Maddie P.

I have been ordering contacts online since 2012 and never encountered any issues, the contacts always came within 2 weeks and they were always the correct order. I took a break from contacts 6 years later and all of the sites that I typically ordered from shut down or changed their rules for shipping contacts to USA in that time. I finally decided to try contacts again and remembered that my sister suggested Lens.me because she had luck with them. So, I checked my prescription and ordered the correct power of Solotica lenses. I was aware that the diameter/curve and moisture content would be slightly off from the Acuvue lenses I tried on with my eye doctor, but I had worn Solotica for 6 years and knew I found them comfortable in the standard size that they sold them in. My order from Lens.me came within 2 weeks. The packaging was cute and nice and there were two vials with the Solotica contacts that I ordered. There were care instructions included but I didn't see any of the instructions that I usually got to soak the Soloticas for 24 hrs before use, not that I followed that suggestion to the precise hour every time as I got used to them. I have been putting in my contacts directly out of the packages after cleaning with solution with no issue so I tried these from Lens.me on after a while.

One lens was great and comfortable as expected. The other lens made my vision in my left eye blurry and caused my eyes some irritation. In the 6 years that I ordered Solotica contacts, this has never happened. I waited and eventually took the contact out, re-cleaned it and put it back in my eye. My vision was still blurry in the left eye and perfect in the right, despite both lenses being the same power and size. I thought it would go away after an hour because that's how my Acuvue contacts were when I was first getting used to them a month earlier. After an hour, the blurriness didn't go away. After 2 hours the blurriness was still there. After using rewetting drops it didn't go away. After a few more hours I took them out as my eye felt weird/sore/strained and I immediately contacted Lens.me. I told them that one lens was blurry and I needed a replacement. I was asked for proof of my prescription, even though I told them that the Solotica's arrived in the correct power that I ordered and that one of the contacts was perfect. I was then told that I needed to soak both lens for 24hrs and instructed to try them again. I thought it was reasonable that I let them soak longer, but I was annoyed that I was made to feel like I was dumb and ordered the wrong prescription for my contacts.

I waited 48 hours and tried them again. There was still blurring in one of my eyes, the eye that had the bad lens. I wore them for a few hours but the situation once again did not improve. I contacted Lens.me and asked them for a new lens once more and I also sent my prescription to prove that I didn't make a mistake.

A few days later I was informed that the diameter and moisture levels were a. 3 difference in the Soloticas in comparison to my Acuvue and this was the reason that one lens was blurred and the one of the same power and size wasn't. Mind you, my Acuvue were only that diameter/curve because I informed my eye doctor that they were fine, it wasn't like we tried on a bunch of different sizes until we found that perfect one. They just happened to fit and I could see so I said they are fine, I wasn't up to complain that they were ever so slightly, almost unnoticeably, just a little pinch tight because they did as they were designed to do. They allowed me to see perfectly and caused no irritation or issues. I was informed that this was all part of their investigation. I was then instructed to test the lens longer each time increasing 1 hour of wear time for 4 days. By the time I looked at that email I had already worn the lens for 4 times and 4hrs each time. So I informed them that one lens was still perfect and that I had zero issue with the fit of the Soloticas. I was an experienced user and the fit wasn't an issue. It was just that one lens was supposed to be -1.75 power but instead it was blurry when I looked through it. The other -1.75 lens was perfect. I told them to stop wasting my time and to send me a refund or a new lens.

I didn't check my email for days after that. And to my surprise, not even a week later, there was a new package from Lens.me with my replacement lens. This time I let the lens soak in the solution for a few days. And when I tried the lens on there was 10 mins of blurriness and but it subsided. I put in the bad lens to pair with it, in case the blurriness went away as Lens.me seemed so sure would be the case. But the vision was still blurry so I put in the good lens with the new lens and have zero irritation. Zero blurriness. I can see and read. I was happy that things worked out after a bit of hassle and that I was able to get a replacement lens. I went to email Lens.me and let them know the good news, that I had good luck with the new lens. Upon checking my email I saw that they asked me to cut up the bad lens and take a photo of it before they could send the new one. Of course I had the new lens so I thought this had to be some joke, but I had another email with the tracking number for my package and them asking me for the photo again. That's when I decided to leave this review. This company is absolutely ridiculous. If I wanted to scam them, why wouldn't I ask for 2 new contacts? Why didn't I initially ask for a refund? Why would I go through the trouble to tell them that one lens was perfect more than once if I had an issue with the contacts themselves. This whole experience emailing their customer service back and forth and not being respected and listened to has left me weary. All of the back and forth emails and me being made out to be an idiot and now a liar for a 30 dollar lens from Dubai. What a joke.

So I say, try this site at your own risk. You might have a good experience like my sister did, or you might get a terrible order and have to email them a bunch of times with the small possibility that they will make the situation right if there is anything wrong with your order. To me, if I had known this was a possibility, I would have never ordered from this site but I couldn't find any negative reviews for them before ordering. If I had, I would have found a different website. I do not suggest this site to anyone and have rated 3 stars because in the end, I did get the correct lens. But it wasn't without hassle and being insulted and asked to do ridiculous things.

When buying from Underground Reptiles, be sure to read the full description. I didn't when I first bought a Russian tortoise from them and had no idea I was purchasing a wild caught tortoise. These reptiles are not fit for homes AT ALL, this is likely while some die shortly after purchasing. They are adapted to the wild environment and switching them to a home one can be too traumatic. They are often fearful of humans. I've had my tortoise for around 9 months now and of course he's used to me, but despite all of that time, he is still not people friendly, he scratches if he's held and runs away if he's touched. When I first received him, two of his nails or claws were broken off on his back foot, his foot where the nail used to be was swollen when he arrived. I thought maybe he broke it when he was clawing at the bag he was shipped in but I found no broken nail in the packaging. Why did they send me an injured tortoise that was disabled? It took him a week to eat from the stress of being shipped, and even then he ate very little. I was lucky he survived but his stress didn't fully go away. He hibernated despite my best efforts 2 months later. After 14 weeks he woke up and was happy to see me, but he hated his home. I quickly made adjustments, giving him more space since I started reading new articles that suggested giving a tortoise his size (5-6 inches) about 3 x 9 ft of space.
So I will suggest that you ONLY buy pets that were raised in the setting you plan to keep them in, from birth. Underground Reptiles offer no support or advice for these wild caught animals and are very tight lipped about how they keep them at their shop prior to shipping. It took 4 emails back and forth for them to reveal to me what they'd been feeding him.
He is completely unsatified no matter how many adjustments I make to his enclosure to make it larger and as temperate as possible. He climbs and tries to get out of everything. Unfortunately it's because he needs to be indoors until the end of the spring and from the end of fall in my northern state, so there is no way to make him happy. He prefers to be outside and ALL of these wild caught ones do. It will take years to force them to be happy as an indoor/captive pet and that is just cruel. If you can make the accomodations to give them wild space to roam in a large gated yard in a warm environment, then this is a perfectly fine shop and the fine print won't ruin your pet experience. For those who want a real pet that they can occassionally keep indoors, stay far away from this site.