Been shopping around for a new pair of glasses, my regular Optician wants £400+ for a pair of glasses! (I am only short sighted by -2.75 in both eyes with no complicated prescription).

Seem a bit on the sharp side to me, so been shopping around for a better deal.

So after chatting to a few other suppliers, they mentioned that the prescription does not have my PD measurement, which is needed aparently.

Anyway, spoke to my Optician and they told me they do not give out this measurement, even though they have it apparently?

Which means I have to either, buy from them, with what I feel is a grossly over inflated price for a pair of glasses. Or go through a completely new eye test again, with whoever I decide to buy glasses from.

This would also stop me buying from any on-line suppliers too.

DIY

all they do is hold a ruler type thing up to your eyes.

if the supplier of your glasses cannot do this then i suggest you are buying from the wrong place!

"if the supplier of your glasses cannot do this"

via webcam?

If you’ve paid for a test then they should give you your presciption!! I got this from Vision Express.

PD isn’t part of the prescription, though.

fitting glasses and adjusting the prescription and glasses to correct for your eyes/face is a complex process.

i can’t see why anyone would buy glasses on line, it’d be like buying a pair of shoes without ordering a size.

PD isn’t part of the prescription, though.

precisely. Why would they provide it?!

fitting glasses and adjusting the prescription and glasses to correct for your eyes/face is a complex process.

i can’t see why anyone would buy glasses on line, it’d be like buying a pair of shoes without ordering a size.

TBH, I think you’re overstating the complexity of things a bit there.
I also get a bit of a feeling that the OP has tried on the "shoes" in a shop, knows what they want & is now looking to save a few quid by online shopping (just like plenty of folk do with MTB clothes, helmets, bikes…)

I just walked into my local specsavers (who also supplied a copy of the rest of the prescription) and they did it for free.

No problems with ordering on line. – I used The Internet Optician and it was painless. Saved me about £150, they did a free upgrade to a higher RX lens, and they seem perfect optically.

i don’t think i am at all

if your glasses don’t fit properly, your prescription will not work and they will be uncomfortable.

you’d probably happily pay £400 for a bicycle you might use one a week or less but not for something you will use every day to improve your quality of life.

£400+ is about right for a good quality pair of glasses. if you want to pay less then that is absolutely fine, go to specsavers or boots as they often have good deals

I find just going to my opticians much less bothersome.
I phone them up, they know my name, they’ll sort stuff out for me without asking for money, if something goes wrong they’ll get going on repairs/ replacements immediately, 15 months ago when I was concerned about having a detached retina the owner came down from St Johns Wood (cancelling that morning’s other appointments) to make sure that I wasn’t in any danger of losing my eyesight.
I probably pay a bit more than buying off the interent, however I like customer service and I get it there.
Oh, and I regular meet up to go cycling with one of the opticians there.

It is of course a question of personal choice. I bought my first pair of ‘online’ glasses recently and they are fine, I got my GF to measure my PD using the DIY method above. OK so you don’t get the fine tuning for fit that I recall was a major part of trips to the optician as a kid, but if you try in store first then you should know what to expect. My previous glasses cost over £450 from Boots, the new ones (same brand and spec) were nearly £200 cheaper..

PD isn’t part of the prescription, though

That makes seance then, thanks for the info. I thought the Optician was just holding back on me.

Like I said, I am shopping round for a reasonable deal, I do it with everything else I have to fork out on. TBH, not that keen on going through a on-line dealer.

Just a thought any of you work in the trade,

I thought the Optician was just holding back on me.
well I guess they are, but they are within their rights to do so.
They have to provide your basic prescription – sph/cyl/axis/add; but are not obliged to provide pd and so on.

Whereabouts are you? There’s a guy who lives literally around the corner from me and can usually do same day service. Mrs FM got a pair just before crimbo, paid about £100ish inc thin and anti glare/reflection type lenses. Frames alone are £200 in opticians!!!

He’s based just outside Ashton-Under-Lyne, whole family has used him for years, top class. He’ll come to you, or you can go to his house.

Just to mention I’m not an optician but I do work for the UK’s largest online supplier of prescription specs 🙂
Glasses Direct

Yes, Opticians are not obliged to give you your PD measurement as it’s not part of the prescription although most will if asked.

You can measure it yourself as above or we can measure it from an existing pair of specs if they are sent in. We can also use an average value which for most prescriptions is fine. One of the reasons we don’t dispense very strong prescriptions is that they benefit from being personally fitted.

That’s probably enough of a plug – do have a peek at the site though and mail me if you fancy a discount code 😉

Mojito £24.00 including lenses.

beats £400 🙂

Mojito £24.00 including lenses.

beats £400 [:-)]

for price, certainly. I’d wager the quality is not quite up there 😉

On a related note, has anyone found a supplier of bespoke contact lenses? I have to have mine made to a my prescription as my eyes are crap. Getting disposables is easy but something more complicated? Last pair i got were a tad pricey so am wondering what it is possible to get them for, before making a decision about whether i pay the extra for a local or not.

Based in Worcester TFM

Thanks for the offer, neet site PBR

This is a bit late now but we have an online pupilometer on our site at http://www.specsonthenet.com/pupillometer.jsp which can accurately calculate your pupillary distance from a suitable photo.

We’ve done quite a lot of the prescription sunglasses inserts lately and one of our customers mentioned this site. If anyone wants to order please use the discount code STW1210 and you’ll get a 10% discount.