[ music | Johann Sebastian Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D minor ]
I had an eye exam a week and a half ago at Walmart’s Optical center. Why there? Well, five years ago I had a good experience with them. This time the eye doctor was excellent. That’s when the good times stopped. They still have good prices on frames, relative to the insane prices most places charge. However, unlike 5 years ago, they don’t have the “bundle” prices anymore. It used to be the frame price included the base lenses, and you could upgrade for moderate charges depending on your choice. No longer. Now even the cheap plastic lenses are another $40, which I was told they didn’t even sell (I found out later was a lie, not that I was going to buy them, they’re terrible quality).
The set I was looking at ran $110 per pair, and that was the lowest of the three upgrades lenses. The sales lady of course tried to talk me into the $220 lenses, which I immediately told her I was not going to buy, twice. She proceeded to give me the sales pitch anyway, which consisted of her tellign me that basically their lens grinding process ruined the cheaper lenses, and only these super expensive lenses would actually work. I said a third time I wasn’t interested because if the lenses didn’t work, I would demand replacement sunder their warranty policy, and that it’s illegal to sell products you know are defective but still advertise as functional. She finished by saying she really recommended them to everyone with my type of vision (I’m nearsighted). I didn’t bother to mention that’s a lot of people to push pricey lenses on. So I settled on a mild upgrade to $140 because that set of lenses was significantly thinner, and had anti-glare coatings, etc.
Then I learned they no longer do the lens grinding in-house. It takes a week because it’s sent to their labs in Indiana. This really displeased me, but no one nearby does it any faster anyway, which is why I went to Walmart. So fine, it takes a week.
I went in Thursday to pick up my glasses. I put them on, and vision in my right eye was still quite blurry. I pulled of the glasses, they were clean, put them back on, still very blurry, but different from my normal vision. Immediately I knew what happened. They screwed up the prescription, or the lab used the wrong lens. The girl this time tried to tell me it was my eye that just needed to get used to the new glasses. “Excuse me? If any old lens worked, and my eye just needed to ‘get used to it’ then I wouldn’t be here spending $200 on these. This is wrong.” Another moment of arguing about it, and finally she conceeded and wrote on my chart “patient refuses to take glasses home and try them out for a while”. She went to go get the doctor, and I added to the chart, “because the lens is wrong, and he knows taking them home won’t fix the lens.”
Well, after a few minutes with the doctor, lo and behold I was correct and the lens is wrong. Whoever entered the doctor’s report into the computer ordering system introduced whatever the optical equivalent of an “off by one” error is. The lens was one power “notch” lower than it should have been, according to the doctor. So this time they double checked all the entries, and reordered the glasses. There’s no such thing as a rush according to them, and so I must wait another week. I was too busy, and too angry at the situation to deal with it, so I let them continue, although tomorrow I plan on having a word with a number of people about this. Especially the part about how my eyes would just “get used to it.”
On the brigh tside, I still have 20/10 vision with corrective lenses, and the doctor compared my prescription now to what it was 5 years ago, and my eyes have slightly improved from then. Apparently this is not unheard of to eye doctors, although it’s incredible news to me. I thought that my current glasses weren’t strong enough, but it’s that now they’re actually too strong, however so slightly.
I will never buy glasses from Walmart ever again. The last pair I had was back in 2001 and one side of the frame just fell out and could not be put back together. I never slept with them on. They broke apart on my face! Yeah, my mother’s eyesight improved with time. I don’t know if you have ever heard of the see clearly method but you may want to check it out.l
For a long time I bought my glasses at Walmart because of the guarantee, since I am always very hard on them. Well, I stopped doing that recently and I think I got better glasses and have had less problems since I stopped getting them at Walmart. If Walmart had kept their guarantee, I never would have switched.
I buy my disposable contact lens from Wal-Mart in Dallas, TX. The price is quite a bit cheaper than the same brand at other locations and I have not had a problem at all. So, of course, I thought of Wal-Mart when I found out my 10-year old needs glasses. Because of the horror stories I’ve read here, I’m thinking of looking elsewhere for glasses!
