May 30 2007
I was thinking about new glasses and RVing
When someone RVs full time, I am told, they plan for dentist appointments, labs, and xrays, and doctor appointments back at their “home base”, scheduling as many appointments or procedures as possible for the time they are there. I am assuming most RVers also think to schedule their optometrist appointments then as well. If you are a person who does not need glasses or contacts, your time is probably coming. Just one word of advice (or two or more):
- Glasses are made on site by few places. You are quoted 7-10 days to get the lenses made and back to the optometrist. So, be sure you will be around that long! On that note, if you cannot see well enough to drive or function without your glasses, you may want to start saving now for a second pair to hold you over for those 7- 10 days.
- That 7-10 days stretches really quick into 14-20 days if the lab or optometrist messes up your prescription. I’m afraid you would be unpleasantly surprised if you knew how often that occurs. I have had it happen several times (in different states). So, add to the doubled time the few extra days of “hold” time, also known as, “You just need to try them out for several days first, your eyes have to adjust. We cannot send them back or send you back to our optometrist for a recheck until you have tried them.”
- Ask if you can return them somewhere else if they need to be repaired under warranty and you are 3000 miles away merrily camping and grilling away. It may be that a national or several region wide chain is what you need and there are a lot of resources for that: Costco, Sears, Walmart, and national eyeglass chains, just for examples.
- One other tip, there are eyeglass repair shops that carry full line of clip on dark glasses for any shape lenses. It is amazing how many they carry.
- If you can hold out until a half price sale of some kind, do. Glasses are so expensive, seriously, they are going to have to have a Farm Aid or similar just to buy glasses for people. . . . Dare you to call and see how much just progressive lenses are with anti-glare coating — just the lenses, forget the fancy smancy frames, just price the lenses. We got half off on our lenses (because we saved more than the limited buy one get one free for lenses and frames — I know I questioned it, too, but did the math.)
- One afterthought, it was also mentioned that if my glasses still aren’t right, sometimes the actual material used to make the lenses can be “wrong”. I just can’t wait for my glasses to come back.
OK, I can’t resist telling you, so you can start saving now!
Three pair glasses and frames, 2 of which had progressive lenses with anti-reflective coating, and one special safety frame and lenses without the coating: 774.85 (and the safety frames were only 24.95). The credit card interest alone scares me.
Now, in honesty, you may be able to find the lenses cheaper. . . we waited so long to get our eyes rechecked, I grabbed the first national half off coupon and drug Leon over there - and then didn’t use that coupon but their in store special. “Do as I say and not as I do.”
My first 7-10 day wait from a Friday night turned into only about 3, but I couldn’t get there until the following Friday night (figures) and they weren’t right and it was a holiday weekend, you know the routine, just try them. So, I did. Tuesday, the optometrist reexamined me and I was told the lab had not followed her instructions exactly on one lens. . . but she then CHANGED the prescription back to my previous prescription. And off to the lab went my new “cool” glasses so Leon read the lunch menu to me. He had suggested we donate our old glasses that very Friday we picked up the new ones. I knew better. So, now, they won’t even let me buy my safety glasses until the first glasses come back. . . So, IF they get it right this time, then I have to wait another 7-10 days for those and hope the lab gets that set right. So, no earthquakes or errant limbs on the hill until I get them. OK?
