Dishonest website, dishonest company.  
 
The company is unreliable and don't expect professional customer service. They feel free to change costs and charges on you.  
 
Two things to note. First: I ordered one 3-pk contact solution with my contact lenses. And when I get my order, I got 3 3-pk contact solutions and was charged for them. When I called to have them fix THEIR ERROR, they tried to tell me to keep it and use them in the future. When I asked for her manager, they had ME PAY SHIPPING to return the products.  
 
Second: the contacts I received had Asian writing on the box instead of an English "Acuvue." Boxes were yellowed and worn. The individual contacts (in pressed foil casings) were all bubbled and some were peeling... Looks like it could have been purchased from an old overstock storage in some foreign country.  
 
Seeing other reviews, why would so many customers have such an adverse opinion about this horrible company and then a 5 star rating out of the blue? Are they padding their own reviews to try and trap more customers they desperately need? Wouldn't put it above them.  
 
And despite all warnings, if you still buy from this store, you know the idiom: a fool and his money are soon to part.

PAINFUL EXPERIENCE  
 
I am a second time customer having placed my first order for prescription contact lenses for myself about a year ago.  
 
IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:  
 
First time I placed my order online -- the price of the contact lenses were different. They were cheaper. When I looked into this, I realized they have a lower price for first time customers only. (They have it set up though, to make the customer believe that their lower price for first time customers is what the customer will always be paying. Thus initially attracting customers from other websites.)  
 
So the second time around, I received an email from Coastal saying I have to refill my order. I click Refill on their email and I wait. I placed my order on AUGUST 15th.  
 
 
Several days later I receive an email (no call, no other warning) saying my order is put on hold because my prescription has expired.  
 
So I send an email asking what I have to do. I wait. I get an email stating that my credit card has been charged for the full amount. I wait. Then I get an email saying I have to go to that optometrist and get another examination.  
 
So I go, immediately, get a new exam and get home and email Coastal Contacts: “Now what?”  
 
They take over 72 hours to get back to me and their response is: “your account is on hold because the law states that we cannot ship contacts without a valid prescription.”  
I respond: “I know this. I already got this generic automated email response before. And my optometrist DOES have a VALID prescription, now what?" I wait the appropriate 24 hours between each inquiry on what to do.  
 
At this point it is SEPTEMBER 10th. I receive the SAME EXACT RESPONSE from 3 different customer service reps saying that it’s the law that they can’t send out lenses without a valid prescription. I tell them I do have a valid prescription.  
 
Then finally when I tell them I am contacting my credit company, 33 FULL DAYS LATER, it’s the first time they respond to me in 24 hours.  
Finally a person writes: “We are sorry for the miscommunication. YOU have to FAX the prescription to US.”  
 
So I have to go back to my optometrist, get my prescription, find a fax machine. And fax it to them. Today, SEPTEMBER 23, a FULL 13 DAYS LATER --- STILL NO RESPONSE.  
 
So, I call them. I lead by asking, what do I do to get my contacts, please? Their answer: “your order is placed on hold because it’s against the law for us to mail out contacts without a valid prescription.”  
 
I tell them, again, yes -- I understood this a month ago and I’ve been following instructions. You should have a received a fax with my new prescription over a week ago. Why am I not contacted either way?”  
 
Without looking anything else up, her next response is: “You got the wrong prescription for the wrong contact lenses.” I don’t know what that means -- I ask her what this means and why I wasn’t notified of this right away.  
 
I get a rude response: “We told you your account was put on hold several times because your prescription had expired.”  
 
I respond: “I know this. When I was first told this -- I went and got an exam and renewed my prescription. What kind of prescription do I need to get then. Please don’t tell me my account is put on hold again. Tell me what to do. I am not getting an answer from you and it’s been over a month waiting to get my contacts. What should I do, contact the Better Business Bureau?”  
 
Her answer: “Go ahead, we broke no laws.”  
 
I hung up on her.  
 
BOTTOM LINE:  
 
For first time customers they will try to get your business by being nice and baiting and switching services. BUT BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY.  
 
Even if they try to say this is just “one case” and usually all our customers are satisfied -- would you want to give business to a company that treats even one of their customers like this? And clearly, this isn’t the case -- read other customer reviews.  
 
