A review with pictures was sent in by Doris and can be found below the information I dug up about Great Eyeglasses which comes… now!
Quick Notes:
- Lower end of the discount spectrum with a number glasses available for under $20 shipped.
- Website has gone through a few iterations (once was reminiscent of a 60’s drive-in/diner), though all have been well done and had good ease of use.
Impressions:
Despite a few changes to the site throughout the years, Great Eyeglasses has generally maintained a neat look and clean experience. While browsing through the site, it never gives the impression that upgrades are being “pushed” on you or that you’re being swayed into the higher-priced options.
Of note is that they’re very clear and transparent about additional costs up front. For example, when entering your prescription, the higher SPH values show the additional cost right in the selection box. Showing all the prices upfront does make the UI look a little cluttered, but overall I prefer the method they’ve gone with.
The site is decent when it comes to being new-user-friendly. It takes a number of clicks to get to the PD video they put together, but the effort is certainly there. When filling out your prescription and entering options, one surprise was that you must select *every* option (including 0-values from your prescription) on the lens page: I suspect this may be to avoid the situation where someone forgot to enter a value before placing the order.
Pricing and Value:
An “under $20” section is prominently displayed on the site. After shipping you could be looking at anywhere from under-$20 to under-$30 which puts Great Eyeglasses in a competitive place.
Upgrades aren’t quite as competitively priced and they do bring up the cost a little, but with the prices being so transparently displayed up front, it’s not something I’m going to hold against them.
Now for the review sent in by Doris
Note that this review took place in 2013.
On Feb. 22 I placed an order for six pairs of glasses for my husband and myself through GreatEyeglasses.com for a total of $212.43. I received them about 2 1/2 weeks later (we are in Canada) and I am very happy with all of them.
I had a customer service question, which was answered immediately and professionally, and I would highly recommend them. The order includes a pair of bifocals in a metal frame and prescription sunglasses in a plastic one for my husband, as well as a computer pair, readers, and two pairs of sunglasses one reading (I like to read when passenger in our car) and one distance for driving, all in plastic frames.
Now, I have to admit that I have learned a bit about ordering glasses through previous mistakes – I had previously ordered through Zenni Optical (December 14, 2011) and found that not only had I made mistakes (my fault) in sizing the frames and lenses properly, also the frames felt very cheap, and the bottoms of the lenses in the semi-rimless style were not polished and looked unfinished. I returned the order. I then tried out Eyebuydirect.com, but when I had some questions, I found their Chinese customer service unacceptable and gave up on them.
In January of 2012 I gave GreatEyeglasses a try for the first time ($149.69). There was a minor shipping issue as well as a problem with one pair of glasses, and I contacted customer service. I immediately received a response and had my concerns resolved to my satisfaction.
(Note that Doris included copies of the invoices from both GreatEyeglasses & Zenni for verification when submitting the review).
Recommendations for 2019
I haven’t had a lot of input sent in from readers about GreatEyeglasses, but what I did receive has been positive (aside from the issues Doris described as minor but resolved). And really, with the low cost and upfront pricing I’m somewhat surprised that I haven’t ordered from them myself yet.
If you’re looking for glasses in the low cost region with up-front pricing and without gimmicks or surprises, I’d definitely suggest taking a look at the GreatEyeglasses site which can be found at https://greateyeglasses.com/ .