Online glasses ordering

smartbuyglasses: Just arrived , 18 days, not bad considering i made a change a few days after purchasing (from Extra active to gen 8)
Very happy so far, much lighter on my face, transitioning works as expected , quality of the lenses is good as far as i can tell, also came with the original nike lenses ,packed separately.
Highly recommended .

1655112017755.png
 
By the way: Didn't have to pay any customs/vat/duties on them
Zenni update: no update....but it's aramexglobalshopper fault....no update/movement since the 9th.
 
bar1 said:
smartbuyglasses: Just arrived , 18 days, not bad considering i made a change a few days after purchasing (from Extra active to gen 8)
Very happy so far, much lighter on my face, transitioning works as expected , quality of the lenses is good as far as i can tell, also came with the original nike lenses ,packed separately.
Highly recommended .

View attachment 1329440
Click to expand...
Nice. The frames on SmartBuy are pretty reasonable... The lenses though and this is across the board on all the sites can get quite pricey, depending on the options and coating that you choose.
In your case, you went with the Genuine Transitions. And If you coupled that with the high index, I assume that the lenses would have set you back more than the actual frames?
 
Frame PriceR2,058
Lens Price:R1,299
Transition Price:R1,779

Lens being:
Arise Collective Clarity 8K
1.67,
Gen8 transition.


I did however get : $36,97 refund because of the XTRAactive to gen 8 change.
 
bar1 said:
Lens Price:R1,299
Transition Price:R1,779
Click to expand...
Yep... Total for the Lenses including the transitions is just over R3K. Which is way cheaper than anywhere locally.
I guess its a trade-off. If you paying for branded frames... the you might as well get the premium lenses with the bells and whistles. I would estimate that if you were to get the exact same pair locally with the same lenses etc, it would have set you back a minimum of R7K
 
This forum is quite interesting.

I can say that I have gained a fair deal of knowledge through this forum as well as reading up on the sites like SmartBuy, Zenni and EyeBuy etc.

Been using specs for over 20 years now. I just about had it the last time I got specs and my damages were over 5K with transitions and this was after a discount. IIRC the frames were about 1K and this was about 5 years back.

I rather pay and get my prescription now and I have the freedom to choose what I want.
 
Where are you guys getting the prescriptions?
Went to 2 separate Optometrists and they were not comfortable giving me the prescription if they were not filling it.

Know a Family Opthamologist who can assist but he is booked for the next 2 months
 
Kadz said:
Yep... Total for the Lenses including the transitions is just over R3K. Which is way cheaper than anywhere locally.
I guess its a trade-off. If you paying for branded frames... the you might as well get the premium lenses with the bells and whistles. I would estimate that if you were to get the exact same pair locally with the same lenses etc, it would have set you back a minimum of R7K
Click to expand...
Specs savers qouted me over 10k, and another random optometrist i went to wanted R13k for lenses only....
 
Pho3nix said:
Where are you guys getting the prescriptions?
Went to 2 separate Optometrists and they were not comfortable giving me the prescription if they were not filling it.

Know a Family Opthamologist who can assist but he is booked for the next 2 months
Click to expand...
I went to specs savers for an eye test and i was given my script upon my request....
 
Pho3nix said:
Where are you guys getting the prescriptions?
Went to 2 separate Optometrists and they were not comfortable giving me the prescription if they were not filling it.

Know a Family Opthamologist who can assist but he is booked for the next 2 months
Click to expand...
They are bound to give it to you. You paying for it.
One of My colleagues had an issue with specsavers once, where they were giving the runaround for the prescription. I made him escalate to the head office and very quickly the apologies came and the issue was resolved.

Simple. If the optom does not want to give it to you, they are not worth visiting. Infact, I called and checked the prices from a few optoms for a comprehensive eyetest. Some have it bundled with a free frame for about R600, but thats the catch. If you just want the eye test, the price is about R400. I found the price usually varies from about R150 to R400 just for the comprehensive eye test.
 
Soulware Technology said:
The nylon has been repaired but the frame has broken. Not actual photo. This is probably repairable but I am as blind as bat so can't go without it. So will have to get a new frame and lenses.

I am looking at the Torga Mission 7 frame. It looks awesome but does have limitations.

I wish I can get one of those Jedi optometrists you speak of, I have tendency to make the letters smaller in my quest to increase clarity. Feel previous optoms have allowed me to go to strong in my script.
Click to expand...