For something as important as vision correction, use a company with customer service that will provide care for you. And not leave you on the curb soon as they have your money.

Over four months ago I purchased O2 Optix contacts from Coastal Contacts. I received the correct contacts in the mail within about a week of purchase.  
 
At the time Coastal Contacts was offering a $60 rebate, so I filled out the form and mailed it in about 14 weeks ago. The rebate form explicitly states that the rebate would be issued in 6-8 weeks. I have called Coastal Contacts three times and emailed them once and I get horrible customer service.  
- During the first call (3-4 weeks ago) they told me that the rebate form was indeed received by them and that they would email me within a day to let me know what was going on; I got no such email.  
- About a week later (over two weeks ago) I called again and was told that the rebate was approved by them and that it was "awaiting signature" and was probably already in the mail to me. I waited and waited and never got the rebate.  
- This past Monday (3 days ago) I emailed Coastal Contacts to complain and they have yet to write back even though their website says that they respond to emails within 24 hours.  
- Today I called and they told me that they could not listen to my complaint because they were experiencing a high call volume due to the upcoming Halloween holiday (go figure?)  
 
So, what it boils down to is that do not expect to receive a rebate from Coastal Contacts and do not expect any customer service - because they do not have any.  
 
In addition, their website appears to be American, but it is not. They charge your credit card from Canada which can produce a foreign transaction fee on your credit card bill. Their website has no disclaimer saying that this might happen and there is no indication on their website that they are located outside of the United States.

So I paid my total amount due of $336.11 before the due date for my focus dailies. A couple of days later I saw an additional $10.08 charge on my credit card. The description was "International Transaction Fee." I was surprised because I thought this company operates in Blaine, WA! I contacted the company to see if they would give me a refund, if not i'll just call my credit card company and tell them that it was a fraudelent charge.  
This is my first time ordering from Coastal Contacts and will be the last. I usually get my contacts from VisionDirect.com and NEVER had any problems at all.

They sent us an order without us confirming the order. They shipped it with a bill. We didn't want the contacts in the first place. Avoid entering any personal information at their web site.

Very poor website. I was considering purchasing my contacts online - went to coastal to see what they offered, as I progressed through the buying process I was stumped by the request for a prescription - not having an up to date prescription I decided not to buy. I ended up going off line to my optician and purchasing them there. Imagine my surprise when several weeks later I receive contact lenses from Coastal Contacts! After several emails to and fro, I discover that even though I haven't entered any credit card details or prescription details (only required in the US apparently) it still constitutes an order. Even though I received no order confirmation email. Now they are claiming that I have to pay to return the lenses! They wouldn't pay for returns "just for the good of their health" - their words....incredible, I didn't even ORDER the lenses. So I'm off to contact my local consumer advise office, see if this is legal - I'm sure it isn't.

I requested them to change or cancel my order because the prescription was wrong. They responded to my email, saying that I would be contacted shortly, but instead just delivered the wrong prescription.

Horrible service. Called because I have not received order in 2 weeks. Eliana from cust service said it was my fault I did not followup earlier and said the contacts were out of stock anyway and they can't fulfill for another 2 weeks.  
 
Do yourself a favor and stay away from this company!!  

I received double my order and can't get anyone to respond to my request for authorization to return and get my money back. HELP!

Never again, ordered on 3/20/2007. Prescription verified on 3/21 but their reorder cost was higher than directly through their website. They claim to pricematch "online merchant must be an established site as determined by Coastal Contacts" but would not pricematch their own lower price. They did not ship the same day or next as their website promised. Beware!  
 
My first review is below, my how they have changed:  
 
This will make my third or fourth order from Coastal Contacts.  
 
So far so good, no problems whatsoever! Good prices, a lot less than the local optometrist or what Group Health wanted to charge me. I have not found a lower price online. They are using USPS Priority Mail to for their standard shipping. Since I live in the same State about 170 miles from where they ship from I get my contacts within one business day of shipment.  
 
My son lives in Wisconsin and I recommended Coastal Contacts to him last year and he got his order in 3 days!  
 
