Jo,

You are right. I went through 2 different front counter people over several days before being put in touch with Carl. At that point I was glad to get a lens - any lens - in my glasses. Basically the counter people were not too concerned about my inconvenience so when I finally spoke to Carl on the phone he did seem like he was being most helpful.

As far as removing the polished edges, I decided not to bring it up to them again as I was afraid having the polished edges roughed up or removed would not be the best thing for my lenses. The process sounded like it would take quite a bit of finesse and I figured I'd be better off keeping what I had.

Yes, I do have astigmatism. My glasses RX reads:
OD -6.25 -3.50 004
OS -6.75 -2.75 180

Several years ago, before learning about high index my lenses were polycarb, but I do prefer the high index. I have never liked the edges polished for either polycarb or high index.

Dannette