Lenscrafters Fined

[CME4SPECS]

An article out of Monterey Ca in our local paper today, says that LC has been fined $102,000 and will provide free glasses for 313 low income people.
LC provided as many as 500 customers with lower quality lenses than they ordered. Customers were given plastic lenses when they had paid for polycarbonate lenses.

[culland]

Does your local newspaper have a website where the entire article could be found. I would love to read it, if I could. Thanks

[jediron1]

culland
Does your local newspaper have a website where the entire article could be found. I would love to read it, if I could. Thanks[/QUOTE]

This is what I found:

Free glasses to settle dispute

Merced Sun-Star - 16 hours ago
... The LensCrafters chain will provide free glasses to 313 low-income people and pay $102,000 in penalties for providing as many as 500 customers with lower-quality lenses than they ...

[jediron1]

CME4SPECS
An article out of Monterey Ca in our local paper today, says that LC has been fined $102,000 and will provide free glasses for 313 low income people.
LC provided as many as 500 customers with lower quality lenses than they ordered. Customers were given plastic lenses when they had paid for polycarbonate lenses.[/QUOTE]

Unless you know what the difference is between plastic and poly how are you going to know? You going to take a hammer to each lens to see if they break?
I don't think so. Not great PR for the Evil Empire!

[Chris Ryser]

CME4SPECS
Unless you know what the difference is between plastic and poly how are you going to know? You going to take a hammer to each lens to see if they break?
I don't think so. Not great PR for the Evil Empire!

I would just like to remind you that all lenses are plastic if they are not glass.

So the term plastic should be correct. Most probably it is supposed to be CR39 which in my eyes is better than Poly anyhow, for sure optically.

[chip anderson]

Of course there are those of us that think most plastic lenses are a superior product to Polycarbonate except for specific applications and protecting our behinds from lawyers.

Odd they could find a judge that felt that way.

[edKENdance]

The poly lenses cost less. I am confused. This is not a generlisation.

[AWTECH]

This does not appear to have been settled by a judge but rather by the company and the government agency that made the charge. They paid an agreed upon fine and did not admit any wrong doing.

I think from what I have read they were accused of sellling higher index poly lenses and delivering CR-39 (which do cost less than poly).

[harry a saake]

CR-39 is not a plastic , rather a resin, the term means Columbia Resin, batch number 39, unless you want to generalize and call it plastic

[edKENdance]

Semantics anyone? How about Semiotics?

[Jubilee]

I am just tryin got figure out why they were doing this... Of course they should have gotten busted if they were providing an lower quality product than what was paid for...

Geesh.. for that many pair to have gone out.. everyone in that store(s) should be fired. From the lab techs using the wrong material to the opticians who passed them on inspection, to the store management who should have known that this was going on...

There is no way they should have been able to get by with this for any length of time...

1) the computer system we used should have tracked a huge number or edited sku's triggering some sort of question. If it was only with Lens Merchandising who would see an unusually large usage of cr-39 compared to other stores, then compare that number to cr-39 sales.

2) if they weren't changing the sku's in the computer, then there should have been some indication at the quarterly inventory when they were short tons of plastic lenses, but over on poly...

The whole situation just doesn't make sense..I personally have either upgraded someone at no charge when the original product was out of stock.(especially originally we promised same day service, but then couldn't due to breakage, defect, etc).. I have used lower quality lenses as "loaners" till the better ones came in (if someone wanted a/r multifocals, but needs to see today)...heck when equipment is down I will updrade some SV lenses to poly if I have a finish one available instead of surfacing (so I don't have to take that job to another store, etc)

But to use plastic instead of poly, with no notice, not as loaners, and no refund of price difference... that is too much and makes me ashamed that people from the company I work for conducted such unethical, and illegal business practices.

Cassandra

[jediron1]

Jubilee
I am just tryin got figure out why they were doing this... Of course they should have gotten busted if they were providing an lower quality product than what was paid for...

But to use plastic instead of poly, with no notice, not as loaners, and no refund of price difference... that is too much and makes me ashamed that people from the company I work for conducted such unethical, and illegal business practices.

Cassandra[/QUOTE]

I m wondering if they did the same investigation in all Evil Empire stores how many would pass with a clean slate? Looks like we have been right all along, they do use inferior product at times. They got caught with there hand in the cookie jar!:)

[coda]

CR-39 is not a plastic , rather a resin, the term means Columbia Resin, batch number 39, unless you want to generalize and call it plastic

CR-39 (once cured) is a plastic, as is poly and high index plastics. Actually every ophthalmic lens that isn't glass is some form of plastic (this includes contact lenses). This exercise in semantics is brought to you by the letters P, O and Q and the strange nomenclature specific to the ophthalmic industry.

