Summer’s almost here and how would you like some free stylish brand name sunglasses? Yes, you read that right. Up to four free Vanquish and/or Viper sunglasses.
All you need to do is visit AlternaEyewear.com and order one or up to four Vanquish and/or Viper sunglass and use the promotional code located on your advertisement at checkout. How cool is that? The only catch is that you have to pay the shipping cost.
There are quite a number of sunglasses to choose from at AlternaEyewear.com if you don’t fancy the free ones. Browse through the site and check out the Volt sunglasses, Avanti, Vendetta, Pilot and Striker and several other brand names. The pictures are nice and clear and the site is easy to navigate.
I could do with a new pair of sunglasses myself and especially if they are free!
Let’s pretend you order one of their most expensive pair of glasses and also order one of their least expensive pair. They say both pair are free yet the shipping charge for one is $19 vs $6 for the cheaper pair. How is that possible when both are shipped in the same box?
Whatever you order, they ship from Bend, Oregon and they come to you via UPS. Now if you go to UPS.com, you can calculate what it should actually cost you which is indeed far less. Shipping should always be based on the quantity of your order and its destination and never on the value of the item. The only time you should ever have to pay extra for that would be to insure the item from damages.
The fact is that they are charging you for the glasses and the quality is no greater than that which you can find in a local retail discount outlet.
Save your money and shop wisely elsewhere.
I disagree with Allie Wally. There are many places that charge shipping based on value. If you are looking at a $50 order versus a $150 order you’ll pay more for the $150 order regardless of weight or size of package.
Also, you can’t base your shipping AND HANDLING charges based just on the UPS shipping fee. That’s why it says and HANDLING. They have to pay someone to pull the product off the shelf, package it and get it ready for shipping. I’ve bought these glasses before and you cannot get equivilents for anywhere close to the $19 charge for their most expensive glasses.
vicki reply on July 14th, 2008:
but was the item or sunglasses of great quality. or did you really pay for what you got instead of the supposedly expensive value tagged on the item? because even though it’s for the handling charge, if it’s of cheap quality , it doesn’t really make a difference.
Come on Ken; do you work for Alterna? I have bought many items from many websites plus I have sold a lot of items on e-bay. What you are saying is partially true, but not to the % that Alterna is charging. A more expensive pair could demand a slightly higher HANDLING charge as you say; however it would be 5% to 10% at most. Not the 200% in some cases that Alterna charges.
Just a tip about this sunglass “deal”…..when you order these glasses you are very discreetly enrolled into a program that allows them to ship you additional glasses periodically and charge your credit card. Good deals are often good tricks!
MissBlake reply on September 18th, 2008:
Sure it’s a good trick, but you just have to be aware of everything on the page and make sure you check the box that says “NO, I don’t want the additional sunglasses” when you checkout.
I too have ordered these glasses, about 5 pair in 2 years. The clarity of the lenses is awesome, I am not sure I would pay $200 for them, but I don’t think I would spend that much on any pair of sunglasses, even prescription lenses. I agree it does not cost that much to ship the glasses. But if you read the Magazine ad they have in Playboy or Maxim, it says PP&H and that stands for Postage, Processing, and Handling. Duh, read. On the back, where the order form is, at the bottom in small print it explains what that charge covers. Says it covers general overhead, how do you think they pay for the advertising, and the people who work for them? And if you are in that program where you get the classes, call and cancel. The phone number is on the website. Don’t have it handy, or I’d give it to ya. But I canceled my shipments by calling them, and now I only order online, where I just check the NO box so I don’t get them sent to me before I am ready to order. Maybe the quality depends on who wears them, mine are ok, and I won’t complain for $19.00, Wlmart doesn’t even sell Polarized glasses for that.
dustin reply on August 28th, 2008:
Yeah, Walmart does sell them that cheap. They are called renegade and they are excellent glasses for the price.
I bought the four “free” sunglasses to get the free watch. Some of the glasses were OK, some crap. The watch is OK, but definitly cheap. (The black on the bezel has rubbed off to reveal gray plasic underneath.)
The BIG RIPOFF is that they automatically enroll you into some deal where they send you “free” sunglasses each quarter and charge your credit card $20 each time. You have to call to get “unenrolled”.
My recommendation: Stay away from this outfit.
Buyer beware, do not throw your money at this gimmick – Listen friends, I follow the credo, “if it’s too good to be true, it usually is,” so I checked into these products. They are cheap Chinese imports that cost far less to manufacture than the “postage, processing & handling” (pp&h) being charged to customers.
The “promotional” term itself borders on false advertising, but the poorly regulated Internet environment let’s companies like this escape scrutiny.
Be advised, this is NOT a promotional at all, it’s a marketing strategy that allows the distributor of these Asian imports to impose artificial deadlines on the ordering process in order to create a sense of urgency and spur customers to “Order now! Offer expires 30 days from event!”
Direct sales like these are great ways to avoid paying legitimate business expenses, like minimum wage for employees, brick and mortar storefronts where customers can actually take a complaint, and a business license. Be warned! There is no customer service process in place here. The website has one phone number, one fax number, no email account. If you call the phone number, as I did, you sit on hold for how ever long your patience lasts and listen to a recording telling you that “call volume is extraordinarily high but your call is important, so…. ”
Think about it – if you went with the AlternaEyewear.com “promotional” to get 4 pairs of sunglasses (“normally a $150 dollar value”) for FREE plus they’ll throw in a chronograph watch for FREE (normally a $299 value), you’ll be paying a total of $87 for items that cost less than one third that to produce in China. And of course now they have your personal information for future targeted advertising (direct mail, SPAM, etc) and you’re enrolled, unless you take active steps to disenroll, for automatic direct sales.
Don’t be a sucker. Buy a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses and get a one-yr warranty for FREE repair, even if you break them and it’s your fault! I know, I did it and 2 weeks later I had a brand new pair! REI, Sports Authority, Big 5, Performance, Trek all offer quality polarized, UV protection sunglasses from a range of reputable manufacturers that are designed for runners and cyclists and they come with manufacturer guarantees you can rely on. Why buy 4 pair? Because you will find that one pair doesn’t last. Quality, quality, quality. Allie, Chappy and Raleigh are right. Save your money.
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY!
Their sunglasses are garbage. I returned them, as the policy clearly stated I could do. Because I smelled a rat, I sent them certified mail, and they signed for them 3 months ago. Yet they won’t refund my card. They claim they need time to “process” it in the warehouse. It has now being handled by my credit card company.
This is a scam, pure and simple.
This was a very bad idea to buy from this company.
The “free” sunglasses came. And then another came a month later, and charged my card $20. Returned the glasses (the funds were not re-imbursed). Have not recieved any more packages, but my card is still charged $20 a month. I tried to call to cancel but the phone number is bogus.
This company is stealing money from me and I can’t do anything to stop it!
It is a shame that the organizers of these \”events\” (in my case my wife\’s 65 mile bike ride) allow this scam to infiltrate their organization. If you want cheap sun glasses, go to Target, Wal Mart or Walgreens where you get them cheaper and also get to try them on!!
I have ordered from here several times and have no complaints at all. All the sunglasses I have ordered are very sturdy and the q4 polarized ones are great.
All you have to do is pay attention to what you are doing when you order. just like with the 15 dvds for 1 cent offers. Make sure you click off the automatic enrollment and you will be fine.
Sure the s&h is high, but if you arent paying $$ for the glasses, you know that some of the “s&h” costs go to paying for the glasses… Obviously the higher priced glasses will be of better quality than the lower ones
The total $19 for good polarized sunglasses is really good if you ask me
Thanks for this information. My sister has been wondering about this topic for a while.