We have opened this particular blog as so many customers have wanted to leave feedback or testimonials and sometimes suggestions in ways that we may impove our service.  This way they can leave comments here.

Here are some that we have received in the last few months:

Sirs,

I rate the Ciliary Blue service and communication to be in the top 5 of 1000s of Internet Shopping experiences I’ve had over the past 10 years.

My new frames were posted on Friday afternoon, Ciliary Blue acknowledged receipt on Saturday morning, then advised they were ready for dispatch at 09:50 on Monday morning and received Tuesday, Wow!!

I unreservedly recommend Ciliary Blue to anyone looking for a spectacle reglazing service. Keep up the amazing glazing service.

Thank you, I’ll be back soon.

John Tinley-Howell   (john@tinley-howell.co.uk)  

As soon as the sun comes out, like it has today the question we are asked, is can we replace lenses in your non-prescription sunglasses. The answer in most cases is yes. If the lenses are fitted conventionally into the frame we can, even if the lenses are quite curved in a wrap-around style. The costs are normally between £22-30 per pair. We can do specalized polarized lenses or mirror coatings etc, please just ring/email and ask, we will do all we can to help.

Phone: 01455 293417   Email: info@ciliaryblue.com

Varifocal lenses are constantly evolving as research and developments continue with all manufacturers. What we have done in the past is just upgrade our Elite to the new better lens and make our old Elite the premium lens. This time though the new lens is much better than the existing Elite and really should only be worn by those that have had the Elite design before. 

We charge:

• £20 extra for the 1.5 index
• £30 extra for 1.6 index
• £40 extra for the 1.67/1.74 index lenses,

For those that are particularly discerning about their vision it’s worth it! They are only a ‘phone order’ only at the moment. Feel free to ring and we can process and advise accordingly. (Tel: 01455 293417) 

 The Super Elite are available in all the lens materials including XtrActive Transitions.

Fabulous offer available!  Upgrade any bifocal or varifocal lenses ordered with anti-glare/scratch to the superior ultra-clean coating (worth £10) free.

Call now for details on 01455 293417

Offer available today and tomorrow only!!!

With the clocks due to change at the end of this month it is time to change your lenses to Transition (reaction) lenses.   http://gb.transitions.com/ 

These are the lenses that change according to the ambient light, they go darker when its bright and then go clear when its dark, they are great as an all purpose pair of glasses. They are plastic lenses, not glass as they used to be, so they are stronger and lighter and work really well.

We can do reactions in almost any type of lens, single vision, bifocal, varifocal, high index etc and with all the usual coatings. Have a look at our prices:

http://www.ciliaryblue.com/single_pricelist.html

Have a look at our prices and get your frames reglazed.  A simple easy process!

The website has been set up so that the ordering of replacement lenses is as simple as it can be, while making sure there is little room for errors. When you have ordered, your prescription has been verified and all your details checked, they are then stored securely on our dedicated administration site. This means that we can call up all your details within seconds. If you want to re-order lenses but don’t have time to do it on the website or simply can’t find your prescription details, just ring us on 01455 293417 and we will run the order through for you in seconds. Our friendly staff are there to answer your call from 9-5 weekdays and 10-4 weekends. If we miss your call we will get back to you.

We are pleased to announce the winners of our Christmas prize draw.

• £200 reglaze - Clare, Languedoc, France
• £100 reglaze - Franchi, London
• £100 reglaze – Monica, Glamorgan
• £50 reglaze - Paul, Surrey
• £50 reglaze – Marc, Sussex

All winners have been notified by email, the prizes can be redeemed any time throughout 2013. Just ring and ask for Laura to order. Tel: 01455 293417.

Congratulations and Happy New Year!

Transitions are widely accepted as the best light-reactive lenses on the market. They did have some drawbacks though, they didn’t change behind the windscreen of a car, lorry bus etc. All the UV is blocked by the windscreen and it is this that makes the lenses change. The lenses were also temperature dependant, they went much darker when cold. So on hot summer days they didn’t darken enough!

This now has all changed with the introduction of the new XTRActive lens, they react behind the windscreen they go dark when warm too. They are only available in the grey colour so far, but can be made in single vision in all index’s

• 1.50 index MAR/HC £90
• 1.60 index MAR/HC £105
• 1.67 index MAR/HC £120

In varifocal elite style:

• 1.50 Elite MAR/HC £160
• 1.60 Elite MAR/HC £190
• 1.67 Elite MAR/HC £210 

If you want to get more information on the XTRActive lenses go to http://tinyurl.com/c7yn8f7 

To order ring on 01455 293417 or email info@ciliaryblue.com

When we set up ciliaryblue, the aim was to make the reglazing of spectacles cheap, easy and professional.

Doing it cheaply was always going to be easy when compared to the high street as our overheads are considerably less, we could supply the same products from the same suppliers much more cheaply.

Making it easy took more thought. Sending the customer the pre-addressed and pre-paid packaging to send the frames to us was the first step. It meant there was no looking for bubble wrap or boxes then a trip to the post office for stamps. Just place the specs in the box with the presciption and post back. The website was designed to be easy to navigate and to understand, and the presciption entry and lens order page simple and informative. 

The pricing structure was simplified too. No extra charges for rimless or semi-rimless glazing (all of our competitors do this- at time of writing). No pitches saying free coatings, 241′s etc, you just pay for what you want.

Professional, I am the Optician who runs the business, I run this with the same constraints and guidlines as I did on the high street, no corners cut. Honest advice is given, no hard selling. We try to answer all emails promptly, reply to messages and even phone back missed calls.

We try to offer the same quality of service you would expect to get at your favourite Opticians while saving you money.

I hope we manage to achieve our goal.

When we buy in our lenses for your reglaze, we have a choice of the size of  lense we order. The lenses come to us circular pieces of plastic that we cut to size and shape with specialised machinary. This part of the process is very automated, if we order lenses that are much too big for the frame they to be fitted too, they spend longer in the machine, causing more wear on parts, using more water etc etc..

But with plus powered lenses the impact on the customer of using lenses larger than we need to is much thicker heavier lenses. All the lenses picture below are the same power (+4.00) but have been ordered as 55mm diameter blank, 65mm and 75mm.

All the same power just different blank sizes, once these lenses are then glazed on the machine to fit the frame the impact on thickness is easy to see. The smallest blank size is the thinnest lens at the top of the 'stack'. You can see that just by using the correct size lens the thickness can be minimised dramatically. Sometimes the effect of using more expensive thinner high index lenses can be lost by using the wrong blank to start with. Smallest blank size at the top!