Coastal

I was looking for two sets of bi-​focal prescription eyeglasses for a friend. His old pair had broken while working in construction so he asked for my help because he didn’t have a lot of money. I look on the web hoping to find better deals online than the traditional brick and mortar optics store which wanted $ 160 for one pair for his prescription. I created an account on Coastal and uploaded a picture of him so I could try out the virtual fit feature. What I discovered from the Coastal website, while they have affordable prices on their frames, normal clear lenses are not available for most of those inexpensive frames. Instead I found their website tried to push pricey glass lenses with prices up to $ 228 – 300 for bifocal lenses. What is the point of offering $ 228 – 300 glass on $ 19 – 35 eye-​frames?
I then checked with Zenni Optical also on the web and found good looking frames with scratch-​resistant and UV blocking lenses for $ 45. That’s a big different from three hundred dollars. I managed to get him two pairs of frames with the prescription lenses for one hundred forty eight dollars. Two so he had a backup in case he damaged another pair. Two pairs of glasses for half the cost Coastal were asking on their website.
I feel Coastal need to reevaluate their lens prices for their low cost frames. Mind you the lenses I was asking for were nothing special. They were plain vanilla clear glass lenses and not the fancy transitional or tinted lenses.
I suppose if it seems too good to be true, then it isn’t. Keep an eye out for the lens prices while shopping on Coastal and make comparison shopping with other online retailers. Just because its on the web doesn’t automatically mean the prices are always cheaper.

After losing my only glasses (previously purchased from Coastal) I placed another order with a duplicate prescription. The day after placing the order I checked the ETA ship date and it was 2 weeks out. I called to ask why where the representative apologized and explained the delay in orders is due to expansion. Penalizing the consumer and the quality of your service due lack of structure and strategy failure to accommodate growth is a REALLY BAD excuse. Then when I asked to speak with a manager he said it was only 6AM on the west coast to which I stated if you service the whole country you have customers in the east coast where it’s almost 9AM. I will not be doing business with a company that has such poor customer service and business model/​leadership. These are signs of weakness for their business in the future.

There website says they respond to emails within 24 hours, I’m still waiting, all I want to do is order some frames, I don’t want any fancy lens included.

They ship faster than Zenni by a couple days, but their quality is a lot worse. I ordered what was supposedly a brand name frame for $ 50 ($ 79 without the coupon), but the quality just isn’t there in the frame, and for some reason the lenses make me really dizzy and make my eyes hurt.
I bought three pairs from two other online shops, and all three are better quality frames, have lenses that don’t hurt my eyes or make me sick, and in total cost less than the one pair from Coastal.
I’m honestly really disappointed, because the frames are insanely cute and look awesome on me, but aside from the lenses making me ill, the frames’ quality is just abysmal. One of the arms is completely loose and isn’t sanded where the arm meets the face correctly, so it makes them lopsided. The ‘spring hinges’ are wacky and don’t quite do the spring hinge thing (not that I need them, it’s like they were adjusted to fit Big Foot’s head or something, and I generally need larger frames).

I had originally won a pair of coastal glasses through an Instagram giveaway. But wow, I was obsessed right when I got them. They were so beautiful and feminine and dainty. Customer service is always amazing. So I decided to get another pair… and then another… and then another. They’re so affordable yet so stylish. Everyone compliments me on my glasses all of the time. The price for 4 pairs of glasses came out to about 90 dollars in total with coupon codes I found online and the free pair. I also use the Chrome app Honey. (download it; it’s AMAZING for deals and coupons) Such an amazing company.

Ordered contacts on January 27, 2016 and received them here in South Florida today February 1. The last time I ordered contacts from a local provider it took 20 days from the day ordered to receive my contacts. Once again, I am a satisfied Coastal customer.

I normally shop with Coastal and I have SEVEN pairs of AMAZING frames from them. They always have the best pricing, hands down. Just this once, I decided to go with EZContacts because I had my heart set on gold glitter frames for my wedding and Coastal was out of stock in the frames I wanted. The frames from EZ are nice (Kate Spade), but the free lenses are significantly more cheap-​feeling than the free lenses I get with Coastal. Also, I usually get my order within 1 week with Coastal. It took me over 3 weeks to receive my order from EzContacts. I’ll DEFINITELY be sticking with Coastal from now on! I recommend them to EVERYONE I see wearing glasses! I’m sorry I cheated on you Coastal! NEVER EVER AGAIN! You guys are amazing!!!

