No one chooses to be born with glasses; it just happens. But when I go to buy a pair, I’d hope what I’m seeing is what I have to pay. I’m disappointed every time. One woman in New York has experienced the same problem, but with contact lenses, and those have their own unique problem. Unsurprisingly, the price you see isn’t rarely what you pay. In real time, TikToker Hanie (TikTok/hanienyc) makes an order and the difference is a whole level of frustration.
Hanie shares in her TikTok video that she’s been wearing contacts for two decades, but now she’s “going through quite literally hell” because upon ordering from her usual store, the price was substantially higher than the listed price. “If I ordered two boxes in one order, they came with some insane processing fee,” so she did it in separate orders.
Fast forward a year later, she’s now convinced contact lens are “big game,” meaning a way to gouge prices. Ordering the same 24-pack she did before came out just shy of $130, up from the $40 she paid before. After some browsing, she comes across a common treat: most brands are listed around the same price. That includes Costco, which Hanie states was one of her favorite stores for buying affordable contacts.
However, she does find one that was nearly half the cost of a 12-pack from her usual order. Shipping added $12, but altogether it was $32. Not bad compared to before. Upon ordering two boxes in the same order, something odd happens: it adds a processing fee, hiking the cost to roughly $130, shipping included. The 12-pack didn’t have one.
“So, as a company, you’re telling me you’d rather pay or you rather me have a product shipped out twice and not charge a processing fee than just putting them in the same order,” Hanie says, rather “waste as much” on shipping. “Okay, I’ll order them separately.”
Initially, Hanie had argued the contact lens industry is a “scam,” and wondered why investigation hadn’t been done before. She has since made an update to the caption, stating it’s “the game they’re playing.” If we’re being charitable here, it sounds like she understands there’s a legitimate reason the contact lens industry is so greedy.
“It pisses me off so much that I have to pay a fortune to see,” one commenter exclaimed. Glasses are typically a lot more inexpensive (not to mention last longer), but you run the risk of a low-quality pair. Contacts have to be fitted every single year, and if the prices are like that, I’ll never get a pair.
Another pointed out, “Not to mention eye Dr’s charging a “contact lens fitting” fee every year that insurance never covers.”
Now, there is such a thing as contact lens fitting. According to a TikToker user who responded, this is done for legal reasons, to ensure your contacts aren’t “causing issues to your eye.”
Another TikTok user commented in the same thread, adding it’s to “check the shape and health of your cornea” as well. Given that your cornea changes shape over time, even without wearing contacts, that makes sense.
