Seeking Good Service

our Ratings Tables show how area eyewear outlets were rated when we surveyed area CHECKBOOK and Consumer Reports subscribers. The table includes ratings from nearly 5,000 consumers. Fortunately, most eyewear customers are satisfied with their choices of outlets. When there are problems, the complaints usually relate to second-rate customer service—rude salespersons, long waits, and indifferent advice—and high prices. But some consumers also complain of incompetence.

Although most outlets are able to provide eyeglasses and contacts that fit satisfactorily and properly correct their wearers' vision, there is a lot that can go wrong. For example, there's the positioning of lenses. The prescription gives the power of the lens, and most eyewear outlets succeed in getting lenses consistently ground to match the prescription, but the optician or optometrist must also be sure that the optical centers of the lenses, when mounted in your glasses, match up with the pupils of your eyes. If the centers are too close together or too far apart or too high or low, your vision may be distorted. If you have astigmatism, the lens will have an axis that must be oriented to line up properly with the eye. For someone with a strong lens, rotating the axis by five degrees might reduce vision from 20/20 down to 20/60.

Another consideration is the "base curve" of the lens—the curve you feel if you run your finger over the lens. Your optician or optometrist should confirm with the facility that will be grinding the lens what the base curve should be, based on what the manufacturer of the frames recommends for your prescription. Some eyeglass outlets don't always bother with this check. Getting this curve right helps ensure that the lens will perform optimally.

It is also important that the frame fit you well. Fitting the contour of the nose is critical. A badly fitted frame either will be uncomfortable or will cause the glasses to slip out of position. If you have a strong prescription, a store's staff should also alert you to the disadvantages of large frames: the lenses not only will be heavy and look thick at the edges; they're also likely to distort the view at the edges.

Choosing the right frame is important to how you see and feel and also to how you look. A good salesperson will help you find frames that complement your face. Your selection should look right with the line of your eyebrows, the spacing of your eyes, and the shape and size of your face.

Contact lenses have their own set of issues. You will want good advice on the type of lenses that will suit your pattern of use and your budget. And you'll want proper follow-up when you get a new type of lenses to ensure that there is no risk to the health of your eyes.

Given the many ways in which an eyeglass supplier can help you make the right purchase, you will want to choose outlets carefully.

If you have a prescription from a recent exam, you can go to any optician or optometrist to get eyeglasses. Many also dispense contact lenses. Most of these will dispense contact lenses based on a recent prescription you've gotten elsewhere, but some will insist on doing their own exam. Most suppliers consider a prescription recent enough if it's based on an exam within the past year, and some will let you go back further, particularly for eyeglasses, depending on your age and eye care history.

If you don't have a current prescription, you can get one at many of the listed outlets. Opticians can't give exams, but many outlets either are run by optometrists, who can, or have one working in an affiliated office. (Washington State law prohibits an optician from employing an optometrist, but the optometrist can be just a door away.)

Once you get an exam, you have the right to take the prescription anywhere else to get eyeglasses or contact lenses. For contact lenses, many optometrists argue that providing lenses is a professional service in which the exam, the supplying of lenses, and follow-up care must be done together in order to get a consistently safe and satisfactory result. Many other practitioners—especially opticians (who can't do exams)—dispute this view, but there is an additional reason you might want to get your lenses where you get your exam: if the lenses don't work out (and many times contact lenses don't), there will be no question who is responsible.

Since you have some freedom to shop around, you may as well do so at quality stores. As we noted previously, good-old-fashioned customer service is a challenge at a number of area eyewear outlets. The ratings on our Ratings Tables show how sizeable the store-to-store differences are on this front. At the time of our last full, published article, forty-seven of the 140 listed outlets were rated "superior" for the overall quality of their service by at least 80 percent of their surveyed customers, while 21 got such favorable ratings from fewer than 50 percent. (For more information on our customer survey and other research methods, click here.)

In general, chains and franchise operations were rated lower than other firms. But there was variation among the chain and franchise operations. At the time of our last full, published article, the chain or franchise operations with the lowest percentage of "superior" overall ratings, on average, were J C Penney (40 percent), Sears (41 percent), and America's Best (43 percent); Group Health Eye Care Services (74 percent) and Costco (72 percent) had the highest percentage.

Searching for Low Prices

Eyeglasses

Since there are many firms with excellent, or at least acceptable, ratings for quality of service, you have room to shop for price. Here is a key point to keep in mind: you can shop for price for eyeglasses without any risk of permanent damage to your eyes; if your prescription or the grinding of your lenses is significantly off, you will know it, so you can get the problem fixed or, if necessary, start again with a new pair.

For firms that were evaluated in our last full, published article, our Ratings Tables give price index scores for each outlet for eyeglasses and for contact lenses.

The eyeglasses scores are based on prices our shoppers were quoted for up to 19 pairs of glasses. This index reflects each store's prices relative to other stores' prices for the same models of frames and basic lenses for a common low-correction, single-vision prescription.

We set the average price index score at $100. A price index score of $110 for a company means that the company's price quotes were about 10 percent above the multi-company average.

Fortunately, you can shop for low prices for eyeglasses and not give up good service. Our survey identified many stores with below-average price index scores that also receive our top rating for quality.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to compare prices for eyeglasses for a number of big chains, including America's Best, Costco, J C Penney, Sam's Club, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart, since their selection of frames differs so much from that of other stores. But our experience has been that prices at Costco, Sam's Club, Target, and Wal-Mart tend to be among the lowest for items they do carry.

Among the chains and franchises for which we were able to compare prices, only Group Health's optical shops had below-average pricing. We found that LensCrafters' prices averaged about 13 percent higher than the all-outlet average.

Although there was some variation in prices from location to location within all of the surveyed chains and franchise operations, we found relatively consistent pricing for all of them. On our Ratings Tables, we report the same price index score for each outlet in a chain based on the average prices quoted by the stores within the chain or franchise operation.

The eyeglasses price index scores are good guides to low-priced outlets. But they are not a perfect indicator. It is possible that some stores with high prices on the items we shopped might have relatively low prices on other items. Some might offer relatively low prices on private-brand frames but not on the national-brand frames we priced (private-brand frames weren't included in our survey since they couldn't be compared from one firm to another). In general, however, outlets tend to have relatively consistent pricing policies, and choosing a firm with a low price index score greatly improves your chances of getting a good price on whatever glasses you finally buy.

Contacts

Since the price index scores for eyeglasses are not always a good predictor of contact lens prices, we've reported separate contact lens price index scores on our Ratings Tables for firms that were evaluated in the last full, published article. These scores show how each outlet's prices compared to the average of the prices for all other quoting outlets for simple prescriptions using each outlet's cheapest available brands for five types of contacts—daily lenses, daily disposable lenses, two-week extended-wear disposable lenses, monthly disposable lenses, and rigid gas-permeable vial lenses. We've listed a price index score for an outlet only if we got quotes on at least two of these types of lenses.

The scores are adjusted so that the average for all firms is $100. The scores are based on the price of the lenses and the exam, fitting, and follow-up visits, since most buyers pay a package price that includes an exam and some amount of follow-up care.

You should be aware that there are differences in the amount of service different firms include in a contact lens package price. This adds confusion to your shopping task.

One element of variation has to do with the range of service that is included in an exam and in follow-up care. Sometimes the stated price for contacts includes a thorough eye exam; sometimes it includes just a quick exam with a refraction test and measurements of the size and shape of the eyeball; sometimes it does not include an exam. Also, at some firms, the price covers as many follow-up visits as you wish within a stated period of time (such as three months or a year), but at others it covers only one or two follow-up visits.

There is also variation in refund policies and warranties on contacts. Most dispensers will give back some or all of your money if your eyes do not adapt to the contacts within a specified time. A few don't have a refund policy but promise to make many adjustments, if necessary, to reach a satisfactory fit. Neither arrangement provides foolproof protection for you. Dispensers with refund policies may give up quickly if you are hard to fit and then give you only a partial refund. Promises to make extensive adjustments are not worth much if the adjustments are not made skillfully; and, remember, each adjustment will require your time.

While these variations in the contact lens service package mean that the prices we collected aren't exactly comparable from firm to firm, the contact lens price index scores on our Ratings Tables are useful guides to help you find low-priced outlets where you can begin your shopping. As you can see, the variation in price index scores is large, with the index more than twice as high at some outlets as at others.

Looking at our price index scores for contacts, you can see that Costco, with an index score of $56, was the winner for price. Sam's Club ($57), America's Best ($60), Wal-Mart ($68), J C Penney ($73), and Sears ($77) also had prices that were well below average. As with our price index scores for eyeglasses, we found low prices at some area stores that are unaffiliated with major chains, and according to our customer survey results, many of these provide better service.

Basic Questions

While choosing the right outlet is important for both service and price, your final satisfaction with your purchase, and its cost, depends heavily on your care in choosing among your outlet's many offerings.

Eyeglasses or Contacts?

A major decision is whether to buy glasses or contact lenses.

The major advantages of glasses are that they are usually cheaper, do not irritate the surface of the eye, require less care, are not as easily lost, can be made in special frames that protect the eye against some types of accidents, and can be a fashion accessory.

The major advantages of contacts are that they are virtually invisible, provide a wider field of vision, do not irritate the nose bridge and ears, are relatively secure and safe to wear during sports activities, and cause less visual distortion than glasses because they are fitted closer to the eyes and move with the eyes. In instances of extreme nearsightedness or farsightedness, and following cataract removal, contacts can be a real godsend. Because of recent improvements in contacts, it is now possible to get a better combination of comfort, safety, and visual acuity than was possible in the past. So some individuals who have up to now preferred glasses may want to reconsider.

If you do get contacts, it's a good idea to have a pair of glasses as a backup—to wear in the event of loss of a contact, eye infections, allergies, or other problems.

Frames for Glasses

If you will be buying glasses, not contacts, a major decision is what type of frame to get. In choosing frames, the main considerations are comfort, positioning, durability, appearance, and price.

How They Feel

The key points to check for comfort of glasses are the bridge of the nose and the ears, where the glasses rest. Unfortunately, trying on a frame for a minute or two doesn't always reveal the discomfort that might occur with extended wear. But there is not much more you can do. Of course, getting glasses similar to ones you have had before limits your risk.

All other things being equal, the lightest glasses will be the most comfortable. These usually have frames of plastic or thin metal with smallish-sized lenses made of thin plastic.

If you are considering metal frames, keep several points in mind. Metal frames usually have a nosepiece of rocking pads (small adjustable plastic pads). Rocking pads are not likely to slip and are easily adjusted. This is an advantage over plastic frames, which usually have a rigid nose support that varies in shape among different manufacturers. But rocking pads, unlike a good-fitting plastic nosepiece, concentrate the weight on a small surface of the nose and are, therefore, uncomfortable to some people. If this is a problem for you, consider one of the models with an inserted molded plastic nosepiece instead of the rocking pads. Metal frames are also likely to cause irritation on the ears. But many models avoid this problem by covering the ends of the temples with plastic or rubber pads.

How They're Positioned

The main purpose of eyeglass frames is to position the lenses so that they give you the greatest visual acuity. Some frames may position the lenses too far from your eyes, or too high or low. If the frames slide down your nose, you won't get the fullest benefit from the proper prescription lenses. The stronger your prescription, the more critical the positioning becomes. If you use your glasses for driving, sports, or other activities requiring peripheral vision, make sure the "temples" (the two side parts of a frame that extend behind the ears) are located above or below the eye, not directly alongside it.

How Long They Will Last

Most glasses that are handled with care last three or four years, and many eyeglass wearers want to change style at least that often. If you plan to keep the frames longer, or if the frames are knocked around a lot in sports activities, wrestling matches with your children, or whatever, strength and durability are important. Both depend on the types of materials used to make the frames, the thickness of the materials, and the craftsmanship.

In metal frames, the strongest ones usually are made with titanium. They have smooth welding wherever two pieces of metal have been joined, and they have flexible hinges.

Among plastic frames, the strongest are made of nylon, but these tend to be thick, heavy, and plain in style. Among other plastic types, the strongest usually have at least moderate thickness, metal reinforcing within the full length of the temple (not needed in nylon or optyl plastic), and flexible hinges.

These are general guidelines. Some frames of other types may be quite durable, and some meeting these standards may be rather frail.

How They Look

For most eyeglass wearers, appearance and style are key considerations. In fact, a substantial number of frames are sold with clear, nonprescription lenses to be worn just for effect.

As with anything else you wear, there is, of course, no best look for everyone. To look right, frames must accommodate the shape of your eyebrows and cheekbones, the spacing of your eyes, the height of your nose bridge, and the size of your head. The conventional wisdom is that a person looks best in frames that are shaped differently from his or her face—square or oblong rims for round faces, round rims for square faces, and wide, shallow, oblong rims for narrow faces.

Consumers' interest in style and brand names gives optometrists and opticians an extra measure of leverage if they wish to guide you to a high-priced frame. Your best approach is to try on a variety of frame styles to decide for yourself which few look best and feel comfortable. Then look at the price tags on those you like. Chances are some will be relatively inexpensive. If not, be sure to take another look and ask the person helping you whether there is another cheaper frame that looks similar to one you like.

What the Staff Recommends

The staffs at eyeglass outlets can be a valuable source of information when selecting frames. They can suggest models that might eliminate comfort or positioning problems you have previously experienced and steer you away from models that might cause you other problems. But always ask for explanations of the professionals' recommendations, and be suspicious if all the recommendations are for their higher priced frames. These are usually the most profitable.

How Much They Cost

The prices of frames vary tremendously. Decent quality frames are sold at prices ranging from less than $40 to more than $500.

Types of Lenses for Eyeglasses

In choosing the lenses for your eyeglasses, you have many options.

One question is whether to get glass or plastic. The lighter weight of plastic is a particular advantage when the lenses are for large-style frames or for a strong prescription (which requires a thick lens). The scratch resistance of glass is a particular advantage if you take your glasses off frequently, slipping them into your pocket, purse, or briefcase. Both glass and plastic lenses are required by federal regulation to resist breakage from moderate impacts, but no lenses are unbreakable.

If you have a strong prescription for nearsightedness, you may want lenses made of materials that have a strong capacity to refract light. Such materials permit a thinner, lighter lens, but cost extra.

An increasingly popular choice for individuals who need multifocal lenses (bifocals or trifocals) and don't want others to be aware of this sign of aging is "progressive," or "no-line," lenses. But such lenses are usually more expensive than regular bifocals or trifocals and require special care in fitting to avoid vision distortion.

Several types of lens treatments have grown in popularity in recent years. One of the most popular options is a treatment to filter out ultraviolet (UV) rays. There is evidence that UV rays contribute to the development of cataracts and may cause damage to the retina. UV coating may be of interest to you if your eyes are heavily exposed to UV radiation—for example, if you work outdoors or spend a lot of time outdoors, particularly at the beach or mountain climbing.

Another fast-growing option is anti-reflective coating. This type of coating reduces reflection from your side. This is an especially helpful benefit if you do a lot of night driving and it will reduce the reflection others see when they look at—or photograph—you.

Other options include: scratch-resistant coating; tints; polarizing lenses (which reduce glare from reflective surfaces, such as, water, snow, and glass); and photochromic lenses, which are activated by UV and darken as the sun gets brighter (but since most car windshields block UV, the effect won't work while driving).

With all the possible features and add-ons, buying glasses begins to seem like buying a car.

What's more, some firms push their options harder than a high-pressure car salesperson does. Although the add-ons have more legitimacy than a car dealer's rustproofing treatments and paint protection packages, you have to treat each option skeptically. If your glasses have not gotten scratched in the past or if reflection has never troubled you, don't be pushed into paying to fix something that isn't broken.

Contacts

Making the right choice in contact lenses is more complicated than selecting and buying glasses.

Although a few contact lens wearers still have old-fashioned hard lenses, most outlets currently supply only two basic types of lenses—soft lenses and rigid gas permeable lenses.

Soft lenses, first introduced in 1971, are made of a gelatin-like substance with high water content. Most wearers adapt to them quickly and easily. The high water content allows the passage of oxygen to the cornea, the tissue covering the eye. This oxygen supply is crucial since the cornea doesn't have a blood supply like other body tissues.

Rigid gas-permeable lenses were first introduced in 1979. Current versions allow oxygen easily to pass through. This feature, in turn, allows such lenses to be larger than old-fashioned hard lenses, which had to be small enough for oxygen to pass around them to the cornea. The larger size makes for relative comfort because the eyelid doesn't have to pass over the edge of the lens with each blink.

Soft lenses have several advantages compared to rigid lenses—

• They are often easy to adapt to. You can wear them comfortably almost immediately and you can stop wearing them for days or months and then start again without an extended period of re-adaptation.
• They are easily fitted. The softness permits some tolerance of variations in a cornea's shape, so custom fitting is not required.
• Because they cover a large part of the eye's surface, they work well in dusty conditions where they prevent dust from getting to the eye.
• They are not easily dislodged, making them ideal for use in sports.
• They are less expensive at the time of initial purchase.
• Availability of affordable, disposable lenses means little or no maintenance is required.

On the other hand, rigid gas permeable lenses have important advantages compared to soft lenses—

• They can provide clearer vision. Their rigidity allows precise shaping. This fact also means they can be used to correct serious astigmatism that can't be corrected by standard soft lenses (however, special soft toric lenses are available for this purpose).
• They are easier than soft lenses to clean since they are much less prone than soft lenses to collect protein deposits. Ease of cleaning means your regular maintenance is easier and cheaper, and it means you're not likely to suffer the discomfort that results from wearing dirty lenses.
• They are safer. Since they can be kept clean, they are less prone than soft lenses to harbor microorganisms that can infect the eye.
• Since they don't absorb moisture, they can be worn by individuals with relatively dry eyes.
• They last longer than soft lenses both because they don't get so dirty and because they are harder to scratch. While soft lenses typically are good for a year or less, standard rigid lenses generally last twice that long. However, lenses for extended wear (overnight) use have shorter life spans than lenses for daily wear.
• Their relatively long lifespan and ease of cleaning mean their long-term cost is likely to be lower than the cost of soft lenses.

Related to the two basic types of lenses, there are many variants—

• One important type of variant is extended wear lenses. While regular lenses are supposed to be removed each night for cleaning and to allow a period for oxygen freely to reach the cornea, extended wear lenses are intended for use with longer time periods between removals. There are both soft and rigid gas permeable extended wear lenses.

Recent studies have indicated that long-term wear of soft lenses contributes to weakening of the cornea's surface, as oxygen supply is restricted. This weakened surface, in turn, means the cornea is up to 10 times more likely than the cornea of someone who removes contacts daily to contract an infection called ulcerative keratitis. (The chances of contracting ulcerative keratitis increase with each consecutive night of wearing contacts.) This infection, if not treated immediately, can result in partial or complete loss of sight. Although studies indicate that even individuals who use extended wear lenses have only about one chance in 500 of getting corneal ulcers, that may be reason enough for you to steer clear of this option. If your doctor decides that extended wear lenses are appropriate for you, don't leave them in more than six nights in a row and be sure to follow recommended care and cleaning instructions conscientiously.

• Another option is disposable lenses. These are simply soft lenses that are produced at low-enough cost that you can afford to throw them away.

Like other contact lenses, disposables are made in both daily wear and extended wear versions. Daily wear disposables, which must be taken out and cleaned each day, are designed to be kept for a specific time period. The period might be two weeks, a month, or even three months. Extended wear disposables, made to be worn continuously for either one day or one week, spare you the trouble of cleaning your lenses. And since they are disposable, they reduce the risk that you'll damage your cornea with the deposits that can build up on lenses over time.

Since you avoid the need for cleaning chemicals, disposable extended wear lenses might not cost you much more per year than regular extended wear lenses. But wearing lenses for a week, even if they are new each week, still has risks, because your eyes will get less oxygen than they otherwise would. If you decide on disposable lenses, don't assume you can cheat and keep them in extra days. That might save you money but cost you the health of your eyes.

• Additional contact lens options include lenses for astigmatism, bifocal lenses, tinted lenses, and ultraviolet filtering lenses. There are also lenses that have gas permeable rigid centers to allow oxygen transfer and sharp vision and have soft perimeters for comfort. You can expect all these options to cost more than basic single-correction lenses.

Pickup Tips

What you do when picking up your glasses or contacts is important. Check them carefully.

Eyeglasses

When you pick up new glasses, they may have to be adjusted to fit your face or to allow for difference in the height of your ears. The most important factors to check after the adjustment are positioning and comfort. Be sure there is not too much pressure on the ears or on the nose, that the frames do not slip down your nose, and that both lenses are the same height and an equal distance from your eyes.

Check the fit realistically. Turn your head sideways, up, and down several times; turn sideways while looking downward; try chewing for 15 seconds. Test if the glasses work for their intended purposes. If they are for general use, check whether you can see clearly at a distance and read comfortably; also check whether they remain properly positioned as you walk about.

Contacts

When you pick up new contact lenses, the practitioner should carefully check their fit on your eyes, using a slitlamp biomicroscope; and he or she should also check how well you see, using a standard eye chart test. If these checks indicate no problems, do your own tests of fit by looking left, right, up, and down several times while holding your head in different positions. And try blinking, squinting, and closing your eyes several times.

If the fit of contacts is not just right, new lenses may be needed or a rigid lens may need to be altered. Once the fit seems perfect, most practitioners will ask you to return at least once for an additional check. Sometimes several visits will be required before a perfect fit is achieved, and sometimes a good fit requires a change in basic lens design or material. This is why proper follow-up care is an important part of buying contacts and choosing a practitioner.

When you are given the lenses, you should receive thorough instructions on how to place them in your eyes and take them out, on the adaptation schedule (how long you are to wear them each day during the first few weeks), and on care and cleaning. Listen carefully. You should practice putting in and taking out the contacts while the practitioner watches you to be sure you know how to do it correctly. Ask for a copy of written instructions, and read them right away. Remember, all contacts can cause permanent eye damage if mishandled.

If There's a Problem

If frames you have purchased start to feel uncomfortable after a few hours, return to your optician or optometrist, explain the problem, and ask for further adjustments. This service should be free.

If discomfort seems to be from lenses—either glasses or contacts—and is in the form of mild eyestrain or things appearing closer than you are used to, wait a few days. Often your eyes and brain need a while to get used to new lenses, even when they are the correct prescription and properly positioned.

If there is substantial discomfort with glasses, mild discomfort that persists for more than a few days, dizziness, blurred vision, a tendency for you to tilt your head when driving or working, or some other strange reaction, return to your practitioner and explain the problem. The practitioner should check the lenses to determine if their actual correction coincides with your prescription. He or she should also check the positioning of the lenses in the frame and the positioning of the frame on your face.

In the case of contacts, you can expect a little discomfort during the adaptation period, particularly with rigid lenses, but there should be no real pain. If there is, remove the lenses immediately and return to the practitioner as soon as possible.

If someone who has sold you glasses that prove to be uncomfortable checks the lenses and claims the refractive power and positioning match the prescription, ask for an explanation of the cause for your complaints. If that doesn't satisfy you, you won't be sure whether the seller is right and the original prescription was wrong, or the seller is wrong and just doesn't recognize his or her mistake. As a first step to resolve the problem, we recommend taking a copy of the prescription and the glasses to a conveniently located optician, explaining your problem, and offering to pay to have the refractive power and positioning of the lenses measured. Then compare the measurements to your prescription. The measurements will take only a minute or two. Sometimes there will be no charge, but check in advance. If refractive power and positioning match the prescription, go back to the optometrist or ophthalmologist who wrote the prescription and explain the problem. Your practitioner should check the glasses and might retest the refraction of your eyes. Sometimes this is free, but check.

Another approach is to get another eye examination from a different optometrist or ophthalmologist, making sure to explain your recent problems. This will always cost you an additional examination fee. Do it only as a last resort.

Getting compensation for your wasted expenditures can sometimes be tricky. Will the optometrist or ophthalmologist who wrote an erroneous prescription pay for the new set of lenses? Will the optician who incorrectly filled a proper prescription pay for the second visit you made to an optometrist or ophthalmologist?

If the party at fault refuses a fair settlement, explain that you will file a complaint. Consumers can contact the state's Department of Health at 360-236-4700 for complaints against optometrists or opticians.

Which "O" Does What

In buying glasses or contacts you might use the services of an ophthalmologist, an optometrist, or an optician. If you're like most of us, you can't remember which of these "three Os" does what, even if you've been told a dozen times. So here it is again.

Ophthalmologists are physicians who specialize in diagnosing and treating disorders of the eye. They are college graduates who have gone on to complete four years of medical school, followed by an internship and additional clinical training. They check eyes for vision problems, eye diseases and abnormalities, and symptoms of general body disorders, such as diabetes or hypertension. They treat eyes with drugs, surgery, and other means, and they prescribe corrective eyeglasses and contact lenses. Almost all ophthalmologists expect you to take your prescription and get your eyeglasses from one of the other types of specialists, but quite a few do dispense contact lenses.

Optometrists are not medical doctors, but they are properly referred to as doctors. They are college graduates who have completed four years of further training after college. Like ophthalmologists, optometrists give eye exams, looking for a wide range of eye problems as well as symptoms of general health problems. Some use visual training techniques to counter certain kinds of vision problems. They prescribe, and most dispense, both eyeglasses and contact lenses.

Opticians are not required to have extensive training like the other two types of specialists, but Washington State does require that opticians be licensed. Opticians are not allowed to prescribe, but they fit, supply, and adjust eyeglasses and, sometimes, contact lenses, on the prescription of an ophthalmologist or optometrist. A few opticians grind the eyeglass lenses to the correct prescription, but most purchase the lenses from a wholesaler and then fit them into the frame.

The Payoff of Buying Online

For both eyeglasses and contacts, we found that the least expensive sellers usually can be found online.

We shopped prices at a sampling of online retailers using the same list of eyeglasses (including lenses for a simple prescription) we used to compare prices among local stores. On average, prices at all of the online retailers we shopped were substantially lower than all of the surveyed local stores—typically 40 percent lower. The lowest prices we could find were from CoolFrames.com, which quoted prices that were about 60 percent lower than the average prices quoted by surveyed local outlets. We found that online sellers not only offered very low prices, but also sold a much wider selection of frames than any of the local outlets.

We also compared prices for contact lenses from online retailers with those quoted by local stores (for our price index scores reported on our Ratings Tables, we included fees for eye exams and fitting, but for this comparison we looked just at the costs of the lenses). As with eyeglasses, we found that, on average, prices at all of the online retailers we shopped were substantially lower than the average prices found at local stores. The lowest prices we could find were from BrandNameContacts.com, which quoted prices that were about 51 percent lower than the average prices quoted by surveyed local outlets. Compare this to Costco, the price leader among local outlets, which quoted prices for contact lenses that were about 36 percent below the all-outlet average.

To sell you contact lenses, any seller will need a copy of a current prescription. When ordering contacts online, you usually enter your prescription information when placing your order and then the company calls your doctor to verify it. At some sites, if you don't have your prescription on hand, the retailer will contact your doctor to obtain it (although there may be a charge for this service).

When buying eyeglasses online, you can buy just frames and have lenses installed by local opticians or you can order eyeglasses with prescribed lenses installed. If you order yours with lenses, you'll need to submit information about your prescription. Unless you are replacing a pair of frames with an identical pair, you may as well buy both frames and lenses together online, since it likely will end up being a less expensive option than involving a local outlet in the process.

There are some disadvantages to shopping for contacts and eyeglasses online. It's possible that the prescription may be incorrectly filled or that the seller may send the wrong contact lenses. But these problems could also occur when dealing with a local seller.

If you are a new contact lens wearer or are trying out a new brand or type of lens, you may want first to buy a minimum number of lenses from a local outlet and then, if the lenses work out, plan on buying from online retailers in the future. Even better, ask your doctor for a sample pair of lenses to try out before you have your prescription filled. By taking this approach, you ensure that any problems are identified right away, before paying for a year's supply of lenses from any source.

For eyeglasses, unless you're replacing a pair of frames you already like with an identical model, an obvious disadvantage to buying online is that you can't try on various frames to see how they'll look on your face. One strategy is to visit local stores, try on frames to find ones you like, and then buy online. Also, some sites (such as, www.eyebuydirect.com, www.framesdirect.com, www.glassesshop.com, and www.visionsking.com) let you upload a picture of yourself and let you virtually try on frames. Fortunately, even if you buy a pair of glasses online and aren't happy, liberal return policies are the norm among online sellers of eyeglasses.

Another problem with ordering frames via mail-order is that you'll have to find a local solution for any adjustments they'll need. Fortunately, most optical shops make small adjustments for free even for consumers who bought their frames elsewhere.

Common Complaints

Below is a summary of the various kinds of complaints surveyed CHECKBOOK subscribers shared about eyewear outlets they had used.

• High prices—Mentioned in 30 percent of complaints.
• Poor customer service—Store's staff was rude, unhelpful, unavailable, or disorganized. Mentioned in 23 percent of complaints.
• Promptness—There were long delays in receiving ordered merchandise. Mentioned in 15 percent of complaints.
• Poor advice—Store's staff was not knowledgeable or was untrained. Mentioned in 11 percent of complaints.
• Inferior product quality—Mentioned in 10 percent of complaints.
• Provided inaccurate vision test or prescription—Mentioned in nine percent of complaints.
• Limited selection or variety of products—Mentioned in eight percent of complaints.
• Could not properly fit eyeglass frames—Mentioned in eight percent of complaints.
• Store too crowded/difficult to get assistance—Mentioned in six percent of complaints.
• Unfair or unfriendly return policies—Mentioned in five percent of complaints.
• False or misleading sale prices or attempt to add on undisclosed extras—Mentioned in four percent of complaints.
• Ophthalmologist or optometrist not thorough, competent, or professional—Mentioned in three percent of complaints.