The price for the glasses great, they gave me my money back for a wrong order fast. The people on the phone are cordial but they use DHL shipping which is the most horrible service ever. Super slow, tracking sucks I don’t know why they would use it. Not buying again cause of that.

Update: comes earlier than stated on the website. The should have put a delivery time range, which would make customers feel more comfortable.

Just got my second pair of glasses from
The first pair was free, and it was more just to try them out. The glasses were good for a «free» pair, but not ones that I would wear on a regular day. The first ones were only «simple» single vision lenses. My second pair, which I got yesterday are Progressive Transitions and a designer (Oakley) brand. My order was done properly, they got to my house within a week of ordering them. They cost LITERALLY ½ of what my doctor wanted for the same exact frames and lenses. I was also able to submit my glasses to my insurance (VSP), so I’ll get a slight reimbursement too. I’m very happy with my purchase and will be a repeat customer in the future. I hope you found my review helpful.

This is the only place I go for glasses.
I’ve tried many opticals and my experience is much smoother with
. Hands down! I’ve ordered two pairs of glasses. The fit is always perfect. No long waits and a much better value than going into an optical. I highly recommend
to everyone I know.

I made a total of 2 orders and I would give the first order a 5 star but this second order (which will probably be my last order) was like 1 star. (1+5)÷2 is 3 but the label for 3 stars says «OK» but my experience really was NOT ok so I decided to give a 2 star.
With the 1^st order, everything was great. I ordered contacts and they shipped them overnight. I received them in a good condition. I chose Coastal over others because of their free overnight shipping.
2^nd order, there was something wrong with shipping. The tracking number did not pull up any info. Sometimes, though, you know how it takes a bit longer for the info to appear, so I let it sit for at least a day. I checked again a few days later because I had not received it, and the tracking number still wasn’t working.
I was going to call customer service on Saturday and then realized they’re not open on the weekend. I thought that was inconvenient. So now I waited until Monday morning, and it took me at least 15 – 20 min before I could get a hold of someone at customer service. That’s when it dawned on me that this business is not as big as I had expected. I have no problem with that — it’s just that for some reason I thought it was a bigger operation.
I was told that this has happened to other customers recently where they received invalid tracking numbers. They couldn’t give me the correct tracking number but told me that I should get them by the end of next day. The person who answered the call was courteous but he also didn’t seem to have much information. They gave me some credit towards my next order.
I received my contacts today, six days (including weekend) after I received a shipment confirmation email. But hey, they gave me a credit for my next purchase, so I wouldn’t mind giving them another try… until I opened the box to find that one of the contact lens boxes (I only ordered 2 boxes) was completely open on one end. The ends of the other boxes were looking also suspicious (like they would peel off soon).
Whoever packed this thought it would be acceptable (or perhaps didn’t care) to ship an opened box of contact lenses. Granted, the shipping incident could have been partially the carrier’s fault, but this!?! I unfortunately won’t be able to say that «oh, maybe the person didn’t see it while packing.» If they didn’t see this, then they probably shouldn’t be working at the warehouse packing.
Ok, I could try to come up with many excuses that perhaps the glue gave in during shipment, etc. I’m glad that other Unilocalers seem to have had good experience. I might have been super unlucky. But I learned that it’s quite difficult to get a hold of them if there is a problem. I don’t really have the time to be making phone calls (where I can’t call on the weekend and when I do call during business hours, I have to wait for like 15 minutes before someone picks up my call) to try to rectify stuff that’s gone wrong. So, just passing on my experience but do read other people’s reviews, too.

Summary
It is not perfect, but it sure beats purchasing contact lenses from the local optometrist. My order came out to less than 30 $ a box for overnight delivery of Biofinity contact lenses as opposed to 50 $/​box for having them in a week at a local optometry storefront. I did utilise a coupon I found on Goodshop© though.
Proof of Prescription
There are three ways to furnish proof of one’s prescription. One is scanning and uploading; another is taking a picture with one’s fancy phone and emailing it; and, the third is just filling out the form when placing the order and letting Coastal contact the optometrist that examined oneself.
The fancy phone option did not work for me, and I did not feel like re-​figuring out how this crappy Canon printer scans, so I just filled out the information for them to inquire. That delayed my order by a day unfortunately. (The optometrist did not respond to Coastal, so that might have delayed it as well.)
Strategic Corporate Altruism
Through Goodshop©, I scored a X dollar off discount and free shipping (includes overnight, surprisingly) for my Coastal order as well as raised 9 $ for the charity of my choosing. This type of corporate policy sure makes this Unilocaler a happy patron (regardless of how strategic it is on their end).
Rating
«Yay! I’m a fan.»
Epilogue
If you find yourself in the market for eyeglasses, or contact lenses, you might want to give Coastal a shot. I cannot vouch for the quality of the glasses because I only purchased contacts.

