I went looking for new glasses today. I've got this pair of vari-focals which I'm increasingly having to wear full time, and I need a pair of plain long vision goggles for when I'm on the golf course. So, having determined that my local branch of Vision Express could do the whole thing inside a working day, off I toddled.
The young man with a stiff neck and an odd sideways way of walking, who served me, allowed me to browse around the frame display on my own. Now I know that the UK is one of the most expensive places to buy spectacles in the world; I know this because I have bought them in various places like Dubai, Bahrain, the USA, etc. but the price tags were ... well, I just thought, ludicrous.
"How much are these?" I asked, indicating a frameless pair.
"One hundred and eighty pounds for the frame, plus your lenses".
That's what he actually said - "for the frames".
But there are no frames, it's just two legs and a bridge, there's fuck all to it! The material must only weigh about twenty grams, or less. When you add it all up it's nearly three hundred quid, call that four hundred and fifty dollars. Is it just me? I mean, why are we putting up with this shit?
When I expressed my views on this Great British Rip-Off to an inattentive audience at the family dinner table, I was reassured that I would be accompanied by the oldest boy to the spectacle emporium the next day to choose a frame, as a precaution against me running amok and breaking someone's head against a display stand. I can't fucking wait.
7 comments:
I keep losing the little plastic bits that fit over the bridge of my nose - I accidentally rip them off when I put the glasses on the top of my head. Last time I went to an optician they charged be 5 quid to replace them - Two little bits of plastic!!. Buggers!
Not anymore. I buy those cheap reading glasses for 99p, take the little plastic bits off and fix them to my own glasses.
Like you I don't understand why frames cost so much money.
I hate to sound like my fellow townsman Richard (I don't believe it!)Wilson, or rather Victor Meldrew, but sometimes these things need to be said. Anyway, old Meldrew had the right stuff, in my opinion.
It's not just you -- those prices are preposterous! That's like a month's rent for my flat...
Perhaps it's worth changing profession; just a thought. I may start up a little shop where I make frames. Yes.
Why the hell do we [i.e., spec users] put up with it?
I'm going for an eye test tomorrow morning, so I hope reading this isn't a bad omen. Otherwise I'll be leaving the premises clutching an extortionate bill for the privelege of looking at a board of letters that decrease in size.
Yes, that rugby result was a pleasant surprise. I laughed and laughed and laughed.
Total rip off to be sure. My friend lost her glasses and had to get a new pair and walked away in “shock and awe” at throwing down $700 dollars, after insurance and she went to the wrong store (an uppity place). We looked at her glasses after she had got them. Both of us turned them around, sideways, smelled and tasted and came to the conclusion that they were not, indeed, worth $700. I had the same problem purchasing a bra. I avoid having to do this too much because I find the process confusing, insulting and exhausting. There are so many of the damn things and a new one just arrived that promises to make it feel like you are wearing nothing at all for $150! For $150, that bra better lift, separate, enhance, dance, make whooping sounds, tap-dance and extend my life. I left; I decided I could pay absolutely nothing at all and feel like I am wearing nothing at all. I went to Target. Bastards. You must tell us about your second trip.
by the way, I am putting you on my links, I hope you don't mind.
Luckily I got mine for free today, due to the legal loophole of me being under 19 (it's a technicality, I'm 18.75). Some people don't escape with their wallet intact. Think of them this evening.
Yes, oh yes. I got a branded pair in Kuala Lumpur, and they were in total less than half the price I'd pay here.
Posted similar little rant about eyesight and age recently.
Did you get out of Vision Express ok? And have you had your blood pressure checked?
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