Stanton Optical

Reviews 3

NE

Nema Lorestany

A Tale of Two Glasses. Originally, I had went in for an eye exam; needless to say it went well. The optometrist had properly prescribed me, and I was told to look at frames. This place has a pretty solid collection, I particularly like their Rimless frames. I picked out a pair, and decked it out with the works (Transitions, Anti-reflective, etc) - the ETA was two weeks. It came in after two weeks. On time, no complaints. The reps were very friendly. I will give a shout out to Dan the Man who went above and beyond to assist me, but Ill go into that in a moment. The frames I chose looked awesome, BUT I was not informed by a trainee that they would not work (i.e. pressure mounts and my prescription are no bueno) until after the fact. Which means; that while the glasses themselves were good, the temples would NOT sit in place - the pressure mounts simply wouldnt work with the prescriptions themselves. Flustered, I was offered a free restyle which left me disappointed because these frames were perfect for me. I was promptly denied a refund, because I guess misinformation counts as your choice. I work corporate, so I can see the cold corporate logic behind it. But, a NOTE to Stanton Optical: Youre dealing with peoples vision, this isnt some retail store where we buy televisions; we buy a MEDICAL product that impacts our daily lives. The refund and satisfaction guaranteed policies need to be revised to better accommodate your clients - or might I remind you of your recent controversy? Undeterred, Dan the Man came in. With sword ablaze, he single handily cut down the corporate non-sense and offered me a compromise: A similar temple/bridge, but to keep the style of my lens. It worked. I was told to come in within a week, and we can get the process going. I dig it. Found a style I liked, and he made it work. A bit over a week later, I was helped once again by the same trainee who did apologize for the initial misinformation which left me in this situation; it happens so no biggie. That is until I was told something conflicting, I was told that I cannot restyle to drill mounted frames (not my current pressure mounts which obviously dont work) because of it not being compatible - which literally doesnt make any sense. This left me bewildered, because I was told otherwise by numerous people. I was then offered proof by form of Yahoo Answers. Yes, Yahoo Answers. Obviously, the most credible source in the world. After, I was given the run around of its corporate. I also work corporate, we dont do that. After a while, I saw Dan the Man of Madison. He cleared up the misinformation that the trainee was giving to the lab manager. After five minutes, everything was set in stone and I am leaving happy. I highly recommend Stanton Optical, this was honestly a fluke and I SHOULD have been a more informed consumer before walking in. Oh, and train the trainees better especially in regards to communication with the customer and relaying information to management. You cant blame a person who isnt trained properly or attentively - because he was actually super nice and did what he could with what he knew. Yeah everyone is busy, but what store isnt? I generally got the vibe that half the staff that handles eyewear there just dont handle confrontation very well - which is SUPER important, especially in retail. Just saying. Hats off to these guys though for handling me decently, Im a picky and stubborn bastard. This will be edited to be a 5 star review, once I get my glasses without anymore more misinformation from others because the quality of the eyewear is solid for a solid price. Most of you wont have ANY of these issues, because most people dont have severe astigmatism like me.

