My friend is historically a very honest person, to the point that when we were growing up he was the last person you wanted talking to a parent or teacher if we had done something wrong. The other day he called me outright enraged due to his recent exchange with a Lenscrafters store and given his history of being too honest I have to take his side of the story at face value. Roughly 18 months ago he went in for a complete eye exam including contacts, he got a year supply of contacts as well as an expensive set of glasses(over $500 including transition lenses) even paying for optional insurance. I was not with him when he went in for his exam but as he tells me when he asked how long his prescription was good for, they told him specifically "it's good for two years". Fast forward to this past week, before the very long phone conversation he and I had. He recently moved to a different state but given the fact that there are Lenscrafters nationwide he was told that they would be able to get his prescription from the other store and order his contacts for him. Not long after hanging up the phone, the new store called him back and told him his prescription was expired, in the subsequent exchange they told him contacts are only good for a year whereas glasses are good for two. My friend explained that he was specifically told that his prescription was good for two years but the only response he was given was "You were told wrong."
Now, with no options at his disposal other than dropping over $100 for the complete eye exam plus contacts and then the $50-$100 for the contact lenses on top of that, he asked me if I knew what he could do. I did what I usually do when I don't know something off of the top of my head, I turned to the internet. I searched several online retailers, all of which would not do it without a current prescription and every time they would contact the eye doctor they were told it was expired. Some people online recommended that he should wait until a holiday such as the 4th of July when the doctors office would be closed so that way when the online retailers attempted to verify the prescription nobody would be available and the contacts would be shipped after a couple of days. My friend did not have another month of waiting in him so I looked for another option, that is when I was told about international online contact lens retailers. He decided to go with GetLenses who did not require his prescription which he got the information from his now empty box of contacts. Within a week his contacts arrived from England and they even came shipped with a pack of Haribo gummies. He has every intention of going to a completely new doctor when his current prescription is expired and doesn't plan on having to go this route again, however, he feels good knowing that it is still an option at his disposal given that his eye prescription has not changed in five years.
It is a United States law that contact prescriptions are good for only a year whereas glasses prescriptions are good for two years. My friend would have purchased two years worth of contact lenses from Lenscrafters had they been honest and let him know that his two separate prescriptions each had their own expiration date.
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