This is gonna be lengthy, so get a cup of tea and settle in or just skip to the bottom...
My experience with iGlasses started off really positively but ended in flames. I met owners Judy and David in a nearby restaurant after Judy commented on my unique red frames. I had been looking to purchase a new pair of glasses and saw this chance meeting as a sign...I went in a couple of weeks later to look at frames. I met Colleen, who helps manage the shop, and who was wonderful, on my first visit, and over the course of a handful of visits to the store I purchased a new pair of cool navy frames and lenses and dropped off two of my own frames (a black pair and those beloved red ones upon which owner Judy had commented in the restaurant) to have new lenses made for them. The black ones turned out fine (although the lab made the prescription wrong and it took an extra week to have them made right), but my awesome/amazing/special red frames were broken at the lab. Colleen was the one who ended up sharing this awful news with me and I was heartbroken (my red frames are irreplaceable; they were part of a run of 100 frames and cannot be purchased again). I say I was heartbroken - I didn't get angry, or demanding, or belligerent. Colleen shared with me that owner David was making attempts to repair the frames and I patiently awaited the outcome. I know he contacted the shop at which they were purchased. I know he sent the frames to two different places to be mended. The final mend was something iGlasses paid for. I recognize that steps were taken. When I went to pick up my mended frames I instantaneously saw the break and the sloppy mend. My heart dropped again. Add to that that once again, the lab had gotten my prescription wrong. (I want to *strongly* suggest they not use this lab any longer). David, Judy, and Colleen were all out that day, so I waited until that Monday and called David to talk about a replacement set of frames from the shop.
THIS is where everything really went to sh&t. David was rude, nasty, condescending, and completely unprofessional with me. He interrupted me over and over again, not allowing me to finish a sentence to say what I hoped we could work out. During the course of two phone calls he offered me any pair of frames in the shop, rescinded the offer, offered it again, and then rescinded it again. He said things like, "This is why I don't do business in Potomac anymore", "I don't need your money and don't want you as a customer", "We are not responsible for anything that happens to your frame", and, "What do you want from me? It's just piece of plastic...get over it". After ending the first shockingly abusive conversation with what I thought was a (grudgingly made) plan for me to come to the shop to choose new frames, my phone rang again minutes later and I heard David say, "On second thought, just come pick up..." and I hung up. I just couldn't have the same conversation with him again. I called back later in the day, asked the young man on the phone for Judy, and found David on the line instead. He told me that he is the owner and I wasn't going to go around him to to get something different from Judy. That conversation didn't go any better than the first: back, forth, him being nasty, me trying to complete a sentence...
So now it's about a week later. David mailed my red frames back to me (neither of us wanted me in the shop) along with a bill for the black pair. [If you're still with me, that makes one complete pair bought and paid for from iGlasses, one pair of my own frames now with new lenses in them, and one pair of my own frames, now broken/sloppily repaired and with the wrong prescription in them, neither of those two paid for.] I figure the pair of correct lenses is going to have to suffice as the trade-off for my broken frames and I don't plan to pay that bill.
Here's my bottom line: If your entire transaction goes well and there are no glitches, you will probably find that iGlasses has a pretty decent array of offbeat frames, a great store manager (Colleen), some smart and efficient staff (and some dimwits...), and husband & wife owners, both with very strong personalities. However, should something go awry, expect that at least one of those strong personalities is going to unload on you if you convey your unhappiness or displeasure. Had David handled himself more professionally (and, frankly, more kindly), we would likely have worked something out and we'd all be happy. But David's a cretin and incredibly churlish, so now none of us are happy. I fully expect that Judy will respond to this review because I see that she has responded to all of their negative reviews.
I can't recommend that you go to iGlasses simply because something could easily go wrong and if it does, you'll end up very unhappy. If unique, offbeat frames are what you're looking for, try checking out SEE in Georgetown, Moda Optical in Rockville, or Visions in Frederick instead. That's what I'm doing. read more