Has anyone bought new glasses in Switzerland lately? I nearly fell off the opticians chair when he told me the price of lenses today. According to his advice the type of lens I'd need is 450 CHF EACH. When I questioned this he said this was not even in the top range.
Add frames etc and I'm looking at 13-1800 francs!
Anyone got any good tips?

Fly to Istanbul ...er, with Swiss, and get your lenses and frames ready in a few hours. Fly home. It's still cheaper.

Or, find out what you need and order online. Swiss opticians are ridiculous. Their showrooms - sorry - their stores are furnished at vast expense. My regular place has rows of glossy magazines and exotic plants on display: who the hell is paying for them?

No, sorry. I know glasses are hellishly expensive, that's why I've put off getting new lenses at the moment. My insurance only pays part of the cost every 3 years.
Try Fielmann (sp.?) - according to the TV-ads they should be a lot cheaper. I think they have a branch on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich (towards the top near the station).

A monocle and an eye patch would half the bill!

Visilab is the cheapest. I get vouchers with my Manor card every now and then for free eye tests and 20% off lenses. Sometimes they have sales on frames - up to 50% off.

My basic insurance pays CHF 100 towards glasses, every 2 years. But you must use your franchaise first.

Or fly to the Yookay and go to any high street Specsavers, Lenscrafters etc.. and get your eyes tested and glasses made up within a few hours... you might even get a free pair of prescription sunglasses etc.

Bought my glasses from VISILAB on Bahnhofstrasse two weeks ago. The lenses were CHF 169 each and the glasses were ready in 1 hour.

Plan your summer holiday in Cyprus and get them there. You will more or less cover the price of the holiday with the savings!

I am having my glasses done in Prague next week, hopefully. It is so overpriced here, it is way more reasonable to forget the convenience of a local service for this thing.

But, Nyon has local Marche du Pringtemps and Automne when all the shops hang their goods in the stands on the streets and offer some kind of discount or a free service. I know our local http://yellow.local.ch/en/d/tN-eyoEc...ians%2C%20nyon offers second pair for free, or a pair of lenses for free? I can't exactly remember, I know they do free testing for sure.

I know that it is the only price reduction I could get at the moment and it's still worth going to Prague. You could also try to recycle the lenses into a new pair of frames. Mine worn out so badly I need to get everything new. I find the choice of the actual glasses lot more flattering back home.

I did get my last glasses in England but I had quite a few problems. Two days after I got back the lens fell out. I had it repaired twice (40sfr) but the problem was the lens had been cut too small. I'd taken out an insurance which listed a shop in Zürich that would do any repairs or replacements, however when I went there they informed me that they no longer worked together with this company.
To cut a long story short when I did get back to England the company did make me new glasses but didn't refund my insurance which couldn't cover me for Switzerland.

I was trying to avoid this kind of problem but the thought of paying £500 just for the lenses sort of sticks in my gurgler.

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Hi
I've used Fielmann and found the service good.
If possible go over to Germany and get them done there - you can claim the 19% VAT back (and can normally get away without paying the 7.6% Swiss VAT as the glasses case is so small ;-) which makes the price even more exceptable. My health insurance still paid out the small contribution towards the glasses even though I got them done in Germany.
But as Castro says, you quite possibly will be cheeper getting them in England (if you're planning a trip soon it might be worth waiting...)

Tina

I haven't got the choice of waiting until I can travel as I've lost my glasses and the one's I'm wearing aren't strong enough so my head aches.

Ok, looks like we were writing at the same time :-) I know the frustrations of buying in England and coming back here - try to get out to Germany if you manage and see what they quote you there...

I agree with comments above. The prices quoted would cover the return flight to any good location where you could get your glasses cheaper. There are two services I wouldnt do here in Switzerland i.e. optometrist and dentist. However once you know your prescription for spectacles (or contact lenses) you can place an online-order, which I did for my contact lenses and it wasnt expensive.

ZZZ were your lenses varifocal?

Max do you get your lenses here? The opticians I was at also had plants and glossies!

1800 sounds a bit on the high side, my last pair of reading glasses which are a special bifocal for up to a distance of about a meter (up close book to computer monitor) cost just over 1100.-chf (Visilab in Zugerland)

You shoulda gorn to Specsavers...

So should I. I paid CHF1500 for varifocals a couple of years ago - and had them replaced free under the opticians insurance when I trod on them within the first 12 months.

Next time I'll be going to Specsavers (UK) or in fact anywhere but a Swiss optician's...

I've had many pairs of specs done at Fielmann in Zürich and Rapperswil, at about two-thirds to half the price of other opticians.

Aggarwac, thanks for the tip about Fielmanns in Germany! I see they have a Filliale in Waldshut - sounds like a quick trip over the border would be worthwhile...

Another Filemanns rec; drop in and ask- they're really competitive with prices and the customer service is great (no hard sell).