I went to the eye doctor this morning for an eye exam. I've had these current glasses for almost 3 years now and have been noticing a change in my eyesight - getting harder to read again and some general blurriness in my left eye. I need my eye glasses prescription tweaked a bit, as expected. I went out to their optometry department out in the front to look at new frames, but I ended up leaving because my eyes had been dilated, so everything was a bit blurry, and because to try on frames, I have to take my glasses off and then I am basically blind! I have to get my nose 6 inches from the mirror to even see anything! Doesn't quite make for a good view of what a new pair of glasses look like. So, I decided to go back another time. I still have a couple of pair of contacts leftover from those days, that I could at least pop in to wear to try on glasses....and take DD with me as an "advisor" of what looks good.
Now, I'm sitting here, with my printed out prescription, trying to decide if I should just give Costco a try for getting the glasses prescription. The eye doctor place I went to is a nice place, good quality doctors and optometrists, and expensive frames and lenses. But, since I need progressive lenses I'm really scared to try someplace like Costco. DH had so much trouble with getting his progressives at Walmart. He could never see right out of them, so I finally took him to a private eye doctor (not where I just went) and his new glasses they made for him worked perfect....because they use a much better quality of lenses....you get what you pay for....
Just a peek at the pricing on a couple of the frames I tried on was almost $200. My insurance only covers $100 towards frames/lenses, plus 20% discount on the balance. I'm sure the lenses will be similar in cost to what I had to pay for the ones I have now and DH's (both gotten from same place), so probably another $250-$300 on top of that. I also have to get all the "extras" for lenses because I have such bad eyesight, I get the rolled and polished lenses to they aren't so thick looking. More than likely I will save money by getting my glasses at Costco....BUT, will I be happy with the quality? I'm trying to decide if I want to take a chance and hope I get a good quality of progressive lenses at Costco.
I think I might at least go look at Costco frames and see what selection they have. Either way, even though Costco isn't part of my vision insurance, I get a $100 allowance towards frames/lenses. I might just have to pay upfront and get reimbursed, if I go the Costco route. Anyone have any experience with progressive lenses from Costco?
.I also wear progressive bi-focals.... I know everyone wants to save money.... I am one of them.... BUT................ This is just my opinion here...Since glasses are a big part of who you are and how you look .... A good pair and nice pair are what is very important...remember you had the last ones for 3 years.... it is worth the money to make sure the progressives are made right... We have almost the same insurance you have,...we have VSP and we have an allowance on how much they put toward the frames... I cut corners on a lot of things but my glasses..... The only thing is I bought a pair last time because they had a little bling to the arm which was silver bling....After a realize that my gold jewelry didn't look well with the silver arms to the glasses....So I am due for a new pair and I will make sure they won't have bling to them like I did last night... Just remember your glasses are a big part of who you are....... Lisa
ReplyDeleteI don't have any advice on Costco but Walmart is terrible. I'm sure Costco is far and away better than Walmart's optometry department. I do agree with Lisa and make sure you get exactly what you want.
ReplyDeleteI've read that Costco does a great job with glasses - and they are FABULOUS with customer satisfaction - so I would say they are worth a try. They have had great reviews in Consumers Report, too!
DeleteI did a lot of searching for reviews the past 2 days and found mostly good reviews on their progressives and customer service.
DeleteThanks for the input! I'm sure Costco has frames that I would like just as well as where I got my eye exam done. I'm not super picky and the style I have always worn is pretty standard/basic. Honestly, I'll bet most people won't even notice I got new frames - they usually don't. LOL. I'm more worried about making sure the progressive lenses are good quality and I won't have any problems seeing out of them (like DH did with the Walmart lenses). Reviews I have read from people who got progressive lenses at Costco have been good so far.
ReplyDeleteDH and I have used Costco several times, including progressive lenses for DH. They did not work out him, but not because of the quality of the lenses provided. DH could see fine out of them, but he hated the progressive lenses, could not seem to adjust to them, and had to return them. The Costco staff was great about it, offered to redo them if he felt the lenses themselves were the problem. Once he got went back to a standard bifocal prescription, he was fine and very happy with the glasses they prepared for him.
ReplyDeleteahhh! I just don't know what do do. If for some reason the Costco progressives don't work out for me for, they'll probably just blame it on my prescription and if I go back to the eye dr office -they'd probably just blame it on the lenses from Costco. So, I'd probably be better to stick with the eye doctor's optometry dept......but I'd sure like to save probably 50% what it will end up costing me for glasses at the eye doctor's office.
ReplyDeleteI just started wearing the progressive bifocals last year. I hated them........initially. Actually went back to Pearl Vision and told them I didn't like them. The lady told me to "just hang in there - it takes a while to get use to them." And she was right. It just took about 3 weeks to get use to them. Now I'm fine with them. You don't just put them on and like them. You really do have to give your brain time to adjust to them - and that may take 3-4 weeks.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any problems adjusting when I first got progressives, though I remember being warned it might take a bit. I went ahead and ordered some glasses from Costo! DD and I went there after dinner and I found some frames we both really liked on me. All total $230...and I get $100 reimbursed from my vision insurance. Guess I'll know in 10 days if it was the right choice or not
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