Spectacles from UK at half the NZ prices, via net

editor@scoop.co.nz
PRESS RELEASE

Spectacles from UK at half the New Zealand prices, via internet

Appalled at the “huge” local $800 cost for new spectacles, Bruce Thomson, purchased his prescription glasses mail order from the UK – for $317 instead.

Bruce, a Palmerston North resident, initially approached vendors in Palmerston North and Wellington. He gaped at their prices for frames and lenses. “When I lived in Montreal fairly recently, you could get glasses made for you within an hour, far cheaper, and even a second, spare pair at nominal cost,” he says.

Turning his anger into remedial action, Bruce hunted on the Internet and, sure enough, located a UK company called ruok4specs.com who make spectacles from emailed or posted prescriptions. “They don’t sell contact lenses, just spectacles. There’s a range of about thirty quite nice silver, gold and gunmetal frames, with usual options such as rimless, flexible hinges, non-reflective, hardened, and anti-UV, he says.”

Suspicous it might be a scam, Bruce had been interested to read many testimonies, one from a New Zealander that said, “Thanks so much for the prompt service. I received my order today only two weeks after placing it and on the opposite side of the world. I am very impressed with the price and the quality of the goods. I will recommend you to my friends.

Spectacles cost a fortune in NZ and it is great to now have a choice of places to shop. Well done ruok4specs. Chris T. Whakatane New Zealand.”

Bruce ordered top-of-the-line progressive-lens prescription spectacles, with all those options. The displayed price for normal prescription spectacles (including frames and lenses) is about NZ$100 and bi-focals about $120.

He has for several weeks been using his new spectacles in his workplace and at home on the computer. No complaints. He cautions that the UK vendor needs to know accurately the distances between each eye pupil and the nose. They ask that this be done by sending a photo that shows a ruler or credit card placed on the forehead. “If a person doesn’t have a computer and a digital camera, they can just go to a photographer or ask a friend to take the photo,” says Bruce. Another alternative is to get an eye test and prescription (without buying spectacles) and ask the optometrist to include these measurements in the prescription.

The UK website has a calculator that will show the price in NZ dollars. You can pay by credit card or money order. The spectacles arrive in your mailbox a few weeks later.

Bruce wonders how may older (and poorer) people would be keen to get their prescription glasses at half price too. He says the saving of $500 was handy because his TV happened to expire around that time, and the saving on the spectacles completely covered the purchase of a huge brand new TV that he says he especially enjoys watching through them.

ENDS

There is no business relationship between [Bruce] and the vendors of the spectacles.

This press release is motivated by a wish to expose this situation for the public good.

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