Frugal Village Forums banner

Glasses - any ideas on how to get a deal?

3K views 22 replies 21 participants last post by  jess11 
#1 ·
My DH is in need of a new pair of glasses and this will be the first pair we have purchased without some type of insurance. So I'm looking for ideas on how to buy some that won't totally wipe out the savings. He needs trifocals - the only deals I've found are for single lens.

Several years ago I had a co-worker tell me that he went to his eye doctor for the Rx and to Walmart to buy the glasses. Any other ideas? Any comments on Walmart/Sears/? glasses?
 
#2 ·
I have worn glasses since I was 10, so I think I have a valid point of view eventhough I don't wear bifocal. Please don't go for the cheapest option but look for a quality pair. If your husband needs bifocal glasses his eyes will probably not be very good, so he won't be able to miss his glasses easily. The cheaper options sometimes take a lot of time to get repairs done when glasses are broken because they have to send them off to get things repaired. We go to our local (and probably most expensive in purchase) glasses shop. However, because we know the family and are loyal costumers to them, they don't charge more than pieces for repairs. Combined with quick fixes it is worth the expense to us (all of my familymembers wear glasses, my mum even bifocal). I would ask for repair times, how long it will take to replace the actual glass parts (they can be replaced if the rest is still good) at purchase. Sorry if I gave you advice you would perhaps not like, but better now then having problems after purchase.
 
#3 ·
I have been buying my glasses (bifocal progressive) from Wal Mart for several years and I haven't had any problems at all.
They still aren't cheap, but considerably less than the optical shop associated with the doctor.
Wal Mart has a great selection of frames to choose from.

I bought a pair at Sears once, but I was very unimpressed with their selection and customer service.
 
#4 ·
When we did that, what we did was DH needs 2 pairs and only 1 is covered by insurance annually. We got one set in his old frames to cut costs (they were fine just diff prescription) and then we bought one at Costco. Nearly everyone we know buys them at Costco, and I don't think you have to have a membership to buy glasses (may be wrong, since we have one anyway). The price was drastically better, and we figured that he could wear his old glasses if anything happened, during the repair time if they had to ship off.

I would say one good question would be can he survive with his current glasses at all. If he can survive with older prescription (enough to miss his glasses 4-5 days for repair) then go for the cheaper ones at one of these stores (but call around for the best deals).
 
#5 ·
We get good pairs from the eye doctor's office.

My husband's glasses last several years. The only adults that I know that buy at walmart ( the only other option here) are those that have insurance that pays for a pair a year. The rest of the adults I know get a pair at the eye doctors office and keep them for years.

Many children I know get glasses at walmart but go though a few pairs a year. we get my daughter a good pair at the eye doctors. They last a few years until she out grows it. The eye doctor repairs them ( for free) for us even if it was a basketball to the face in Physcial Education Class. When a reapair had to be sent off once, they lent us a pair for her to wear until hers returned from the factory from repairs.

Last time we bought a pair ( been buying there since for years) they offered to let my daughter take a few frames home to try on and think about for a week or so. We ended up not needing to but I though the offer was nice.
 
#6 ·
Go to a place that will let you walk out with your script. After that you can shop around nearly anywhere for the best price. For a while DH was getting his online (we had no ins either). Lately he's been going to Sears. They have a 2-pair deal that comes out to about $100 each. We both got a tinted sunglasses and a normal lens. DH's eyes are bad, too and he has to get new glasses about every other year because his eyes change.
 
#7 ·
I've had a few Walmart pairs. Pretty good quality for the price. Not a lot of selection in the walmarts I went to.

My sister just got a pair at Costco and she likes them.

Because I had insurance I got my last pair at a local optometrist. Not cheap, but I like the style. He was helpful because he was the owner and also provided more of a discount because dh and I bought pairs together.

I've also got a pair from clearly contacts online. They were ok for the cheap price (80 shipped and I have bad eyes). The prescription was not perfect, if your eyes are bad don't buy online, it could be off a bit and you have no one to take them to to get fixed.
 
