Dennis The B
US Veteran
Since my cataract surgery, I've been able to revert back to plano sunglasses and shooting glasses. That meant I got to drag out my old Ray Ban shooters, and my original "pilot" sunglasses made by American Optical ca. 1970.
The AO's had prescription lenses in them, so I took my jewelers' screwdrivers, removed the old prescription lenses, and put in the original lenses. Easy. Yes? Hardly. The original frame screws were peened in place to keep the lenses from loosening. One lens fell out twice when the screw came loose, so I called AO customer service, and discussed sending my glasses back to them for repair. I told the customer rep, Alan, that I really like the glasses and I would pay any reasonable charges to have the frames repaired.
Alan told me that since I still owned the 44-year old glasses, they would repair them at no charge, and re-align the frames. The screws would be self-locking, since they no longer peened screws. I sent them to AO a week ago Thursday, and got an acknowledgement that the glasses were received at their end.
Today, I received a package from AO. Included were my original glasses, which are now re-aligned, and a replacement case. This was done at no charge. So far, so good, you say. Good customer service.
Also inside the package was a pair of brand new AO sunglasses, sent no-charge as a replacement for my original sunglasses. So, now I have two pair of AO pilot sunglasses.
The older ones still look best, since the frames are 1/12 10c gold filled. They still have a very rich look to them. The new ones have a brighter frame, but not nearly as deep gold look as the old.
Eat your heart out, Tom Cruise! This top gun is now back on your six!
The AO's had prescription lenses in them, so I took my jewelers' screwdrivers, removed the old prescription lenses, and put in the original lenses. Easy. Yes? Hardly. The original frame screws were peened in place to keep the lenses from loosening. One lens fell out twice when the screw came loose, so I called AO customer service, and discussed sending my glasses back to them for repair. I told the customer rep, Alan, that I really like the glasses and I would pay any reasonable charges to have the frames repaired.
Alan told me that since I still owned the 44-year old glasses, they would repair them at no charge, and re-align the frames. The screws would be self-locking, since they no longer peened screws. I sent them to AO a week ago Thursday, and got an acknowledgement that the glasses were received at their end.
Today, I received a package from AO. Included were my original glasses, which are now re-aligned, and a replacement case. This was done at no charge. So far, so good, you say. Good customer service.
Also inside the package was a pair of brand new AO sunglasses, sent no-charge as a replacement for my original sunglasses. So, now I have two pair of AO pilot sunglasses.
The older ones still look best, since the frames are 1/12 10c gold filled. They still have a very rich look to them. The new ones have a brighter frame, but not nearly as deep gold look as the old.
Eat your heart out, Tom Cruise! This top gun is now back on your six!
