Thread: Marietta Vision "Custom" contacts. Problems problems problems

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So I've been dealing with this company and giving as much leeway as I can for the last month, and its come time to post my review.

Over a month ago I decided I wanted to invest in some high-end FX lenses. I shopped around. I have bad vision and need prescription lenses, which are more scarce, but they are out there. I also have an astigmatism, and for those that don't know what that is, it means that not only do I need prescription lenses, it means they need to be oriented in a certain direction. And for contacts, that means they are even harder to find.

I emailed Marietta Vision and they told me since they do custom hand-made lenses, they can do them in torics (the type of lens needed to correct for astigmatism). I was thrilled.

We had some issues over price, since Costal Contacts is a reseller for Marietta Vision, and Costal Contact's prices were much lower, plus I had a 25% off coupon for SFX lenses from costal. Marietta Vision wound up matching the price of costal, but not giving me the coupon price, stating that toric lenses were much more expensive. While thats kinda true, they arent THAT much more expensive... I've been buying non-sfx toric lenses for years. They are just slightly more.

Through all of this, there was some ignoring of emails and a week or so for a reply, which annoyed me, but not enough to cancel the sale. I was thrilled to have found some place to make me SFX toric lenses. $99 a lens, $200 total, but, I'd have the lenses I always wanted.

I picked out a pattern and sent in my prescription.

These looked awesome:


I anxiously awaited my contacts. They came 2 weeks later - having been custom made - I didnt mind. They get here, I grab the box, run into the powder room, bust the box open, and... um... wait... orange? What looked to me to be lava-red in the picture was a bright pumpkin orange. I wasnt exactly thrilled. I mean, I just dropped TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS on a pair of custom made contact lenses, and they looked like pumpkin instead of lava. Maybe you'd say I'm being picky... I dunno... for $30 lenses, its picky. For $200 lenses, they were just wrong.

So I email and I'm told I can send them back for a refund, or they'd remake them. I say I have time, please redo them. I explain, clearly, that I want them LAVA RED, because they are to go with a demon costume. Not pumpkin orange. I send pictures to illustrate how the contacts look to me (a picture of a pumpkin) and how I WANT them to look (a picture of a lava flow).

I wait a week or so and email asking if theres any word on when they will ship.

I get a reply saying they are going out that day 1st class mail (as they did the first time they shipped)

A week later I still have no lenses, and I email asking for a tracking number. No reply.

However, the next day they arrive via UPS overnight. Looks like they forgot to ship it. Oops. Thanks for the overnight tho!

So again, I run to the powder room to try them on... I rip open the box.

PUMPKIN FREAKING ORANGE.

It was the same exact color I complained about the first time.

I fire off a furiously annoyed email, and I get this reply:

"Your lenses were re-tinted using the correct formula. If you are not happy with your lenses, return them and we will provide you a full refund."

They werent made custom for me like I requested, they were made using the "correct" color, which was wrong to begin with. Not even an apology. Sure, an offer for a refund, but with less than 2 weeks til halloween, where else am I going to get the lenses I need?

I'm upset and frustrated. I thought I was ordering CUSTOM lenses. Apparently not. I'd have liked at least an apology, but that seems to be out of the question.

I replied to that email and am awaiting a reply. If I get some kind of resolution I'll post it here, but so far I have been extremely unhappy with this month long ordeal. $200 for custom contact lenses - I dont think I'm being unreasonable by expecting to receive the color I'd like. Pumpkin orange and lava red are two very different colors.

Update - got another email back and it seems they may try and fix them again - which surprised me. I felt blown off after the last email exchange. I'll keep the thread updated as to the outcome. it may turn out well afterall.

My hopes dashed.

So we do some back and forth. I spend $18 to overnight the lenses back to be fixed again. This time he promises pictures for me to approve.

The picture he takes looks great:



Nice and red. Woohoo! He overnights them back. I am thrilled.

I get them. I opened them. Well, his camera and lighting suck, because they are the same damn pumpkin orange they were when I sent them back. Maybe a 10th of a shade darker, but still pumpkin orange, not red.

But, I have 2 days til Halloween weekend. Screw it. I'll just eat the $230 I've spent so far and keep them.

I take them to the bathroom to put them in. Pop the right one in.

It doesnt frigging fit.

They screwed with the lenses so much, putting on so many damn layers of color that the lens is too stiff to form to my eye. It doesnt stick. It slides over wildly with each blink, the edges peeling up off my eye so badly that they are catching on my eyelid every time I blink.





And the worst of all:



I cannot under any circumstance actually recommend this place. I've been waiting a MONTH for my lenses, they never were made right, and now... they dont even fit. I have NOTHING to show for it, and I am out $30 in shipping fees which I paid for nothing. I'd have been better off lighting the $30 on fire, it would have been less stressful.

It looks like they took a pic of the back of the lens so of course it would look red, that was probably the last coat they put on.

Sorry you're out the money AND the lenses.

Hubby has astigmatism too & is looking into contacts again. He tried 'em once & they still hadn't gotten the astigmatism lenses right back then. Good to know they've improved & that there's someone that would do FX lenses, just as long as you aren't picky about the color.

Not that you're picky, just if he ever orders from them he should maybe expect blue if he orders green.

Does the other one fit? If it's any consolation, one of 'em may be just as creepy as 2.

If you look at the rightmost vial that one is right side up... it's just the lighting in his office or something... they DO look red. Heck, look at the pics *I* took - they look red there too. In person however, pumpkin orange.

But thats completely secondary to the fact that they dont fit in my eye. I think what happened is that in 'fixing' them, as they didnt have more of my base lens, they just put more layers on, so many so that now they are so thick they just dont conform to my eye. I have other contacts for sports, and they feel paper thin and easy to tear. These feel so thick in comparison.

I'm going to try a trick someone told me... if I dont mind sacrificing a pair of real contacts, I can layer a pair of non-prescription contacts on top of prescription contacts, and they will stick to each other. You cant really separate them, but it may give me what I want, and if I order today with overnight shipping - I may have them in time.

I just cannot put into words how disappointed I am. I've waited a month, and have nothing to show for it but a $30 hole in my wallet.