Stanton Optical

I have been wearing contacts/​glasses for over 15 years, which means I have been seen by professionals every year, twice a year in some cases and the experience I just had at Stanton Optical on Menual and Louisiana, was ruthless. The customer service from the beginning HORRIBLE. I couldn’t even identify the tech or the «doctor» considering I was never introduced to either of them. After the pretest with the unfriendly tech, I was shifted to another room where a gentlemen was at his computer and I was awkwardly sat in the exam chair without a formal introduction of who he was. While proceeding with what I knew as the normal clicks and shifts of the Instrument I was looking through, I begin to tell him why I was there in the first place. Recently I have had a drastic change in vision and after I explained the difference in contacts vs. glasses, he argued with me about my wearing/​cleaning habits and assured me it was something I was doing wrong that cause my vision change. After I told him i brought my current script to be able to determine if there was a difference in vision, he pointed to a room down the hall to try a new brand of contacts on. After I did that I assumed I needed to go back to the room I was previously in, due to the lack of instructions. Walking back to the room what else would I see other than he «Doctor» scrolling on his cell phone. (His phone had rang during his questioning of me earlier in the exam and he silenced it and shahid «shit».)
After double checking o could see out of the new brand of contacts he said go out the the desk and someone will take care of you. I was told a total without a description of what I was paying for. After payment I was shifted to another desk to be tried to sold glasses and a pack of contacts. I had to ask what the name of the new brand I was wearing and what my prescription was now in comparison to my old one. They had to write it down for me on my payment receipt. The young team all wearing white lab coats was a turn off after looking around in disbelief I really just had this experience. The 1 star is for the fast service. DO NOT CHEAT ON YOUR REGULAR EYE DOCTOR FOR THIS!

DO NOT BUY FROM HERE!!! I can’t stress this enough. The quality of their frames and lens is extremely poor. Their customer service is poor. After you have paid for your frames, you will wait an hour plus when you have to pick them up and God forbid they don’t fit. You will wait an hour every time they try to refit them. They never called to tell me my glasses were in and they put the wrong lenses in my frames. When I went in to ask for a refund because I do not have the time to wait to fix their mistakes every time she said all she could do was exchange them for another pair. And deal with them again wasting more of my time? I think not.

By far the WORST optical place I’ve ever been to.
The customer service here is absolutely horrendous, & I’m most definitely not coming back, ever.

Went for a appointment and had to be rescheduled because of lack of staff .Paid for frames and lenses and exam in advance because I was told if my frames got sold before I was examined they could not get anymore. On the rescheduled date Stanton called me and said they didn’t have doctor could I reschedule agin .I asked for refund and it has been 8 business days and no money yet.

I wish I came to Unilocal before stopping in at Stanton Optical in ABQ Uptown area because I would have saved an hour of my life. I already had my prescription from my eye doctor, so I cannot review the eye doctor. I came in because I saw the «2 Pair of Glasses for $ 69» signs and because its a convenient location for me. A salesman immediately approached me, showed me the glasses on special, and I saw I wouldn’t like anything for the 2 for $ 69 price (a limited selection but not surprising because its what’s on special). I spent 30+ minutes looking at full-​priced frames and then the salesman, who was nice enough, helped me eliminate most of my choices for «not looking good» on me. I was under the impression it was the customer’s job to decide what does and doesn’t look good on them. I could see some assisted advice, but it was unlike any other glasses shopping experience. He didn’t ask to hear from me; he told me, nay man-​splained, what he thought. I had already planned to only scope out some finalists, write them down, and come back later in the week when I had more time to decide and make a purchase. I told the salesman this, and he was understanding. I am a muser when it comes to decision making so I was upfront about this, and I truly planned to come back in a few days, even coordinated with that salesman to be sure he would be there to get the commission of my sales. I was planning to go when the sales manager came in to try to «close the deal» for the salesman. What he did instead was ruin an already average experience. This sales manager’s strategy was the most terrible encounter of 1970s-​inspired car sales that I’ve ever experienced. I seriously thought such aggressive sales were only in the movies. And these are for glasses frames. The sales manager tried over 4 times to hard sell me, went so far as dropping the price of the frames I liked to the 2 for $ 69 special (I explained it was not the price, I wanted time), aggressively tell me how I should buy today, described how his 5,000 frames were the best in the business and I couldn’t find anything better, and just plain did not listen to a single thing I said. His response was just to be aggressive and undermine any kind of relationship his salesman had built with me. I would have come back to buy glasses later in the week. Now I never will go there, and just writing this review makes me feel fired up again. Save your time, energy, and try another place unless you like being bullied into buying glasses.

This place is AWFUL!!! Our appointment was at 9:15 and over an hour later we are still sitting here… and we were the first appointment of the day. When I Complained to the staff they just shrugged… I strongly recommend AGAINST coming here.

