Glasses fiasco and online eyewear

I have been wearing glasses for 11 years. Until last year, I had only worn 3 pairs total, a new set of frames every few years. Due to some annoying and coincidental circumstances, I now have 4 new pairs of glasses: one pair of sunglasses, one pair of ugly glasses (I'll be skipping that part of the story), one pair of attractive but apparently very damageable glasses, and the pair you see above.
I realized early last year that it was time I had my eyes checked and thought it would be nice to have a change of frames (my current ones being older than all my children). I scheduled a check-up to coincide with a visit from my mom who was planning to gift me with new frames. Thanks to the unexplainable complexity of insurance (and lack of information from store/office employees), however, it was months before I had a decent pair of glasses on my face.
(I just attempted writing out this story in more detail and realized it's way too convoluted. This will be the very abridged version).
After becoming adjusted to my long-in-coming new frames and prescription lenses, they began to break. I say began because they didn't break once, they broke 3 separate times. Now, during the previous 10 years, I had never had a lens break. And believe me, my glasses were dropped, pulled, yanked, stepped on, you name it. As far as I know, no one in my glasses-wearing family (and this totals lots of years) has ever had a lens break.
After a bizarre struggle in acquiring my prescription, choosing a lens that didn't cause headaches or visual distortion, and finding sunglasses frames that effectively did their job and also looked halfway decent, I wasn't really in the mood for having my glasses repaired every couple of months. My official opinion of Pearle Vision at this time is not very high. My glasses are, again, in their possession for a lens change.
The coincidence part of this long, bothersome story is that during my Pearle fiasco (going without my glasses periodically while they were undergoing lens surgery and I was undergoing withdrawal from a life before children when I could run errands by myself instead of waiting for the perfect timing when the store happens to be open, the manager and tech personnel happen to be working and my husband happens to be home), I was contacted by a representative from Glasses USA and asked to review their product. Free eyeglasses.
I don't really enjoy writing reviews and don't fancy myself too good at them, but they did catch me at the right time. Sure!
I don't do a lot of shopping online. I certainly don't buy things online that require a lot of personal attention to detail like glasses, fitted clothing, make-up, etc. But since I recently had an eye exam giving me a current prescription and a new pair of frames I could refer to for shape preference, this was perfect. I perused the Glasses USA inventory of frames, comparing the size of all interesting frames with my current and previous frames, and narrowed it down to one lucky pair. Now, looking at their prices, I have to wonder-what in the world is the difference in frame and lens material and labor used by this company versus Pearle, LensCrafters, EyeMasters or any other glasses company that I would describe as low-end but which costs significantly more?
As I've only been wearing these new prescription glasses for a couple weeks, I can't tell you firsthand how the quality outlasts others, but I can tell you, that so far my experience here has been much more positive than the one I've had with Pearle. My glasses arrived secure in a sturdy case with cleaning cloth in a timely manner, and company follow-up has been prompt and answers to questions thorough.
I am having to go through my usual trouble of multiple trips to the store (local LensCrafters) for adjustments (I have a case of one ear higher than the other, I think, and am easily annoyed by a slightly-off fit), but I would be doing that no matter where I purchased frames. I am pleased with the appearance of the frames, the accuracy of the prescription, the apparent quality, and the customer service (although I haven't had to use it, their eyeglass frames return and exchange policies sound very similar to that of other eyewear establishments).
Who would've thought? Prescription glasses online. I don't know what my route will be in the future when it comes time to purchase new frames (oh, please, let it not be soon), but it's nice to know there's an affordable and relatively easy option.
If you're in the market for inexpensive new specs, feel free to use this coupon code at Glasses USA for an additional discount: Mommy5.