Pho3nix
The Legend
Ask the Optometrist to give it to you? You tell them that it's needed.
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Question of the Day: What is your non-negotiable item, device, or app for international travel?
Online glasses ordering
- Thread starter gboy
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Pho3nix
The Legend
I've been really happy with my Zenni glass' the last 2 years. Just need to get new pairs
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
anybody know how long SAPO is supposed to deliver my Zennis to CPT? see the tracking shows in JHB international mail centre,
any chance I could collect it there? cant belive Zenni a major company has no local partners like buffalo/Fedex/DHL ect...
how does it work now? do I collect it from my nearest SAPO in CPT, or will they SMS it to me, or who is best to contact?
Zenni support is pretty useless when its basically just Ai answers.
any chance I could collect it there? cant belive Zenni a major company has no local partners like buffalo/Fedex/DHL ect...
how does it work now? do I collect it from my nearest SAPO in CPT, or will they SMS it to me, or who is best to contact?
Zenni support is pretty useless when its basically just Ai answers.
RedViking
Nord of the South
I would not order anything using SAPO 3 - 6 months minimum
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
I wish that was possible, strangely zenni isn't offering a local support or partner or anything for people ordering eyewear locally, find it quite strange, as I'm sure others are as well.
Don't even offer Express shipping or another option than the black hole of SAPO.
I'm really worried now, will I get them and they are smashed and broken?
B-1
Honorary Master
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If you have a tracking number you should be fine. They might send you to the furthest post office in your area but at least you will know where it is and be able to tell them what day it arrived etc for when they look in their paper book system from 1983.
RedViking
Nord of the South
You'll get it eventually. Some people have received their parcel 10 years later. But they did receive it.
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
Got a tracking number, tracked it from the international mail centre in JHB, see it's been dispatched to CPT, no idea what happens now?
Will I get phoned by SAPO? Will I get sms'd ?who can I contact? None of this is clearly laid out, even in zenni site not any info telling people we use the useless Sapo, and we don't have DHL or FedEx or anything more reliable.
Now beginning to think, I should have used global shopper or a fowarding service or something like that, guess you live and you learn.
Hopefully I get it in the next week.
And hopefully the specs don't look like a taxi's windshield
.
B-1
Honorary Master
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Got a tracking number, tracked it from the international mail centre in JHB, see it's been dispatched to CPT, no idea what happens now?
Will I get phoned by SAPO? Will I get sms'd ?who can I contact? None of this is clearly laid out, even in zenni site not any info telling people we use the useless Sapo, and we don't have DHL or FedEx or anything more reliable.
Now beginning to think, I should have used global shopper or a fowarding service or something like that, guess you live and you learn.
Hopefully I get it in the next week.
And hopefully the specs don't look like a taxi's windshield
Its sapo so its not really predictable. For CPT you should see the CPT sorting centre next.
You should then get a PO slip in your post box when its ready to collect at your local PO. I haven't received one it years but I've hear rumours they still exist.
Not to worry though as long as you have the tracking number you should still see it move from the sorting centre to the despatching PO.
Once you see its at your localish PO you can go there with your tracking number. I usually write it down on a piece of paper including the day it arrived. They then have a book which they look through to find it for you.
Some of the PO's do send sms's etc but it seems a bit of hit or miss and they closed my local one that used to do this.
Just post on here again if you struggle though. There are a few of us that have done 100s of packages and can advise if needs be. I only lost about 3 over many years although I got tired of the shlep so don't use them any more.
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
understood, I gave them an address that was a Physical address and not a PO box,
last tracking I have is it being dispatched from JHB mail sorting facility on the 13'th, so not exactly sure what the timeframes would look like,
not sure if there is some way I could go to the mail sorting center in CPT and try to retrieve it there?
really worried now that I will wait an extraordinary amount of time, when I never realized they use the snail mail of SAPO
I guess next time there is some Googling and reading here on peoples experiences waiting for specs from Overseas.