I recently got a new prescription for eyeglasses, after neglecting my eyes for years. My daughter-​in-​law spoke highly about
, so I decided to give them a try. Everything about my experience was five star!
When I created my account, I was able to upload a photo, and view myself with over 1,000 different pairs of glasses! It was great to be able to see the way each pair looked on my face, without having to annoy someone at a local vision center with the repetitive line, «Can I try those on?» And I was able to take my time, and really look at each pair of glasses from several angles before making my final decision.
Their customer service reps were great! I had to call more than once and each time I was immediately connected to a knowledgeable, friendly and professional person who answered my questions and offered advice. One rep even made sure that I had the promo code to save on my order!
Their prices and selection are fantastic! There are frames as low as $ 49.00 and lots of name brands at reasonable prices. They have every color, size and shape you could imagine. (I would think it’s impossible to visit their site and not find something that caught your eye!) And with the promo code, I was able to save even more money. (I ordered Ed Hardy frames at $ 98 — I used a 50% off coupon to save $ 49.00!)
I ordered my glasses last weekend and they arrived today. I expected a much longer wait. They were shipped securely in a box, with a case, cleaning cloth, spray cleaner AND a little screwdriver on a key chain.
I can’t say enough about how happy I am with this purchase. Like many people, I worry when trying a new company, especially for glasses, which are going to be a huge part of my everyday existence. But, there was nothing below five-​stars about any aspect of my experience with
. I highly highly highly recommend them!

So when you have the biological threat of corneal ulcers making contact lenses a less than desirable situation, but you still need to be aesthetically pleasurable whilst wearing pieces of plastic on your face, Coastal fills the need for affordable glasses that allow you to accessorize at will with multiple pairs.
They used to lure you in with First. Pair. FREE. This promo is no longer available as of August 2014, but they got me in the door… and have gotten 5 other pairs of glasses out of me since the initial investment they made back in 2013 (I might own 8 pairs of glasses, but my prescription has rapidly changed since I became a desk jockey… really only 3 of them are valid). Now instead it is always free shipping, but I think the first pair free was more of an incentive to check them out.
The glasses range from what I would call «in house» designers, with $ 45 – 98 dollar price tags. These are not the same quality as a pair of ray bans. Don’t expect them to be, this price is for the frame and script.
Often they have designer glasses that i believe are last season’s etc, and you can typically snag them for far under their retail price point ($ 100 for a pair of Max Mara glasses, anyone? Bueller?)
Coastal almost always has an offer going on, $ 10 off $ 50, $ 25 off 100, 2 for $ 99, and so on. I actually ordered a new pair of glasses on Monday, and shortly after noticed a discount code in my email… a few minutes later on the phone with the most pleasant Canadian ever and the discount was applied to my order.
Bonus! You get a nice cleaning kit and repair screwdriver with your order. Lens Crafters doesn’t do that now, do they?

For what you’re paying for, I believe Coastal is awesome! I’ve been ordering from them for a couple years and I’ve been pretty happy with what I’ve ordered.
From my point of view, some people should realize that they’re not ordering the highest quality glasses because they’re not paying top dollar for them. Let’s be honest, you either are cheap or you can’t afford what Lenscrafters or an optometry office would quote you. It’s the best bet for those without insurance or want a decent pair at a low cost.
What you pay for is what you get, if you’re not picking up typical name brands and select the lowest grade for lenses, of course it’s probably not gonna be desirable to what you’d get. I always select a pair of frames I like, I pay extra for the ultra thin lenses since its best for my prescription and I’ve been happy. It’s probably not as thin as I would love but for the price point, it was expected & I have no problems with it.
Their guarantee is pretty good, I ordered some of their higher end brands (Ray Ban) sunglasses to be made in prescription and I wasn’t too fond of the frames once they arrived; they had no problem taking them back and allowing me to get another pair. My mom had a pair break on her within the year time period and they sent her a replacement, that doesn’t happen at other places after maybe a ³⁰⁄₆₀ day period.
I see the negative reviews complaining about shipping; logically I would think people would understand it does take time to make your lenses, putting them into your frames, checking them before shipping and then the time for shipping allotted is typically 3 – 5 business days. It doesn’t mean 3 – 5 days overall for it to arrive at your door. I’m sure different prescriptions take longer or shorter than others, I got mine after a week & a half which was totally acceptable from being shipped from Canada.
If you’re looking for a low cost alternative for glasses with a company who stands by their company’s craftsmanship with great customer service, go for it. I was skeptical before but after trying it, I recommended it to all my family & friends.

