Is Lenscrafters a good substitute for MyEyeDr?

February 6, 2024 12:08 PM

I'm due for new eyeglasses, and I'm ready for a change of providers. I've been using MyEyeDr for about 15 years, more or less, and I've had a range of experiences with them. I'm honestly tired, though, and am thinking about Lenscrafters. Would they be better, or more of the same?

MyEyeDr fumbled many of my eyeglasses orders over the years, giving me the wrong kind of frames that weren't ideal for my prescription, and oftentimes redos had to be done. Two years ago was particularly bad—they messed up with the edge polish (still a bit messed up, even though they attempted to fix) and the prescription was wonky—took forever to get used to. Despite the lens being anti-scratch, they're badly scratched up. Their billing was also a mess, and I had to get corporate involved. I'm just tired of having to deal with them overall.

My prescription is a bit complicated, and the actual adjustment of frames a bit tricky, given my half-grown ear. I'm searching for more dedicated service, and hopefully, competent opticians and staff who will get everything right on the first go (or at least, only minor revisions needed).

I've always went to MyEyeDr because better the devil you know than the one you don't, right? But it's time, I think. Is Lenscrafters any better? I know they're a big chain. I'm not sure if my vision insurance covers/supports any in-network private, local opticians (I have UHC Vision), but would be okay with that, too. Am in the DC area. I heard Warby Parker hasn't been the same/got worse, so hesitant to try them. I have seen/heard mixed things about Lenscrafters, but generally a bit better than MyEyeDr, maybe.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks!

posted by dubious_dude to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

I've had a pretty good experience there for my kids. But it's just really so hard to know as it all depends on the optometrists and staff at each location. I think your best bet would be to ask around if anyone has great experiences with their eye doctor. If you're on reddit, your local subreddit might be a good place to ask.
posted by dawkins_7 at 12:14 PM on February 6, 2024

I went to Lenscrafters for several years for exams and prescriptions and never had any issues with Lenscrafters itself. They're owned by Luxottica, so all the frames they carry are Luxottica brands. (I know you can take your prescription anywhere, but that can be a hassle)

The spring in the particular model of RayBan frame I liked kept breaking, so I wanted to go someplace that carried non-Luxottica brands, and I figured that it could be beneficial going to a practice that offered more than just eye exams if I ever needed cataract surgery or whatever. So I switched to a bigger local practice that has an optician.

I can't imagine that your insurance wouldn't cover a locally-based practice, but you should be able to search on their website.
posted by jonathanhughes at 12:32 PM on February 6, 2024

For non-straightforward eye glass situations I would strongly suggest going to an independent retailer.
posted by oceano at 12:52 PM on February 6, 2024 [8 favorites]

My wife and I switched from MyEyeDr to Lenscrafters after one too many times of getting the hard sell on every possible coating under the sun and being jerks about giving out a prescription so we could get glasses online. Lenscrafters has been totally great, and we both actually bought glasses from them rather than online for the first time in a while because they were very chill about it.

I agree with dawkins_7 though, that individual locations probably differ quite a bit within both franchises.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:52 PM on February 6, 2024

+1 independent shop. Here’s one in DC that has their own lab and carries a brand of frames that I personally like (Bellinger). The step up in service often comes with a step up in price, though.
posted by shock muppet at 1:28 PM on February 6, 2024 [3 favorites]

If you need to go somewhere mass market for price and/or insurance reasons, I've heard good things about Costco and I think you're not supposed to need a membership to use their optical services. Personally I would avoid MyEyeDr (my personal experience is that they are as unreliable as you say they are), and I really would avoid LensCrafters or anything else in the Luxottica umbrella, but avoiding them may be difficult based on your insurance. If you can handle going to an independent shop you'll probably get better care overall.

We go to an independent ophthalmologist that I found based on Yelp reviews. He has a small selection of frames in his office and finishes lenses in his own lab. We recently had a bad experience with his office manager, who threatened to fire my wife as a patient due to a slight misunderstanding and a very bad day he was having, but that's all been patched up now. For frames and lenses we have been extremely happy with the service and selection at Georgetown Optician, but the prices are … not low. Very not low. You might say they're high.
posted by fedward at 1:51 PM on February 6, 2024

Agree with the independent recommendation. Try Voorthuis Opticians.
posted by XtineHutch at 3:46 PM on February 6, 2024 [1 favorite]

If you don't go with an independent, I can vouch for a specific MyEyeDr. location as being thorough and careful about exams and glasses fitting for me and my husband: 1776 G Street NW (Farragut West Metro Station). They used to be an independent, but joined the MyEyeDr chain in the last few years.
posted by gudrun at 8:13 PM on February 6, 2024

I had to use LensCrafters years ago because it was the only place my insurance allowed, and it was a horrible experience. Their junior optometrist completely removed my astigmatism correction without telling me, then, after returning with serious vision complaints (duh), the senior optometrist re-examined me, put my astigmatism correction back in, and then proceeded to tell me if I had any more problems they were going to make me get blood work done to check for diabetes. WTF??? Never again. Of course, this was one location and YMMV.

Just recently, I ended up walking into a brick-n-mortar Warby-Parker and had one of the best experiences I ever had in terms of staff bending-over backwards to make sure I was happy with my glasses.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:18 AM on February 7, 2024

I have really not had good luck with any of the chain-store type optometrists in the metro area I now live in. They've been incapable of making two pairs of glasses they make at the same time actually match each other or the actual prescription they gave me, and repeatedly were unable to fix the issue.

However, when I regained insurance and was able to get an accurate prescription from the person I also needed to see due to a medical eye health issue, there's been zero problem getting glasses that finally felt like the correct prescription from either their eyeglass store, or ordered online from the lower-cost glasses places.

In short, my issues were two-fold - a provider that was in a hurry and not really very good at getting an accurate prescription (process was weird and short compared to what is more typical for me), along with very inconsistent creation of the lenses.

So, others will have different experiences, I'm sure - there has to be some good providers working with the chains, and competent people somewhere - but I personally have decided I'm not going to deal with that enormous hassle again.
posted by stormyteal at 1:31 PM on February 8, 2024

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check out the MyEyeDr gudrun suggested, as well as read reviews of LensCrafters locations nearby, and see if my insurance will cover any independent vendors.

My insurance has specific fees/copays already, so I'm pretty sure the cost would be the same, regardless if it's independent or a chain.
posted by dubious_dude at 7:53 AM on February 9, 2024