My Indecent Proposal at LensCrafters

About an hour before I undertook the 13-hour car journey from Delaware back to Maine on Friday, I walked out of a local breakfast joint when a guy held the door open for me, then accidentally let it slip out of his hands. It slammed into the eyeglasses I was holding in my hand and broke a part of the frame, sending one lens to the ground (the glass didn't break, through). While he apologized profusely, I told him not to worry, it was an accident, and that my insurance would likely take care of it.

But I can't — shouldn't — get behind the wheel without glasses, so after an hour's worth of driving with a couple of pieces of tape on my frames (bringing on a dull headache), I stopped at the mall in Dover, in search of a LensCrafters. Dover is a town that, when seen from the commercial strip, seems to be in business to take advantage of every last non-civilian who strays in from the local Air Force base. There is a depressing number of rundown-looking places hawking payday loans and exorbitantly priced check cashing services.

No such dubious murk was evident in the brightly lit, spotless eyeglasses emporium inside the mall, though. The whole place breathed efficiency. Surely a kindly staffer would make good on the longstanding LensCrafters promise to fashion a pair of custom glasses in under an hour. A chipper sales clerk informed me she would do exactly that, provided I first produced my prescription. I explained to her that I was traveling from five states away, don't habitually carry a lens prescription (does anyone?), and didn't need one because to find out the strength of my desired new lenses, all they had to do was measure the old ones. Easy. I'd done that several times before, every time I had new glasses made over the years.

Suddenly, however, this was an impossible request, because the law in Delaware (and some other states too, apparently) requires a doctor's prescription before a customer may be fitted with a new pair of glasses. Some optical stores have a licensed optician on the premises who is qualified to dispense this vital piece of paper, but in retail environments lacking such a highly trained professional, nothing can be done for the likes of yours truly.

So state lawmakers have decided that it is better to let people with broken glasses get on the highway for multi-state car trips, than to allow them to simply have their lenses duplicated. Or I could put myself and my family up for three nights in Dover in the hopes that I might get an emergency appointment with an eye doctor first thing Monday morning.

It's hard to fathom who is protected by such a law, other than eye MDs, who stand to make a boatload of money off of it. There's no obvious benefit to consumers here — on the contrary. I mean, what would be the downside to having store personnel measure existing lenses and make new ones of exactly the same strength? What do Delaware lawmakers fear will happen — that I'll put one over on them? That I'll bring in a pair purloined from Mr. Magoo and pass them off as my own, so I can have an extra pair of coke-bottle lenses to feed my latent cravings for stronger, more potent glass? Is there an EA (Eyeglass-wearers Anonymous) chapter somewhere around here that I should know about?

Luckily for me and the tens of thousands of drivers with whom I shared the Eastern seaboard highways the rest of the day, a local jeweler was able to weld my broken metal frame in minutes, for $25. Which was a considerably smaller contribution to the Delaware economy than I'd otherwise have made.

Funny how that state-ordered protection racket ends up backfiring sometimes.

Comments

[solinox]

My husband says this law is intended to prevent insurance fraud. I still can't wrap my brain around it.

[Phil]

This is also the case in my home state of Michigan, where I had a very similar incident. I don't even know my prescription, and I would've had to spend $100 on an eye exam to find out. So I'm still wearing 3 year old broken glasses, in protest.

[greg]

same here in PA. In addition to the $250 bucks I have to spend every other year on frames and lenses, I have to tack on another $100 for an exam. (even though my prescription hasn't changes in almost 11 years).

[colson]

Same here in Nebraska - a law I've always found pretty stupid. The most I've had an optometrist do is change the contact lens diameter. As far as eyeglasses go, I don't see you how could possibly run a scam on eyeglasses if you have the buyer sign and verify they have received the glasses, they fit fine and they can see.

Even worse, a few years ago you used to be able to order contact lenses off of the internet without a prescription. This was great because you could order cheaper lenses and get them without having to deal with that hassle. Now most reputable online shops are forced to verify your prescription with your optometrist's office.

But notice that there is no prescription for general reading glasses which you can pick up on any end-rack near the pharmacy at the local Walgreens. stupid. stupid. stupid.

