American Vision at the Court

Update: The owner of American Vision at the Court posted a comment in response to my original post and emphatically states that this issue was never brought to his attention and he doesn’t appreciate his business being baselessly badmouthed in a public forum without his having been consulted first. He even goes on to suggest that I may not have actually purchased glasses at his store.
FYI, I am a real customer of American Vision at the Court. Two purchases, each around $ 500. The first time, I bought glasses (a spare pair) only to find out much later (not until my second purchase a year later) that what I’d thought were high-​index lenses were not. The sales staff at American Vision at the Court had apparently assumed high-​index lenses weren’t covered by my VSP plan and botched the order.
The second time, I ordered lenses on my own frames. Both experiences were as I described earlier, a two-​tier system of preferred out-​of-​pocket cash purchases and VSP insurance purchases.
American Vision at the Court was contacted about these issues. I received no redress on the botched high-​index lens first purchase and the owner only cited high costs and lack of VSP insurance reimbursement for why eyeglass cases aren’t provided for certain purchases.
Posted below is a copy of that original e-​mail response (condensed a bit) from the very same owner who now so emphatically states he was never contacted about and thus was unaware of the two-​tier VSP issue. All I can say is either the owner has a really bad memory or is disingenuous. Either way it shows just how much weight this business places on customer feedback and complaints.
Bottom line is no actual offer to address the complaint was ever made in these communications and I’m still stuck with a pair of heavy clunky glasses b/​c the sales staff at American Vision at the Court botched the order.
Indeed, the only actual offer of redress, however feeble, ever gotten from American Vision at the Court was the highly conditional and somewhat disingenuous offer of a free eyeglass case that the owner made in his Unilocal response post to my Unilocal review, «if in fact (I) purchased glasses from here.» Geez! How generous!
Bottom line: American Vision at the Court, this stellar business of 30 years, which so proudly proclaims itself «(separated) from (its) competitors» by «excellent customer service,» will not correct a botched eyeglass order, and it takes public shaming just to get a very conditional offer of an eyeglass case.
Let this be a cautionary tale to all would-​be customers. Should your order run into problems at American Vision at the Court, you too may very well have difficulty getting remedy from this business.
Their practice of dealing with customer complaints seems to be to say just enough to get the customer to go away rather than dealing with the actual issue and offering a real helpful material solution, e.g. replacing wrong lenses.
Buyer beware!
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Dear Mr. Park,
I’ve been here for over 30 years and hopefully, what separates us from our competitors is our excellent customer service whether it’s an insurance patient or an out of pocket paying customer.
Let me explain to you our policy of eyeglass cases to you. Back when I started with VSP they use to compensate the offices for giving their patients eyeglass cases. They stopped that policy years ago but we still continued to give new cases to every customer when they purchase a new pair of glasses at our cost. In fact, we did give out cases to everyone when they just purchased lenses, but we stopped that policy about 2 years ago.
Our costs have gone up and our reimbursement from the insurance companies has been reduced. I made the decision to stop the practice of giving free cases with lens only purchases for both vision plan patients and out of pocket paying customers. I listened to most customers when offered a new case declining, saying that they have so many that they «just throw them away» when they get home.
Respectfully,
Dr. Gary Kirshner
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Denise was incredibly helpful when I needed to find lenses for my very strong prescription. I had been to several other optical places and they all said I would have horrible looking lenses due to my high prescription. Denise was confident my lenses would look good, and she was right — my lenses came out so thin and looked absolutely amazing! She was able to recommend the proper frames for my prescription strength as well. They were able to help me choose the appropriate lenses and knew exactly how to help me. I would strongly recommend getting your glasses here. They know their products well and really do put their customers first!

This shop has an amazing selection of frames from all over the world. The staff are very friendly and honest; I can always rely on them to tell me if what I tried on is right for me. I will definitely be back

Dr. Kirshner is excellent! His support and sales staff on the other hand are horrendous. They have no concept of customer retention… They show no interest in doing their job if it doesn’t translate into a sale. So if you need your prescription sent somewhere good luck. They will just tell you that they are awfully busy and don’t have the time. I’m not one for complaining but if I want my contacts from somewhere less expensive you should do your job and send my prescription as requested instead of waiting for the automated call center and making me wait another 24 hours.
I won’t be back and I have been a pretty loyal client but I’m done with your service issues.
Eric M.

This is one place I can go to get my fave Jimmy Choo sunglasses fixed. Apparently this frame is defective and the screws keep popping out; I purchased these glasses from a local department store, so my complaint with the frames is not American Visions’ fault. However, every time I go to get them fixed, they put a different type/​style screw so there’s 3 – 4 silver non factory screws in there and none of them match (each other or the original gold of the other studs)
They charge $ 5 to fix them each time, which includes a cleaning, but every time I go they always make it seem like an inconvenience and I tell them that I’ve had them fixed there before (but then they take it in the back, see the brand, and I guess they figure it’s worth their time).

Dr. Kirshner is an ace! I’ve been his patient for several years. In addition to keeping my prescription glasses up to date (and in style), he spotted and referred me for help with a potentially serious problem of pressure build-​up. Both he and the specialist to whom he referred me continue to monitor and treat the condition diligently.

Not only do they have a great selection of glasses but their service and staff were fantastic. I have never gotten so many compliments on my glasses !! I can see so much better with my new progressives. I love this place!

I think this place is satisfactory. The owners are a little kooky (the doctor and his wife — shorter, dark-​haired lady) but the convenient location and the selection of fashion forward eyeglasses keeps me coming back. I’ve gotten three pairs of glasses from them and everyone always compliments me on all of them. Even though that woman behind the counter does help me, she doesn’t always choose the frames for me to try on that I would necessarily choose. I can’t blame her for her taste, but sometimes I just want a second to look around… I don’t always need advice from someone that is pushing different tastes onto me. It actually felt a little like she tries to rush me a little, but maybe that’s just that one women’s character (like I said, a little kooky).
But I always get over it because I love my glasses so much. :)

Unfriendly to the point of being strange. An older woman with dark hair works there. I’m not sure if she lacks knowledge, customer service skills, or people skills, She may be one of the owners of the shop but does not seem interested in answering customers’ questions or doing anything that does not involve the high priced glasses behind the counter.
Although the shop is conveniently located in King of Prussia mall, The rest of the support staff may also be fine, however both of our experiences with th woman mentioned above were extremely negative. Needless to say, we will will be searching Unilocal for a new place to have our vision needs taken care of.