WOW, Jim exploded, red in the face and rude: «I’ve never done this before! I don’t even know what to put this on!» and unwillingly started to write a card with our info asking his associate «What should I write on this card for these people?» and then stopped, retreated to the back, saying, «I don’t have time for this, you deal with it, I have more important work to do»
The other clerk, «No-​eye-​contact-​quiet-​guy» (NECQG for short) finished the card. I mentioned to him that we wanted to do business with them in the future but this wasn’t a good way to treat new customers. Still hopeful (but who knows why), we left with a bitter aftertaste.
We called Italee back; are there ANY OTHER optical shops that work with them? Yes, there were a few more scattered around the area. We called Hutt Eye Associates in Holyoke and they were happy to help. I nearly fell over when a very kind optician (Tammy) said that the whole repair, including shipping, would be less than 35 dollars, sans attitude!
No way were we going to give away $ 150+++ when nice professionals would take $ 35!!! Operation «rescue the glasses» begins. No call yet, and NECQG was at the counter at Amherst Optical Shoppe, and lied to my face: «…since we didn’t make the glasses, we can’t send them back to Italee, and the insurance would be prohibitively expensive,» Having called Italee myself (and done out-​of-​house repairs before elsewhere) I knew this wasn’t true. «Oh well,» I said and took the glasses, «You know, I’m really sorry my business was such an imposition on you, you can rest assured it wouldn’t bother you again.» He acted confused. I repeated that Jim seemed so terrifically bothered by every interaction with us, we would be sure to take our business elsewhere… and we did!
What’s wrong with these people?!? Surely they must know you can always go to another shop in nearby Northampton, or these days even get your glasses on-​line… this is no way to treat customers or anyone! They are sales people selling goods and services, but they acted like we were such an interruption of their important existence, like they were doing us a favor merely talking to us on the phone and in person. We felt so icky about the whole thing, we decided to write this review to warn others not to bother these people with your petty and pedestrian business and certainly not with your money! Save yourself the trouble.

I really wanted to like this place– being local, family owned– but honestly, it is very disappointing shop in all regards.
I walked in to scope the frames out and to ask if they could gently bend my glasses so they don’t slip off my nose. Admittedly, the specs in question were purchased in a shop in DC, but i have asked lens crafters and other optical shops to help and they are more than willing to do it for free. This time, the man said there would be a fee, but as the other places do it for free and it is an easy task, i assumed it would be nominal.
Needless to say, it was not until i was signing my credit-​card receipt that i saw i just paid $ 20 for a glasses fitting that most other places are willing to comp.
Although is bad to charge for such a small task, it is reprehensible and a bad business practice to not alert the customer of a fee that is $ 20– until it is too late.
On other thoughts: the frames were dated and he sunglasses selection is rather sparse– especially if you want prescription sunglasses. There were exactly 2 ray-​bans that were worthy of consideration.
I do not recommend going here: their frames are dated, the sunglasses are paltry, and you may just get charged $ 20 for asking them to clean your specs.