Thanks,
I bought eye glasses at Walmart. The first day the lens fell out…I put it in -thought I pulled apart to far. No, they popped out again. Took them back. Was told the screw was stripped out couldn’t be fixed. Couldn’t get another pair of frames even if I paid for them. the frames I picked were discontinued. Now I have lens that only fit those frames that were discontinued. It’s all a scam. Walmart is a cheap rip off on anything they do or have. I wish I knew how to contact someone who has authority over these fools they hire.
You get what you pay for. Cheap is WalMart.
Well, I was just about ready to take hubster to Walmart to fill his Rx for glasses, but, I guess this has changed my mind. The only other ‘great deal’ I have found is from JC Penney, they have a coupon on their website for 2 complete pair of glasses for $159, and a no line bifocal for $10 extra. Anyone have any JC Penney optical experience ???
i’m looking at $39dollarglasses.com. anyone tried them?
thank you for your comments i usually use sears but last time i went in they talked me into the whole anti glare thing since i drive at night they said it would help it didn’t big bright light bursts are all i see and they talked me into scratch resistance which just means the scratches are smaller and there are more of them making your vision appear fuzzy or your glasses to seem dirty even if you by the special cleaning cloth and every thing and of course i don’t play dodge ball anymore so really i don’t need scratch resistance walked out after 300+ first time i personally ever paid for glasses mom had it rough i was thinking about going to walmart but after reading your comments i think i might try some other place i don’t mind spending a little more if i will get better service and product
The See clearly method is a total joke. Don’t you still see millions of people still wearing glasses or contacts. Not to mention doctors still wear glasses or contacts. The only way to correct vision to a 20/20 state is 1) glasses 2) Contact lenses 3) Ortho-keratology 4) LASIK/PRK/LASEK surgery 5) Cataract IOL surgery and now 6) Implantable IOL lens for high myopia.
I actually work at the lab in Indiana. I work in the frame room pulling frames to match to the job. Its located in Crawfordsville. The suits decided a couple of years ago to take away the vision center finishing labs to save money. It has increased our finishing work( where the lenses are mounted into the frame instead of just sent to the store) from about 35-40% to 80-85% with them not really wanting to quickly upgrade our equipment but it is slowly getting there. Dont blame the people working there blame the bad management that has taken over in the past two years. Next to diamonds glasses is the largest mark up in the states. We sell the finished jobs to the vision center and they then turn around mark it up sometimes 500-600%. I have seen jobs cost us 40$ sell for 250$ but it is like that everywhere.
You get what you pay for in most cases. Walmart provides you with the choice in most cases to either get the cheaper CR39 (plastic lenses ) or the polycarb. The opticians have the ability to offer you a choice. As to the quality well thier hands are tied as to what comes out of the labs. I work at Walmart optical and I have to check in the jobs and believe me some come back horrible!! Lenses loose, frames bent up , RX not right, I have to send them back and have them remade more times than I really like. I wish they still had the in store labs as I have 12 years lab experience and I am a licensed optician. Walmart needs to do a total revamp of their labratories hence more training and have more experienced checkers to check out the jobs. I have had visible crooked bifocals sent to me. It is very obvious that they dont care or dont want to care. =( Then they try to pressure the opticians to sell off the mat! Heck people come in for LOW prices so I sell them what they want. If they dont want the ARC I dont even offer them that. Dont give up on Walmart just find the RIGHT one the right OPTICIAN to help you…. one that will give you EVERY option available not just to make a buck but to offer you what is best for you.
Again blame the crappy jobs on management. Our QA people are great but when they show a job to management, they tell them to send it. If there is an argument management threatens them with all sorts of punishment even a decision day. A few others and I have partaked in trying to catch some of the bad jobs and purposely breaking them to force a total redo. It wrong but I would rather cost the lab some money than lose the customers.
Thank you Grey for this article. I was seriously going to go there tomorow for new lenses, but not anymore. I get so angry when people give you the sales pitch, like "you need the more expensive lens if you drive at night" – Who on Earth does not drive at night??? But now I don’t know where to go 🙁
My wife and each ordered a pair of glasses at Walmart. They came back from the lab defective. They were replaced, and replaced about 12 times- all defective. Some lenses had bubbles in
them, some lenses had chips, some lenses just fell out of the frames.
