Ray Ban - North east

[becc971]

So, the big q, is rayban owned by the evil lux coorporation? we get lots of requests for them but are wary because theyre right down the street at that other place ;) we are looking for a contact for their opthalmic frames in the northeast :) please let me know if you know!

[kittyeyes]

Buying Ray Ban, Oakley, Prada, Versace and their ilk only fattens Lenscrafters, who own those brands. They also own the vision insurance Eyemed.

[Fezz]

Luxottica owns Ray Ban.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/compa...a-spa-history/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica#section_1

[kentmitchell1961]

lenscrafters does not own any of those brands, either does pearle, sears optical, target optical, aspen ect. They are owned by Luxottica, as is Oakley, and they contract make most of the major fashion label frames.... It's either them or Marchon and personally I cannot tell any differance, at lease eyemed is easier to use than VSP.......

[David_Garza]

LUX

own the vision insurance Eyemed.

and

VSP owns MARCHON

and

VIVA owns DAVIS VISION

what's your point?

[tbyrdman03]

I know we can't get some of the Ray Ban styles that Lenscrafters gets or other optical shops for that matter. I think it just depends on your account type. I have also heard that they allow your certain styles per year (maybe quarterly) that may be different from what lenscrafters is carrying. Also, the Ray Ban kids are excellent.....if they are NOT on backorder. We have a major problem with the kids stuff being on backorder.

[becc971]

perfect :) i thought lux owned them but i wasnt sure, we try not to carry any of their brands but we get rq's for ray ban a lot so we wanted to explore the possibility!!

[SharonB]

LUX

and

VSP owns MARCHON

and

VIVA owns DAVIS VISION

what's your point?

Actually, Highmark (an insurance company) owns Viva and Davis vision, along with Vision Works, Empire Vision, and ECCA, and probably a few more I'm not aware of. Insurance companies are increasingly getting involved in frame company ownership, and even laboratory ownership, in order to control costs as they bid on corporate contracts.

[NeaOptikiSA]

Do you have problems buying Ray Ban in US? I thought that in US Ray Ban will be easier to deal with as the company used to be US.

[blindboy]

Nope, you got 'em all, Sharon. ECCA used to use about a billion different names, but soon (and smartly, from a marketing perspective), they'll all just be VisionWorks.

[Johns]

It's either them or Marchon and personally I cannot tell any differance, at lease eyemed is easier to use than VSP.......

Actually, while Eyemed was once touted as an "optician friendly" third party plan, it has recently been excluding MANY opticians from becoming providers. This seems to be a new phenomenon, and we are looking into how this can be reversed.

[Johns]

Actually, Highmark (an insurance company) owns Viva and Davis vision, along with Vision Works, Empire Vision, and ECCA, and probably a few more I'm not aware of. Insurance companies are increasingly getting involved in frame company ownership, and even laboratory ownership, in order to control costs as they bid on corporate contracts.

Are any of you independent opticians that have been turned down by any of these plans? We are getting a group of opticians together to actively gain access to ALL third party plans. If you are going to be at VEW and would like to join us, drop me a PM.

If you won't be at VEW, but would still like to help, let me know, and I will see how we can get you involved.

If you've ever been rejected by one of these plans, let me know, and will include your story when we present our case.