4/5

posted Dec-31-2011

At this point, while ZENNI's prices are indeed low, I'm not impressed with their speed of service, OR their billing practices, OR with the accuracy of execution for a given Rx, (or perhaps I should more accurately say their so far entirely absent, "quality control").

Speed of Service:
Order placed 11/21/2011, received 12/09/2011. This is actually within their stated time frame for other than single vision glasses, but barely, so in that respect it's accurate, but slower than some other similar price point online providers.

Order Billing policy:
Order placed 11/21/2011 and billed same date, yet the order wasn't RECEIVED until almost 3 weeks later, (via First Class Mail) on 12/09/2011, BEING POSTMARKED ONLY 3 DAYS EARLIER. This is something that many reputable businesses would not do-as waiting until an item is at least being shipped before billing it is a MUCH more equitable business practice.

Accuracy of execution of Rx:
This is the big problem area, and it's a multi-faceted one, involving both the original shipment and the subsequent RE-examination of their product upon it's return (if that was actually done is highly questionable at this point).

Upon receipt of the pair of LINED bifocals that I'd ordered from Zenni on 11/21/2011, I promptly tried them on, and while the frames were correct in color and size (I'd spent considerable time measuring and choosing them)and the fit was as close as I'd expected it to be from the specifications on their website, I immediately noticed that something about the close correction part of the lenses (the lower, flat-topped rounded section) was not correct-although the base lenses themselves(the upper and outer edge sections)of the lens were good.

The RANGE of focus for the close correction was simply too small, resulting in an inadequate depth of field at near distances, in the heavily-used "desktop, computer screen and dashboard" distances that the correct prescription covers much better.

Since my prescription had changed SLIGHTLY from the previous one and ZENNI's glasses were the first pair for the new Rx that had arrived, I took Zenni's eyeglasses to my eye Doctor's office to have them verified for accuracy. The Doctor's office technicians checked them TWICE on their AUTOMATIC state-of-the-art lens testing machine (the Reichert AL500) for accuracy compared to the prescription that had been provided for them when ordered. This prescriptiuon is the same one that the Doctor's office had written about a month earlier while also doing a complete, in-depth eye health examination, not simply a "quickie" vision test for eyeglasses.

(NOTE: My eye Doctor does not have a "dog in this fight" in re. selling glasses themselves, because they absolutely KNOW that they do not currently have a set of frames available that I like the fit of and they even recommended that I look elsewhere to find better fitting FRAMES-as long as the Rx was correct!)

The Reichert AL500 test results for the lenses clearly show that the close correction portion of the prescription (the ADD) is ground incorrectly in both lenses, with a 2.25 instead of a 2.00, and the AXIS measurements show an off-axis error of 6 degrees(R) and 5 degrees(L). (This machine measures to an accuracy of .01 for ADD and to a single degree for AXIS.) The Doctor's office staff corroborated that this would correspond very well with what I had observed while wearing them.

I returned the Zenni glasses via First Class Mail the next day, 12/10/2011, along with a copy of the test machine's tape (which is automatically self-printed out). The tape also includes the date of the testing and the machine's Brand name and model number.

(I should take this opportunity to say that their shipping of glasses in a hard shell case tucked into a bubble-cushioned envelope is good, actually better than many First Class items that I have received in the past from other sources.)

On 12/22/2011 (10 days later) I received an email from Zenni, claiming that "the glasses have been manufactured correctly", and asking if I either wanted to get them back or wanted to get a 50% refund.

Now, I understand that a USA delivery of glasses which are manufactured in CHINA includes the necessity of having to transit the ocean after manufacturing and that this takes time, but the time element is the least of my concerns (with this pair) as ZENNI's pricing is so low and the frame fits my requirements.

What I DON'T understand is how these particular plastic lenses could so precisely change their individual prescription specifications during that ocean voyage so as to NOW be "correct", when they were incorrect in not only their ADD measurement, but also incorrect (to a lesser degree) in both lenses AXIS measurements as well-when they were returned to ZENNI.
I also don't understand why ZENNI does NOT have an adequately staffed or adequately trained QC inspection department, (either domestically or at point of origin, or both) equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, something which could intercept incorrectly ground lenses before they were ever shipped out. The cost savings in not having to replace and return incorrectly made glasses (and in lost future sales stemming from unresolved problems with incorrectly-filled orders for that matter) would likely MORE than pay for itself at the volume level of salesthat ZENNI has.
(BTW-I checked and the lens testing equipment used to test my glasses is approx. $3000 at list price (in US dollars), and that it can be found on sale for less at a few places on the web. Even at full list price, this would hardly be considered cost-prohibitive for an operation with Zenni's volume.)