Not one pair was correct visually. Trying to focus was a practice in futility and a constant frustration.
The junk that Walmart passes off as prescription-quality, is gross incompetence at best, and borderline criminal at worse. I cannot express how much time we wasted with that little fiasco.
When my wife got replacement glasses at another company, she said they were great, there was no comparison- everything looked clear. I have since ordered glasses at the same place.
I am a licensed Optician @ lens Crafters! Best Products and Service and more money Ofcourse! You get what you pay for…
Here’s the real story….the lenses that Walmart sells are the same lenses that any other optical company sells. The lenses come from the same vendor’s. The only difference is that Walmart can offer them to you cheaper, because they buy in bulk. They send all of their frames through a very indepth quality check before they hit the stores. If they find frames that are breaking a lot….they will pull them until the vendor fixes the problem. I only know this, because I used to work for them. Be careful of thinking you found a great deal somewhere else, because a lot of times, the company’s will switch out all their frames the night before a big sale and put out their discontinued frames. A lot of times you have to pay for a warranty and a lot of times, they add on a bunch of charges that you could have gotten at Walmart for free. Example: All the lenses have a scratch resistant coating…so if someone try’s to sell you a scratch resistant coating…guess what…it’s a scam, because it’s already on there. At least Walmart is honest.
Does anyone actually believe that any company would try to sell a poor product?
When four labs produce 20,000 pair of glasses a day with a variable of 13 billion possible different combinations of prescriptions and frames. Each one made and inspected by humans. Do you think there may be a mistake made by them. If Walmart was that bad considering the volume produced, it seems like there would be alot more complaints on this sight.
If you get glasses that do not meet ASNSI standards. I challenge you to contact the labs that made them and complain. They will take care of you.
Not all the labs make poor quality. But I know ours has rushed poor quality jobs out the door to meet shipping and yield goals. And the various supervisors and managers have pushed for quanity rather than quality to impress the higher ups with numbers. Trust I work there and still work there I see this going on all the time.
I have had nothing but good experiences at Wal-Mart Optical and I’m sorry some have had trouble. But I have saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the years using Wal-Mart for all my family glasses and contact needs. If someone knows of a company that doesn’t have that one jerk of a sales clerk every once in a while then good for them. But there are so many Wal-Mart Opticals to choose from why not just go to another. Yes, It’s that easy dude!
Hey Lab Monkey,
Why do you not do what is right and call thier home office about this? Knowing and seeing this while not saying anything about it kind makes you just as guilty.
Glad I reviewed the comments on this sight before wasting my time looking at Walmart Optical. I will stick to BJ’s which is further to drive, but at least the service, quality and price are right and you don’t need to be a member!
Super sale starts this Sunday…woo hoo
I just got hired at the lab in Indiana. Hopefully I have a better experience when I go and get my glasses and contacts!
I can help you all! Go where you want instead of being stuck with Wal-Mart glasses. If you decide you’d like more information about how you can save big-time no matter where you go, give me a
call: James Smithers,
Toll Free: (800)568-1649
Every time you shop at Walmart you are supporting the Chinese Regime’s forced, semi-slave labor. Rural inhabitants of China have been left utterly impoverished after China elected to end virtually all of its social welfare programs and submit to the lustful pursuit of money by adopting somewhat of a freemarket. Anyone who works at Walmart in this country, who is not actively working to unionize is contributing the descent of this society into a condition that will resemble the current condition of China.
R Cole
my husband bought a pair less then a year ago witch also broak on his face !!!!!unbeleavable
they tryed to make him do a nother eye exzame but like i said it was only 9 mo ago …
yes you should have exzam once a year but !!!! not because your glasses broak!!!!!!!
