An investigation into online prescription glasses purchasing by consumer advice service Which? has found retailers are supplying substandard spectacles that could cause safety issues.
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.
Seven of the 26 (27%) pairs of glasses ordered from online retailers failed the tests, either because the measurements were too far off what been supplied, they did not conform to British Standards or the lenses were loose and could fall out or be easily rotated.
Two of the failed pairs were from Fashion Eyewear and two were from Goggles4U, with Spex4Less, Select Specs and Direct Sight each having one pair that failed.
Eleven pairs of glasses received criticism for poor build quality – eight pairs had poor-quality lenses that were scratched, loose, warped or positioned badly, two pairs had issues with nose-pad positioning, and two had loose temples.
The investigation said that general optician advice to those with high prescriptions was to order high-index, thinner lenses. However, Direct Sight, Fashion Eyewear, Goggles4U and Spex4Less failed to make this clear to customers, producing the higher prescription pair of spectacles with standard lenses that were considered to be much too thick. The glasses from Direct Sight and Goggles4U were considered to be unusable due to weight and vision distortion.
While all nine pairs of glasses Which? ordered with a simple prescription passed checks, this was not the case for glasses with varifocal lenses. Seven of the nine pairs of varifocals 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.
Glasses from Glasses Direct, Mister Spex and Smart Buy Glasses passed all the tests.
Which? warned: ‘While ordering online can appear to be a cheaper way to buy glasses, consumers may be at risk of ending up with poor quality and potentially dangerous glasses.
The consumer group has reported its findings to the General Optical Council and called on suppliers to improve their standards.