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
so some news, my Ex GF knows people (surprisingly) that works for the SAPO, tried checking in back channels for me,
tells me its in CPT, 100%, but now its a mission to track it down to where I need to drive to to go fetch it,
surprisingly SARS called me earlier today, though it was a scam, but they gave me a Sars.gov.za email address, so its legit,
telling me I have to pay customs on it, Zenni had NONE of this listed, its some R200 odd rands, so no train smash, but now the fun begins, where do I pay it, Sars is like when you collect/Deliver it, okay, but where?
what is the details?, sends me a photo of the manifest number and the customs duties payable and the address where to deliver to.
I tried now tracking it down, know its supposedly in Goodwood, but its still in a container,
okay, so what now? do I go down to goodwood to try find it? can I retrieve it from them?
tells me its in CPT, 100%, but now its a mission to track it down to where I need to drive to to go fetch it,
surprisingly SARS called me earlier today, though it was a scam, but they gave me a Sars.gov.za email address, so its legit,
telling me I have to pay customs on it, Zenni had NONE of this listed, its some R200 odd rands, so no train smash, but now the fun begins, where do I pay it, Sars is like when you collect/Deliver it, okay, but where?
what is the details?, sends me a photo of the manifest number and the customs duties payable and the address where to deliver to.
I tried now tracking it down, know its supposedly in Goodwood, but its still in a container,
okay, so what now? do I go down to goodwood to try find it? can I retrieve it from them?
B-1
Honorary Master
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You will pay customs when you get to the post office.
Put your tracking into 17track.net and post the last few line here and someone can assist.
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
You will get it at the post office where you get your mail. Ask someone in the area where your nearest post office is.
Likely you will get a Whatsapp with the amount and that the item is ready for collection.
You can pay cash or credit/debit card for the item.
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
okay, y'all arent gonna believe this, but I finally got it!!!!
took a chance and drove down to Cape town central mail depot thingy, in epping and showed them the manifest sheet I got whatsapped earlier today, where I need to pay customs duties.
firstly, SAPO is stuck in 1989, seriously never heard of TAP to Pay, MUST Swipe like this is 1989 or something ridiculous here.
either that or cash, like this is a spaza shop in the township, like WTF?
anyway, paid, and got my order, I ordered a pair of half Rim Specs with a Clip on sunglasses attachment with magnets,
for some odd reason got 2 of the Clip ons, but okay I guess, aint complaining after a month of waiting.
also DID get a Glasses case, and it wasn't shipped wrapped in Bubble wrap or packaged badly, I wasn't sure so I ordered an Additional Glasses case, but that turned out to not be necessary.
glasses themselves fit perfectly, frame looks good quality, nice wide nosebride for the clip on attachment, spring hinges, not too heavy, definitely as described, took a while to get a Frame that worked for my prescription,
when you create an account on Zenni and enter all your measurements, it wont let you proceed if the frame wont work with the Lenses, as I wanted completely rimless but none of the frames would work, and definitely without the clip on sunglasses part.
Sunglasses are very decent, polarizing and glare reducing, took a walk on the beach a bit to see if the glare reduces reflecting off the water, definitely does.
so overall happy with the product I eventually got 1 month later. better late than never!
not happy with the service and support I got from Zenni, automated Ai answers, not understanding questions, and no Express shipping option, ONLY SAPO or Standard shipping offered to SA, what is this Nonsense???
If I had to do it again, either would ship to Aramex global shopper, somebody overseas who can just ship and package it onwards to me via DHL/Fedex ect...
while going through this entire ordeal, I had a brilliant thought, unfortunately I know next to nothing about the optometry business,
but what is stopping a local optometry group from copying the entire process of Zenni and offering decent shipping options, better prices and an online ordering process where they pass the savings on to customers,
dont need salaries or secretaries, dont need rent, dont need water or utilities, dont need all the considerable overhead of a optometry shop, and pass on the savings to people,
I sometimes think South africa is stuck in a time warp where its the 1980's and the internet is still new, nobody has thought to shake up a industry that seems super corrupt, slow and stuck in its old ways, wish I had the funds and know how to take the idea further,
maybe somebody reading this will be inspired and in time we will have our own version of Zenni locally, hence why I am putting the idea out there for free.