#8 ·
We still use Zenni.com, DH is going to order some in the next month, bifocals, DIL just ordered a couple months ago, took 4 days to get them, she got 2 pairs this time, one being sunglasses.We have ordered several glasses from them and never have had a problem.

There use to be a big thread awhile back on here, if someone can find it.
 
#10 ·
When I had a Costco membership I got a nice pair very inexpensively there. To cut costs I dropped the membership though.

My most recent pair I got at Sears when they were having a half off sale and they a large selection. The antiglare wasn't working right so I returned them and complained, they were so nice about it. They helped me pick a different type of lense that would be more comfortable with all of my computer activity and only charged me $10 to make the switch.

Before settling on Sears I went to JC Penney who was having a 2 for $99 sale, but it turned out to be a bait and switch. They had all kinds of extra fees and the selection was only about a dozen pairs. The customer service lady complained the whole time about how her hours had been cut and I needed to hurry up so she could clock off in time. *eye roll*
 
#16 ·
Depending on what you need, if you have a good frame, you can just purchase the lenses and most places will fit them not your existing frames. Saves you from having to buy both.
 
#18 ·
Dh uses zenni. He got a pair (EXPENSIVE) from his eye doctor's optical shop and they actually weren't as good as the pairs he's gotten from zenni!!

I found a pair of frames I *loved* at a more expensive place (was just looking for fun, at the time). I wrote down the details of the frame and when I needed a new pair I found the frames on eBay for $40. I got the lenses put in at Walmart. I used to get mine at Costco...I tried to get them to put lenses into my frames, but they will only put lenses into the frames they sell new.
 
#20 ·
Even with insurance, the opticals have so many ways to jack up the prices with by making normal features like scratch coating, U/V or anti-glare for computer work 'mark-up extras' by expensive package deals to add $70+ more to glasses prices.

I have prisms in my glasses to correct astigmatism and convergence (slight lazy eye) problem. Eye doctor insists it is impossible to place these into glasses without an in-person visit to purchase glasses and measure it all out. I would love to try 39dollarglasses.com or zennioptical.com but it would end up being more expensive probably to get everything correct ordering online.

Some of the opticals have good pricing and others are just expensive, you have to shop around or ask around to find the right eye doctor for you. Unfortunately, when I had vision health insurance at one job, only the 'expensive' eye doctor in town was covered so it was a loss to me. A good eye doctor who offers an affordable line of glasses worked best for me always. These cheaper priced glasses were good quality too. I've only used my 'old' pair of glasses as a backup once over 20 years with glasses after one pair failed.

All the dept store optical departments I have shopped sell the glasses and frames separately. These places were only a good deal with coupons/sales.

I don't mention the 1-hour places as I've seen too many people buy at these places and glasses fall apartment within a few months. If you go this route, I would order two pairs with a sale special price.
 
#21 ·
This is timely so I do have a question of those in the know. I replaced RX glasses and sunglasses this week. Is there anything to justify purchasing the expensive, composite materials which are 'thinner than regular plastic' lens over the old plastic ones? My correction isn't that big so I can see alright enough to even play sports without the glasses so the eye doctor's employee mentioning the 'pop-bottle' glasses comment and superiority of the expensive thinner lenses made me wonder. Is anyone in the know? Is this upgrade worthwhile?
 
#23 ·
I have purchased no-line bifocals from Sears. I usually purchase them around this time of year since they usually have a special for glasses going and one of the specials is no-line bifocals for around $99. This year I plan on going to Pearl Vision since I can use AARP discount and medicare to cover an eye exam for free Then I get a script and wait until I see a good sale for glasses which is usually at Sears.

It usually seems that the different optical chains usually have specials this time of year and then in the beginning of the year for glasses. I have used America's Best. You can look up their website to see if they have a place near you. I found their eye exam package to be very affordable. I also just went their for an eye exam and asked for a script that I could take to any optical store to purchase glasses.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top