A Quick Review of Zenni Optical

As anyone who has to wear prescription glasses knows, they are expensive. Zenni Optical is an online retailer that offers prescription glasses at very low prices, advertising a complete pair for as low as $8.99. Talk radio consumer guru Clark Howard has raved about Zenni on his show and this led me to give them a try for myself.

To order from Zenni you will need your prescription and with this in hand, you go to their website www.zennioptical.com. Once there, the consumer will find an easy to navigate site that has a comprehensive selection of frames in a wide variety of styles and materials that I found very impressive. Once you select your frames you will be directed to the ordering page where you will enter the information from your prescription. Each field on the page has a help option that explains what information should be entered. Should you make a typo or enter data that does not make sense, a person from their customer service department will follow up with you to verify the information. One thing that is often left off of the prescription is the pupilary distance or PD. This is the measurement between your pupils for both near and far sighting. If the PD is not on your prescription it is likely on the order form for your most recent pair of glasses. The site also provides instructions for measuring it yourself, but because this measurement is critical for how your glasses will fit, I recommend having a professional measure it for you, or asking your ophthalmologist to provide it from your record. UV and scratch resistant coatings are offered free of charge.

After filling in all of the information on the site and paying using a credit card, your order will be placed and you will wait two to three weeks for delivery. Zenni Optical maintains a customer service department in California but the glasses are actually made in China. When they arrive they will be in a white or blue plastic case along with a cleaning cloth. The case does not hold the glasses firmly and is only padded on the bottom. I left the cleaning cloth in the case to provide some extra protection when I was not wearing the glasses.

I purchased two pairs from them, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of light amber tinted glasses for night driving. The total came to $26.95 a pair delivered. On first examination the glasses were very light and there were no spring breaks on the hinges. The tinting and other coatings were applied evenly and looked very good. When trying them on I found that they fit perfectly and the prescription was right on.

Both pairs of these glasses pretty much stay in my car all of the time and I wear the sunglasses every day. After about three months the screws on the hinges of the sunglasses had become very loose and require re-tightening on a regular basis. About a month later one of the ear pieces came out of its socket and required me to glue it back in. One day I accidentally dropped the amber tinted glasses onto a concrete floor and made an important discovery, the lenses are not shatterproof, and therefore do not provide any eye protection.

Based on my experience I would look at other discount opticians before buying from Zenni again. While the prescription was filled perfectly, the glasses were made of cheap materials, and the use of non-shatterproof lenses poses a risk for anyone who works in environments where there are eye hazards. Under no circumstances would I buy a pair of these for a child, simply because of the poor materials and the lenses. I guess it is true, you get what you pay for.