So here's the deal... I abuse the shit out of my contacts. I know, it's bad for my eyes, and I do intend to knock that off soon. But I found myself in a situation... I was down to my last pair of contacts, and I know from past experience that if I go take an eye exam now, my usual doc will notice the irritation in my eyes and scold me.
And he's a great doc. I like him. So instead of pissing him off, I decided to try the underground contacts market and see if I could get some without a prescription. I heard many overseas will do so. In fact, I read while it is illegal for an organization to sell contacts in the US without a prescription, it's NOT illegal for you to buy some without a prescription. And shopping from a foreign country is as simple as a few mouse clicks....thank you Internet. I fucking love you!
Hell, I heard several people say even domestic companies like 1800 Contacts will try to phone your doc, but if they cant get a hold of them, they will often just send the order out anyway. So I set out to try just that.
I set up a fake phone number with Google Voice, and added a fake incoming voicemail greeting, so it sounds like a vision center. But obviously, instead of asking the caller to please hold, I said "we are currently busy assisting other patients. Please call back later during normal business hours."
1800Contacts called it and left several messages, and after not hearing back from my "doctor" they finally just cancelled the order. I tried this routine with a few other places with the same result.
Then I tried it with Coastal. They called the number as well, requesting Rx info. And of course I made no effort to answer them. The next day I get an email saying the contacts were shipped out. Yay!
And furthermore, they arrived the day after that. Literally I have them now, 2 days after placing the order. I found this odd and surprising, considering most of the negative reviews about coastal involved molasses-slow shipping. Well not for me. I'm a happy camper.
However, I will say the downside is they didnt have all the usual options available when ordering. I could choose the power and base curve of my contacts, but not the axis or cylinder. Oh well, close enough. I just want something to tide my eyes over till they are refreshed and clearer, so the next time I see my doc, he wont be pissy with me.
Take that, system.
As an optician, i must tell you that if you "couldn't choose your axis and cylinder" it doesn't sound like they provided you with your correct contacts. It sounds to me like they sent you spherical lenses instead of toric lenses for asitgmatism which require the cylinder and axis. Your little ruse appears to have backfired and Coastal broke the law. Great.
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