[Ed_Optician]

I hope Consumer Reports and the local Consumer reporter on TV gets ahold of this one. RUN THEM UP THE FLAGPOLE

Years ago Cohen's Fashion Optical in NY was nailed for the same thing except in sports frames

Ed

[AWTECH]

Originally Posted by harry a saake
CR-39 is not a plastic , rather a resin, the term means Columbia Resin, batch number 39, unless you want to generalize and call it plastic


As Coda points out plastic is anything but glass, and this industry does have its own unusal way of referring to items that would not be comprehended by other industries using the optically know correct terms.

Example: "Aspheric", in optical terms it means an exceptional lens design that is improved over standard designs with great optics and thinner by design. I think it also means this design is only applied to in a non-vertical direction.

Non-Optical meaning of "Aspheric": Not Spherical

And what about the customers, they must really think we are space cadets, when they are overpowered with our lingo!

Other than in the US glass lenses are referred to as a Mineral lens and plastic lenses are referred to as an Organic lens.

[Jedi]

The poly lenses cost less. I am confused. This is not a generlisation.

That's what I thought.
They should be penalized for recommending poly in the first place.
***rim-shot***

[rinselberg]

That's what I thought. They should be penalized for recommending poly in the first place. ***rim-shot***

***rim-shot*** ???

Oh, you mean:
Rim Shot!


http://www.stanleysound.com/rimshot2.wav

Something I "borrowed" from
http://www.stanleysound.com/music.html

[jediron1]

coda
CR-39 (once cured) is a plastic, as is poly and high index plastics. Actually every ophthalmic lens that isn't glass is some form of plastic (this includes contact lenses). This exercise in semantics is brought to you by the letters P, O and Q and the strange nomenclature specific to the ophthalmic industry.[/QUOTE]

As Coda also said:
"This exercise in semantics is brought to you by the letters P, O and Q and the strange nomenclature specific to the ophthalmic industry"
I agree. Everybody for some reason has jump on to explain the difference between poly and plastic and that poly is plastic. Well I thank you for the chemistry lesson (which I already knew), the real question is what went wrong
at LC to let a gross misconduct go un noticed for so long. 500 pairs of glasses
is a lot of work to go un noticed? But then again poly real is plastic, opps I forgot until it is cured CR39 then is plastic how could I forget that? :shiner:

[LENNY]

I would not be surprised if Poly does cost LC less than CR-39. With all their ads about featherweights.... They stock Poly, they use it the most (and charge the most) so it may come out cheaper than order CR!!

[Blake]

What a confusing situation! Like Cassandra, I don't really see what the store(s) were thinking substituting lenses like that. Even if you can fool the customers, the system is much harder to fool for too long.

Wonder if it's possible the "problem" isn't as bad as the lawsuit claimed. Maybe a misunderstanding with a couple of customers somehow turned into a class action lawsuit. It would be interesting to know the details.

[Chris Ryser]

CR-39 (once cured) is a plastic, as is poly and high index plastics. Actually every ophthalmic lens that isn't glass is some form of plastic

It is a s simple as that statement above.

They are all plastic and you can not change that.

But you have some differences in plastics..................CR 39 has to be molded in a mold piece by piece and cured properly, with different curing time per thickness and power.

Poly is injection molded and the injection machine can spit them out by the thousands an hour.

[jediron1]

It is a s simple as that statement above.

They are all plastic and you can not change that.

But you have some differences in plastics..................CR 39 has to be molded in a mold piece by piece and cured properly, with different curing time per thickness and power.

Poly is injection molded and the injection machine can spit them out by the thousands an hour.

Now that we have the age old question of is poly plastic or is plastic plastic solved we can get on with the question of how 500 pairs got by there noses!:shiner:

[edKENdance]

Now that we have the age old question of is poly plastic or is plastic plastic solved we can get on with the question of how 500 pairs got by there noses!:shiner:

[Jessica]

I can't fathom how a store could have so many associates willing to take part in such mishandling of customers' glasses. Isn't CA a licensed state? Wonder if the people signing off on those glasses still have a license?
I am a GM for LensCrafters and the integrity of our staff is very high.
If even one associate tried to do something outside the line, the others would pounce on him/her for even thinking about it and he/she would be ostracized.
Any LensCrafters store is only as good as the people in it. It isn't the "company" that makes it good or bad. People make decisions, right or wrong.
What was the benefit to any staff member personally for doing this risky switch? Was it finished lenses packaged wrong? Was it intentional, and if so, why?
If they were intentionally doing that, I bet there were a lot of other things wrong in that store. Sounds like a good place to do an internship for loss prevention.
Jessica

[wmcdonald]

California has a very basic licensing requirement. One must have 1 year of optical experience and pass the ABO......at least it is something.