took a chance and drove down to Cape town central mail depot thingy, in epping and showed them the manifest sheet I got whatsapped earlier today, where I need to pay customs duties.
firstly, SAPO is stuck in 1989, seriously never heard of TAP to Pay, MUST Swipe like this is 1989 or something ridiculous here.
either that or cash, like this is a spaza shop in the township, like WTF?
anyway, paid, and got my order, I ordered a pair of half Rim Specs with a Clip on sunglasses attachment with magnets,
for some odd reason got 2 of the Clip ons, but okay I guess, aint complaining after a month of waiting.
also DID get a Glasses case, and it wasn't shipped wrapped in Bubble wrap or packaged badly, I wasn't sure so I ordered an Additional Glasses case, but that turned out to not be necessary.
glasses themselves fit perfectly, frame looks good quality, nice wide nosebride for the clip on attachment, spring hinges, not too heavy, definitely as described, took a while to get a Frame that worked for my prescription,
when you create an account on Zenni and enter all your measurements, it wont let you proceed if the frame wont work with the Lenses, as I wanted completely rimless but none of the frames would work, and definitely without the clip on sunglasses part.
Sunglasses are very decent, polarizing and glare reducing, took a walk on the beach a bit to see if the glare reduces reflecting off the water, definitely does.
so overall happy with the product I eventually got 1 month later. better late than never!
not happy with the service and support I got from Zenni, automated Ai answers, not understanding questions, and no Express shipping option, ONLY SAPO or Standard shipping offered to SA, what is this Nonsense???
If I had to do it again, either would ship to Aramex global shopper, somebody overseas who can just ship and package it onwards to me via DHL/Fedex ect...
while going through this entire ordeal, I had a brilliant thought, unfortunately I know next to nothing about the optometry business,
but what is stopping a local optometry group from copying the entire process of Zenni and offering decent shipping options, better prices and an online ordering process where they pass the savings on to customers,
dont need salaries or secretaries, dont need rent, dont need water or utilities, dont need all the considerable overhead of a optometry shop, and pass on the savings to people,
I sometimes think South africa is stuck in a time warp where its the 1980's and the internet is still new, nobody has thought to shake up a industry that seems super corrupt, slow and stuck in its old ways, wish I had the funds and know how to take the idea further,
maybe somebody reading this will be inspired and in time we will have our own version of Zenni locally, hence why I am putting the idea out there for free.
ld13
Honorary Master
Same thing that is stopping your audiologist from closing up shop and selling hearing aids online, or a dentist shipping diy aligner kits. I'm in the medical industry, more on the optics side, and I could technically fire up an ecommerce site and have labs shipping fitted glasses, probably hearing aids and all kinds of dental and freaky orthotics gear by the end of the week, but I'd have the HPCSA or someone knocking on my door before the year is over. These are medical devices, not mere retail products and they require in-person dispensing and (pre- & post)care. You leave some performance on the table by skipping proper fitting and going online only.
That said, if you've got a straightforward prescription the performance you're giving up might not matter much.
Also, the average peep does not necessarily know what they don't know. I mean, who cares about abbe values right? It is not like its a number that could impact your vision or anything /s
Jet-Fighter7700
Honorary Master
Fair point, so just like petrol station attendants we aren't allowed to just order prescription glasses online?
As for the values of what the prescription must be, zenni does a good job explaining everything, and offering tools to measure the PD via a cellphone camera, if it's not recorded on the prescription already.
Glad this ordeal is over now and I have my glasses in hand and not lost somewhere with SAPO.
Will see next time what can be done regarding shipment via global shopper or other alternatives
Smiggles
Honorary Master
Paid R7700 at the local place today. It Includes tinting, blue light and sunglasses though.