[HKL]

Refreashing it is, to find others that have the same mentality on this issue. Was beginning to feel like it was just me. Our state requires a new eye exam each year in order to buy new contacts. Used to, even with a new exam, my doctor told me to use up what contacts I had on hand, as it wouldn't make any difference. Tell me it isn't a racket. I now buy up enough contacts to last a couple of years, before the year expires.

[Optician 1960]

I cannot speak to the issue of "needing" an exam because the law says an old pair could not be read, or the Rx expiring after 1 year in Delaware.

I can offer my opinion on 2 other issues you had. You mentioned that one of your lenses fell out of your frame when the door hit it. You also mention Mr Magoo + coke bottle lenses, and that would suggest a stronger Rx that you may have. Either way, once that lens has come out of the frame, an optician who puts the lens back and then reads the Rx so that they can match it is not doing a very smart thing for the consumer or for their livelihood. Depending on the RX, if that lens is turned even a very small amount, small enough that it looks like the lens is seated perfectly, the Rx could read very different than what the Dr had written (astigmatism axis, prism, PD...). If this happens, the optician and their employer has not done you the service you deserve and they also put themselves at risk. It may not sound pretty, but your safety and the opticians career have to come before a $300+ sale.

1 question, was your OD or MD available to call for the Rx?

[anonymous optician]

I am a licensed optician in Ohio. What you wanted is called neutralizing. An ethical optician will not do it. So, a pair of glasses is made to a prescriptian, right? It's checked to fall within ANSI tolerances, or stricter depending on where you are, but it's never EXACTLY what is written down. So you get that pair netralized and a new one made up and that pair is made to within tolerance of the pair that was made within tolerance and suddenly the allowable tolerance is DOUBLED from the actual prescription. Keep doing that a few times and the pair you get will bear little resemblance to what you actually need. Most quickie eye places will have an optometrist on site who will do a walkin exam for you to get you back on the road that day. If you are driving blind, it is because you choose to do so.

[Delaware resident]

After your nasty comments about Dover Delaware, most Delaware residents would rather you stay in Maine. I'm sorry you had a bad experience in the Dover Mall. But did you have to attack our town.

[Rogier]

>>After your nasty comments about Dover Delaware, most Delaware residents would rather you stay in Maine<<

First off, yeah, not every place is paradise. Deal already.

Secondly, read what I wrote. "Dover is a town that, when seen from the commercial strip, seems to be in business to..." etc. WHEN SEEN FROM THE COMMERCIAL STRIP.

Jeez. Don't take this stuff so goddamn personal. Personally, I don't care if you're from Maine or Delaware or Vladiwostok. (a) It doesn't reflect on you, (b) people are going to have opinions that are different from yours, (c) blind jingoism is ugly no matter who displays it (Go Sox!) and (d) crybabies are especially unattractive.

[Rogier]

anonymous optician:

"So you get that pair netralized and a new one made up and that pair is made to within tolerance of the pair that was made within tolerance and suddenly the allowable tolerance is DOUBLED from the actual prescription."

Interesting explanation. You may be technically right, but I've never had a problem with this. As I wrote, in the past I've frequently had copies made of existing eyeglasses that were themselves copies of copies. So the problem, according to you, should have been compounded many times over, and I should have severe eye problems by now. I'm happy to report that all my glasses (I think I have eight or nine pairs) are perfectly identical for all practical intents and purposes. I can see clearly with them and none of them give me a headache.

"Most quickie eye places will have an optometrist on site who will do a walkin exam for you to get you back on the road that day. If you are driving blind, it is because you choose to do so."

Do you need new reading glasses yourelf, by any chance? Because I thought I wrote QUITE clearly that the Lenscrafters I visited that Friday afternoon doesn't have an optometrist on the premises. Until a local jeweler helped out by welding my frame, my choice was to drive 600 or 700 miles with broken glasses, or book a hotel for three nights in the hopes that I could get a member of the local opticians' racket to write me a prescription on Monday. And a racket it is -- your protectionist scrawl just confirmed that suspicion.

