The animals are winding me up...

[prolixfootle]

Dear Lenscrafters Customer Service Representative:

I am writing to tell you why I won’t be doing any future business with you, and why I will discourage everyone I know from visiting any of your locations. I realize you must hear this several dozen times a day from a number of irate patrons, but firstly, let me assure you that I am not irate, merely unsurprisingly disappointed. Nor do I expect any resolution of this compliant. Based on my experience with your Chapel Hill location, I anticipate only more insults, run-arounds and useless pseudo-placations.

I purchased these glasses from the Chapel Hill location on, I believe, 10/19/09, paying well over $400.00 for them as these were my first pair of bifocals. This problem started 06/28/10 when my glasses broke. It was late afternoon when I heard a ‘pop’ and the lens fell out. The frame had broken in the middle of the run around the lens. Since there had been no trauma or damage to the frames (i.e. sitting on them or being hit in the face while wearing them), I considered this to be a defect in the frames. I take very good care of my glasses, as I am literally blind without them. I have never had a pair break, other that the screws have loosened over time and the earpieces have worn out on the last pair I had (and which a competing establishment replaced free of charge).

I immediately called the store, where I spoke with Lisa. I told her of my problem. I can honestly say that I have never had the displeasure of dealing with a sales associate who was quite so uncompassionate and rude. She called me a liar. Not literally, but when I mentioned that I was careful with my glasses, she said, and I quote, “Well, glasses don’t break without some kind of abuse.”

I apologize. I see that this is becoming unnecessarily long. Let me see if I can summarize a bit better.

1. The initial conversation was rude and unhelpful. I was told that I could reorder the same frames and 50% of their normal price, or come in and ‘restyle’. I opted for the frames, reiterating that I believed the original frames to be defective.


2. The frames were not in stock at the Chapel Hill location. Lisa would call around and see if another location had them. She would call me by 2:00 pm the following day (06/29).


3. At two o’clock on 06/29 I called the store, spoke with Lisa again and asked if the frames had been located. I was told that the other locations had not called back. When I asked when she expected to hear from them, I was told, “I don’t have any control of when they call back.”


4. Received a voice mail message at 8:30 that evening telling me that the frame were unavailable locally, and giving me the option of ordering them or ‘restyling’.


5. Returned call on 6/30 spoke with (I believe) Susan. Very pleasant and helpful. She reiterated the no replacement stance, but listened to my problem, was sympathetic, and helped me order the replacement frames over the phone. Also made a note to have someone ‘look at the broken frames’ when I came in. Said she would try and have the frames rushed, as I had now been three days with the incorrect prescription and was experiencing blinding headaches (I work on a PC all day). Paid just under $70 for this replacement.


6. Waited. Finally got a call on 07/08 that the frames had arrived. Went in, had the lenses replaced. Again voiced my displeasure. Neither Lisa (who waited in me – rudely) nor the acting manager were able to offer any assistance. I would have to wait until Monday (07/12) for the Manager to return from her extended weekend to see if anything could be done. Left request for her to call me at work.


7. Went home with my replacement frames. It was hot and sticky, with temps in the 90s. I took the glasses off to wipe the perspiration from my face. The plastic nose guard stuck to my nose. Managed to reattach it with only minor difficulties. VERY displeased. (Obviously I must have abused the glasses in some manner on the 30 minute drive home…).


8. Received call from Manager Cindy today (07/12) at 1:50 PM. Reiterated the party line of ‘not defective, won’t replace’. Instead offered to ‘discount the next pair of glasses you purchase from Lenscrafters by the amount you paid for the replacement frames’. Thanked her, but said I would not be doing business with her establishment in the future.


And there we are. The whole sorry saga. There is more detail that I could go into about the rudeness of certain members of your staff, but I think I’ve gotten the gist of it down. As I said, I don’t expect anything to come of this. Most companies of your type couldn’t care less about what the customer says. After all, you’ve already got over $500.00 of my money right for a single pair of low quality eyeglasses. And that’s fine (although I truly do not believe that nine months is a suitable lifespan for even indifferently care-for glasses, let alone a pair of which I had taken good care). I’ve learned my lesson. I will go back to ordering my glasses from my optometrist. They MAY cost a little more (but I doubt it) but I know he’ll help me out should anything happen.

In the meantime, I’ll post a little rant on my blog, and maybe Facebook a bit about what shoddy service I’ve gotten from your company and about what low quality your merchandise is. It won’t do anything for me (except let me vent a bit), but maybe it’ll save someone else the grief I’ve had to go through.

Wow! Guess I was a little irate after all. Sorry.

Sincerely,

Prolix Footle

Oh, and I'm not the only one...

http://lenscrafters.pissedconsumer.com/

Comments

[morganaus.livejournal.com]

>:(

[emmabovary.livejournal.com]

You SHOULD go to an optometrist, always. What do you expect when you go to a discount place? That they hire educated people? The reason they can offer "cheap" stuff is because they hire monkeys, who will work for peanuts. I'm surprised they weren't ruder with you, as I'm sure they are constantly pissed off at making minimum wage with no benefits.

LensCrafters ICare

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I'm Holly with LensCrafters Customer Care. I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience with our Chapel Hill location. I'd be happy to see if there is anything I can do to rectify the situation. If you would like me to investigate the case further please call our customer service line at 1-877-486-6486, or e-mail us me at Icare@LensCrafters.com.

Re: LensCrafters ICare

[prolixfootle.livejournal.com]

Dear Holly:

I did email you this almost exactly, and before l posted it here. I am still waiting for a reply...

Out of curiosity, how exactly did you stumble upon my post?

Curiously,

PF

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

I went to Lenscrafters because I got bad service from the last optometrist office I got glasses from. Grumpy preggo lady, asked which kinds of non-glare non-stick coatings I wanted, I had gotten the last ones there too and had no idea really which ones they had. I said, "whatever coatings the old ones had" so instead of looking up my file, she piled on all the coatings they had, I assume, because the lenses looked weird when they got wet. As they aged, the coatings crazed, and the lenses began to look pretty much scratched over their entire surface etc. etc. and I hated them and couldn't wait to replace them.

So at Lenscrafters, I was cautioned against getting glasses with no coatings whatsoever, but I got them the way I liked and I'm happy. However I was alarmed that while adjusting the arms, the lady bent the joint, instead of heating them up and bending at a place that was meant to be bent. I liked their selection, but I could do without the one-hour service, and let them take their time to do good work.