I purchased glasses from Walmart about 9 months ago. After spending 489.00 after all was said and done. I recieved my glasses a week later and within that first month my wireless frames kept falling apart. I brought them back to the store and the lady took them and came back and said your all set..Not realizing until after I got home she had cut the plastic piece that holds the wireless frame onto the lense and stuck glue on it! I brought them back in the following day and said I did not pay 489.00 to have nothing but a little spot of glue holding my glasses together and showed her how unstable and wobbly they were. Needless to say I called the general manager of Walmart and everything only to get nowhere. I have since went to LensCrafters and showed them my glasses and they said it was definatly a defective frame and they were mortified to see how the lady at Walmart tried to "fix" my glasses with glue. I now have a great pair of wireless frames I got from Lenscrafters and I havent had one problem with them! WALMART OPTICAL is nothing but a rip off!
I bought my fiancee some glasses from http://zennioptical.com. They came back in about two weeks and were great. She loves them! Prescription was dead on and only 39 bucks for frames and glasses!
Well thanks for the info..my college bound son called and said he needed new glasses "right away"…so i said let me check the internet for some pricing information…i typed in wall mart, skipped the first sight listed and fell upon this one…needless to say…we will be shopping elsewhere!
Wow!! I went into a Super Walmart and saw the optical Dept. I was amazed at the pricing for contacts… I have been a Lenscrafter’s customer for a long time.. until their pricing went off the chain for frames and lenses.. I cannot use my insurance card, nor can I just buy one set of extended wear contact lenses for emergencies
Is Walmart any better for just plain old glasses to drive with…Contacts that don’t cost an arm and a leg???
Have always been satisfied w/ walmart optician. My contacts are inexpensive disposable. I did however have a problem with my lenses falling out of my glasses. I had them for a couple of years before they did so. Presently I am w/out backup glasses.Personally, I would go elsewhere for glasses.
Browsing this site prior to purchasing eyeglasses…I noticed sooo many complaints regarding Walmart…I had an experience this week (Thursday)which was really a good one….didn’t have to drive for an hour and a half to get to Lens Crafters which is where I bought them before…had the exam…picked out the frames..yada yada…and was called on Monday to pick up the finished product. Saved over $250.00 on the transaction…Looks good, see good…feel good about the savings…I’m not knocking Lens Crafters…they are good too…but saving driving time, gas, yada yada…all I can say is "Go Walmart". Bottom line is…no matter where you go…you can run into an unpleasant experience…why throw away the whole barrel of apples because of one rotten one…can happen to anyone. Happy camper with my Walmart experience.
I personally think that if your gonna go with glasses, go somewhere else. With glasses you need them really sturdy cause your wearing them all the time. COntacts on the other hand is like a wal mart MUST. I’ve gotten contacts from all over the place and wal-mart has it cheapest, BUT it doesn’t affect the quality becuase wal-mart, pearlevision, lenscrafters, 1800contacts all get them for the same place.
Glasses- Lenscrafters- I was 13 and HARD on my glasses, sat on them, stepped on them, played tug-of-war with them, threw them across the room, twirled them by the ear piece… and i still had them for about 2 years. they’re sturdy.
contacts- since they’re all the same neways, get the cheapest ones you can find.
the best place to get glasses is in private practice you will pay more but quality is the best. you get what you pay for. stay away from the chains.
NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH WALMART GALSSES WHEN MY DAUGHTERS GLASSES BROKE I TOOK THEM BACK AND THEY FIXED THEM ….TAYLOR MICHIGAN
Some of your comments are UNBELIEVABLE! Are you actually reading what you’re typing? THANK YOU to those of you who believe in a GREAT product at a GREAT price!!! I personally manage a Wal*Mart Vision Center in Oregon. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly! No, I’m not just talking about the glasses… I’m talking about the patients/customers who walk in my front door!
99% of the time, I will go out of my way to fix your glasses no matter what the cause of the problem. I know "life happens", and your 3-year old stepped on your glasses, or you left your sunglasses on the top of your car and drove off. That’s ok. No, it’s not covered under warranty, but I’ll fix it! That’s because I value you as a customer! Sometimes I will make you pay for part of it, but most of the time, I will just warranty it "Free of Charge!"
