No Glasses for Me

I've been a fan of Warby Parker's approach to selling eyeglasses—stylish frames offered at a supremely reasonable price of $95 including lenses—since they started up a few years ago. After establishing a successful online sales model, WP opened its first permanent store a few weeks ago in New York, and other cities will be following soon (there are job postings on their website that indicate a Boston store will be opening shortly).

When they added prescription sunglasses for $150, I was eager to get a pair. Initially, though, none of the frames they were offering looked right for me, but after a while they added more styles. I ordered some frames for a home try-on (free shipping both ways) and figured out what I wanted.

But when I went online to place my order, I was surprised and very disappointed to find that Warby Parker was unable to fill my prescription. Now, my eyesight is terrible, and there's no question that my prescription is at the extreme end of the vision correction spectrum, but I've never had anyone tell me that they couldn't make me glasses.

I sent an email to customer service asking for a further explanation. I received a very polite and apologetic reply that said, in essence, that because the prescription for my left eye is so strong (it's much weaker than the right), the lenses they use cannot be ground to the level of correction I require.

Their choice of lenses is a business decision. There are many cost decisions that factor into being able to offer a pair of eyeglasses with prescription lenses for only $95 (my current glasses cost about $250, and I've paid as much as $400), and one of those choices is not being able to service outliers like me, so I understand it, but like I said, it's still really disappointing.

They offered to sell me frames without lenses so that I could have them made at a local shop, but that still defeats the purpose of buying from them, because the total cost would end up as high as my previous sunglasses, which were almost $300.

I like what WP offers and I like their approach to the business. I even feel a little bad writing about my experience, because I don't want it to seem like I'm criticizing them. I was hoping to get a new pair of sunglasses at a much better price than I've paid in the past, but that won't be happening, for now at least.

Warby Parker does have some competition. Others saw their success and figured they could do something similar. I ordered frames to try on from a company called Classic Specs that offers pricing within $10 of Warby Parker and seemed to be able to handle my prescription (at least as far as their website indicated), but none of their frames fit me right.

Note: I want to amend a clarification. When you have a strong prescription like mine, optometrists typically recommend a high-index lens, which is significantly thinner than a standard eyeglass lens. This helps to avoid having your lenses resemble glass ashtrays. Most places, including Warby Parker, charge an additional fee for high-index lenses. If I'd been able to get glasses from Warby Parker, they would have been $180 instead of $150.