Go to the LensCrafters at the Eaton's Centre, here's why: in the past, when I've been to get glasses, the script has gone like this: "What frames do you want?" "Um, I guess these here look kind of like my old ones" "ok, give us money".

Now, this time, the nice lady ("Lynne", if you go, see if you can get her) actually seemed interested in helping me find some frames that I both liked, and actually looked decent on me. I should mention that when I went in, I had just come from an eye exam, where I got the dialating drops, so I couldn't see close up, and without glasses, I'm blind, so I couldn't see far away, so I was pretty dependent on her help. And she spent a really long time with me, helping me pick frames.

The upshot of this is that for the first time in... well, ever, I have some glasses that I actually like, rather than just tolerate.

Now, here's the kicker. I bought two pairs of glasses that day, expensive ones, and because one of my eyes is so bad, they actually had to special order the lenses in.

Concurrently, I got contacts, tried them for a while, and really like them. I'm going to wear them most of the time. So I don't really need two pairs of glasses, just one for when I'm not wearing my contacts.

LensCrafters has a 30 day "swap them for any other pair, or even just return them for a full refund" thing. So I went in, with one pair of my really expensive specially ordered glasses to return them, and they didn't give me any hassle at all. I mean, they weren't jumping for joy, but they took them back, didn't overly pressure me in to keeping them or swapping them for another pair or anything.

See I'm a big believer in voting with my wallet. And as much as I think negative word of mouth should be used to stem business to bad stores (begins with W, rhymes with "spallmart"), positive word of mouth is important too.

Hey, I just got glasses at LensCrafter, too, and I thought it was great. There was a girl helping me find frames I liked, too, and she was honest about what did and did not look good on me. And she dug to find out what kind of insurance I have, because it turns out even though mine doesn't cover vision, I got a 20% discount. Yay LensCrafters.

Nice going Capn and Pink...I totally agree with you Capn, I will totally trashtalk the shitty places, and conversely, I always try to share my positive experiences as well. If someone's great, I want them overwhelmed with customers, so that next time I need them, they are still there!

I had the opposite experience at that store last summer. I walked around for about 30 minutes looking at lenses. The staff didn't approach me once to ask if I wanted help. They were on the floor, and not busy, and in fact carrying on conversations with one another. Mind you, that day I looked kind of homeless, but... that didn't stop the staff at Spectacles on Queen (west of Bathurst) from making a sale. I went in there the same day and was approached by Anne right away. She was extremely helpful--I tried on about 30 pairs of glasses till we agreed on a frame style and I've been happy with them ever since. I've also gone in there once since to have them adjusted. It was done quick and free.

Now, Spectacle is an expensive store and I probably could have gotten 2 or 3 sets at LC, but I'm a stickler for good customer service so Anne got my cash.

I don't need glasses. But I always used to wish I wore glasses when I was a kid.

Do you guys know a good Toronto eye doctor? I've been thinking of getting contacts, but I need a prescription first. I had an eye doctor here before, but she's way out in Scarberia, and gave me the wrong prescription last time I got contacts from her (gave me the eyeglasses prescription in contacts — doesn't work that way!).

I went to the optometrist's office next to said LensCrafters (at the Eaton's Centre) and am pretty happy with them.

It's a big office, there's like 3 main doctors and umpteen associates, but my exam was through and seems pretty accurate and they seem to specalize in contacts.

Cool, I'll check them out. Thanks! :)


I realised the other day that if this pair of glasses breaks (like the last ones did!), I am shit out of luck for the few days that it would take to get new ones. Woo, the joys of having a -7.5 prescription. I can see clearly for about 2 inches! Yeah, so I'm thinking that back-up contacts would be a good thing to have, lest I need to be led around like a blind person.

I've used LensCrafter a few times with no problems. My current pair of glasses I got at WalMart six years ago and haven't had a problem. I have a new (unchanged) prescription but haven't had it filled yet.

deborah:

WalMart

I cast thee OUT!!!