If you can’t see clearly through your new glasses, that is definitely a problem! Come see me, and we’ll get you in to see the doctor right away. As for the adjustment period… It’s for real! If you have never worn a progressive lens before, it’s going to take some time to get used to it. Wal*Mart has a 60 day prescription gaurantee! They also have 100% satisfaction gaurantee! You can’t go wrong when buying at Wal*Mart!!!
Rules to Follow (if you’re unsatisfied):
1. Talk to the manager.
2. If the manager is unwilling to rectify the problem, ask for the district manager’s name and phone number.
3. If they give you a bogus number, or just won’t give it to you at all…
CALL 1-800-WALMART
Remember, there are bad opticians, managers, and even district managers out there in EVERY COMPANY!!!
Shop locally, and watch your community grow locally!
Sounds like the Oregan manager needs a class in customer service. Perhaps not all of the patients/ customers writing into this blog aren’t as keyboard or even language savvy as YOURSELF. To demean people with statements like "Are you actually reading what you’re typing?" your sure to repel even more potential customers. Get a clue! Don’t get me wrong. It is nice to know that at least some Wal-Mart employee is reading this. Thank you to all of those who have submitted comments, the rest of us appreciate it. Yes shop locally. That means use a private practitioner, not a super-chain like Wal-Mart.
Attn: John,
Just so you know, the doctor’s are independent. Therefore, you are going to a private practitioner.
I appologize for my demeaning statements. I was very upset after reading everyone’s comments. You have to understand, I stand behind my company and I’m very proud to make a difference in my patient’s lives on a daily basis.
As for customer service, I can’t speak for all Wal*Mart Vision Centers, but we strive to provide the BEST in mine!
VCM: Well, I’m very glad to hear that. For the record, the doctor was great. Nice, polite, thorough but expedient. When it turned out by prescription is weaker now than it was a few years ago, she explained to me that yes, in cases like mine it IS possible for the vision to improve. I never knew that and she even explained how. Great doc. The vision centers were great years ago before they removed the in house labs, but the management in this one sucked. I’m glad you strive for excellence.
For the person who asked about JC Penney….I got glasses there a few months ago. When I picked them up, I couldn’t see at all. The RX was wrong. I had waited over 2 weeks to get them. Not only that, They never told me when I picked out the frame that the nose pieces couldn’t be adjusted. They are way too big. Waited another three weeks to get the correct RX and still can’t wear them because they aren’t adjustable. I’m out $179.00. So much for cheap glasses at penney’s.
I was an Independant Optometrist for a Wally world SuperStore. I spent 25% of my
time re-checking my patients after
walmart would give them poorly made glases
very often with multiple errors and defects. Money $$$$ is all walmart cares about. In my experience I found that they
lie to and cheat the Drs on a regular basis. Their "word," is worthless and most
of the Opticals are staffed with a non- trained staff. Trained only in selling, most know little about Optics and fitting glasses.
I am now out of the walmart "Doc in a box," for 3 years. I can with knowledge and
experience say that WALMART OPTICAL SUCKS !!!!
Cheap is cheap. You do not get what you pay for at Walmart. You get much less
quality and Service. Walmart is a blight on the Optical Industry.
If you buy cheap eyewear, remember its cheap for a reason. Quality eyewear costs money but so do braces, and if you think eyewear is expensive then think about the last pair of shoes you bought, your kids braces, your last vacation your designer clothes and purses, etc. Eyewear is the least expensive medical device there is and vision is not a commodity try living without it Most of you can afford quality eyewear. You just prefer cheap and that’s what Walmart is all about. So quit complaining.
You should all really try FOR EYES Optical if they are in your neighborhood. You can’t go wrong and you will be treated right and always pay less. Plus they have packaged pricing and a great 2 for 99 sale all the time. As for Walmart or any large big box chain as they are referred to their average sale is always way above the industry average. In essence it is not cheaper to go there–the reverse is true. Good Luck!
