I've been wearing eyeglasses full-time for nearsightedness for over 30 years, and Santa Barbara Eyeglass Factory is the only place that hasn't been able to provide a decent set of lenses.
When I picked up my new glasses the first time, I noticed an odd bend in my vision. I described it to the staff, and two staff members told me I just needed to ""get used to the new material."" By the time I walked out the door and to my car, images seemed to be shifting and I felt the beginnings of motion sickness. I took them off and went back into the store. I explained what I was experiencing in more detail and more firmly. A staff member took the glasses into the back and returned a moment later saying in an argumentative tone that the machine confirmed the prescription was correct.
An optician overheard my increasingly frustrated exchange with the staff member and politely asked to check my lenses himself. The staff member snapped at him that she had already checked it. He explained that he was going to dissect the lens. When he returned a few minutes later, he confirmed that one lens had a flaw in it that hadn't been detectable with the simpler check. He was ordering a new lens and I could return in another week.
A week later I picked up the new glasses again. This time there were no obvious problems, so I wore them home. Even with scratch resistant coating, one lens showed scratches within the first month. Over the next few months, I discovered that the Transitions aspect of the lenses was not equal. One lens darkened more than the other, one took longer to lighten than the other, and people began asking me if I knew that one darkened lens was ""pink"" and the other ""brown."" Now even in their ""clear"" state, one lens is noticeably amber. Without a pair of back-up glasses, I couldn't leave them for another week while the staff invented new ways to ruin my order, so I've lived with the inconvenience.
My next prescription will be filled someplace else -- anyplace has to be better than Santa Barbara Eyeglass Factory!
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