Look for this badge on the lens description pages.
The first time I saw an ad for a FREE TRIAL PAIR of contacts, I thought “how the heck do they do that?” The last time I had contact lenses fitted, I was provided with lenses to try as part of the process. It went a bit like, “Try these for a couple of days and then come back over your lunch on Wednesday and let’s see how they’re working.” After three or four sessions like this, she found the ones that worked best with my eyes.
I’m now aware that this is not necessarily the only way this can go.
The free trial pair offers are set up as an incentive to get you to ask about the lenses when you visit your eye doctor as either a first-time lens-wearer or someone looking to find something more comfortable, economical, or better fitting into a particular lifestyle.
Of the half-dozen varieties in the site’s “Contact Lens Index”, Only the Biomedics 55 don’t offer a “Free Trial” arrangement to prospective wearers. A run-down on the rest, follows:
CIBA Vision’s Focus Dailies and Focus Night & Day lenses offer prospective users a simple form to fill out. Upon completing the form, you get an email with a certificate attached. For Focus Dailies click here. For Focus Night & Day click here.
Bausch & Lomb has yet a simpler way of dealing with the free trial pair. Apparently, they’re not so interested in harvesting your personal information, they just want to move some contact lenses. To get a free trial pair of the Soflens 66 Toric (or any of the following: Soflens 38, Soflens Multi-focal, or Soflens One-Day), simply print the coupon here and bring it to your appointment.
Johnson & Johnson’s Acuvue free trial form is a multi-page form asking all sorts of questions and gathering all sorts of answers. It’s intimidating and frankly a bit off-putting — especially compared to the others. You can take my word for it, or take a look here. I don’t have the patience for it, and it turns out I don’t need to. In small print above the form it reads:
The certificate is a useful reminder to ask about your Free Trial Pair but it is not required for you to get a Free Trial Pair. You may receive a free trial pair by visiting a participating eye care professional.
Anything to save a few bucks, especially with the bulk-buy discounts and rebates at the contact lens retailers above. Make sure they work for you before committing your hard-earned dollars.
Tags: free trial