<p>I’m shopping around for a low price on contacts and I’m sure someone here can help me out. My son got contacts for the first time last year. He’s tried both the two week kind and the dailies and has decided that he prefers the two week ones. I got a price for a three month supply for $31.98 at BJ’s. At least that’s what I wrote down, but now that I’m home and comparing that price to one at an on-line store I’m wondering if that’s for each eye because at 800contacts is about $100 a month. </p>
<p>What’s the best places to get low cost contact lenses? He needs to get Acuvue Oasys for Astigmatism.</p>
<p>I have a membership to both BJ’s and Costco.</p>
<p>He had his check-up almost a year ago but I seem to remember his optometrist saying that the prescription for contacts is only good for a year. (Just checked the paper prescription and yes, it says it expires Sept. 1) Our insurance only pays for one eye check up per two years. He’s not in the midst of any growth spurt and frankly, I just don’t see the reason for another check-up if he feels his current prescription is accurate. What do you do?</p>
<p>We have one person in our family that wears Dailies, but not the two week ones. Last year we shopped around online and bought a year’s supply (so much less expensive than what I found in any eye care centers). We did not have any problems. I would give you the site name, but I just checked and they are no longer there! We still have enough left, so we are not reordering and we just got a new Rx.</p>
<p>This is sad, but I have had to shop for eye doctors recently. The reason is that many in my area try very hard to get one to order from the optician centers in their offices and I have found pricing to be much much higher than what I can buy in Costco, or online (buy contacts there). </p>
<p>One opthamologist who is in network with my medical insurance carrier said that initially he would not give more than a 30 day RX for contacts to see how the patient tolerates them (even though this patient has been using these contacts for many years, and never had any difficulties). The cost of this exam and fitting would be an additional $300 in addition to my copayment. PS, I found another in network opthamologist who offered the same exam and wrote the RX for $60 in addition to my copayment (BIG difference). My insurance only covers the eye exam, but not the lens/contact portion of the exam. I also went to the latter because one family member was there several years ago and I knew that I would not be escorted to their optical center unless I wanted to purchase there!</p>
<p>I left one optometrist because of her strong arm approach in trying to get us to purchase very expensive glasses in her office. I can’t stand that! I only buy eyeglasses from Costco.</p>
<p>D uses acuvue oasys (not for astigmatism) and pays around $32 per box at BJs. Each box contains 6 lens. If you change lens as recommended every 2 weeks a box will last 6 weeks, however she changes them approx every month so a box lasts 3 months. </p>
<p>My insurance also pays for an exam every 2 years, however her eyes keep changing, so I pay out of pocket for a yearly exam but its worth it. Although my D didnt think she needed to have the contacts adjusted, she did have a major change in one eye. Often if one eye changes, the other will compensate so its good to have it checked.</p>
<p>Kathie…would the eye doc give you another RX for the contacts? We’ve gotten those in the past. If you find a cheaper vendor post here…DS wears the same contacts.</p>
<p>S wears the 2 week disposables. I have gotten the best price at visiondirect.com. Plus I always do a search for coupons or discounts for visiondirect.com and I have been able to stack some discounts. I search thoroughly before I order - compare 1-800contacts.com (also search for coupon codes).</p>
<p>I order one year’s worth at a time, but you may want to order on the 11th month so you can actually get 2 years worth from the same prescription (providing his vision is still good from that prescription).</p>
<p>Okay, I have a price of $255.53/year at visiondirect (found coupon code, plus they give volume discount for four boxes) and $336 from 800contacts. I didn’t realize they didn’t delete the order from the cart at 800contacts when you go out of the site and then back in, so mentioned the wrong price in my OP. I believe now that the price I got at BJ’s was for one eye, so the price for 2 eyes and four boxes/eye is $256.</p>
<p>I actually bought my son both dailies and the two week ones at Costco but since that was almost a year ago, I don’t remember what I paid. I hesitate to call and ask because I know I’ll be put on hold for a long time - they’re always busy at that counter.</p>