I have sent a reply email to ZENNI indicating that neither of their proposed remedies are fair to me nor acceptable, as this was completely THEIR error.

If Zenni ultimately decides to redo my glasses correctly, I will be more than happy to add that information to this posting (and possibly change some of my comments on QC) and will change my selections for individual and overall rating scores to reflect any developments that may happen subsequent to this posting, but for now my ratings will accurately reflect the current status of this order.

Update: Order was ultimately redone.
A Zenni rep contacted me by phone about 2 days after the abovere view was posted. The rep repeatedly said that it had originally been done to their tolerances, but that they would be redoing th eglasses on a rush basis. 2 weeks later the glasses came in and their previous manufacturing errors were not replicated this time. The testing machine report says that his time the lenses are spot on the Rx.
I'm fairly likely to give them another try based on the second pair.

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1/5

posted Aug-05-2009

Short version, if you have any other option, DO NOT deal with this company, I did, almost a year ago and am still trying to get a refund for NEW items returned in perfect condition almost 9 months ago.

In highly condensed and edited form, here's my experience.
I placed a phone order for 3 items, 2 fruit grinder/crushers, and a fruit press for juice. . Before placing the order, I talked with their order taker, who checked the shipping charges for the items, which were purported to all be quite heavy. These 2 items are used in conjunction with each other, and both are needed to accomplish the task.
The fruit press was shipped, while neither of the grinders (which have to be used FIRST to grind apples before juicing them), but instead were substituted for with HOPPERS that would normally be mounted on top of the missing fruit grinders.

I attempted to contact Polstein's to no avail for a few days, so I called my credit card company and solicited their advice. they said to file a dispute, which could be cancelled later, which I did. (I've since learned that there are all sorts of nuances to handling a credit card charge with a merchant that I had not suspected before, most of which the credit card companies DO NOT GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO INFORM CUSTOMERS OF.)

After contacting Polstein's to try to clear up their mistake in my order, I was informed that I could only get the original 2 "B" items by paying a grossly increased price from the original offer. (well over $100.00 each vs. $15.00 each as was originally advertised). I declined that offer, as well as a discounted price for the merchandise they had mistakenly sent to me, (which was useless for my purposes without the missing items), electing to return the "A" and "C", using their promised to be sent return labels. At that time, I was ambivalent that I had filed the dispute.

3 MONTHS went by as I tried again and again to get them to send me the labels. Finally they came, and I returned the items the very same day.

After a reasonable amount of time, I called repeatedly to try to find out what was happenning with my refund. I also called my credit card company to see if they could help, and in short after originally issuing a TEMPORARY PROVISIONAL credit, they couldn't do anything else,and then they had to recind that temporary credit (after 3 months), mostly because so much time had passsed since placing the original order.

It is now my opinion that Polstein's DELIBERATELY waited until the period of time had passed during which a dispute for payment with a credit card company would have expired (3 months after the dispute was filed in this case-check YOUR credit card's policy on disputes), before sending me the return labels.

Even if I believed that the original order was simple mistake, besides their unbelieveably long waits for customer service, the ignored or forgotten promises of call backs to me, repeated promise to send labels and the ridiculously long delay, their subsequent actions show a pattern of shady actions including but not limited to: distortions or outright lies to both me and the credit card company in a 3-way conversation in re. "not receiving" notification of the issuance and later recinding of the temporary provisional credit to my account (copies of both of which were sent to me) broken promises by nearly everyone with whom I spoke at Polstein's, no good reasons for their inaction nearly evertime I called, trying to "up-sell" merchandise, GROSSLY overcharging me for the shipping of 2 very lighweight items that were sent instead of the very heavy ones that I had ordered, etc.

How this company remains in business would be a mystery to me if I didn't think that most people are basically honest, so there's no shortage of potential victims out there in web-land, most of whom, don't make a habit of reading these reviews when first doing business with a company outside of their experience. I learned my lesson about not trying to make a habit to do that ahead of time.

This review was modified by goodolboy on August 05 2009 09:42:47 AM

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