I ordered very early Sunday morning and got an order confirmation right away. I was not expecting a tracking number until Monday but Coastal emailed me the same day, Sunday, with it. Product shipped out on Monday and I should be getting it tomorrow. I am confident enough about Coastal that I am posting this review early.  
 
Very satisfied and I definitely have become a repeat Coastal Customer. My experience with them has been comparable to other first rate online vendors such as www.mwave.com or www.newegg.com  
 
Good job Coastal, keep up the good work and the low prices!!  

This review was modified by its author, mrflylow, on 3/23/07 11:03 PM.

Terrible web site. There is no confirmation step. And no credit card needed - just an invoice immediately after choosing your doctor.  
 
I used this site because my doctor has moved and I don't have time to find another one. I still found my doctor at his old address in the list so chose that.  
 
I now have no idea if I will receive my contacts or not, because I don't know if they will be able to contact him, or if they'll even try.  
 
I'll post back here once I get a result.

I was about to place an order but wanted to order another pair of glasses for a friend to get free shipping. The order went through without me confirming it!!!  
 
I immediately called to ask that my order be canceled. It was but not after the rep offered to modify the order several times.  
 
I have mixed feelings about this. They did cancel my order when asked but I didn't confirm the order in the first place!!  
 
I will give it a try again in a few days and update this review once I complete the entire transaction.

Coastal Conacts has just lost a customer of 6 years. Repeat customers of this store please beware. When they send you the e-mail for easy quick refill processing, they charge you more than they would charge a new customer by $3 a box on J&J 1-day Accuvue ($25.95/quick refill and $22.99/directly through website). I called customer service and asked why I was being charged a higher rate as a repeat customer, than if I went directly to the website and started a new order. I was told that first time customers were given a discount. This is not disclosed anywhere on their website or the e-mail that is sent to customers. The representative was willing to match the price but I declined b/c I did not appreciate their sneaky practices. If you are in a hurry and just click re-order without doing a little due diligence, you get charged more than if you would ordering directly through the website. Just make sure you don't have their cookie on your computer b/c then it will remember you and pull up your identification and give you the higher rate. I find it ridiculous that they would screw their loyal repeat customers like this. Because of their sneaky practices, I am going to use another vendor.

I ordered a pair of the cheapest glasses to test the service and make sure I liked everything. I place an order for an inexpensive pair of glasses with my prescription, but something I liked. I received everything 6 days later and I was pleasantly surprised.  
 
The glasses came in a pull-string top cloth case, inside of a nice hard solid case. It came with a microfiber cleaning cloth, and a tiny screwdriver keychain set. In the end I paid $16 shipped for a new pair of glasses.  
 
I actually like the frames and the prescription seems perfect. If I need to get another pair I will definitely be looking at this site again.  
 
I also liked the fact that they accepted Paypal, since I don't like handing out my credit card info to lots of various websites.

Despite the poor reviews I read for this company (most of which were several months if not years old), I decided to order my contacts through coastalcontacts.com.  
 
The order process was easy. I got a great deal. I knew in advance that this would probably be my only purchase, as I had read the prices are for first-time customers only. It was such a good deal that I had to try it.  
 
I put in my prescription information and submitted the order. An hour later, I was able to track my order. My order status was updated - my RX had been verified and my prescription was being filled.  
 
On the 16th, I received an email letting me know that my order was filled and was being shipped. I was given a tracking number for USPS. I went to the USPS website, entered my tracking number, and signed up to be notified by email for any activity on my shipment.  
 
On the 18th, I received an order summary with a PDF version of my receipt for my records.  
 
Today, the 19th, I received an email from USPS letting me know my shipment has been delivered.  
 
I did not sign up for automatic refills, so I do not anticipate any future problems with coastalcontacts.com.  
 
I would recommend this website to anyone else. In fact, I have already mentioned it to my little sister who also wears contacts. The prices are great. If I had one "beef" it would be that while there is free shipping, there is a sizable handling fee (mine was $11 on a $142 order) that I was not aware of during the ordering process. Then again, I didn't look for it, and DESPITE the extra $11, the price was hands-down better than anywhere else. (Plus I got 10% back from mrrebates.com).