[Timothy]

I refuse to patronize Lens Crafters after an experience a couple of years ago where they gave me a huge load of shit because I didn't want to pay them $300 for a new pair of plastic frames and told them to use my old ones.

[KMK]

Can I simply say BACK UP pair. If seeing is that inportant to you you have one. And yes many people carry a copy of their persciption in there wallet.

[Ishmail]

Im an optician and you're frustration is due to you're ignorence. I cant stand having to deal with your type. If only you knew how you sound to us..

[Rogier]

I don't much care how I sound to you and your cabal, frankly. I care about free and open markets, and I care about defeating red tape and unnecessary laws that treat adults like children.

(Ishmail, try to refrain from using *especially* the word 'ignorance' if you don't know how to spell it. I guess you know how that makes you look. Starts with an i.)

[Tom]

Opticians, state licensed professionals (in some states), fabricate glasses based on the Rx usually provided by an optometrist, also licensed by the state. Both professions are bound to operate under the constraints of state law. These laws are roughly a product of consumer protection, lobbying, economic, and political pressure.
All interested parties can influence these laws. Eyeglass and contact lens prescritpions are handled in different ways because of the higher risk of injury and liability with contact lens usage. Federal law requires that an optometrist give each patient a copy of the prescription at the conclusion of the examination, or when the prescription is finalized on a subsequent visit. The prescription must contain an expiration date, beyond which it cannot be refilled.
Keep a copy of a valid prescription in your wallet, or keep a spare set of glasses as a back up for occasions such as the one you described...or have your vision surgically corrected and avoid the hassle (in most cases) of lenses altogether.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

[InTheIndustry]

The information those opticians gave is absolutely correct. Most people think of their eyewear as something that is forced apon them. WHEN if you think about it, would you leave to go on a state to state trip without your prescription for your meds you need?? Its the same thing, for you to say that the laws don't protect the people is silly. WHEN the people themselves don't obviously care by not bringing along vital information INCASE something like this happens. Just a thought:)

[Rogier]

InTheIndustry:

Think about it for two milliseconds and you should be able to see how nuts your analogy is. Most people who needs meds take them every day, and they'd get sick(er) if they didn't. Prescription glasses just don't compare. Glasses are more like braces on teens, or walking canes for the infirm, in that they don't need to be replenished on a regular basis. Hell, why not disallow the sale of canes without a prescription, too? You're probably in favor of that, aren't you? If not, why not? Now apply that same answer to the prescription-glasses issue at hand.

You are also very much mistaken about me (or just a really poor reader) if you think I was calling for more laws to protect the people. The people can take care of themselves just fine -- unless the deck is stacked against them by ridiculous and unnecessary rules that protect a group of ostensible professionals, to the obvious detriment of consumers. Me, I'm for consumer choice and open markets. You, not so much, it seems.

None of the commenters from your profession have yet successfully demonstrated why I shouldn't be allowed to just walk into a Lenscrafters and order a pair of lenses JUST LIKE THE ONES I ALREADY -- DEMONSTRABLY -- HAVE. That's because you really CAN'T logically defend such a ban, can you? You are quite happy, I'm sure, with your little monopoly and with the protection your lobby receives from politicians.

The nonsense from anonymousoptician about copied lenses drifting out of tolerance is just that, as I've shown. Again, I've had copies of copies of copies made, never had a problem; and if I ever *did* get a less than completely perfect pair, that would surely be preferable to having NO glasses at a time when being able to see is critical, such as for a drive home across multiple states.

[Laura]