Awful. If you need your order soon, ignore their 3 – 5 day shipping boast, it’s useless. It’s been going on two weeks and my glasses still haven’t shipped. I’ve called several times now, been watching the status online and they keep promising it will be expedited, but still just sitting there without being shipped. On top of that the order is coming from Canada and they claim they are unable to send express. WRONG. They just refuse to make up for the long delay and pay the extra expense. NEXT TIME I will order frames on Amazon (like I did with my Ray Bans, for ¹⁄₃ retail price) and get the lenses locally, in an hour.

Yes, the glasses are free. Paid for shipping and extra for «transitions». These were made in Korea so I doubt these are the transitions that I was looking for.
Shipping was good. It came earlier than expected.
HOWEVER
The craftsmanship on the glasses were awful.
The lenses did not curve to my eyeball so my vision was distorted.
The lenses were totally flat. They do come with a case and cleaner and a small tool if that entices you.
Worth a try in the end if the glasses end up working for you.
Great refund and return policy.
They pay for return shipping.

So far so AWESOME!
I was obviously skeptical about ordering from an online with no one there to tell me what I needed. I called the optometrist and asked for my most recent measurements. Jumped on line and plugged in the details.
It took about an hour after searching for the right size, shape, color etc.
I was happy to see they arrived today (6 days) and more happy to see the perfect pair of glasses. My left eye has a huge difference between the right eyes and the other places make me pay extra to have it thinned down. The difference is about a thickness of 2 business cards. Hardly noticeable.
99% the same as the $ 350 pair I had for $ 17.00 BOO YAHHH
I am going to order more for the wife and kids!

$ 17.00.
That’s how much my hipster glasses cost me.
The «FirstPairFree» promo code works for specific glasses (and colors), and while the «free» selection has become a little more limited compared to when Coastal first started the promotion last year, there are still some excellent choices. I ordered online on Saturday, and I had my glasses the following Friday. All I had to pay for was shipping + handling. I think I spent more money on lunch yesterday.
The challenging part in buying glasses on Coastal would be the fact that you don’t know how the glasses are going to fit beforehand (and also you need to know what your prescription is, which is a pretty easy fix if you go to the optometrist on a regular basis). I ended up trolling my optometrist’s office, trying on different pairs and styles, and learned about the measurements associated with the frames.
There are three numbers that you need (well, want. Technically, you don’t need any of them):
— Lens Width (XX)
— Bridge Width (YY)
— Arm Length (ZZZ)
If you already wear glasses and they’re not too worn out, you can usually find those numbers on the inside of the frames. They’re usually seen in this format: XX-​YY-​ZZZ.
Oh, and they ask about your pupillary distance (PD), which is pretty easy. Google how to measure the PD, then grab a ruler and go stand in front of a mirror (or get someone to help you with this). Simple.
That was really the only challenge when purchasing from Coastal. I’m sure most people don’t even think of it as being much of a challenge, but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of returning or needing to reshape my frames so I did more research than was probably necessary.
If I wanted to upgrade to make the frames lighter, it would have set me back an additional $ 40, which is not bad. Obviously, your budget will either widen or narrow your options. The non-​free glasses are purrrrty (actually, even a bunch of the free ones are very nice), but I was too cheap to pay for those at this time.
I’ll probably never buy glasses from my optometrist again. I won’t tell my optometrist that.
P. S. Their customer service is on point. I called around 11 pm (CST) on Saturday to ask a question, and was assisted quickly and courteously. By a human. I can’t remember his name. I think it may have been Craig. He sounded like a Craig.
P. P. S. I received a $ 25 voucher for writing a review about the glasses that I purchased. I used that voucher along with a promo code for free s + h, and purchased a second pair of glasses for $ 25. So I got two pairs for $ 40ish. Then I proceeded to lose one of those pairs, which I’m not even too sad about because of how little it cost me.
P. P. P. S. I found the missing pair of glasses. I know you don’t care, but I thought I’d share.