Eye Emporium vs. LensCrafters

On May 22^nd 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.