<p>Love the customer service at 1800contacts. If your prescription changes, you can send unopened lens (not boxes) back for credit… 3 of 4 family members wear contacts and after using another internet vendor for myself last year and not being happy w delivery time, I returned to them. They will match the price of any website. </p>
<p>In NJ, your prescription is yours and you cannot be forced to buy from the eye doctor. While 1800contacts has you fill in the doctor’s name, I don’t think they ever check up.</p>
<p>nj2011mom, I know that the Rx is mine, but I still don’t appreciate the high pressure sales in some doctor’s offices. I also resented the one eye doctor who was going to restrict the first RX to one month even though the patient was wearing contacts for years. It was just a good thing that I asked questions prior to making an appointment! We voted with our feet and went elsewhere!</p>
<p>I always order from Costco and find the prices to be good. From time to time they offer rebates on top of the regularly discounted prices. I bought Air Optix for astigmatism last month and the price was a few cents lower than 1 800 contacts. Those darn toric lenses are so expensive! I also bought O2 Optix (not for astigmatism) and found Costco much less expensive than 1 800 contacts. Costco was $22.49/box rather than $33.99/box.</p>
<p>1-800Contacts does call the eye doctor to verify the prescription. I know because I inadvertently put in a wrong number for a prescription and they corrected it. They called me to let me know. So far I have been very pleased with their customer service.</p>
<p>I order more boxes of contact lens before the prescription expires so I don’t have to see Dr. to get a new one if I feel my current lens are good. If there is a limit on the boxes per year you can buy then just go to a different vendor to purchase the lens.
For the Acuvue brand users-The Oasys cost more than the Advance Plus. The optometrist gave my S Oasys last year and I found out it cost a lot of more than the Advance he was wearing. I called the optometrist back and she said the Oasys were more comfortable for my S. Ok, after the check up this month I asked about the Oasys vs. Advance Plus, the Dr. gave prescriptions for both and a sample pair of Advance Plus for my S to try. S says it feels the same between the two types. I am ordering Advance PLus to save money. At visiondirect there is also 64 lens/pkg deal which even saves more.</p>
<p>I ordered from visiondirect for S2 last year. They were much cheaper than I had paid the year before at the optician, but that was the first time he had gotten contacts & they spent alot of time with him teaching him how to insert and remove them. </p>
<p>When I ordered from visiiondirect, I made sure to do it 11 months after his RX was written.</p>
<p>He’s got another eye dr. appt next month. In my state, eye drs don’t write contacts prescriptions. I think it’s a scam to get more income for opticians. I won’t be going back to the same optician we used 2 years ago who kept the RX from the eye dr. We had to get a duplicate Rx from the eye dr so S could get glasses where he wanted to.</p>
<p>we get contacts from coastal contacts.
We had been using an optometrist who was in our neighborhood & good, however only wrote rx for 1 year, even though state says it can be good for two.
Also I purchased glasses from him & they were 3x a much as I had paid before, plus the frame did not look good with my rx ( something, I had hoped they would have helped me with)
Some providers don’t really care to push sales & others seem to make that their main focus.
Now I go to an opthamologist, and haven’t gotten my scrip yet, but will probably get the contacts online if they carry them.</p>
<p>Visiondirect also verifies the prescription with the eye doctor. Yes, they refused (nicely) my order last time because the optometrist’s office would not approve it because S was overdue for exam. As soon as we had the new prescription (I requested it in writing), I ordered and there was no problem.</p>
<p>our exam at JCPenney’s is $90. we love the doctor there and she sure worked with everyone in our family getting best fit - with free samples until we are happy.</p>
<p>Costco contacts - mine are multifocal - a year’s worth changing every two weeks is $296
dh’s are acuvue oasys $206/year /every two weeks.</p>
<p>Discountcontactlenses.com is as low as $31.83 per box for those lenses, plus you can usually find coupon codes for more discounts. I have ordered from them several times, and will continue to.</p>
