The last time I bought glasses – in 2001 – I think it cost me about $200 for the eye exam and the glasses. I only wear them when I drive or watch a movie, so they don’t get a lot of wear and tear. But I could tell that the prescription wasn’t quite right anymore, so I spent $59 on an updated eye exam a few weeks ago. Then I ordered my glasses online, and spent $28 for a sweet new pair of glasses with anti reflective coating and super stylish frames. Twenty eight dollars.
I bought my glasses from Zenni Optical (and no, they aren’t paying me to write this). My mother had tried them earlier this fall, and was very pleased with the results. She wears bifocals, and got a new pair for $32 (compared with about $200 if she had bought them at her eye doctor’s office). She was so happy with that pair that she decided to order another pair just for reading. They arrived this week, but had been caught in a post office machine and smashed. When my mother called Zenni Optical to see about a replacement pair, they offered to start making a new pair immediately, and within 24 hours she had received three emails from the company, detailing the status of her replacement order (and there is no charge for the new glasses). So not only do they provide good glasses for rock bottom prices (as low as eight dollars a pair), but they also have great customer service.
My new glasses arrived today (not smashed!) and I love them. At my current every-eight-years rate of replacement, the $200 that I would have spent on an exam and glasses will last me until I need bifocals of my own.
One thing to note, you’ll need to know the distance between your pupils in order to place an order online for glasses. Eye doctors measure this distance, but often don’t write it on the prescription. I didn’t find this out until after I had my exam, and sure enough, that space on my prescription form (listed as PD) was blank. My husband measured it for me (the website gives detailed instructions for how to do this if you need to), and it worked out just fine. But if you want to get an eye exam and then order your glasses online, it’s probably easiest to just ask the doctor to make sure that space is filled in on the prescription.
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Mrs. Money says
Wow! You got a great deal! I need to get an eye exam…
Aaron says
Super find! I’m on the site now looking around! Just got an eye exam a few weeks ago and just need to find my prescription again, and I’ll try out a pair from the site! Thanks for the info!
Sense says
I love Zenni, too. When my eye doc got my prescription wrong, they refunded half of the money that I spent on my glasses from them.
You *may* have to replace those sooner than your $220 pair, I find that the quality of my Zenni glasses is much lower than my name brand pair that I got in 2005 (I wear my glasses every day, all day, from waking til sleeping), which are now looking worse for the wear.
But at $28 per pair, you can afford to do a little more replacing!
Yvonne! says
Just looked over that website, looks like a pretty good deal for those that, like you, only wear their glasses rarely. i have to buy the “billy blind” glasses so i’m looking into maybe getting a pair of backup sunglasses on there. i’ll have to let my patients know about it too!
for those of us with high prescriptions it can come down to a “you get what you pay for” kinda thing. the slightest thing wrong can REALLY change your vision.
btw, $200 for an eye exam and glasses isn’t anything to sneeze at either! i have a VERY high prescription, my last pair cost $255 (glasses only, i get exams for free) and that was half off because i know the optician that makes them!
This Thrifted Life says
Wow, what a deal! Since your mom had such a good experience with their customer service, I will definitely have to look into them next time I need my glasses replaced.
Rachel says
I’m wearing my Zenni specs as I write this, and I agree – they’re an amazing deal.
One word of warning to those of your readers about to go ask their optometrist to measure their interpupillary distance: asking for this tends to tip off your optometrist that you’re going to buy your glasses online, and many will give you crap about it, and tell you nonsense about how you’ll ruin your eyes. (And I stand firmly by it being nonsense — optometrists don’t sell glasses, and the people who work at eyeglass places don’t seem to have particularly special training for their work of fitting you for glasses.)
My advise is to ask your optometrist to do the measuring anyway, but be prepared for a lecture. If they refuse — and my friend Di’s doctor did — do it yourself … and find a new optometrist.
Aurie says
i never dreamed that this could be possible..i’ll be going to that site very soon. =) I wonder if they do contacts also…I’m on my last pair
Sara says
My Zenni glasses are a year old and are still holding up pretty well. The ones I wear everyday are a little stretched out, but for $25 no big deal. I ordered 3 pairs and had one tinted for sunglasses and the costs was only $50! My co-workers measured the distance between my pupils for me. I have seen some negative comments about them on clarkhoward.com, but I have been very pleased with my purchase.
FrugalBabe says
When I started this process, I just assumed the eye doctor would be happy to have my business for the exam and that where I got my glasses wouldn’t be a big deal. I was honest from the get-go and told them as soon as I walked in that I just needed the exam and prescription, as I was planning to get my glasses online. No lecture, but he did neglect to fill in the PD space on my prescription and I had to have my husband do it for me (didn’t know I’d need it when I went for the exam, so I didn’t know to ask).
@Rachel, your comment made me check into this further, and it looks like what your friend’s doctor did is illegal.
http://www.spectechsantamonica.com/presrelease.html
Apparently optometrists are required by law to provide patients with a written copy of their prescription, and are not allowed to include any sort of waiver of liability for the accuracy of the prescription. I had no idea that this was an issue at all, but I guess it is.
So an optometrist who tries to scare a patient away from leaving with just a prescription is treading on thin legal ice, and one who refuses to provide the prescription is breaking the law. Knowing that when going for the exam might make patients feel more confident in asking for their prescription.
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Very interesting! Hubs buys the optical insurance via his job, but something like this is likely to be much cheaper. The only problem is you can’t try them on to see what they look like on your face first. . .
Deborah Schneider says
Great article! I am also a Zenni fan. I have been purchasing their specs for the past couple of years, and they are awesome. I purchase the ultra-lightweight, semi-rimless, stainless frames, and they hold up marvelously. Zenni even polishes the edges of the lens, so they look very high end. I did make the mistake of purchasing one of their plastic frames once, however, and I wouldn’t recommend them. Peace. :)