Waste of time. Appointment time was at 11:30. I walked into the EMPTY waiting room 10 minutes before my appointment.
After 15 minutes the tech came and did the focus test and the puff test on my eyes and had me go back and sit in the waiting area. She was very nice and friendly. I waited till 11:53 and then just told the girl to cancel my appointment. By this time no one had yet taken my history, patient information or anything. Just the two tests that the tech had performed. At this rate I wouldn’t be out of there for another hour at least when the person who booked my appointment told me that the exam would be 15 minutes.

Michael Moore was incredibly professional, helpful, and funny. He was able to meet my needs as a customer from out of town I needed my glasses ready for the next day and he was able to make that happen! I would recommend anyone who needs glasses to Coke see Michael to help them out!

A few things need to be said here.
1) I’ve needed glasses since age 10, so I’m familiar with what goes on in the frames, fitting, lenses and exam process.
2) I’ve got years of marketing and managerial experience in retail.
That being said, let’s start with the initial hour. This hour was comprised of my father in-​law referring my husband and I to this place. The place looked beautiful, outside and inside. We walked in, aware of the «2 Pair of Glasses for $ 69 + FREE Eye Exam» special. That’s what we wanted and, considering that New Mexico is only one of two states that does NOT allow adults over 18 to have vision and dental insurance, this was our best bet financially and for glasses.
Upon walking in, we went to go set up walk-​in appointments for our eye exam. The eye exam and puff test took about 45 minutes total. The eye doctor was very friendly. We now know why. Between the puff test and the exam itself, we were told to «go pick out some frames to expedite the process». Naturally, we did. At this point, we were still under the delusion that we were not going to be screwed over.
The salesman who spoke with us (who shall remain unnamed) was the pushiest salesman I’ve ever encountered. Ever. In 32 years. He was DEMANDING that we get memberships to their «FREE FRAMES CLUB». He even joked about how he would «do anything to get that money». I’ve met some people who were kind of pushy, but they had nothing on this guy.
Hour two consisted mostly of picking out and comparing frames. We were told that the glasses that were $ 69 each were the ones to choose. The way this works is that you get two frames. They will, however, charge you for the more expensive one and give you the less expensive pair free. We weren’t told until MUCH later that the glasses we had chosen had to have a BLUE tag. They couldn’t have a green tag, an orange tag, a pink tag or a white tag. They had to have a BLUE tag (this is very important). Even if they cost $ 69, the tag HAD to be blue to qualify for the special.
After looking around the entire place for an hour and 15 minutes and discovering the «blue tag» key, we were shown the blue tags. At this point, even though every wall is covered in frames, there were four for men and about four for women. For my husband, he got to choose from awful brown plastic frames and a pair of gold plated flimsy wire frames. So, he chose to get two of those. For myself, my choices were a plastic frame of black/​pink (not TOO terrible), black wire rims that were inherently too small for my face OR (these were hilarious) plastic frames bigger around than a 16 oz. glass and looked like something my late grandmother would wear out of obligation. Naturally, I chose the black/​pink plastic frames.
Upon getting our SECOND quote (the first one would have been over $ 400 after the eye exam, lenses and frames), we were charged a LOT more than we bargained for. Here’s the cost:
$ 96.30 for BOTH eye exams (yes, we were charged for those and they insisted that they would defer the cost of the exams to cover the lenses. I’ll get to that in a minute)
$ 25.68 for my husband’s glasses (a ray of hope?)
$ 68.48 for my glasses (they had to, because my prescription was strong, file down the edges so that it didn’t look like coke bottles)
The grand total = $ 190.46
I know you’re thinking, «Wait. They said for two pairs of GLASSES, right? What?!»
You couldn’t be more correct. This falls under the «FALSE ADVERTISING» claim. Anyone who is anyone knows that you cannot legally state «glasses» if you mean «FRAMES». So, we were charged for the frames AND the lenses… not for glasses. So, for four pairs of INCREDIBLY cheap glasses, we paid almost $ 200. That equals about $ 50 per pair. Honestly, those frames weren’t worth more than $ 10 a piece. Seriously.
So, the lesson of the day is simple: If it looks too good to be true, it is. Also, get a pair of frames you like from a second-​hand store OR from the local drug store. Take those in instead. It costs less.
P. S. Due to our astigmatism, we were told it would take TWO WEEKS to get our glasses. We’ll see how THAT goes.

I was impressed with the companies quick reply to my Unilocal review. My good thought however were quickly dissolved by their follow up (or lack thereof). While I was finally able to pick up my eyeglasses and service was surprisingly quick I also had concerns about some things I heard/​observed while I was there. I also was promised a call from Stantons customer service on a specific day at a specific time which never occurred. Follow up emails to customer service were ignored. And finally their“solution” to my customer service concerns was to promise a $ 75 «in store credit» towards my next visit. So in reality they had to do nothing (which they did) because I do not intend to return to Stanton and I would advise others to avoid this provider

The worst optometry experience ever. The employees were rude and proud of it. I went in 3 times and all 3 times someone was there complaining. They ordered my glasses under someone elses name. They put my lenses in the wrong frame and said they could do nothing about it. They offer no refunds under any circumsttances. 2 pairs plus a free eye exam for $ 69 really comes out to about $ 300.

