Where to buy contact lenses online

[furryfriends57]

I am trying to cut costs at the moment and want to buy contact lenses online. Does anyone buy daily disposable lenses online and are happy with the service. How long from ordering to delivery and do they ask for evidence of your prescription before fulfiling the order.
Thanks a mil , FF57

I've used ASDA loads before, they do a next day delivery for a charge and a free 2 - 3 day delivery- they do need your prescription, can't remember how- I think either you scan it and email it, or you give them your opticians details :)

I can recommend Asda too

You need your eye test/lens check with them, or supply another optician contact details. I just use them, as they are as good as anywhere

Lenses arrive within a couple of days

I use lenstore online. If I order on Monday, the lens come on wed but you can pay for a faster service. They usually have a discount code running and you type in your prescription without any hassle.

Look at Daysoft - they're unbranded and by far the cheapest I've found.

I was going to say asda too, plus think about going down a level eg from daily to fortnightly or fortnightly to monthly.

I use Daysoft, never had any problems, really fast delivery too
www.daysoftcontactlenses.com/GB/Buy.aspx#.USnVEREgGK0

Cannot speak highly enough about lenstore.co.uk. No need to send proof of prescription, very competitive prices & fast delivery! I used Asda until I found them and haven't looked back since! Tbh I got fed up with having to send proof of my prescription & There were a few times when Asda didnt have stock of my brand and i wouldnt find out until i'd placed the order & then get a call to say there'd be a delay in delivery. Very annoying. I use dailies too HTH

I use daysoft too, before that I used Acuvue and had to stop because they were so uncomfortable in my eyes, Daysoft lenses are like covering your eyes in silk they are so comfortable. Amazing delivery too, they can get them to me here in France in five days and I can afford them on my limited income.

I get my lenses delivered monthly, £15 a month and they come direct to my door by Boots Opticians & i get P off all glasses thrown in too
And i can have as many pairs as i like & only pay P of the cost.
My last pair of glasses were almost free after using my nhs voucher along with my P off entitlement, was very pleased.
Only need to go in every 6m to get a lense check done

P= half price, silly phone wont let me do percentages

Hi
Thanks everyone for your replies. I am going to try the daysoft lenses for a month and see how it goes, wow 12E per month is a fraction of my current costs. Hope their quality control and standards are as good as the big manufacturers but haven't seen any negative comments on line.
I just love MNers
FF57

I have used discount lenses and get lenses before, both of them are fine and the lenses have come fairly quickly.

I need to order some more actually, will have a look tomorrow.

can't go wrong with daysoft.

Lensplanet.com is where I get mine from, they also constantly do £4 off (same as their postage costs). No need to provide optician's details when typing in your prescriptions either.

My normal lenses cost £13.75 on lensplanet, just checked lensstore and they're £17 on there, so I'm still getting a bargain!

I'm finding lensstore expensive too, even compared to Vision Express!

I get mine from Vision Direct.

They are very good and cheap. You do not pay for postage and you do not need to send your prescription or your optometrist's details.

Mine are £17.75 on Vision Direct. Lensplanet still cheaper!

I wear monthly lenses but use each pair for 2 months to cut costs. Optician said it was fine to do so amd I have had no problems in the year I've been doing it. I also use lens store.

I get mine from contactlenses.co.uk

Keep the website name simple huh? :o

They do my monthly continuous wear for £27 for a three month supply. Or when I used to have monthly normal wear they were £17 for three months.

And it's free delivery which normally comes in a day or two.

I'm a bit confused about how ordering lenses on the internet works; do you still have to have 6mth/yearly contact lense checks? Do you get an optician to do this, renew your prescription and then just order online?

I was going to TEsco opticians, but they've pissed me off, as they wouldn't give me any more lenses until I'd had a 6 month check I didn't know I needed, and they wouldn't even give me a weeks supply to see me through my holiday, so I could have the check when I returned. Consequently I had to wear my glasses all holiday. All this even though I've been wearing contact lenses for 25yrs!!! What did they think would happen to my eyes that week that couldnt be risked?!?!?

Anyway, what confuses me is if the opticians are so rule bound that they can't give an extra week without the check, how do online companies mange this and how do I organise this?

Do I just pay an optician separately for a yearly check and new prescription?

Just to provide a balanced view.... I tried daysoft and found them awful! Really uncomfortable and made my vision blurry even though the prescription was correct.

I went back to specsavers monthly for £13 a month plus a free pair of glasses included every 2 years and I find them great. Obviously after care etc is included. I wouldn't swap to anything else.

I have a very high prescription - 9 in both eyes so maybe that has something to do with it! Who knows !

I too could not get on with the Daysoft, found them really uncomfortable.

Before buying online, I signed up to a delivery service from Optical Express in the High St - the fancy, new technology lenses were awful and the deliveries were always late. Cancelled that contract and now use Lenstore. The parcel always arrives within 36/48 hours. I have found them best for price, and I have gone back to the old reliable and comfy "Dailes". Also, they quite frequently ask you to fill out a review form and send you a discount code after.

When buying on line you still SHOULD need the opticians prescription details and the date of your last check and the situation is that an optometrist is a PROFESSIONAL QUALIFIED person bound by their ruling body, in the same way as a doctor or a dentist, and they are legally bound. An online retailer IS NOT A PROFESSIONAL and is not bound to to the same rules. Most professional opticians who see their patient on a regular basis would authorise an extra week/month as they know their patient.
You should still have the annual/bi annual check as recommeded by your optometrist and any reputable firm would send you a reminder when your next appointment is due so that you would not run out if you were having the proper care.

So Mollymole, can you order online lenses without your yearly check if you want and just keep doing so for as long as you're personally happy to do so?

I have an appointment this week with spec savers for a new lense check and prescription, I ve given up with Tesco after they were spectacularly unhelpful, I'm wondering whether to aftre this order the lenses with spec savers or get a new prescription and start ordering online.

I wouldn't go much over a year without having a lense check, even if ordering online, but at least then I wouldn't be at the mercy of the 'computer says no' po faced optician like I was last week!

I guess though you then have to factor into the cost a yearly lense check on top of the price, whereas with the optician packages this is usually built in.

Is that right?

There are some web sites which will let you order without an up to date prescription - it is up to you if you choose to deal with a company that chooses not to respect professional practice.

Where I work we actually tell people that they can probably get their prescription on line cheaper than we can supply it (unless they are on 'special order' lenses) and we will check to see if this is more appropriate for them. We also help them make their first on line purchase if they want and supply the prescription details direct to the supplier.

Where we do the contact lens checks and supply the lenses the cost of the check is included within the monthly cost to the client. However, where we supply the lenses and do the checks the patient can have as many checks as they want within the year.

Where they only need 1 check per year we tell them that it works out cheaper for them to pay for an individual check as our costs are £25.50 per annual check or £40 for as many checks as wanted in 1 year. Some people have two checks a year and in our pratice ALL under 16's have 3 monthly checks.

When you buy your lenses on line it is necessary to factor in the costs of these checks into the overall costs.