An investigation into online prescription glasses purchasing by consumer advice service Which? has found retailers are supplying substandard spectacles that could cause safety issues.
Seven of the 26 (27%) pairs of glasses ordered from online retailers failed the tests, either because the measurements were too far off what had been supplied, they did not conform to British Standards or the lenses were loose and could fall out or be easily rotated.
Which? posed as three different customers to order one pair of low prescription single-vision glasses, one pair of high prescription single-vision glasses and one pair of varifocals from nine online retailers. It then worked alongside a panel of two opticians to measure the accuracy of the glasses received and assess whether they had been made according to British standards.
Eleven pairs of glasses received criticism for poor build quality – eight pairs had poor lenses that were scratched, loose, warped or positioned badly, two pairs had issues with nose-pad positioning and two had loose temples.
Glasses ordered with varifocal lenses fared poorly. Seven of the nine pairs caused concern because no height measurements were taken. The panel of opticians said this could be ‘very unsafe,’ as badly positioned varifocal lenses could cause the wearer to experience vision distortion, which may increase the risk of falling and could be dangerous when driving.
See In Focus next week for more analysis.
