Complaint Review: Pearle Vision - San Diego California

I am writing this report to disseminate the fact that Pearle Vision is a corrupt establishment. It had been two or three years since my last eye exam, and after losing my precious glasses in a concert a week prior to the exam I was eager for my vision to be corrected. I went to a local Optometrist (not in Pearle Vision but an independent doctor) and had my eyes checked.

The same day I recieved a pair of contact lenses that fit and performed like a dream. I ordered a years supply of these contact lenses (Proclear) from my Optometrist, but did not buy glasses from his store due to the ridiculous prices that he put on frames. So, I was pretty much half-way done in my quest to better sight. Contact lenses, check. Glasses however turned out to be a whole new story.

A few days later on an errand in Clairemont I passed by a store called 'Pearle Vision'. Great, I thought to myself, I can knock out two birds with one stone today. I proceeded to park and walk into the rather long and narrow store and look for frames. After about an hour or two looking for frames I decided on a pair and proceeded to purchase them. I opted for the Microthin and Anti-Glare upgrades on the lenses and paid a gentleman by the name of Samuel cash for the transaction. He gladly took the cash from me and told me that I would recieve my glasses in 5-10 business days.

Here is where things get interesting, about two weeks later I got a call from the same gentleman by the name of Samuel that my glasses were ready for pick-up. I drove to Pearle Vision (roughly 10 minutes from my house) and picked up the glasses. What the hell, I thought, it would be a great idea to drive home with my new glasses so I took my contacts out and put the glasses on in my car. What happened next was one of the most bizarre moments of my life. Have you ever been to a carnival and gone into one of those "Funhouses" with all of the mirrors that distort reality?

Well my glasses may as well have been cut directly from one of those Funhouse mirrors. The lenses were extremely powerful in the middle, however toward the outskirts of the lenses reality became a puzzled blur. I became very dizzy while driving and trying to focus with my eyes made my dizziness even worse. When I arrived home I was ridiculously disoriented and had one of the few migraines that I have ever had in my life. What happened? I asked myself. Something must be wrong.

The very next day I drove to the Pearle Vision store with my contacts on, demanding an explanation for the dizziness and disorientation. I talked to a different employee there who suggested that I go back to my Optometrist, because he might have given me too powerful of a prescription. That makes sense I thought to myself, and scheduled an appointment with my Optometrist. Four days later my eyes were checked by the Doctor, he measured how much oxygen was going into my eyes for contact lens use. Then I showed him the glasses that I had purchased at Pearle Vision. I told him that his prescription may have been too strong because the glasses felt way too powerful and disorienting.

Interesting, he said, while he examined the frames and lenses from Pearle Vision, these are Polycarbonate. I had no clue what Polycarbonate was, but it turns out that it is used by these cheap glasses stores (Lenscrafters and Pearle Vision) to aid in the thinning of lens size. We do not use Polycarbonate lenses because, well people have bad reactions to it, my Optometrist said. Well, at least I knew that my prescription wasn't the problem here, the problem was the lenses.

The next day I drove back to Pearle Vision and asked for a refund, however the General Manager was absent and she was the only one who was authorized to give refunds. It turns out that the General Manager was on Jury Duty and she would continue to be absent from the store for over 3 weeks. That did not answer my question however, Can I please have a refund and move on with my life? I called Pearle Vision two days later and learned that they had trained an employee by the name of Samuel (what a coincidence) to do refunds.

He was now the underling General Manager of Pearle Vision while the real one was sitting in a chair listening to a court case. I found out his hours the next day (why do I have to be the one researching stuff like this?) and went into the store. He didn't remember me or my reason for being there so he assumed I was not in dire need for his assistance. He shockingly helped two customers who had come into the store after me and this took over 15 minutes each. I was left sitting in the waiting chair debating about whether or not I should try to be nice to these characters. While he was halfway through talking to the second customer who had cut me in line, I got up to my full height and said Sam, I called in earlier about a refund!

This took him rather off-guard, but he composed himself (he had obviously not much experience in these affairs) and said Sure, but how about I just change the lenses for your benefit? I skeptically asked him, How long will it take for you guys to change my lenses? He answered back with the dreaded, 5-10 business days. No thank you, I did not want anything to do with Pearle Vision at this point, and politely said, No I would just like my money back.

I paid cash for the glasses (over $300) and wanted my cash back because I needed it for new tires (I was going to drive back to college in a week, the drive was over 8 hours and my tires were bald). Samuel said that my choice was fine, and after dilly-dallying with his computer for about 10 minutes he said that the refund was complete. However it was in no way, shape, or form, complete.

Samuel handed me a sheet that verified the refund. He then said, We do not carry over $200 in the cash register soyou will be getting your refund through mail. I was satisfied with this for some reason, and so I took my sheet of paper and left the store empty-handed. Driving back from Pearle Vision I tried to remember how many times I had been back and forth from that store and frustration began to grab my mind when I thought of the plethora of inconvenient trips.

After dinner I called Pearle Vision again and asked for Samuel, time was of the essence. However Samuel was not in the store (he was a difficult character to get ahold of, and the only one who could help me). So I found out what his hours were for the next day by another employee (again, why must I be doing this?). I called Pearle Vision the next day and got ahold of Samuel and asked him how long it takes for the refund to be processed. He answered me with the dreaded, 5-10 business days.

At this point I was in blind disbelief and told him that I had paid Cash for the glasses and would like my Cash back this instant. Samuel did not know what to do, and his General Manager was listening to a court case so I was rather stuck. Furthermore, there was not even an address under my name in the Pearle Vision database, so where would this refund check even have gone to?

It turns out that every Pearle Vision is supposedly independent of the next one. However I have heard that in reality this is simply a front that the corporation uses in order for it to have advantages over situations like mine. Either way, since every Pearle Vision is independent of the next Pearle Vision, there are thousands of General Managers responsible for the stores. Since I would probably never talk to the General Manager of the store that I was dealing with, I was successfully screwed.

I called the 1-800 number on the Pearle Vision website and told the representative my story. After talking with her for over 30 minutes she assured me that she would look up my refund transaction and speed up the process. She said that she would over-night the check to my address. I had to tell her my address because they did not have it on file (good job Samuel), and she assured me that she would call the Pearle Vision store that I used and arrange an over-night check to arrive at my address. This was one week ago, and I have still not received my refund check, at this point I am pretty sure that they did not over-night the check. Getting a refund from Pearle Vision is like pulling teeth.

I am convinced that Pearle Vision is a corporation that is designed to capitalize off of the customer and exploit the customer. I have wasted hours and hours of my life trying to work out a solution with Pearle Vision, driving back and forth to their store, and talking to employees and operators. The fact is, my money was still not returned to me, and I don't have glasses. Pearle Vision has honestly bestowed upon me one of the worst customer-business relations policies that I have ever encountered in my life. Thank you Pearle Vision, and where is my check!

R

San Diego, California
U.S.A.