Horrible experience. My wife has purchased 3 pairs of chanel frames here and I have purchased two pairs (one Oliver Peoples and one Kawasaki) and have had problems with 60% of our purchases from St. Charles Vision.
However it is the most recent visit that will insure that we will never return. My wife had a pair of Chanel frames that literally broke (sheared cleanly) when she was taking them out of the case. They broke straight across the narrowest part of the nose bridge. The glasses are one year and two weeks old. Over the phone, we were told to bring them in and they could get them repaired under warranty. We live downtown, so getting there is a hike, espeically during rush hour. After arriving, my wife was told that they could not be covered under warranty and that it would cost another $360 to repair the front of them (and that was giving us a big discount due to the fact that we have bought so many pairs of glasses there) - Talk about a bait and switch. Fortunately, my wife was smart enough to walk out. I called Chanel's customer service 800 number immediately and they were appalled. They gave me the name of their warranty company and the process to return them and have them repaired (or most likely replaced) under warranty. The only charge is $12.50 for the return shipping. Chanel customer service told me that it was completely improper for the store to try to charge anything and repair them themselves. They have a national warranty company called Luxottica who handles all of thier repairs. She was going to escalate this today with Chanel and would be contacting St. Charles Vision for the poor way in which they handled this. As the Chanel customer service rep said, "We are a luxury brand and value our customers... I will do whatever it takes to correct this for you..." Clearly this was a ploy to get another $360 from us - not a good way to treat long term customers. Unfortunately the next closest Chanel frames dealer is in Baton Rouge, so I will be buying my glasses from there now. I will never return to St. Charles Vision. Nice frame selection (best in the city), but with such an awful experience I can never walk in there again.
Additionally, my wife's other two pair are fine, but both my Oliver Peoples and Kawasaki frames did not last very long. The Oliver Peoples made it two years before breaking and the Kawasaki's developed a film where the coating was literally coming off the lenses. I wear contacts 90% of the time, so for these to go bad so quickly given that I wear them only at night when I am home watching TV after I have taken my contacts out, I would say that thier quality would rank as poor in my book.
Nice location uptown, nice selection of frames, horrible service, bad lens issues, and the worst bait and switch that I have seen in years with my wife's Chanel frames. Not a place that I will ever shop at again... I would suggest going elsewhere, as in my case they did not stand behind thier product.
Chanel, on the other hand went above and beyond to help when I called thier 800 number and I will remain brand loyal to Chanel. I will just have to buy my products elsewhere (lenscrafters in Baton Rouge at the Mall of Louisiana is the closest dealer to New Orleans). I am sure that they will welcome our business moving forward. read more