What a nightmare !
I have never written a negative online review before but I felt I had to do so in this case. I went to Vision Masters in April 2011 and ordered a new pair of glasses (frames and lenses) and a second pair of lenses for my reading glasses. I chose Vision Masters (Airport Road) by chance since they were not too far from where I live. I finished my eye exam and then sat down with the optician. My wife was with me and helped me to select the new frames. Then, with my wife standing next to us, the optician and I began to discuss the lens options. I asked the optician what types of lenses they sold and was told "we sell Varilux." I stopped her there and said "that's good" - I was happy to hear this and, glancing at my wife, I could tell she felt the same way since both of us have been wearing Varilux lenses for years. We finished up with the optician, including leaving a deposit on the $1150 total. Two weeks later I was called and told my new glasses were ready. I walked in, sat down, and tried on the glasses - I could barely make out what was in front of me. The Doctor checked the glasses and told me the prescription was wrong - I wasn't told how this happened or who made the mistake. I really didn't care as long as they made it right. A few weeks later I was back to try on the next set of glasses. After trying them on I was surprised that my vision was not quite as good as with my old glasses. I wanted to be reasonable so I left some additional deposit and said I would try them out for a while - I left wearing them. I tried for two weeks to wear the glasses but they were severely straining my eyes. I do a lot of my work in front of a PC. I went back to Vision Masters and asked the doctor for a second eye exam to determine what the problem might be. After rechecking my eyes, she told me that my prescription was ok but made some adjustments. I then asked her what type of lenses I had been given since I began to suspect they were not Varilux. I was told they were Accolades - still a very good lens - but not what I was told I would be getting. Suspecting there could be a problem relating to switching away from the Varilux, which I had been wearing for years, I asked to have the lenses remade and offered to pay the difference. Several weeks later the Varilux lenses arrived and I was back in the store to try them on. They seemed fine until I noticed that their in-store technician had badly damaged the anti-reflective coating on both lenses while cutting them. What really upset me was that I saw both the technician and the optician clean and look closely at the lenses before giving them to me - I'm sure they had to see the badly scraped anti-reflective coating. I saw the damage the second I looked through the lenses - but they apparently were hoping I wouldn't notice. I did ! - it was impossible not to -- and once I pointed out the problem, they admitted that their technician had caused it. So, about three weeks later I went back to Vision Masters to try out my fourth set of lenses. By this time -- although I had done nothing more than ask to receive what I had ordered the first day - when I walked in the door, it took only a second before I sensed the chilly attitude of the staff - you know how it is when some of them won't look you in the face and others give you a forced smile. I wanted nothing more than to just get my glasses and get out of there as quickly as possible. Well, I tried on the glasses and couldn't believe that I was barely able to read what was in front of me. Turns out that one of the opticians was sure that what I needed was a bump up in reading power. So instead of just fixing the coating problem and providing me with the new lenses, they also changed my prescription - good intentions but a bad idea. What a mess !!! - I couldn't believe it and was really bummed out. To make a long story short I left and then returned a month later to try out my fifth set of lenses. When walking into the store, I received the same very chilly greeting as the previous visit and felt as if I had walked into an enemy camp - I was sure hoping this would be the last time I would have to go though this! They handed me the glasses and I was thinking "surely after all this they've got it right this time." I slipped the glasses on and my heart sunk - I knew that Vision Masters had messed them up yet again - I gave up !!! -- I paid them off and left - resigned to chalk this up as a very bad and costly learning experience. Thinking back on it, it's scary to think that people with the potential for that degree of incompetence were providing glasses to an awful lot of customers. I wonder how many of their customers receive glasses that are somewhat OK but not near as good as they should be -- and then wear them for years without knowing any difference! I have definitely scratched Vision Masters off my list and go out of my way to persuade my family, friends, co-workers to do the same. read more