This is a terrible, awful, no good, very bad place to do business. They have been a nightmare to work with. We’ve been trying to get our glasses for 4 weeks. Even after they received payment from the insurance and the check cleared, they were unapologetic and asked for proof that they were paid. Incredible rude, don’t answer the phone, don’t call you back. If you want glasses it’s best not to go here. Still waiting for ours

Not sure why this place has such bad reviews… I had an awesome experience here.
I came in at about 1:30 and asked if it was possible to have my glasses the same day and they told me it was no problem at all. (And fit me in for a walk in eye exam)
They have a deal that is AMAZING… you get an eye exam and two pairs of glasses for $ 69. They have a huge selection of frames and for $ 18 dollars you can get any pair you choose made into sunglasses.
I got one pair of normal glasses and one pair of sunnies for $ 87 and couldn’t be happier.
This place was awesome and I would highly recommend it.

So far very disappointed with this place. Went in on a Saturday just to look at the frames, I was there for about 30 minutes and was never approached by an employee. Decided to come back after looking at other places and not finding frames that I liked. Got an eye exam, which was very unprofessional in my opinion. Had the frames picked out and talked to one of the employees about the lenses, prices, etc. During the middle of our conversation he disappeared for 20 minutes, finally saw him at the front desk and he helped some new customers before coming back to help me. He told me that my glasses would be ready within 3 days. I called to check on the status and my glasses were ready on the expected date, went in to get them and they put the wrong prescription in the frames, and the optician actually asked me if I’d be ok with them. I told him no and he said he’d put them in a rush to be fixed within 3 days, just called and they are now saying 10 more days until they’re ready. Ridiculous. Wish I had gone elsewhere.

By far the very worst eyewear company I’ve ever done business with. Lousy services. Glasses didn’t fit well. Lenses were imperfect. Manager tried like hell to avoid full refund. It took a call to corporate HQ. Even JC Penny does better than this sh¡t. Don’t even bother. Way too many better places.

The worst customer service experience of my life. The guy who sold my glasses was nice enough, but when I came to pick them up (a single set i paid 300 $ for) 30 min before they close, the incompetent buffoon working in dispensing decided to close. I Was told it would be a while, after waiting 20 min while a displeased couple in front of me were taken care of. Go anywhere else!!! Go to Walmart or Costco before Stanton. This was so bad I’m just going to live without glasses, I asked for a full refund! Worst optometry depot in ABQ.

I really don’t like giving bad reviews as I believe in second chances and that we all have a bad day every now and then but this place was absolutely a big disappointment. It took over 2 months to get my glasses (simple prescription) and when they got back they were scratched not to mention my second pair was never ready. I ended up canceling the order and after horrible costumer service, I finally got a refund.

These guys have great products and great deals but their customer service is awful!!! I mean like really bad. And I went there at least 4 times giving them a chance. 1^st– they were vacuuming way before they closed, and that was really annoying because I couldn’t hear anything other than that. 2^nd, in optometrist’s office area the receptionist was very rude, kept messing up my appointment time. She said she fixed it but didn’t, so when I went in during my appointment it was still wrong! 4^th, one of the guys in white wouldn’t put down his Redbull, which was rude because it was like he didn’t care about my problems. And every time I went in, they just kept ignoring me and offered no help. I had to stand right in front of them and interrupt them talking to their colleagues. It’s just frustrating there…

Had always gone to Eyeglass World but decided to try something different… unfortunately… Here they do nothing but try to talk you into more and more add-​ons, all of which were hugely more expensive than Eyeglass World and my optometrist’s prices. They didn’t «spot» my eyes on any of the 4 pairs I was purchasing, and the bill was ridiculously confusing! Two pairs of glasses weren’t ready when promised; and, I was simply handed the glasses when I picked them up– without cases! Had to ask!
No one checked the fit, etc.
Back to Eyeglass World for me next time!
What an unprofessional ripoff!

I’m giving an honest review.
They have TONS of selection on frames and were able to put lenses in some frames that another place told me isn’t possible. The staff is really personable and does want to help you. They remember your face, which is always good for a business.
However, despite the few gems that work at this place, I can tell this staff in Abq is very new which means you have to expect to wait for them to figure stuff out. And you have to wait. You have to go in there knowing exactly how to do business buying lenses and frames like making sure they take your insurance (they did not take my kind, but they didn’t ask me about insurance) and you gotta know what you want so they don’t pressure you into making a sale.