When I lost my glasses on a cruise, I needed to replace them quickly, and I turned to yelp to find a good place. Winchester Optometry got so many great reviews that I was positive it was the perfect place for me to get my replacement glasses.
I was able to get in for an eye exam on July 17 with Dr Shui. She was pleasant, and did a careful thorough exam. I was slightly annoyed that she asked me twice if I wanted a digital photo of my eyes at an additional cost, but other than that, was satisfied.
I ordered 2 pairs of glasses: one single vision, one bifocal. I selected a style with clip on sunglasses available, and ordered those also. The glasses were both the same style, different color frames, so that the sunglasses would theoretically fit both. I was told the glasses would take 7-10 business days.
Remember, I have no glasses, so I am counting the days and waiting for the call. On the 10th business day I call them and they say one pair of glasses is in--the bifocals. So of course I rush right over, thrilled to get the bifocals and start reading for my job (teaching, which resumes at the end of August). When I get there, it turns out the pair they have is not the bifocals, but the single vision computer glasses. The frames are the wrong color on these glasses, but they allowed me to keep them until a new pair was made. They checked on the bifocals, and they were still in the process of being made (10 business days after I ordered them). The single vision computer glasses with the wrong color frames were the perfect prescription for that distance.
15 business days after ordering the glasses: I have been waiting for the call that never comes, so I call them again. They tell me the bifocals are in, but have not been inspected. This was on a Friday. I ask if they would be inspected by Monday, they assure me that they would. Monday I call again, and apparently the bifocals were not correct and had to be returned to be remade.
The next day I get a call that my glasses are in. I don't know what glasses they mean, but only asked if the sunglass clip ons were in. They told me they were there also, and I needed to make an appointment to have them fitted. I could not get an appointment until Friday morning.
So I wait all week for the appointment (remember, I have no glasses except the computer glasses that have the wrong color frames). When I arrive for the appointment, the receptionist directs me to sit down. I waited a long time, over 5 minutes before anyone noticed I was there. During that time, I heard 3-4 employees discussing their work schedules for the next 2-3 weeks. Finally, someone saw me and came to help me. She retrieved my glasses and sunglasses, and it was only the remake of the single vision computer glasses. She gave them to me to put on, and asked how they felt. I said they felt ok, so she made no adjustment to them, did not test them on my ears, nothing. She brought out the clip on sunglasses, tried them on the computer glasses. They did not fit. She said "you don't need sunglasses for your computer glasses" and I said "I might". It didn't matter. She wasn't going to try to adjust the sunglasses, and she didn't really try to fit the replacement glasses. I spent less time getting the glasses than I did sitting there listening to the scheduling discussion.
Now I am home with the replacement computer glasses, and I swear the prescription is different from the glasses they replaced. I called about that and was told to wear them over the weekend and call on Monday if I still think there is a problem. These are supposed to be exactly the same as the ones I turned in, which as I mentioned earlier were perfect lenses, just the wrong color frames.
And I am still waiting for the bifocals.
So, 20 business days (4 weeks) after ordering my glasses, I have a single vision pair that doesn't fit and is questionably the wrong prescription, and some clip on sunglasses that do not fit the glasses they are supposed to clip on.
This is the first review I am writing, and I am doing so for the benefit of people like me who may be relying on yelp for business recommendations. It is hard to believe they can be so wonderful to everyone else and so completely incompetent for me. Once this whole mess gets resolved, I doubt I will be doing any more business with Winchester Optometry.
Update: Today, 22 days after my order, I have my bifocals, and have gotten back the perfect computer glasses with the wrong color frames. The clip on sunglasses fit the computer glasses but not the bifocals, so as a compromise I was given some spring loaded clip on sunglasses that don't exactly match the bifocals, and look pretty dorky, but they work for driving. I got a lot of apologies at Winchester Optometry, there was a lot of effort to make sure I was satisfied. To be fair, the prescriptions for both seem to be perfect. Added one star, but still probably won't go back when I need new glasses. read more