I have always heard Pearl Vision was a great choice in the area but I could not recommend or trust this business going forward. I went here because my insurance was taken and covered the cost of most of my frames/lenses.
To start, the building is nice and the selection of frames is also nice but do not go here expecting budget friendly frames. Even their in house brand is significantly more than other in house brands from other places. They do carry a large amount of designer brands though so if that's your thing, there's that.
However, the negatives are mostly everything else. Dr. Appel is pretty straight forward and not too personable, that can be a pro or con depending on who you are. But his exam room is very small and a little disorganized and just didn't give me a very professional feeling. As well, on his prescription he does not provide your pupillary distance, the salesman gets that later on, and while Alabama is not a state that requires an eye doctor to provide this on a prescription, it is MY personal medical information and I should have the right to it without asking instead of you, and most eye doctors to be fair, keeping that as a secret formula to make sure you have a hard time ordering glasses from somewhere else. Thankfully, sites like Zenni have a great digital PD measuring system that has provided the same results as it being measured in store.
The biggest negative is their salesman, I do not remember his name, but I overheard that he's been there for years. First off, he smelled VERY much like cigarette smoke and I saw him take multiple smoke breaks while there for the exam and when picking up my glasses. I get it, people still smoke, but when I'm sitting in front of him to complete my order for 30 minutes it's very overwhelming. As well, his sales tactic is VERY sketchy. I'm in sales myself, have been for my whole working life. I would never lie or add in a feature without telling the customer or asking if they wanted it. The salesman added the more expensive lenses to my transaction without telling me and told me my total and asked for my card. I questioned him on why it was so much because I had done the math on how much it would cost with my insurance and the -- $10 lens -- fee from my insurance. He wanted me to pay almost $100 for the "thinner" and "better" lenses. I told him I wanted the regular lenses and that I would not be paying for the more expensive ones because I have always had the regular lenses and never had an issue. He scoffed and said "well no one ever gets those. They're just cheap and not good at all. They also don't come with a warranty." I ensured him I wanted the lenses that were included with my insurance and he reluctantly removed the more expensive option. After doing this, I looked at my receipt and guess what? They do in fact come with a warranty. So that was obviously a lie. Lying to sell a product like that and adding on a premium feature without disclosing it to the consumer can in many courts be tried as Theft or Fraud by Deception. So, for the sake of your company, maybe talk to him about that.
Overall, not happy obviously. Glasses frames are nice but that isn't a reflection on them, that's on Ralph Lauren Polo, and the plastic "cheap" lenses are doing just fine and are actually thinner and lighter than any plastic lens I've had before so I guess there's a plus, but also a clear contradiction to the sales pitch.
Save your money, get your prescription and buy from an online dealer. read more