I worked for an optometrist for 15 years and I have to ask... Why would you want your lenses to be read or using the proper terminology, neutralized?!! There is every possibility that the optician could read the lenses wrong than you would not be able to see. As with all industries unless you have worked in that business you couldn't possibly understand the reasons for the policies or laws. That is why customers and patient should listen AND hear what is being said to them. Would you want your doctor to continuing prescribing your blood pressure meds if he knew you could have developed problems that give no symptoms? I doubt it!! If it has been more than 2 yrs since your last exam if you wear glasses only any number of diseases can develop with no systems occurring including glaucoma,until it is to late and you have lost your vision. Contact lens wearers should be examined yearly. Again there are many complications that you could not be aware of that have developed. One of these complications are veins growing in the eyeball. This is a result of the contacts cutting of oxygen to the eye. The eye must be magnified in order for this to be seen. No one,not even a doctor,can tell if this has developed by glancing at the eye. Like RX's for meds, eyeglass and contact lenses Rx's can be read incorrectly by one who has not been trained. If you try wearing glasses that you can not see properly with and have an accident than you can sue and probably win. If you wear contacts that do not fit you properly and the contacts damage your eye, again you could sue and would probably win. If you have had an optician read your glasses and they have come up with good numbers you have been very lucky to have found a good optician. However, that optician has done you an injustices. Several years ago we had a patient who had diabetes and had not had an eye exam in years. He was on the verge of losing his vision. He thought as long as he could see why did he need to go to the eye doctor. Yes people can take care of themselves. Unfortunately,not all do then we have people on the road who can not see well but think they can (until they come to the doctor get an new RX and glasses then find out "I really needed new glasses." Oh how often I have heard this from a patient) who cause traffic accidents and people die. Like someone who has drank to much alcohol but things they can drive. Most of them kill others and themselves.

[sasha]

short and sweetly put - as a optician in the state of iowa, i can assure you that the associate you worked with in dover did you no diservice. the likelyhood that your glasses would've been made accurately after a manual neutralization is very slim. the law of tolerances (optical slang) requires glasses be accurate to a certain degree depending the on strength of the RX. after passing through the original manufacturer and then through the hands of another person reading the lenses a second time, your RX could end up more than a full diopter off power (that's a lot!), yet they would still be considered 'within tolerance' if we don't know what was originally intended by your eye doctor. so for your protection, the law requires a written RX. if the optical industry was simply after your money, we would love to take your credit card and make glasses for you on the spot no questions asked. the reality is, we lose money every day because potential customers don't have a current RX for us to fill when they're in a pinch and are looking for an immediate fix. our main concern is not putting money in our pockets, but it is to ensure the health of our patients and the accuracy of our products, and unfortuantly, that is not always convinient for you, or for us.

[Sandra G.]

Frankly, I think Lenscrafters stink--scammers! I wasn't ready for another pair of glasses since I had a pair I bought less than two years ago. Whatever... So, one of the hinge's of the frame broke--I thought I could bring it back and have them it repair it. Yeah, okay. They told me they couldn't repair it, so I had to buy a new pair. Of course, doing that, I thought I might get me one of the advertised ones in the pictures in the store. Now, I'm buying here in good faith--what the heck I needed them. So, I buy my new pair of DKNY's; after three months or so, the hinge gets messed up. I take it to them to have them repaired; yeah right! The salesperson tells me they can't be repaired but since I'm still under warranty (good for one year from date of purchase) I can get a new (same) frame for 1/2 the price; now I'm really upset. After telling her I vow to never again buy another pair of glasses from them, I give in and pay the 1/2 price. So, after a week, they call me and tell me my frame came in and that I can come in and get lenses put into my new frame. When I'm done, I asked for my old frame. They told me, "Oh, the store stays with them." Now, I'm fuming. I told her I paid for them, why can't I have them back. They gave me the line "it's store policy." My foot!! Like we don't know they'll refurbish them and sell them on. However, I still have to read my receipt to see where it says I can't have my broken frame back.

[SpeakZero]

Sandra G- They don't refurbish them. At least not at the LensCrafters I work at. We toss them. The policy is to ensure people don't abuse the Breakage Protection Policy. If you feel your frames have sustained damage, we'll replace them at half off. If we didn't keep the frame you've decided is broken, customers would simply claim every frame they have is broken, keep the "broken" frame, and double their amount of frames at 50% the retail value.

So if your frame is truly broken, we'll take it off your hands and pay 50% of the cost of a new frame.

Not a bad deal, really. We didn't break your frame. :)

NB-

As an optician, it is a mistake to have your glasses "duplicated" with a lensometer or lenscheck. The chances of those new lenses being the Rx the doctor wrote for you are slim. Also, it would be a bad idea for insurance premiums. If my uninsured friend needs new glasses, I could simply take them to LensCrafters, claim they are mine and have them duplicated on the tab of my vision insurance.

