On May 22nd I went for an eye exam. I
remember it so precisely because it was my birthday.
As it turned out, my current glasses weren’t
strong enough and the optometrist upgraded my prescription.
On two previous occasions, I had been a customer
of LensCrafters, but a neighbor advised me to try Eye Emporium, they were much
cheaper he said.
Three weeks after handing in my prescription, someone
from Eye Emporium called me that my glasses were ready for pickup.
That very same day I made my way to the store. But
it was not the happy occasion I expected. When I put my new glasses on, I
couldn’t see with them. I couldn’t see far, I couldn’t see near, I couldn’t see
anything.
I went back to the doctor, with my new glasses, and
as it turned out, Eye Emporium got my prescription wrong. I was given a new
prescription and went back to the store.
This time I had to wait over three weeks because my
glasses to be recut and when I was notified that they were ready, I felt
somewhat hesitant. Was everything going to be alright this time?
“Don’t worry if the glasses don’t feel right,” I
was told at Eye Emporium. “It takes about a week to get used to progressive
lenses.”
Once home I put them on, and … OMG what the heck
was this? Whether I looked left or right, up or down, everything was fuzzy.
To cut a long story short, I went to see the
optometrist yet again and took my new glasses with me. Rather than examining my
eyes, he examined my glasses and told me that, in the left lens, the focal
point was 4mm off.
“Does that matter?” I asked him.
According to the doctor it
mattered very much.
Eye Emporium didn’t agree. I was told that the
focal point being 4mm off didn’t matter at all. Personally I was more inclined
to believe a doctor than a sales clerk, but as things were they were totally
uncooperative.
Back to the optometrist again, who this time send
me off with a personal note that a 4mm difference in focal point most definitely
mattered and Eye Emporium had to see to my needs.
I was seriously considering chucking Eye Emporium
and going to Lenscrafters for new glasses, but Eye Emporium wouldn’t give me my
money back and I wasn’t prepared to fork out extra money to have the lenses
recut from scratch. So off again I went.
At this point, I think they were as fed up with me
as I was with them. But we had to give it one more shot.
They made me wait this time. I was obviously their
least favorite customer and everybody else was going to be served first before
they got to me.
Last Monday they finally called me. My glasses
were ready for pickup, again. And this time they did their job right. As soon
as I put the progressive lenses on, I knew everything was fine. I didn’t have
to get used to them, I could see fine, right away.
Will I go back to Eye Emporium if I need new
glasses in the future? Not a chance.
I would go back to LensCrafters. Yes, they
are more expensive, but their service is impeccable.
Would I recommend Eye Emporium to anyone? Absolutely not.