RU

Ruth Harding

We went to Stanton Optical at the recommendation of several friends, who told us they had a "great selection" of frames. Let me begin my review by stating that this much is true: Stanton Optical has a great selection of frames. They also have courteous employees. Unfortunately, the great selection and courteous employees arent enough to make up for the level of incompetence, poor customer service, and ongoing miscommunication I have dealt with over the course of six weeks and five separate trips to two different Stanton locations (Fair Oaks and Roseville). If I add up my time spent driving to and from the two locations and waiting on the phone while employees try to find missing orders.....Ive easily put a full eight hours into this transaction. Not cool. Basically, we were encouraged by an employee at the Fair Oaks location to check out the selection at the Roseville location when my tween daughter couldnt find a second set of frames that she liked. The second pair was selected in Roseville and turned out to be the pair we were most excited about. Somehow, between the two locations the frame was lost and neither store had any record of its existence--so not only could they not find the frame wed selected, they couldnt order a replacement from the manufacturer, either. We were asked to pick out a third frame, and told that they would "rush" the order. That was on 1/31/15. Guess what? Order #3 was also lost.....and didnt get found until today, 2/24/15. Ive spent time on the phone with multiple employees for the past three weeks, trying to learn the status of our order. Ive heard different versions of what is going on from everyone I spoke to, an indication that record keeping and communication between employees is very poor. Associates have contradicted one another ("Im looking at your order right now," vs. "We have no record of any order in your daughters name") so many times that I dont know any longer if Ive been lied to or if employees just havent received adequate training in how to access order files. Along with profuse apologies from well-meaning employees, I have been offered a $75 in-store credit as compensation for our time and trouble. However, Im not sure that a $75 credit is adequate incentive for me to attempt to make another order with Stanton Optical in the future. As I said, the selection here is fantastic and all the employees Ive worked with have been very polite. This leads me to believe that the poor experience I have had is due largely to problems that need to be fixed on a corporate level: better training of employees, better organization of orders and records, and more consistency when it comes to dealing with customer service issues. Since Ive been ordering frames and lenses for myself, my husband, and four children for several decades now, Stanton Optical is not the first optical Ive ever walked into. For those looking for a place to get glasses, Id recommend finding a local, privately owned shop if you want deluxe customer service--most private opticals have the ability to order in additional frames for you to look at if you cant find what you like. If you want multiple pairs of cheap glasses, try Costco or online stores. Stanton Optical just isnt worth the hassle.

JE

Jenny Turner

We came in to Stanton Optical for a return visit after 2 years with our first pair of glasses ordered from Stanton. My wife and I drove down two and one half hours from our new residence to specifically order our glasses from the Madison location where we had been treated so well on our first visit two years previously. We were greeted at the door by Dan the manager and welcomed in to the store. We explained to Dan that we had driven 2 1/2 hours and were in a time crunch to order and receive our glasses before returning to the road. Dan was the nicest manager we had ever met. After listening to our story of driving such a long distance and needing our glasses the same day, Dan assured us that we would receive our glasses by the end of the day. Dan scheduled us in for our eye exam and reassured us again that all would be fine and in no time we would be back on our way. We then worked with Trish who helped us to get signed up for our exam. Trish was another wonderful employee who made us feel welcomed and assured us again that Dan had specified we would receive our glasses the very same day. We were then introduced to Dr. Araya, a most professional eye doctor who took the time to examine my wife and I thoroughly. At no time did we feel rushed and always felt welcomed and at ease. Dr. Araya spent several minutes explaining our exam process and the results, then comparing our new exam to our old one two years previously and how our eyes vision had changed over the years. Trish again worked with us when we were completely done with Dr. Arayas exam. Trish was spectacular with her assistance showing us all of the choices for eyeglass frames and continually interacting with us regarding looks, style, sizing, fit and selections. During this period Dan revisited us regularly reassuring us that our glasses would be completed on time. As a manager of over forty separate trades I admired Dans management skills as he moved from employee to employee assisting, greeting, solving challenges and always taking the time to interact with existing and new customers coming in. After choosing our eyeglass frames we watched as Dan reiterated to the the workers making the lenses that we were in a time crunch and had driven quite the distance to receive our glasses the same day. Rich and Cisco who were working on the lenses took the time to stop and come out to greet us. They explained Dan had requested these be completed ASAP and reassured us again even if they had to stay late our glasses would be ready by the end of the day. Needless to say we received our glasses the very same day and were back on the road by close of business day. We cannot express enough, how well were treated, the professionalism projected and reflected, the excellent management, the entire staff and genuine caring we received from everyone at Stanton Optical in the Madison store location. And to top it off our eyeglasses were perfect. Thank you Dan, Trish, Rich, Cisco and Dr. Araya for a pleasant experience and meeting our needs. We highly recommend Stanton Optical Madison Office for all of your eyeglass needs. Sincerely, Rick and Jenny Turner