I have only ever seen two repairs done on those thin adidas frames (made by Silhouette). Quite sad that the range was discontinued afaik.

Those mission 7 frames look a bit bulky but can hide your thicker script. Just make sure they do not increase the overall weight.

Allowed you to go too strong you say? We call it "over-minus" and it happens all the time. Try convincing a px that they have been wearing the wrong script for the last 8 years because the optom did not pick up that their eye is stressing with the higher and stronger minus script during retinoscopy. It then takes us years to get the patient comfortable with their actual lower script, sometimes forcing us to only drop the script by 20% at a time.

Kadz said:
They are bound to give it to you. You paying for it.
Click to expand...

Should have no issues with obtaining this, although we have refused and rather issued a refund at least 4 times over the years where the client had unrealistic expectations in terms of what their vision aught to be (ignoring professional objective advice) or we were 100% sure that a complex script would need to be tweaked pre-"mid"-production or whatever. The R400 in revenue was not worth being sued for a R6000+ pair of specs, "because the glasses dont work" while we had no control over the external manufacturing lab etc.
 
ld13 said:
I have only ever seen two repairs done on those thin adidas frames (made by Silhouette). Quite sad that the range was discontinued afaik.

Those mission 7 frames look a bit bulky but can hide your thicker script. Just make sure they do not increase the overall weight.

Allowed you to go too strong you say? We call it "over-minus" and it happens all the time. Try convincing a px that they have been wearing the wrong script for the last 8 years because the optom did not pick up that their eye is stressing with the higher and stronger minus script during retinoscopy. It then takes us years to get the patient comfortable with their actual lower script, sometimes forcing us to only drop the script by 20% at a time.



Should have no issues with obtaining this, although we have refused and rather issued a refund at least 4 times over the years where the client had unrealistic expectations in terms of what their vision aught to be (ignoring professional objective advice) or we were 100% sure that a complex script would need to be tweaked pre-"mid"-production or whatever. The R400 in revenue was not worth being sued for a R6000+ pair of specs, "because the glasses dont work" while we had no control over the external manufacturing lab etc.
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Unfortunately, my script doesn't work on the Mission 7 frames because it requires a base curve. It's outside the allowed specs. Sucks to be me.

The color on the Mission 3 did catch my eye but this design kind of looks like scuba gear. Don't like the deep groove on this one, but that metallic color is amazing under the showroom lights.

1655218601213.png
 
So for Zenni+aramex global shopper i am being asked to pay: R289.10 for duties.
not sure if it's worth fighting over...but i really don't think i'll ever use aramex global shopper again even though i have a lifetime membership.
 
Kadz said:
So I bit the bullet and ordered 2 branded pairs from eyebuydirect.com

I had the items in my cart for some time, waiting for a decent discount code.
Eventually they sent me one - 30% on Frames and 50% on the Lenses.
So was a decent deal.

Their premium lens options can be quite expensive for the transitions options, so I opted for the cheaper standard photo-chromatic with water repellent coatings and a 1.6 high index lens.
The difference between 1.6 and 1.67 index is negligible IMHO and not worth the extra cost of 30$.

The 1.74 was not an option, but would have been great, however I would guess that the pricing would have made it unattractive considering the price difference a 1.6 and 1.67

The lenses worked out to a minimum of 50% less compared to the premium Transitions options with a 1.6 index

Used Aramex Global Shopper as the forwarding agent.
Waiting to see how the experience is and the costs involved.

Will keep you updated.

There should not be any extra duty costs involved except for the standard delivery charges.
As per SARS - Import Duties PDF

View attachment 1323800
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Thanks for this, going to email aramex global shopper and asked, Last time i quaried a tax issue it took 4 month to resolve so i am not sure i am up for it again.... but i will definately look at other options next time.
 
bar1 said:
So for Zenni+aramex global shopper i am being asked to pay: R289.10 for duties.
not sure if it's worth fighting over...but i really don't think i'll ever use aramex global shopper again even though i have a lifetime membership.
Click to expand...
Let it go, I think it's vat 15% and clearance fee. Aramex is worse. I have a couple of orders from the USA I'm think of using MyUS.
 
My local optometrist wanted R300 for an eye test if I didn't buy the frames and lenses from him
Specsavers won't give me a price just for an eye test. Its bundled they say
 
Dumb Q, but how are you loading the Px on Zenni? Just phone the optometrist and ask for a copy of your script?
 
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