Empire Visionworks Pittsford — Local services in Town of Pittsford

It is now the beginning of April 2023 and I am giving an update on the situation about what was entered here before. After going back to have the lenses corrected, I still had the same problem. As I tried to explain again that the lenses did not feel right, I was not getting through to anyone. I contacted Customer Service on November 14, 2022. I received an email response that someone in the Visionworks employ would contact me but this did not happen. I wrote to Customer Service again on February 6, 2023 and received the following response: Hello Mark, Thank you for your email. We are sorry to hear we've let you down. We have escalated your concern to a member of management who can assist and will be in touch with you shortly. We have shared the urgency to resolve and greatly appreciate you reaching out to us. Regards, Visionworks Customer Care Team

It has been almost 2 months and I never heard back from anyone. This was what I thought would be like my other experiences with buying eyeglasses in the past but this has become a complete and total nightmare. I will take the frames somewhere else and have the proper lenses put in. It is too bad that I will have to go to the expense of doing this but I am 63 years old with cataracts. What I now know and have decided is that I will never go to any Visionworks store again and this is final.

The remaining letter is the original complaint which begins below this line.

I am reporting on what I call a bad experience. To begin, I had an eye prescription for safety glasses which are a requirement for my job. I selected frames which I like and included my prescription which is for progressive lenses. When the glasses were ready, I tried them on and noticed that they seemed blurry to look out of. There were 2 women employees at the time. I mentioned my concern to one of the women and she explained that because they are progressive lenses, there will be a sense of being blurry on the sides. I have worn progressive lenses for 4 years and I have not experienced this level of discomfort before. I did not feel that the associate was listening to me when I tried to express my concern. Because I did not feel that I was not getting through to her, I reluctantly walked out of the store. I wrote to the CEO of Visionworks and threatened to also report my experience to the New York State Attorney General. I was then contacted and invited back in to have my prescription examined by the optometrist who was very professional. Because I continued to not be able to see well with the glasses, I went to the original optometrist at Lenscrafters to have the glasses examined and have another opinion. What was discovered was that the prescription was correct, but the lenses were not positioned properly in the frame. I went back to Visionworks, and an agreement was made to correct the problem. When I picked up the glasses, I again noticed that I was still not able to see well out of them. Again, I tried to explain this to one of the associates and she said that because they are progressives, they will be blurry out of the sides. One day at work, I tried to wear the safety glasses and I gave up on them after a few hours because my eyes began to feel sore. As a result, I am continuing to wear my old safety glasses even though they are no longer the current recommended prescription. I will not wear the new glasses because my feeling is that they are still not properly made and are not comfortable for my eyes. I am very unhappy with the service that I have had, and, in the future, will not consider Visionworks. What I might have to consider doing is taking the frames to a different optical service and have the proper lenses put in. It would be too bad for me to go to the expense of having another service make and put in the correct lenses, but I do not want to possibly harm my vision. I am deeply worried about the quality of the glasses and even more about the lack of concern that I have experienced. The people I work with told me that they have also had similar experiences with...

MY EXPERIENCE WITH FIVE VISIONWORKS STORE LOCATIONS IN ROCHESTER AND SURROUNDING AREAS.

I have been looking for a Frame by Dragon that fits me correctly. I went to the Henrietta Store first and they were not helpful when I asked them how should the eyeglass frames properly fit my face ....The sales man just said it's "personal preference" what? WRONG answer. So I thought maybe he does not understand what i'm asking here, so I'll break-it down for him, I ask him about the Bridge, the bow and tried hard to get his imput on proper fit so I don't end buy the wrong fit and having to return them down the road. He did not have anything usefull to say other then "personal preference" So he was no help. Plus I think I educated him more then he did me...lol I told him what I know about proper fitting.

So I went to Irondequoit location. Here they did not carry the Dragon Frames but they told me Webster NY had them....

So I drive all the way to Webster! Guess what? they do not have Dragon frames. So that was a complete waist of time and gas. ps: I have a gas hog

SO I drive to Victor NY because they said they carry them when I called. I will tell you these two guys there were so Helpful they had a guy there that understood how frames should properly fit in the bridge and basically I was EXTREMELY Satisfied with them. Unfortunately they did not have the frames I wanted but again I felt like they gave me top notch service. These guys were great guys and the oldest guy was great with Children. (Not in a creepy way either.)

So it was late and the last location I wanted to check was in Pittsford NY. but they were closed by then, So the next day I decided to call them before driving over there. When I called I spoke with Colleen and she said they had about 10 Dragon frames, So I told her I had been to all the other stores already and asked her if she could do me a favor and tell me over the phone what the models they had...Since this would only take about 2 mins it should not be a "big deal" right? Wrong! Colleen says to me "why don't you just come in to the store? (Probably would be easier for her im sure) I basically begged her to please just take 2 minutes to read off the 10 frames to me. She acted annoyed, gave me the impression that she was lazy. So then she puts me on hold because she says she has to get all the glasses..huh?...So now i'm on hold and waiting for maybe 5 minutes...Then a guy answers the phone and asked me If im being helped. Personally I got a bad impression because I don't think putting me on hold was necessary.. All she needed to do is to walk over the the frames and read the tags off...Im sure she would have been more motivated if these were her personal glasses that she was selling.

So basically my impression of "vision-works" is go to the location that actually "works" and has knowledgeable sales staff.

Go to Victor...

Let me say I've been coming here for glasses since I was 9-years-old (I'm 38), back when it was Empire Vision. Always loved the staff and great selection of glasses. However, my experience this time didn't quite hit the mark...by more than a small margin.

First the good stuff: Still have a great selection of glasses. The receptionist was really helpful in 1. helping to decide which pair worked for me and 2. finding my file in the "old" system since I haven't been there in a while - she knew where to look and found it right away.

Second, the not-so-good stuff: You no longer take my insurance (Eye Med) despite the claim of "hundreds of plans accepted!" Weird that I SOMEHOW have the one you don't. Awesome. The guy who helped me order my glasses was less than helpful (oh how I miss John who used to work there who was SO GOOD and really knowledgeable). When he mentioned that I had a strong prescription (accurate), he started talking to me about different lenses. I took off my glasses and handed them over and said "I'd like whatever it is I have now." His response was "Well, I don't have your file in front of me so I don't know what that it." Ummmm.....the receptionist JUST found it in your old system AND told you where it was. So, thanks for making NO effort. When I went in to pick up my glasses I had the great misfortune of being assigned the SAME guy, who proceeded to hand me my new glasses, and look at me expectantly. I put them on, they were crooked, he "adjusted" them a couple times, every time they ended up not fitting in a new way, and after the 3rd time, when they STILL did not fit correctly, I finally gave up and left. He NEVER sat down with me, never checked the fit himself (i.e. the ear pieces, seeing if they were sitting correctly on my bridge, etc.), and seemed generally eager for me to simply say "they're great!" and leave. Also, and this is a little thing (but it always took place in the past), he never bothered cleaning the lenses after we'd been passing them back and forth. So, I have a new pair of glasses that I can't wear yet (b/c every time I look down, they start to fall off), and I'll be going this weekend to another vision provider to get a correct fit.

It's really a shame because the service at Empire Vision used to be AMAZING. The people who fit your glasses used to know what they were doing, and actually took the time to help and fit you correctly. Now? I paid Visionworks $250 for crappy service and glasses I can't wear yet. Really...