Are Specsavers Any Good?

Nala

Hi all,
I'm getting new glasses and I see that Specsavers have a 2-for-1 deal on at the moment. I'm just wondering if they are any good? I have a frame on hold in Vision Express atm and the frame,lenses and anti-scratch coating will be €240. Two sets of frames, lenses and anti-scratch coating will cost €210 in Specsavers. However are the glasses the same standard?. I've never got glasses from Vision Express before but I am wary of Specsavers because they are so cheap. I'm wondering where's the catch!

BuffyBot

My last two pairs have been Specsavers - the current pair is 3 years old. I have no problem with them.

gnu

I don't go there anymore but I used to find them good for price, hard to find cheaper. But I think their service is crap, always kept me waiting, that kind of thing.

Rozabeez

specsaver rlly expensive, better off goin to your local chemist and getting nice glasses for like €13.

angeldelight

I got my last set from specsavers and all I'd say is make sure you make an appointment for as soon as they open otherwise you'll be hanging around all day. My glasses are perfect though and they had loadsa frames i liked, quite a good range

flyinfishmonkey

Neev,

Speaking from experience... You won't really go wrong with them for complete spectacle deals. They are always busy if you go in late in the day but their designer stuff is good and no, they won't be beaten on price. The reason they have such good prices is that they get great deals internally that are only available to all Specsavers stores for everything from frames, to lenses and probably machinery too so they can afford to give cheap deals cos the frame manufacturers are happy to let them sell their models exclusively hence selling them their frames in bulk and for cheaper costs. This doesn't mean that their stuff is inferior quality but it does mean that many people will be wearing similar frame types ( like 1,000 people buying the same dress that they bought in Dunnes/Penny's for instance) though unlike clothes its not as noticeable, so if that doesn't bother you (and why should it) you would be right to buy from them. If you have a pretty standard prescription then you won't wait long for them and in my experience its only special prescription orders (outside labs) that cause a delay. Hope this helps you.

Rozabeez

flyinfishmonkey wrote:

Neev,

Speaking from experience... You won't really go wrong with them for complete spectacle deals. They are always busy if you go in late in the day but their designer stuff is good and no, they won't be beaten on price. The reason they have such good prices is that they get great deals internally that are only available to all Specsavers stores for everything from frames, to lenses and probably machinery too so they can afford to give cheap deals cos the frame manufacturers are happy to let them sell their models exclusively hence selling them their frames in bulk and for cheaper costs. This doesn't mean that their stuff is inferior quality but it does mean that many people will be wearing similar frame types ( like 1,000 people buying the same dress that they bought in Dunnes/Penny's for instance) though unlike clothes its not as noticeable, so if that doesn't bother you (and why should it) you would be right to buy from them. If you have a pretty standard prescription then you won't wait long for them and in my experience its only special prescription orders (outside labs) that cause a delay. Hope this helps you.

penneys is great

flyinfishmonkey

Yeah Roza they are. I wasn't knockin' them. I was just making a comparison.

Nala

Thanks guys! I prefer the frames I picked in Vision Express but it's my mother who'll be paying for them (I am but a broke student!) and she's already shelled out ****loads on my little brother going back to school.
Keep em coming!

kevinmcc

I wouldn't go with Specsavers. Have had dealing with them before. Their non-designer range is totally crap - lenses popping out, has happened to quite a few people I know, breaking in the middle. And I had a pair of Storm designer glasses from them, they broke 3 months after I bought them in the middle! They did replace them after I went in and complained but I had an Osiris pair couple of years ago and they broke in the middle too aswell as lenses popped out.. I got them to replace these also, but in my opinion try somewhere else cause Specsavers glasses are really bad quality even the designer ones.

fozzle

I've been getting the 2for1 deal in Specsavers for, god I dunno, probably the guts of 10 years and I've never had a problem. I don't have a standard prescription, and I've got to get slimmed-down lenses, but I've still only ever had to wait a few days. They do get very busy in the afternoons so you're better off to get a morning appointment. I get specs around the E100 mark and they've never broken on me, despite being sat on, dropped, stepped on, left in the bottom of school bags, etc, etc.

I'd say go for them, the second pair is a godsend.

monkeyfudge

Does the 2 for 1 offer apply to the designer frames or is it just for the ugly bog standard frames?

I've used Specsavers in the GPO Arcade in Dublin 3 times in about the past 10 years. Never had any real problems. I found their follow up service to be very poor though. Last time I got glasses there I went back 2 days latter as I felt the frame wasn't properly adjusted to my head as it kept slipping. But they essentially told me to go away as they were busy with new customers.

Another thing I've found, they send you mail in the post reminding you how long it's been since your last eye test with them. And they'd added an extra year to the date on my last one for some reason. No doubt to make it seem like it was longer ago. It could just be a clerical error though.

And can I just say that I absolutely HATE their adverts on the television.

But despite all this, I may have to go back to them next week, as my eyesight is getting really bad lately... boo...

And I don't like the look of that other chain were everything is white inside and looks like the set of THX 1138.

Dr. Loon

kevinmcc wrote:

I wouldn't go with Specsavers. Have had dealing with them before. Their non-designer range is totally crap - lenses popping out, has happened to quite a few people I know, breaking in the middle. And I had a pair of Storm designer glasses from them, they broke 3 months after I bought them in the middle! They did replace them after I went in and complained but I had an Osiris pair couple of years ago and they broke in the middle too aswell as lenses popped out.. I got them to replace these also, but in my opinion try somewhere else cause Specsavers glasses are really bad quality even the designer ones.

I think you're just incredibly unlucky, or else you don't take care of your glasses! Might I suggest you go for those bendy frame jobs?

Just last weekend I drunkenly fell straight onto my face onto concrete with my spec saver glasses on and they're grand! Although my chin isn't! They were a bit bent, but after a bit of messing about they're fine. Still... I'm due a new pair, and I'll be goin to spec savers I reckon.

sunbeam

Never had a problem with frames from Specsavers. I haven't bought from them for a long time now as they didn't have a great range of rimless ones. That seems to have changed if their website is anything to go by, so I might go back. It looks from their site that the 2 for 1 deal only applies to their €99, €119 or €139 ranges.

My only very minor complaint about them is that staff in one of the Dublin stores refused to fix a frame that had got bent (not their frame, but the lenses were), and sent me to an expensive small opticians nearby who were only too happy to do it for free. I've never had a problem with this anywhere else, including SpecSavers in Galway.

Gurgle

Specsavers can make the lenses for practically nothing, they make their profits on the frames - they pay €2 to €8 per set, sell for €65 - €200. The cheap frames are rubbish, they fall apart after a few months. Most non-chain shops sell better frames at a much smaller margin, making their money on the lenses.

You takes your broken frames with perfectly good lenses into a non-chain glasses shop (I can't spell opthamoligist), which has the frames up on the wall with the price excluding lenses (very cheap to get your attention) and you gets your specsavers lenses put in for very little.

I broke 4 pairs of specsavers frames in a year then got the lenses put into another set of frames (for £50) which were still intact 4 years later.

Kêrmêttê

Rozabeez wrote:

specsaver rlly expensive, better off goin to your local chemist and getting nice glasses for like €13.

A chemist does not carry out eye tests nor sell prescription glasses.
An eye test will cost you approx €30... depends on where you go.

ChipZilla

Yeah, I agree with kevinmcc. Non-designer frames from specsavers are crap. I've had enough of their crappy frames to know better. Vision Express have much better (quality and style) frames IMHO.