RX Information

RX Information

HOW THE RX VERIFICATION PROCESS WORKS

The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act increases consumers’ ability to shop around when buying contact lenses. The Act gives consumers certain rights, imposes duties on contact lens prescribers and sellers, and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to develop and enforce implementing rules. The FTC issued the Contact Lens Rule in July 2004 to spell out the Act’s requirements.

The Contact Lens Rule requires prescribers to give patients a copy of their contact lens prescriptions at the end of a contact lens fitting, even if the patient doesn’t ask for it. A patient who wants to buy contact lenses from another seller then may give the prescription to that seller. If a consumer doesn’t give his prescription to that seller, the seller must instead verify the prescription before selling the lenses.

Our Responsibility

The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act governs the sale of both non-prescription lenses (i.e. costume, fancy dress) and prescription contact lenses (i.e. corrective, anti-fatigue). As such, we as a seller may only provide our contact lenses in accordance with a valid prescription that is either directly presented to us or verified with your prescriber.

That means we can provide contact lenses when a customer presents their prescription in person, by fax or by email. Alternatively, the customer can authorize us to verify their prescription via direct communication with their prescriber.

In order to make the above process as quick and easy for our customers as possible, Coloured Contacts uses a system called ‘Approve My Prescription’ during the checkout process. This system is responsible for directly communicating with your prescriber, requesting verification of your prescription.

When directly communicating with your prescriber, this system provides them with all of your order information and all of our contact details. Your order information details which are provided include:

  • Your full name and address 
  • The contact lens power, manufacturer, base curve or appropriate designation, and diameter (when appropriate)
  • The quantity of lenses ordered,
  • The date and time of your order, and
  • The date and time of the verification request

Once this information has been sent, a prescription is verified if your prescriber:

  • confirms its accuracy to us via direct communication,
  • informs us that the prescription is inaccurate and provides accurate information to us via direct communication, or
  • fails to communicate with us within “eight-business-hours” of receiving our complete verification request. A business hour is defined as one hour between 09:00 am and 17:00pm, Monday through Friday (excluding federal holidays), in your prescriber’s time zone.
Step 1:

Step 1:

Place Your Order

Whilst placing your order, you can select a prescriber to whom we can send your prescription to. Your payment will be accepted and you will be emailed an order confirmation.

Step 2:

Step 2:

Prescription Check

After your order is confirmed and before it is dispatched, we will send your prescription verification request to the prescriber.

Step 3:

Step 3:

Order Preparation

Your order will be picked and packaged whilst we wait for the verification. This allows for immediate dispatch if your order is approved.

Step 4:

Step 4:

Approval or Rejection

Approved – Congratulations! Your request has either been verified by the optician or it has been passively approved (see Step 5a).

Declined – This means your prescription verification request has been disapproved by the prescriber (see Step 5b).

Step 5a:

Step 5a:

Order Approved

If your verification request has been approved, we will dispatch your order immediately and forward you an email confirmation.

Sit back and relax - your contact lenses are on their way!

Step 5b:

Step 5b:

Order Declined

If your verification request has been declined, we will cancel your order immediately, issue a refund and forward you an email notification.

See our FAQs below for possible reasons for rejection.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I've selected the wrong optician during my order, what will happen?

Do not panic! We stress that customers do not need to worry if they accidentally select the wrong optician from our database. All it means is that the wrong optician will receive our verification request, which they will disapprove, cancelling your order.

However, if the verification request is not disapproved or responded to within 8 business hours, your order will be automatically authorised and dispatched. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, we ask that you contact us to manually cancel your order as soon as possible.

Will my order be successful and how will I know?

Once we’ve sent a verification request to your prescriber they’ll have 8 business hours to respond. Despite our best efforts to contact prescribers directly, a majority of our requests are not responded to within this established time frame, and so this verification is passively authorised and your order immediately dispatched.

Regardless of whether your verification is approved or disapproved, we will email you with your order status after 8 business hours so you are fully aware of its progress.

How are the 8 business hours calculated?

A business hour is defined as an hour in the ‘standard’ working day (9am to 5pm, Mon-Fri) in the prescriber’s time zone. Saturday hours can be determined on whether or not the particular prescriber works during these times. The 8 business hour period commences at the first business hour after the verification has been sent.

How are the ‘Saturday Hours’ verified?

We will only use official opening hour listings to verify whether or not a prescriber has Saturday business hours. We will take these times from the official prescribers’ website or any official documentation.

Do I need to notify my prescriber before they receive the request?

It is up to the customer whether or not they contact their prescriber prior to them receiving the verification request. The customer should note that prescribers will receive a detailed and comprehensive email regarding their order and the prescription. The prescriber will be aware of the verification process and will know how to respond to it accordingly.

My prescriber is not a listed option, what do I do?

We are able to add opticians to our database if the customer provides us with said opticians contact information. We will verify the accuracy of the provided information before sending the verification to the newly listed prescriber.

Why has my verification request been rejected?

When prescribers receive the verification request, they can approve or reject judging on the prescription they have for that customer. They can correct inaccuracies in the prescription but can also reject the request if they deem the user not to be a suitable candidate to wear contact lenses.

Prescribers can also reject a request if the prescription has expired. The contact lens prescription rule dictates a prescription will expire one year after its issue date, unless state law deems it to be longer than one year.

Can I place another order if I have had one rejected?

This is purely dependent on the circumstances of each order. For example, if your request has been sent to the wrong prescriber, this does not make a customer exempt from placing a future order, as the reason for cancellation can be rectified when placing your next order.
​​​​​We ask customers to find out why their order has been cancelled before they attempt to place another order as sending out the exact same verification requests may lead to further rejected orders, or incorrect prescriptions getting passively approved.