Italee

**becc971** · 02-03-2014, 02:46 PM

Does anyone else do the kawasaki/swissflex stuff? Ordering the product is difficult enough, but i just opened a box and the temple wasn't even ON the glasses they had already fallen apart

2nd pair this month that this has happened with. They don't have all of the colors listed on their website, and when you call and ASK for help the customer service people are just as confused as the opticians selling the stuff, but at least they apologize because they accept that its confusing. Our rep seems to think there is no issue, but also offers no solutions. for something that costs this much money you would think they could step up their customer service game a little bit. They charge for everything, its obnoxious.

just venturing out to see if anyone is having the same problems we are or if its isolated. The rep keeps saying she won't be able to keep us "exclusive" in this area if our sales don't go up, but i don't want to sell soemthing that is a giant pain in the a$$ and is always falling apart!!

**Paul Smith LDO** · 02-03-2014, 03:27 PM

I have been selling the Kawasaki product for about seven years. In that time I have seen a few issues with the product but nothing out of the ordinary and certainly nothing that can't be resolved thru a phone call. I suspect that the few screws that are used with their product are not tighten enough. They can be a little slow to get new pages out for their catalogs. I also keep a good supply of their gaskets, nose pads, screws and temple tips on hand, but I find it to be an easy product to work with.

**Java99** · 02-03-2014, 08:36 PM

I agree with Paul on Kawasaki. I've worked with both in the past. I would carry the Kawasaki again, but the Swissflex durability and lack of ability to fix in office has always been an issue for me.

**himmeroo** · 02-04-2014, 08:32 AM

That's ridiculous, problem solved.

**becc971** · 02-04-2014, 10:07 AM

Himmeroo you're right what was i thinking ;)

**Blunder Woman** · 02-04-2014, 12:45 PM

We have it and it is a pain. The answer that we are given is that as long as we send all jobs to their lab (across the country from us), we will have no issues with mounts coming loose, etc. We have issues no matter where we send them. The product looks great but is impractical. Temples on the Kawasaki line rip out hair and the rimless mounts catch on long hair if the wearer leans forward. The Swiss flex / 2.5 hinge design loses it's shape very easily and then does not work. Our rep has vanished and won't return calls. The lab sent us a completed frame/lens job that was ordered by another office, mailed us and billed us though it was not our order, and we had to call them seven times to get it returned.

I have a pair of the 2.5 and they are very light and comfortable. The colors and customization aspect are great. Overall though, not worth the hassle, not even a little bit.

**golfnut** · 02-04-2014, 11:09 PM

Use silhouette! Problem solved! :)

**himmeroo** · 02-05-2014, 09:10 AM

the only repairs we seem to make are to silhouette frames. Half our crew loves them and the other half won't touch them.

**Craig** · 02-05-2014, 05:07 PM

We can build them in our office, but Italee will not sell me parts any longer. There are alternative brands such as switch-it and wild weshul.

**lensmama** · 02-06-2014, 06:57 PM

We got rid of swissflex. The lab did beautiful work, but the ordering was confusing, and we could never adjust the darn things.

**globaljp** · 02-07-2014, 02:59 PM

We have kawasaki and swissflex. They are easy to work with as long as Italee does all the lab work. The swissflex/2.5 break occasionally or come loose. You can fix them yourself if they just come loose and are not actually broken. If you can do chemestrie clips you can fix them with the same glue. There are a few customers we have who hate them because they always break them, but thats like 1/500. Most absolutely love them and get them again. I find them both far superior to most any other rimless. Except you can't do them yourself......

**becc971** · 05-15-2014, 07:55 AM

Had another instance yesterday with these guys, ordering a frame, asked for the color that the website shows, it came in completely different. then i was told by the customer service person "well you need to refer to the catalog, the website doesn't have the correct colors." to which i replied "so it is probably safe to assume that they don't come in a 150mm temple even though the website says they do?"

they didn't.

HOW DOES A COMPANY IN THIS AGE NOT HAVE AN UPDATED WEBSITE??????????!!!!!!!!!!! I have to say I really don't like silhouettes, but at least they have their sh*t together.

Mind you, i also haven't had a new catalog since 2012.