Ray-Ban — Local services in New York

Max - is responsible for 3 sales in 3 days at this store by myself and someone I know (but read on for a caveat - Not Max's fault).

My sunglasses were taken from my dinner table at an UWS cafe, and the next day I made my way to the Ray Ban store in SoHo. Right away Max came over, I explained what happened. I also explained that I had been wearing my glasses for 30 years, so I was willing to try anything and everything just in case there was a different style that suited me better.

Max was awesome. We walked around pulling off different glasses, trying them on. He would wipe them down before handing them to me. Finally we narrowed it down to 2 different pairs out of the 15 or so that we tried.

I took selfies with both pairs, sent them to my girlfriend who then replied with the one she liked best. I bought those.

The experience was so top notch that I returned the next day, Max was there - and so I bought the second pair on the spot.

My girlfriend was so intrigued about my experience there when I explained how through Max was that she went with me the next day to see for herself. She's always worn Aviators but Max soon found a different style that we absolutely perfect for her. She loved the experience that she bought them right then.

But.

Even though we saw Max get the glasses out of a drawer, and when opened the glasses were totally wrapped and seemed to be 100% brand new... Well, as soon as her CC was charged and she put them on - she noticed there was a problem with them. Not only were there scratches on them but there was dust in the hinges and chips of plastic broken near the hinges too.

She immediately was given a refund. They had no more pairs of these glasses. She did end up ordering them from the Ray Ban website though.

So, our experience was that the time and effort that Max puts into helping you makes it easy for us to purchase from him. However - as for the store itself - I would say double and triple check the glasses they try to sell you - maybe they were returned, or defective from the factory... hard to say...

However, I we would return again...

I would give Rayban a 1 star for customer service and 5 stars for reputation. I visited this store this summer with my boyfriend because he wanted to see about getting a pair of the matte black or leather Wayfarer sunglasses. When we walked in the store, no one greeted us or tried to help us find what we were looking for. When we went downstairs and found the Wayfarer section, we couldn't find what we were looking for, so we continued to wait for an associate to help us. After about 5-10 minutes, I asked an associate behind the counter if she could help us. I had the impression I was ruining her day by asking for help. She informed us that the matte black and leather glasses are not available in store and continued to stand while staring at us. After a very long awkward silence, she said we could look for them online. I asked her if she could look at the online inventory for us, to which she begrudgingly agreed to do. We ended up ordering the leather glasses online, but when they got to the house they had makeup (foundation) all over them and were damaged, so we returned them. The glasses returned back to Rayban and were set for refund on August 1. It's now August 21st and we still don't have a refund. We've called in twice, waited 10-20 minutes on hold, and each time are told we'll get the refund after "x business days". I'm hearing we'll get a refund this Friday, but I'm not sure.

To anyone looking to buy Rayban: it's a nice brand, but from this interaction I'm getting the impression that if you need anything at all from this company, you will be waiting a while. I hope the customer service changes, because I want to love this brand, but I just can't with the experience I've now had with the company. I'll definitely look into other brands for my next pair of...

Oh honey, buckle up—this one’s a warning wrapped in sass and dipped in a big ol’ bucket of NOPE.

Let’s talk about Ray-Ban / Luxottica as companies—because whatever you do, do not waste your coins on their products, especially their so-called “smart” sunglasses. I bought three pairs of Ray-Ban Stories (yes, THREE... don’t judge me, I love a moment), all shipped and sold by Amazon. Fast forward to less than a year later, and one pair just gives up—won’t charge, won’t turn on, basically went into a fashion coma.

So I file a warranty claim, and what does Luxottica say? “Oh, Amazon’s not an authorized dealer.” Excuse me? Amazon. Not authorized. Be serious. After pushing and speaking to a supervisor (because apparently that’s the only way to get a fact out of them), they finally admit—surprise!—Amazon is authorized. But plot twist! Now it’s somehow my fault. User error. Oh sure, blame the person who literally just wore the glasses like, you know, glasses.

Then comes the real tea: they finally admit the Ray-Ban Stories (and Meta glasses too) can’t be repaired and the batteries are known to break down. So let’s get this straight—defective product, no repair option, under warranty, and STILL they’re trying to weasel their way out of a replacement. Girl, the gaslighting is Olympic level.

Not only is this shady as hell, but it also means these overpriced “techy” sunglasses are basically destined for the landfill. So congrats, Luxottica—you’re not just playing customers, you’re playing the environment too.

Bottom line? If you like being ghosted by customer service, blamed for factory defects, and scammed out of a warranty you paid for—by all means, shop Luxottica. But for the rest of us with common sense and a shred of dignity? HARD PASS. AVOID....