Also, seeing an optometrist is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Also, I lose sales all the time because I am unwilling to neutralize a pair of glasses and write my own prescription, as you asked your optician to do. I suppose that is something of a paternal view, but it's a bad idea and I wouldn't feel good about playing optometrist with your vision. You should be thanking your optician in Denver.

[Z4Z]

I was so tired of the overpriced glasses from the big box stores (Lenscrafters, Foreyes, etc) and the down-right poor service. So I went to one of the many local independent stores, where I must say, the service was far better, yet I still had a hard time forking over $400.00 for glasses. Mind you, this is just the frames and lens, not the actual visit with the Optician.
When it came around to get a new RX, no one wanted to put lenses into my existing frame (this will sound familiar, they were 2 years old and in great shape), so I went back to the independent stores. They had no problem doing so, for $425.00. This is just for the lens, not the frame, not for a doctor to exam me. This is for them to order the lens and install them. To install the 4 screws and nose pads. I find this greedy and refused to pay that kind of money - just for lens! (Btw, i have a pretty standard single vision RX)
So I looked around on the internet to see what I could find. I found Goggles4u.com, ordered a pair to see what $50.00 got me. Guess what, they are wonderful.
For all of the opticians out there who hate dealing with our ‘type’, I have good news. You won’t need to deal with us too much longer. These glasses are outstanding and I did not need to shell over hundreds of dollars. I gave them my RX and within 15 days, I had a new pair of glasses with all the bells and whistles (. Yes, these are made over seas, am I could be called on not supporting Buy American, but when someone is jamming a $425.00 price tag in my face, for something that costs a fraction of that, I don’t find that American, I find that greedy.

[Will]

If Dover looked so run down and depressing, why would you stop at Lenscrafters and trust them with your vision?

[AnotherOptician]

Eye exams are not "forced" upon people as you seem to think in a money-grubbing attempt. A big reason that neutralization is not a common practice is liability. If that optician had taken your glasses and had a perfect read AND the lab had made them perfectly and then you drove out onto the highway and got into an accident, that could actually come back to bite your helpers in the butt. There is a chance that your prescription changed. You could be like a lot of other sue-happy people and blame those who had tried to help you. You can thank all the sue-happy consumers in America for that one.

Another reason is medical responsibility and liability. Despite what most people think, the eyes are the window to your general health. High blood pressure, diabetes and cancer are many times detectable in the eyes before anywhere else. Also, eye health diseases are often asymptomatic and do not discrimate based on age. We saw an 18 year old girl this past year in our office that was a regular patient(read once a year.) She had a large tumor behind her right eye. Her vision was saved due to the exam.

Now, I get that there was not an optometrist(eye doctor) available that day. However, that is no one's fault. I'm certain that the optician/associate would have been happy to direct you to a nearby LC if you had given her a chance. My guess is you did not.

The previous opticians that neutralized your glasses did you a disservice. And I could lay you odds that if you brought in the original prescription from which you kept having glasses neutralized and all the eyewear through the years that they would NOT match in the way you seem to think they do.

[Rogier]

Um, wouldn't the proof of the pudding be in the eating? I have several pairs of glasses whose lenses were copied, neutralized, whatever. They work fine -- they give me excellent vision with no headaches or other side effects.

Now I read that I simply MUST have an eye exam because there's always a chance that this might prevent me from developing brain cancer. One of your colleagues in this thread warns that if people don't get eye exams, they run the grave risk of dying in car crashes ("they kill others and themselves").

Jesus Christ, the more I learn about your shameless lobby and its bizarre protestations that I OWE fearmongering sleazoids like you my hard-earned money, the harder I'm going to run in the other direction.

That means I'll be buying my frames and lenses over the Internet from now on, from places like www.optical4less.com and www.39dollarglasses.com. If I need to get a prescription in order to do that, so be it, my insurance company will pay for it, and that'll be the last time in a loooong time that I set foot in a Lenscrafters or any other optical-products store, let alone spend a dime there.