Before my husband lost his job. I was going to a local independant optomitrist. There are 4 in our house with glasses. He would sell me all the gimmicks. The last pair of glasses I got from him for myself was close to $400.00. That was my last. My son needed a new pair, he broke his frames and we were told by our expensive doc that we had to buy new. His lenses were fine. We are now on a budget, we went to Wal-Mart. They were excellent & kind. (Since it was only 6mos. since his last exam they let me use that prescription, they even called for us and got it faxed to them. $59 for lense and frames. My son liked them better than the pair the doc sold us for 4-times the $$ 6mos. earlier. Yes, we had to wait a week for them, but I knew that when we went in. I asked questions. Do you have an inhouse lab? How long will this take? I learned from my previous dr. that you have to ask. A month later my 9yr bent his frames playing football. I went in was polite to them asked if they could help me. They again, were polite to us, said they understand that boys will be boys, fixed them, looked to make sure nothing else was wrong. Never asked to see a receipt. Just did it. In 10min. we were out the door. I will shop @ WalMart again. Each store has different employees and different experiences. We are satisfied customers and will recommend WalMart Optical.
I used to work for lenscrafters and the mark up for frames, lenses and contacts is unbeliveable. Also, when customers come back with a problem with there glasses, associates would sometimes pretend to recheck or fix the prescription or glasses. also, if the customers could hear what associates said about them after they left they would be surprised.
Walmart uses a cheap and ineffective scratch coating on the back side of the lenses. I met someone who works in Indiana lab and they blame retail people making optical decisions.
Not surprised
I use to work for walmart but I am not trusting my son’s and daughters eyes to them now. Thanks all
You must have went to a crappy store. I work for the lab in Indiana. We have rush jobs all the time. Sounds like they just lied to you at the store. things in store are handled a lot differently then at the actual lab. grinding lenses has nothing to do with the quality. Sure plastic is cheap. Lenses arent ever "ground" they are generated then cut to fit the lens. Sounds like whoever worked at the store didnt know what they were talking about. Which we have learned is usually the case. Whenever we get a job that someone has messed up it gets rushed through every line and if all goes well is out the door about 2 hours after receiving it…
I’ll never buy glasses from Walmart again either. Six months ago I bought new glasses there. I paid $275.00 just for the lenses, which were supposedly top of the line Carl Zeiss lenses. I now have cracks along the top edge of both lenses. Most of them are fairly small and insignificant. However, one of the is growing daily. I first noticed it a week ago and today it is about 3/8ths of an inch long… twice the size that it was 3 days ago.
Today I went by Walmart to show it to them. The doctor wasn’t in. He works at sveral locations. The girl there looked at them and pulled up my records in her system. She said my warranty had expired and that there was nothing they would do.
She then tried to tell me that if the lenses were defective or overly tightened, the cracks would be in different areas and added, "My guess is you dropped them or stepped on them or sat on them."
There isn’t a scratch on these glasses. There isn’t a single mark on the (expensive) frames. There’s no damage anywhere. I’m an old man. I’ve been wearking glasses for a long time. I learned decades and decades ago not t drop, step on or sit on glasses. Nothing has ever happened to the glasses. ANYONE coud look at these glasses andsee that nothing has ever happened to them.
The cracks are clearly a result of por quality and/or a poor job of installing the lenses in the frames.
I paid top dollar and received garbage from WalMart and was insulted when I expected them to stand behind their product.
Take my advice…don’t buy glasses from WalMart!
I am on my third replacement lenses. Each lense, starts cracked gradually all along the bottom from the bottom up. I am pleased that each time walmart replaces the lense but it is inconvenient. Also, i take very good care of my lenses, i only use the cloth walmart optical gave me to clean the lenses but still the lenses get many fine scratches within 4 months. I’ve had glasses for 25 yrs and have never had a pair that scratches that easily with scratch resistant lenses.
I used Walmart years ago for back up glasses for all three of my children and I was very pleased with the service. Each time the frames broke, they fixed them with no questions asked or receipts needed.
Although your comments are discouraging, I think I will try Walmart again, because my son broke his glasses within two months, just the frames. These came from lensCrafters and I was told I would have to pay an astronomical charge to replace the frames. If I am going to replace frames two to three times a year, I want a guarantee, which Walmart gives, instead of having to pay huge amounts each time frames are broken. We are all entitled to our opinions and we all will search for places that best meet our needs as a consumer.