Was I ripped off when purchasing these Anti-Reflection glasses?

Posted by Capital_Being_1041@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 14 comments

Had an eye exam, 0.50 Astigmatism on both eyes. In the end my optician assured me I have 20/20 vision with some imperfections, otherwise don't need any glasses. I questioned if there's any help combating bright lights, especially for driving at night, they suggested to get glasses here with anti-reflective coating (it was Vision Express if that helps). The opticians there were extremely eager I purchase it from them on the day and so I did (perhaps stupidly). The cost were frames + £70 anti-reflective coating. Recounting the story to my friends and they all agreed I was ripped off and I would have been better off buying a pair from Amazon or third party site. As I basically purchased a pair of normal glasses with coating on top. I'll be honest here, I never wore glasses and have no frame of reference when it comes to prices or how anything works. So I would appreciate some added insights from an outside opinion. I haven't received the glasses yet, thank you in advance.

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14 Comments

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flaninacupboard2@reddit

Cheap glasses you buy on the internet are cheap for a reason, lenses are cheaper material so lower optical quality and won’t age as well, they will yellow and go cloudy. Quality of coatings varies too - cheap stuff is not as hard wearing. Frames that are cheap fall apart, nose pads fall off, hinge screws undo and disappear, plastics in contact with your skin age, delaminate, yellow, go brittle. If the IPD is wrong the glasses will not work well, or even give you migraines. If they need adjusting, or you don’t get on with them there’s nothing you can do online. Last pair I bought (thinned, varifocal, anti-reflective) were about £300. They did not feel right (one eye focussed well, the other did not). Zero hassle from vision express to re-make the for me.

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Capital_Being_1041@reddit (OP)

Thank you, I believe I would have been fine going with Vision Express if I needed a prescription for my eye sight but fortunately this wasn't the case (both eyes under Sph was Plano). Saying that I am sincerely careful with my eye health so perhaps I wouldn't go for the cheapest piece out there, someone suggested Specsavers are a great alternative as they put on the coating for free. It's reassuring though you were able to get fixes on the spot hassle free, that's something not easily doable when it comes to online orders.

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ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

[OP marked this as the best answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1qptrh5/was_i_ripped_off_when_purchasing_these/o2dpjob/), given by /u/VOODOO285. > Right NO! > > The anti reflective coating is not for driving so that’s rubbish. But it genuinely does reduce reflections and so may have a secondary benefit with driving. My last but one pair I decided not to get that coating and HATED those glasses as you end up seeing all sorts of reflections under certain conditions and it’s highly distracting. > > £70 AND vision express seems way excessive. It’s basically a free add on at Specsavers and I will not get a pair without it ever again. > > However, if you want a brilliant experience while driving get polarised sunglasses. All I’m going to say is try it then come back and thank me. It makes a HUGE difference. Seriously if you buy them I guarantee you will come back and thank me. > > Vision express ripped you off, anti reflective coating did not rip you off. --- [_^(What is this?)_](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/jjrte1/askuk_hits_200k_new_feature_mark_an_answer/)

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VOODOO285@reddit

Right NO! The anti reflective coating is not for driving so that’s rubbish. But it genuinely does reduce reflections and so may have a secondary benefit with driving. My last but one pair I decided not to get that coating and HATED those glasses as you end up seeing all sorts of reflections under certain conditions and it’s highly distracting. £70 AND vision express seems way excessive. It’s basically a free add on at Specsavers and I will not get a pair without it ever again. However, if you want a brilliant experience while driving get polarised sunglasses. All I’m going to say is try it then come back and thank me. It makes a HUGE difference. Seriously if you buy them I guarantee you will come back and thank me. Vision express ripped you off, anti reflective coating did not rip you off.

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Capital_Being_1041@reddit (OP)

!answer Welp, I checked Specsavers and it did have AR as a free addon- hard lesson learned. :') I'll look into getting polarized sunglasses once I could afford it, thank you very much for the answer and recommendation.

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flaninacupboard2@reddit

Hard agree on polarized sunglasses, they are great for driving

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Kiss_It_Goodbyeee@reddit

There's a reason why the high street is dying. Yes, you *could* get things cheaper though a tax dodging, employee abusing, faceless multinational or you could pay for a better service at a business that will remember you as a client.

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Asleep-Software-4160@reddit

I don't think I could say you were ripped off, though you may have paid more than you needed to if you shopped around. They told you that you don't need glasses and would have watched you leave without any. You asked if there was a product that could help with the glare, then they sold you that product. If the coating doesn't help, then maybe you were ripped off.

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SorbetNo7877@reddit

I have a very low prescription (including astigmatism) and have only just started wearing glasses for driving. I was very excited that the AR coating was going to magically make driving at night not shit but it made very little difference that I could tell versus no glasses. My friend has Zeiss lenses from Boots opticians and says that they do actually help.

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TheGeordieGal@reddit

I get my glasses from my optician when I need them. Thankfully my sight is steady so I’ve only needed 2 pairs in 20 years (and the 2nd was just because I broke the 1st). When I got my new ones they just felt wrong and like things were a bit blurry and I kept going dizzy so they double checked my prescription etc and we thought maybe my eyes were just taking a while to adjust. I eventually worked out they hadn’t put the anti glare coating on they were meant to and once they fixed that (they rushed the new pair through as it was their mistake) everything was instantly fine. Buying in person gives you that backup if things aren’t quite right. Personally, I find the anti glare coating helpful (I have an astigmatism in 1 eye so I still get some starry vision a bit at night!) but my friend absolutely hates it and says it makes her feel her vision is worse at night. All personal preference.

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ResplendentBear@reddit

I've worn glasses for about 30 years but never bought anti-reflection ones. I've had several pairs of glasses, for low-moderate short sightedness cost less than £75 all in though. How much does a pair of anti-reflection glasses cost online? That's probably your answer.

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Legitimate_Finger_69@reddit

Opticians are in the business of selling you glasses. If there is no vision correction and you're just buying a fancy pair of sunglasses than yes, you've overpaid. In fact, anyone paying for glasses at an optician is overpaying since you can often get prescription glasses for £7 online. If you are being dazzled by headlights at night and you purchase them \*when you wouldn;t otherwise have done\* and you avoid an accident at night, you're quids in. As someone with crappy eyesight, I've accepted that going to an eye test at a high street opticians will involve a sales pitch afterwards. Eye tests are often a loss leader for them. I'd take it as a learning experience so you are more aware in future as eyesight tends to get worse.

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Ok_Speaker126@reddit

Easiest way to find out is, buy a cheap pair and see for yourself, then let us know the results, because astigmatism is annoying as fuck

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