LENS CRAFTERS LIED ABOUT THE GLASSES I BOUGHT AND WHEN I COMPLAINED WOULD NOT HONOR THEIR 30 DAY GUARANTEE RALEIGH North Carolina

Never go to a chain optical store. You will always get poor service and get "ripped off".

Case in point. "Also, i had paid extra for scratch resistant lenses and tinted lenses..."
I can tell you, firsthand, as an ex-employee, that you were ripped off.

Lenscrafters lab stock contains NO lenses that are not scratch resistant. Indeed some have a stronger scratch coating than others but all have at least basic scratch coating. Therefore, if you don't agree to pay for it, you have it anyway.

Tinting. Tinting is accomplished by dipping the lens in a heated dye solution for about one minute. The solution is prepared by pouring concentrated dye in a heated dye pot and water added. A prepared dye solution can be used for hundreds of lenses for about a week. The cost of the dye concentrate is minimal, yet Lenscrafters charges around $20.00 or more for the tint.

Frames. Depending on your bifocal type they might have been correct. Some frames are not well suited for specific types of bifocals. You can indeed, put a bifocal lens in any frame, it does not mean that it is suited for it. A bifocal lens, for example in a semi-rimless frame (no frame at the bottom) is prone to shifting which takes the focal point of the lens out of center.

Warranty. When I worked for this company it was unwritten but well established policy that the Optician and frame stylist (read sales person) was expected to do EVERYTHING possible to avoid honoring the 30 day warranty. This included blaming the Optometrist/Ophthalmologist for writing a poor prescription to "cheating" on a lens to make it stay in the frame.

Cheating can be accomplished for a lens cut too small in several ways. The most common is to use "lens washer" which is a clear plastic strip placed on the edge of the lens to take up the gap space and make it hold in the frame. This will work for a month or two (suprise, the warranty is gone) and then the lens will fall out again. Another method is to reduce the size of the eyewire (the part of the frame surrounding the lens. With a zyl (plastic frame) this can be accomplished by "shrinking" the eyewire in which the frame is heated, squeezed slightly to reduce the size and immersed in cold water - again a temporary resolution. In the case of wire frames the screw can also be removed and the barrel filed a few millimeters smaller to allow the lens to hold (again temporary).

All unwritten policies to avoid honoring a warranty that I experienced working for different stores. Avoid Lenscrafters or any chain optical at all costs.

You will ALWAYS receive better service, albeit not one hour, at a smaller, well established optical shop. They rely on repeat customers and word of mouth advertising rather than multi million dollar ad campaigns. They will be customer oriented.