Michael S.
Expensive Custom Lenses Fail
I ordered some custom lenses from Tajima Direct. I gave Jacob, co-founder and president, a brief written explanation containing two key details of what I wanted to achieve with the custom lenses. He told me he understood, so I paid $275 to have them produce the lenses. What I received did not match what I requested. Instead of acknowledging that what they produced was not what I ordered, Jacob repeatedly insisted that either they did produce what I ordered and/or my expectations were unrealistic. (I’m not sure how both those things can be true.) The simple reality is that the lenses they produced were not as dark as I asked them for. I don’t think they did it on purpose. I think they decided they knew what I wanted and overlooked one of the two key details in my written description. Jacob refused to acknowledge this error and did not offer a refund. However, he DID offer me the opportunity to pay them additional money to attempt to make the lenses again. Now, after his repeated insistence that they did it right the first time (shouldn’t I be the judge of that?) and/or what I ordered was unreasonable (and therefore impossible to achieve?), why would I ever throw more money at them? Maybe they have produced excellent custom lenses for other people, but they did not for me. They refused to acknowledge their mistake, and the customer service they provided amounted to telling me I was wrong and/or unreasonable. This seems like an unconventional approach to dealing with customers but maybe it’s working out for them – after all, he does still have my money and I don’t have the lenses I described. UPDATE - Jacob’s response to this review further illustrates my point. My instructions to him (also in writing) were “the tint of the midline of the lenses should match (or be slightly darker than) the tint of my current lenses. So, obviously with the gradient, the top would be darker and bottom lighter.” I think the content of his response reveals that he focused only on making a gradient and overlooked how dark I wanted the lenses to be. Further, he has no interest in acknowledging that reality and certainly has no interest in fixing it. He did not carefully review the parameters of my request before putting these lenses into production. That’s his fault, not mine — but I am the one who paid for it. So, just be aware: If you, the customer, does not believe the lenses you received match what you described, you are wrong and you just have to eat it.
Response from Tajima DirectSep 12, 2025
Mike, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re sorry to hear you’re disappointed. Custom gradient tinting is a very specialized, artistic process, and while we always aim to execute exactly as described, there is inevitably some subjectivity in how the result is perceived under different lighting conditions. For clarity, before production we confirmed in writing: “match the existing color as closely as we can, but turn it into a gradient with it being darker than the originals on the top and lighter on the bottom. If that sounds right, here’s a link to order.” We also made clear at that stage that “all custom tinted lenses like this are final sale.” We documented the lenses at final inspection with photos showing the darker top, lighter bottom, and mid-zone match. While the platform doesn’t allow us to post images here, we do have that visual proof on file. That is what we produced, and I personally reviewed the lenses before shipment and thought they came out beautifully. Because these lenses were a custom, final-sale order, we could not offer a refund, but we did offer to remake them at our internal cost (50% off) as a courtesy. We corresponded extensively on this order — about eight back-and-forth emails — your last note stated you had no interest in going forward with a remake and that we should go our separate ways. At that point, we understood there was nothing further to reply to. We regret that the result wasn’t what you had envisioned, but we do stand by the craftsmanship and care put into your order. We’ve produced thousands of custom tinted lenses for customers who are thrilled with the results, and we’ll continue to do our very best to deliver excellent work for anyone who trusts us with their frames.