Clearly worth trying (Vision Express)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	Vision Express
Date:	07/05/02 (290 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very rapid service, friendly staff

Disadvantages: none really

I had managed to go nearly 6 years without breaking my glasses or remembering to have a check up. However, as summer advances, I thought it might be worth investing in some prescription sun glasses. Vision express had a deal on with these, so I thought I'd give them a try.

Most people have to pay for eye checks and glasses. You get it for free if you are a child or student, if you are on benefits, or if you, or a close family member suffers from Glaucoma or diabetes. I was paying.

Vision Express eye tests - it took less than 24 hours to get an appointment, which was excellent. The test itself took about half an hour, and I will freely admit that I hated large parts of it - I don't enjoy having lights shone into my eyes, but this is unavoidable sadly. They check out not only how log/short sighted you are, but also the health of yuour eyes. The optician was very helpful - my mother had cataracts and needed an op a few years back, which has made me nervous. He advised me to wear sunglasses - UV being a major cause, and to eat plenty of cabbage/brocolli/cauliflower as these have something useful in (sorry, can't recall what it was.)

Once your presciption for lenses has been worked out, you can get on with the fun job of picking your frames. Prices start at £19 and go up to at least £79, with a good range in the middle. Vision Express carry some 'names', and a reasonable range of styles - to a large extent you are at the mercy of whatever is in fashion. The assistant will meausre the distance between your eyes to get a good fit. However, unlike my first pair of glasses, bought from a small local opticion, they did not measure my head, and this pair are a little loose - I may have to take them back to have them tinkered with.

Sunglasses - again there's quite a range of frames, but if you are having them free with a pair of ordinary glasses, you are restricted in your choice of frames. You can chose to have le
nses that are brown, green or grey. I opted for brown, they give a nice warm tone to everything. I was told that if I found I wanted them a bit darker, I could just bring them back.

They also do contact lenses, but I don't like these at all, so can offer no insight.

They do lots of accessories - strigns to hang your glasses from, cleaning gear and the like, shades that clip on to ordinary glasses etc - if you want that sort of thing.

The glasses are made in the shop - you can see the workshop, through various windows, but it isn't that exciting to watch. Unless you have a very unusual presecription, your glasses will be ready within an hour or two. Otherwise, they will tell you when to come back, or phone if its going to take a couple of days.

Other pluses -
Cost - I have looked around a bit, and generally Vision Express charge much the same as anyone else. However, the buy one ordinary pair, get a free pair of prescription glasses deal is very good.
Speed - it took over a week for my first pair of glasses to be made, where as at Vision Express, you just do the rest of the shopping, come back and there they are - much less frustrating, and great if you're having an emergency. (I'm not totally blind without my glasses, but plenty of people are. )
The staff were friendly, helpful and really good. The optician was very informative.

Downsides - not many that the shop has much control over. There were a shortage of larger frames - small frames are 'in' - but that's the same everywhere. My main gripe was about the artificial lighting in the shop - I found it was making my headache!

On the whole, a good place to shop for glasses though.

Summary: