Online scams are as real as a heart attack. Sometimes you just pray you don’t get an actual heart attack when you lose money. You probably feel the same way and that’s why you’re going through a couple of GlassesUSA reviews to know whether they are what they claim to be.
If you want the truth, then read our GlassesUSA review and find out. Unfortunately it’s not always pretty.
What Is GlassesUSA?
GlassesUSA found online at glassesusa.com is an online retailer of all things eyewear including prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and accessories. Wikipedia says GlassesUSA was founded by Daniel Rothman, Eldad Rothman and Roy Yamner in 2008 as part of an Israeli optical lab company by the name Optimax Investments. GlassesUSA is currently headquartered in New York, NY.
What Types Of Glasses Does GlassesUSA Sell?
As mentioned earlier, the company sells prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses. Here’s what you can buy from GlassesUSA.
- Men and Women Eyeglasses
- Multifocal
- Rx Sunglasses
- Aviator Glasses and Classic Wayframe
- Round Glasses
- Oval Glasses and Rectangular Glasses
- Computer Glasses
- Contact lenses
You have the option to select the frame’s material, size, color and style. They also stock poplar brands like Ray-Ban, Oakley, Arnette, Tom Ford, Diane Von Furstenberg and Calvin Klein just to mention but a few.
GlassesUSA Lens Options & Frame Selection
As with the case with similar glasses companies doing business online, GlassesUSA has a try-on virtual mirror that basically helps you see how each frame would look on you. You just have to upload an upright photo of you facing forward. Once you do that you can now select the frame and lens from the available options.
To buy prescription lenses, you’ll first fill choose the lens you want and then fill out your prescription. They claim that they have every type of lens there is. Once you’re through, add everything to your cart and checkout.
How Do I Get A GlassesUSA Prescription?
GlassesUSA doesn't help you get a prescription, but you can either upload a photo of it or feed in the details on their online web form. Either way, you’ll have to get your prescription from your own eye doctor.
Where Can I Buy GlassesUSA Online Glasses?
You can buy GlassesUSA glasses off their website. You can also get their sunglasses and non-prescription eyeglasses on Amazon.com. On their website they claim that they have a best price guarantee where if you happen to find a better deal elsewhere they’ll match that price, and throw in an extra 10% discount.
Another awesome way to save money while buying stuff is joining sites like Rakuten.com where you earn cash back and they have tons of coupons you can use. SwagBucks.com is another great place to start. They allow you to earn free gift cards and cash for things you already do online like watching videos, playing games and visiting websites. You can use the cash or gift cards to save on GlassesUSA website or any store you shop at online or offline.
How Much Do GlassesUSA Online Glasses Cost?
Most eyeglasses fall within the $50 and $100 range including lenses. But that quickly changes after you bang out your lens options and extra preferences. Sunglasses go for as little as $30 and as much as $200, while accessories including string cords, hard cases and lens cleaners cost $5 at the very least.
GlassesUSA Shipping, Returns and Refund Policy
Standard 7-10 business days shipping to the US and Canada is free, but you can use express and expedited shipping at a fee. Expedited shipping within the US costs $9.95 and it takes 5-7 business days to arrive. Express shipping costs $12.95 and that will take 3-5 business days according to them. But if you order on Amazon you can get your order faster with the FREE Guaranteed 1-2 Day Amazon Prime delivery.
International shipments take up to 14 days and will cost you anywhere between $21.95 and $24.95. You can read all about that here.
You have 14 days to let them know you need to return or exchange your purchase. If your glasses arrived damaged, or you just don’t like what they sent, go here with your order ID to get sorted out. They say you’re entitled for a full refund if you claim it within 14 days. You may have to settle for 50% store credit or a gift card if you claim a refund after 14 days.
Again, all glasses come with a 365 day warranty and if they break within that period you’ll get 50% store credit excluding shipping cost. But that doesn’t cover accidental breakages and normal wear and tear.
GlassesUSA Customer Service
If for any reason you feel like giving customer service a buzz, they say they are available by phone on 1-844-244-1186 and live chat all day every day. You can also email them on service@glassesusa.com.
GlassesUSA Complaints
If you've ever lost money online, then you may want to read what customers out there are saying about GlassesUSA. So we laid out any dirt we found about this company in this section.
The Frames Don’t Stand the Test of Time
A good number of customers say the lenses are flimsy and break easily. This doesn't seem to matter even if you buy the really expensive options. Some say the hinges don’t have an outward flexibility while others say the plastic frames feel cheap and ready to break at the slightest fall.
The Customer isn't always right…
It seems the GlassesUSA customer service people could care less about their job according to some of their customers. The issue seems to start if you request a “refund”. They’ll either give you a hard time when asking for your money back, especially if you purchased an item that was discounted. Other have complained that their customer service does little about lost glasses, delayed shipments and damaged orders. Obviously this type of customer service is totally the opposite of Amazon.com.
Where's My Damn Discount?
Often times they provide “first-customer offer” or or percentages off your glasses for an action on your part. Well, those discounts may not actually be reflected on your credit card balance. We came across a bunch of complaints saying that the company ends up charging your credit card the full price rather than the discount that was promised. You only realize this when you look at your statement.
Could Shipping Be Any Slower?
Apparently some people have complained about delayed or lost items. Others have had to wait months in some cases. Fortunately Amazon gives you FREE Guaranteed 1-2 Day Amazon Prime Delivery.
GlassesUSA Online Glasses Competitors
I wouldn’t blame you if you decide to forget GlassesUSA ever existed. Well, Zenni, EyeBuyDirect and Warby Parker are worthy alternatives to consider. Feel free to read our Zenni review here, EyeBuyDirect review here and Warby Parker review here.
Should You Buy GlassesUSA Glasses Online Or Not?
I wouldn’t recommend GlassesUSA, and here’s why. If you don’t run into shipping problems, what you get may not be worthy of the price. They can even unknown to you, overcharge your credit card. And if you do actually run into shipping problems, the customer service is unreliable to say the least. So chances are high that you may not get the 5-star experience you deserve.
Fortunately there are other alternatives which we mentioned above. Either way, if you want to save money buying glasses online, you can also earn free gift cards and coupons on sites like SwagBucks.com. You can then use these gift cards or cash to shop for glasses online. All you need to do is keep doing what you already do online like watching videos, reading emails, playing games and more, and Swagbucks will reward you for your time. Sites like Rakuten.com also give you the chance to save money while shopping for glasses online.
I hope you’re now in a better position to decide whether GlassesUSA products are the right fit for you. We would also love to hear what you think. Feel free to drop us your thoughts on the comments section below. You can also check out their FAQs page here if you have more questions.
Until next time
Eddy “with a Y”
GlassesUSA Review
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Our Overall Rating
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Support
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Quality
Summary
GlassesUSA has been one of the go-to stores for eyeglasses online. But they have been on the receiving end of some pretty shocking complaints. So we resolved to dig up all the good, the bad and the ugly about them and we have them all in our unbiased review.
GlassesUSA is the worst
Shipping took a long time with almost no updates through the provided tracking number. I wasn’t happy with the quality of the glasses (the lens didn’t even fit in the frames), so I began the refund process. The return policy on the website states that you can return your first order within 14 days, no questions asked for a 100% money back guarantee. I shipped out the glasses about a week after receiving them, using the return shipping label that THEY provided.
A few weeks go by, and I still haven’t received any kind of update on the return process. Reached out to them, only to be told they supposedly never received my glasses and can’t help me. They are asking for proof that I sent the glasses, but I’m not really sure how to do that since I used the shipping label that they provided to me. It’s not like my mailbox prints out a receipt when I put things in it.
Over a month of trying to get a refund and I still haven’t spoke to someone helpful. $190 wasted.Such a bummer.
Did you find this review helpful? Yes (8)No
Thanks for sharing your experience. Good to know about the return shipping issue.
Stay away from GlassesUSA
If I could give fewer stars I would, but one is the lowest, so it’s a one-star review.
I ordered a pair of Armani Exchange AX1014 prescription glasses on February 4, 2020. I literally received them about two weeks later, and wore them for a day. The right lens was incorrect and needed to be replaced. I got online and chatted and was given an RMA number and sent them back. Understand… I physically owned a pair of glasses and I literally physically took MY glasses, packaged them up myself in a padded box and drove them to my local UPS store. I checked the return several times. It took an extra week for them to receive, but they did receive them, finally. I chatted online and they confirmed physically receiving MY glasses. They told me the return would take the same amount of time as the original order (two weeks). No one said anything about the possibility of what ended up happening. Sitting down? Three weeks (March 10, 2020) later I went online and chatted to find status and was told they were “out of stock!” Out of stock is not a concept in “returns!” I simply needed one lens to be replaced ON MY FRAMES that I physically returned and they’re “out of stock?” How is that? How does this happen? I returned MY FRAMES to them for just for ONE lens replacement. This a direct 1 to 1 thing — like taking your car in for an oil change where you bought it. They work on your car and give it back to you. Not here!!!
The morning of March 10, 2020 I chatted with “Carol Anderson” and explained what was happening. She told me to call customer service. Guess what? It’s a call center in the Philippines. I asked for a supervisor. Talk about a terrible experience? I sat on hold for nearly 30mins. She kept coming back with excuses that they didn’t have a supervisor. Finally she came back and said the best she could do is have a supervisor call me back “in a day.” So, here I am expending far too much energy for a lousy pair of glasses. After one hour, I got back online and chatted again. This time with “Marge.” After several promises, several chats, waiting, packaging, driving, checking tracking info, several more chats, phone calls, and I still don’t have my glasses and no explanation!!!
Finally, after getting almost irrate via chat (because calling the call center does no good) a “supervisor” named “Jacob Goodman” called me. He explained that they do NOT repair or recycle frames because of reasons for “ethical” and “cleanliness” purposes. I’m no fool. I understand what they’re doing. They’re a small operation that outsource EVERYTHING and utilize cheap labor on another continent and to return something creates a costly scenario that they avoid, such that from a business perspective, it’s too expensive for them to send the frames from their receiving facility in Pennsylvania to their manufacturing facility in Tel Aviv Israel, so they come up with some silly policy like this. AVOID THIS COMPANY!!!!
If you want to avoid the possibility of what I have encountered, which is one of the most ridiculous experiences you could ever imagine featuring horrible timeframes, horrible delivery, horrible returns, horrible customer service and completely apathetic service personnel, I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
My RMA was #267806 and my original order was # 102016815. It’s been six weeks and I do not have glasses!!! I have nothing. But they have my glasses, my frames and my money!!! I asked for a refund and I bet I’ll have to go thru the same degree of silliness and follow-up to get the money back! After all this, I’ll be going to my local glasses retailer where I can physically deal with my eyesight needs.
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GlassesUSA is the worst of all prescription eyeglasses companies
Glasses USA is a disorganized mess of a company that will take your money, send you a product that doesn’t work, and then tell you their system is unable to do a return or refund for at least three business days because their computer shows they still have the glasses that you already have. I received progressive lens glasses from them that resulted in vision far worse than no glasses at all. Included in the box was a “My Prescription Card” listing numbers that were all completely wrong when compared to the numbers I had entered in their system. I called them & waited on hold for a long time. The customer service person read my prescription back to me: all of the numbers were correct. She had no explanation for why the glasses and printed Rx card in the box with my name on it didn’t match the numbers that she & I have. Her system showed the glasses were still at GlassesUSA going through “quality review”, so she was unable to initiate any type of return or refund until it was updated in three business days. If the glasses had actually gone through a real quality review, then they might have caught the mistake. So I now have glasses that don’t work at all for me and GlassesUSA is unable to do an exchange or refund at this time. The shipping history shows origination in Thailand or India, so they might have a language barrier that contributed to delivering a product with the wrong prescription. I will certainly never do business with GlassesUSA again.
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Horrible customer service
The glasses took forever to come in the mail. Once I finally received them, the glasses were way to large for me and did not fit. While I was shopping there was nowhere that gave me any indication that they would be too large and would not fit me. I tried multiple times to get in contact with someone and have tried to “chat” with someone and nothing worked. I could never get through. I finally got through today and told the gentleman that the glasses were only tried on once and they’re in perfect condition because I cannot wear them. He told me there was nothing he would do for me because I was a week to late bringing the issue to their attention, even though it took forever to even receive the glasses on top of having the worst time being able to actually speak to someone about my issue.
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terrible
I wish I could leave less stars. It took forever to get my glasses in the mail and when I finally got them, they were the wrong prescription. There was not one part of the prescription that is correct. Their customer service is terrible. They don’t care about their customers. I do not recommend getting glasses from here.
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Thanks
Thanks for letting us know. A lot of time will be saved if we shop online.
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