Lenscrafters

I came in to revise a prescription I’d got at another Lenscrafters which wasn’t quite right. I ended up going with a combination of one lens from this store and one from the previous store. I’m amazed the optometrists had so much trouble getting it right! I had three visits in three weeks and none hit the nail on the head! If it weren’t for the general trouble getting the numbers right I’d have given five stars, but that’s not a fault of this store in particular. The ladies who work the front are very nice and helpful, not pushy at all. And the doc took his time and was pleasant. I guess I’m just a difficult patient.

I feel bad writing this review because everyone at this business was SO NICE.
Really, really nice. Went out of their way to help me.
The problem was that the eye doctor (also really nice) wrote me a prescription that did not help me see any better.
I went in with old glasses that were falling apart, The prescription was okay, but it could use a little tweaking. I could see reasonably well, just needed a little bit sharper focus.
Dr. Bell (again, a very NICE man) wrote me a prescription for glasses and contacts. I ordered the glasses and was given a sample pair of contacts to wear.
Wearing the new contacts, nothing within 20 feet of me was in focus. On the other hand, I could read you the license plate of a car parked a mile down the road.
I went back to Dr. Bell and said, «Whoa! This contact lens prescription is way off!»
He told me that, wearing those contact lenses, my vision would be perfect if I wore glasses over my contact lenses.
I pointed out that the whole point of wearing contacts is to avoid wearing glasses. He didn’t seem to agree with me.
After a polite exchange of ideas, he reluctantly revised my prescription and gave me a sample pair of contacts with that prescription. It is still way way too over focused on distance. I can, at least, read the t-​shirt of someone standing 6 feet away. Any closer and I would not be able to focus on it.
I don’t mind having to wear «cheaters» for reading a book or working on my computer. It feels really annoying, though, to have to wear them to distinguish what kind of food I am spearing onto my fork. It is that bad.
Then the glasses came in. Progressive lenses, there’s at least a spot on each lens where I have focus. Sadly, the spots do not line up side by side on the lenses. The result is that to be able to focus, I have to use one eye and not pay attention to the other.
I went back FOUR times to have them remake the glasses so that I’d be able to see out of them with both eyes at the same time. FOUR times I went back, and each time the people were really really nice. But you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and the fact is the prescription was wrong. Dr. Bell re-​measured my eyes again and adjusted the prescription. We had a conversation that went like this:
Dr. Bell: It seems that when you read, you are only using one eye.
Me: When I take the glasses off, however, I use both eyes.
Dr. Bell: But when you wear the glasses, you only use one eye.
Me: Yes, but there is not a problem with using both eyes. There is a problem with using both eyes when I am wearing the glasses and the spot in focus is only over one eye.
Dr. Bell: Yes, that’s what I am saying. You are only using one eye. There is a problem with the eye.
Me: But when I take the glasses off, there is no problem.
Dr. Bell: But there is when you wear the glasses. So there is a problem with your eye.
Me: I think that, if it’s only when I put the glasses on, it must be a problem with THE GLASSES. My OLD glasses just fine, and my eyes work together when I’m not wearing the glasses.
Dr: Bell: It’s not a problem with the glasses. It is a problem with your eye.
At this point, several months later and wearing these horrible glasses everyday, there probably IS a problem with my eyes. Eye care isn’t covered under my insurance, and after blowing around $ 500 for the doctor’s visit and glasses (I never did get the contact lens prescription filled because it would have been a waste of money), I couldn’t afford to go to another doctor.
As at said at the beginning of this review, I feel bad writing this because everyone there was so dog-​gone nice to me and tried to fix the problem. But I woke up this morning dreading putting those awful glasses on, and I feel like I should try to spar other people the waste of money that it was to go to this eye doctor and buy glasses from him. (Not to mention the loss of ego by spending a year wearing glasses instead of contact lenses, because I haven’t been able to afford to go to another eye doctor and get a reasonable prescription for contacts and buy the contacts. It will probably be another few months before I can afford to do that, and in the meantime for nearly a year I’ve felt like an ugly duckling hiding behind these glasses I can’t see well out of.)
So– if you work at Lenscrafters and you read this… Thank you for your kindness and I appreciate your willingness to help. But at the end of the day, you didn’t solve my vision problem, you created one, and I can’t in good conscience recommend you to anyone. I feel like in fact to be a good person, I have to warn people away from you.