Let me provide some background on my story:
About six or seven months ago (Christmas time 2004) I purchased a pair of Oakley Half Wire sunglasses from a local retailer in Orange, California. I spent $300 for the model with the titanium frame and the polarized lenses. I even spend an extra twenty or so dollars for a hard case to better protect the glasses.
After about 2 months one of the lenses was beginning to crack near the top center where it meets the frame. Suprised, I contacted customer service and decided to drive to Foothill ranch and have someone take a look at the glasses. The guy that I showed the glasses to took one look at the cracking lens and asked me to hold on a second. He immediately took the glasses to the back, replaced the lens, and even gave me a new microfiber bag to take with me. I was suprised how easy it was and assumed I had just got one of the rare defects.
It is now 4 or 5 months later and about a week ago I notice that my left lens again is cracking. What is worse, now the other lens is also showing very small cracks around where the lens meets the frame. Concerned, I again drove to Oakley to have them take a look at the glasses.
This time I was greeted by the clerk in the repair portion of the building and he asked when I purchased the glasses and if I had my receipt. I did not bring it because it wasn't required on my last visit. My fault, I should have brought my receipt. He informed me that without a receipt to show I was still in the one year warranty period that it would cost $39 to replace the lenses. After taking a moment to think I agreed to pay the $39 dollars to have the lenses replaced because I probably wouldn't be able to find the receipt anyway.
Now suspicious, I asked if I was just extremely unlucky and got a couple of bad lenses or if this type of problem was common with this partiular model of glasses. I was shocked to hear that this is a relatively common problem for the model glasses I purchased. An immediate feeling of regret fell over me as I realized that I spent $300 dollars on a pair of sunglasses that required an addition investment of $39 every 3-6 months.
Here is the "best" part. I asked the clerk: "Does this mean that I have another year warranty on these lenses since I just paid for new ones in case they also begin to crack?" He responded NO. "The warranty is only good from the original date of purchase of the glasses.
WHAT A SCAM! Now I have to spend $39 dollars probably twice a year and take 2 trips down there just to use the $300 sunglasses I bought 6 months ago.
The representitive from Oakley openly admitted to me that there was a problem with the model of sunglasses I bought and basically said too bad. How is this legal?
As I was waiting for these con-artists to repair my defective glasses, I decide that I would just sell them on eBay and try to recover some of my $300 investment. I am so irritated that I won't even wear them anymore, I squinted my eyes the entire trip home as opposed to wearing those pieces of crap. It's probably better that I did, wouldn't want them to break again before I can get rid of them.
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