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OK Cheapish specs.

Posted: Sat 01 Dec 2018 00:26
by martyn94
I am absolutely lethal to spectacles, in between breaking them, losing them, or - most recently - just having one of the lenses fall out somewhere “dans la nature”.

So I found myself in need of some new ones a couple of weeks ago, without particularly wanting to wait, and pay, for a turn with the ophthalmologue.

I happened to be in one of our local pharmacists, and saw a display stand for a firm called “otiko” and picked up their flyer. The deal is that you get your choice of their own-brand frames (about 50 of them, though I didn’t count) and pay €39 for the frames with single vision lenses, €100 with progressive lenses (plus €39 for a hard coating), and €200 with photochromic progressive lenses (with the hard coating thrown in). You provide a prescription and book an appointment (still at the pharmacy) with their itinerant optician.

It seemed worth a punt at those prices, so got an appointment a few days later with a pleasant young man who measured me up for my progressive lenses: he made no fuss about a UK prescription which is about 15 months old. I picked the glasses up at the pharmacy 8 days later, as promised, and they have suited me perfectly well for the few days I have worn them since. The frames seem to be of decent quality, and are a good fit for me (I have an unusually big head, literally if never metaphorically).

I have never bought specs here before, so I don’t know whether they are outstandingly cheap (though they are vastly cheaper than my sister pays: she has a very lavish mutuelle). But it could hardly have been more convenient, and all with a pleasant absence of the “up-selling” which I have learnt to associate with conventional opticians.

On the basis of one experience, warmly recommended. I’ll be getting some more. I should have mentioned that they are now owned by “Optic 2000”, which I believe is the largest chain of conventional opticians here. As ever, I am not on commission and don’t have shares in them.

Re: OK Cheapish specs.

Posted: Sat 01 Dec 2018 17:51
by EILEEN
Sounds interesting.!! I see they have a website too, where you can order direct, but having someone else do the measuring is more reassuring. !! In the past I have paid 2 and 3 ( and even 4 times!) times their price for progressive photochromic lenses. On the other hand, I once got a pair in Hong Kong for £32 when opticiens here wanted 500€ and they were excellent quality ( about 30 years ago, mind.)
Thanks for this Martyn.

Re: OK Cheapish specs.

Posted: Sat 01 Dec 2018 19:26
by martyn94
I hadn’t actually realised that they were originally or also an online outfit until after I had bought their gear.

I have happily bought single-vision glasses on line. But the one or two online shops which started by trying to sell progressive lenses on line seem to have sunk back exhausted: I think they do need to be measured. Though it took the guy about a minute using an app built into the front camera of his iPad.

Your other comments jibe with what I said. Opticians usually have a “prix d’appel” for their bog-standard progressive lenses, and then sell up to much more expensive ones which will give you a wider focused area, or turn you into George Clooney, or whatever. “Otiko”, on a single experience, don’t seem to go in for that. And the ones they do sell seem perfectly OK.

Re: OK Cheapish specs.

Posted: Sun 02 Dec 2018 12:36
by russell
Looks to be excellent value. Were you able to get any reimbursement from CPAM or mutuel?

Their website is a bit poor at present and they don't offer as many options as established online sellers like https://www.glasses2you.co.uk/ but guess they will expand.

Russell

Re: OK Cheapish specs.

Posted: Sun 02 Dec 2018 19:08
by martyn94
I hadn’t thought to try, not that I would have ever thought to buy a mutuelle with a gig-lamp benefit.

As I tried to say in my bumbling way, the lack of options seemed to me to be an advantage rather than not: fewer ways of getting ripped off (and god knows there are enough). But I wouldn’t try to buy on line in any event (unless for basic single-vision lenses): they now seem to work through partnerships with pharmacists (and I agree that this doesn’t come through very clearly on the website: I suspect that their “business model” is changing and the website hasn’t kept up).

If you are anywhere near Port-Vendres I could tell you the pharmacist I used. But as I recall you are nowhere near.

Re: OK Cheapish specs.

Posted: Sun 02 Dec 2018 19:28
by martyn94
As an afterthought, I looked at the website you gave a link to. It seemed pretty opaque to me, but it does give a helpful guide to choosing the shape of your frames. I now have to decide whether my face looks more like Cameron Diaz or Jenifer Aniston. Decisions, decisions.....

Re: OK Cheapish specs.

Posted: Mon 03 Dec 2018 16:56
by russell
martyn94 wrote: Sun 02 Dec 2018 19:28 I now have to decide whether my face looks more like Cameron Diaz or Jenifer Aniston. Decisions, decisions.....
:shock: :lol:
Russell