Walmart Vision & Glasses
150 Smith Rd,
St. Charles, IL

Not a good experience. I ended up paying over $500 for one pair. They kept up-selling me, and I can't believe how much I paid. I've had the glasses for over a year, and all that time, I have not been able to get them clean, because of a coating they added. They are constantly smudged, even when using the wipes that they sell and recommend. I will never get glasses at WalMart again. CostCo is so much better. I just got 2 pair of progressives; 1 regular and 1 sunglasses, for $398. And great service at the St. Charles Costco.

At my exam they told me my prescription was half the number it had been for the past 20 years, and they had me come back in 2 weeks and pay $65 to try contacts with the new prescription. When I obviously couldn't see nearly as well with them, the doctor shrugged and asked me if I just wanted to order contacts in my old prescription. Please don't waste your time and money.

Spare yourself the frustration and take your business elsewhere. I don't know of a great alternative (I had a slightly less horrible experience with Costco). If you wish to know my reasoning I will spell it out below. Walmart Vision is a masterwork of deceptive business practices. It should be noted that Walmart Vision doesn't exist in a vacuum, however, their optometry business model is set up to capitalize on their share of a stable monopoly. There are plenty of well researched articles detailing the industry that a quick online search will reveal. My experience with Walmart Vision has been a nightmare frought with lying sales associates, long wait times and having my prescription documents withheld. I had my prescription renewed in Miami Florida at a Walmart vision a few months ago. Despite having a terrible experience at the Miami location, I thought I would save myself time and money by transferring the RX directly to another Walmart. Besides, I wasn't able to get the Walmart in Miami to send me a virtual copy of my glasses and lens "prescription" (I had a full vision checkup there). Eventually I was able to have the prescriptions transferred to St Charles. I also eventually was able to purchase new contact lenses from the St Charles location. Shortly after getting the lenses I had an adverse reaction prompting a visit to an eye doctor. The opthalmologist instructed me to refrain from wearing contact lenses for a week. I didn't have my glasses on me so I decided to try and purchase a cheap pair from Walmart. I ended up spending 2 hours at the Vision center. Earlier in day, I called to inquire about what the most basic prescription glasses would cost. The estimate was 110 dollars for the lenses and frames. When it came time to actually select the frames and lenses, I emphasized repeatedly that I did not want a single added feature. The price of the "basic" lenses dropped from 110 to 60 without all the bells and whistles. You would be hard-pressed to find a single Walmart salesperson that will ever tell you that you can buy lenses for 60 dollars. I went through the process of having my pupilary distance measured and was ready for checkout. I was very clear from the beginning that I needed my glasses as soon as possible. Only when we moved to the checkout did I discover that it would be as long as a week (but at least 4 days) to receive my glasses. She told me that Walmart does not have a laboratory to fabricate the lenses on-site and that few locations offer such a service. After this exchange, I requested we pause the process so that I could seek another location with same day product delivery. I found a place after 2 to 3 calls that could get me glasses same day. I returned to the Walmart vision area to cancel the order. I told the sales rep I'd found a location that was able to provide glasses same-day. All that I needed my prescription (and by 4 pm) in order to have the lenses made that afternoon. She said "you'll have to fill out a release form." This was at approximately 3 pm. She then disappeared not to be seen again for another 30 minutes. At 3:30pm one of the other sales associates asked me if I needed help. I told her that I needed my prescription ASAP. She asked for my date of birth and some other basic information and disappeared into the back. She conversed with the rep initially helping me, who came out from the back and said "we don't have your prescription on file you're going to have to call the location in Miami to get your prescription transferred." I finally said "I give up." I walked out of the store. Just as I was leaving I remembered receiving a voicemail from that very same sales associate confirming that she had successfully received the transferred documents. I checked my phone and found the message confirming she had both glasses and contact lens prescriptions. It was too late to get my glasses elsewhere by the time I was able to walk out with my RX on paper. She ensured I wouldn't get my glasses from another location that day. I can verify everything I have stated here.