I have worn Costas Del Mar sunglasses for probably close to 20 years ( I have 4 pairs, 2 of which I wear daily). Over the years things happen, whether its the products fault or mine. I have always had a great experience when I have had to have any service or warranty work done to them, until now.

I was at a friend's daughters birthday party and one of the kids knocked them off of me on accident (my fault). One of the lens cracked (580G) so I needed to send them in and have new lenses put in, which cost me $80 when I broke a lens one other time. Also, the finish was coming off the frames, which is a product defect and Costa has always replaced the frames under warranty and did not cost me anything (I have had to send in Costas several times over the years for warranty work).

So I filled out the info through www.costadelmar.com and sent them pics of the frame defect and of the cracked lens. Their response was that my sunglasses were out of warranty, but they would sell me a new pair for $196.26.

They did the exact same thing to one of my friends.

I am done with Costa.

Everyone be very careful with your Costa because if something happens to your sunglasses this will probably happen to you.

If that’s their response I’ll be done with them, I have 7 pairs and their my go to sunglasses but I won’t tolerate not living up to your own warranty. They’ve always been great in the past but it sounds like greed might have blinded them. Purely speculation on my part but if their shafting people on the warranty then that simply sucks. I’ve been using them for roughly 25 years and I’ve used the warranty several times without incident.

Yes I have used their warrany and service several times over the years and they have always been super easy to deal with. Now when you fill out the info online to send them in, it redirects you to a company who either has bought out Costa or is doing their repair and service.. Below is the company.

http://www.luxottica.com/en/customer-care

I am confused, were the glasses out of warranty date or do you have a lifetime warranty when you buy them. When I purchased mine it was 2 years.

I think they just got tired of people filing warranty claims when they stepped on their glasses or dropped them.

Still Better than Maui Jim’s warranty...

What’s up with Maui Jim’s warranty?

Just get a pair of Maui Jim's much better glass. We have already had this discussion.

Interesting. I’m a long time Costa fan myself. They have a lifetime warranty that covers material defects, but my understanding is they won’t fully cover if you step on them etc. I’m about to find out, I have two pair to send in. One is a material defect (nose pads fell off), and the other got broken in half after getting rolled over and laid on by my Nephew (my favorite fishing glasses - Pescador’s ). Will see what happens.

Costa was acquired by another company, EssilorLuxottica, in 2013. They have been making changes since, shutting down alot of the Florida manufacturing and changing up the warranty service.

Agree with the OP. I used to get great service. The last time was not, just Big Corporate BS. Eventually they will run off the loyal customers that made the brand so successful in the first place.

I'll never buy another pair of Costa after my recent experience with their "customer service"

Is their warranty for defects or accidents?

Costa is owned by Essilor which owns a ton of brands including ray ban, Oakley etc.

Costa is the still best outdoor active lens on market. IMO

You can't expect a company to cover non factory defects. It's a hell of a deal when they do but costa’s warranty is upfront about what a factory defect is

And you’re still holding in to the wrong opinion

Maui has better frames but not better optics

I buy the $5 gulp ones from walmart. They help a lot for sight fishing and I dont give a carp about them. I cant wrap my head around what people pay for some stuff for "quality" when the vast majority of it is keeping up with the joneses.

The problem with lifetime warranties are that people take advantage of them when it's something they did to break/damage them. When too many people break them on their own and Costa has to keep replacing the original pair over and over again, they lose a lot of money. Companies aren't in the business of losing money.

OP admitted it was his fault about the breaking the lens. As for the finish wearing off, depending on the age of the frames, that probably falls under normal wear and tear and not a product defect. Normal wear and tear is NOT covered by the limited lifetime warranty.

I tried to file a warranty claim on a Sage fly rod last summer. My son insists the tip broke while reeling in a fish, but they weren't buying it after they received it for inspection. It fell under "Repair" and not "Warranty, so after shipping, it cost me about $200 to get it fixed. I would have rather had it fixed for free, but I'm not going to stop buying Sage products just because my son broke the rod and they wouldn't fix it for free.

Maui frames are light as hell but their poly lenses suck the bag.

Terrible lenses

I used to have that same line of thinking.....then I bought a pair of costas.


Worth every penny.

Ok also stopped losing them like I did with gas station shades.


If you haven’t worn them it’s hard to pass judgement on them as being over priced

I used to be the same way until I put on a pair of Pescadors from Costa, HUGE different on the water. Seriously.
I had mine for I don't know how many years, but took good care of them because they were $200. Always kept them clean & in the case when not in use.
I put my Nephew to work on the weedeater, told him to go to my closet and look on the shelf, there is a big bag full of dark/clear/amber safety glasses. Grab a pair, a couple of lens cleaners, and some ear plugs and get after it.

Later, I had a lawn mower jacked up & was working on it. I needed a back up so he came to help. We're rolling around in the dirt grunting on some wrenches and got it done. Then I looked on the ground where he was laying, and saw my beloved fishing glasses broke in two. Apparently, he was confused between the big bag of safety glasses I was talking about,....and the hard Costa case that was hanging there off to the side. LOL.

X2

EXCLUDING coffee, bourbon and beer I would hope.

I just replaced the Prizm lenses in a couple of oakleys that are hunting glasses. I haven't found a better polarized set of glasses than those and I've tried Mauis and Costas

I hate to admit but On the water you can’t beat Costa. I’ve tried Oakley, Maui, rayban, smith, and a couple others and when to comes to on the water there lenses can’t be beat. I’m cheap too but there is a difference. I buy them on eBay and save quite a bit usually.

I agree 1000% with this. I'm a cheap-a$$ myself but Costa is #1 on the water and there is a difference.

Please read again I said glass.

Optics=glass, and Maui is still behind costa