I'm a first-time user of progressive lenses and find that reading
material is out of focus at the beginning and end of the lines unless
I move my head.  I assume the lenses are faulty.  Assuming they are,
is the optician obligated to provide new ones?  George

Try diplomacy before confrontion.

Go back to whatever you guys in the USA call the optician
- say the eye swivelling is giving you headaches
- ask whether that is normal
- don't let the sales dragon prevent you seeing the /qualified/ optometerist(?)

Chances are it will be quietly sorted out

Most opticians will feel ethically bound to give you the right pair of
glasses, and will try to fix the problems until they are right.

The problem will be one of three things;
- the lenses or the way they have been put into the frames isn't correct
- you need to get used to them - varifocals are very different from
bifocals or single vision glasses
- you just aren't cut out for varifocals

In the first category, it's clearly the optician's problem to sort
out. What you should expect is;
- they re-measure you and refit the glasses
- they check the lenses have been made to prescription
- they check that they have been glazed (put into the frames)
correctly according to your measurements

After all that, it's fair for them to ask for a grace period in which
you try to get used to them. Ask them for some clear guidance on how
to use them.... I know this sounds daft, but you do need to behave
differently with progressive lenses. A good optician or dispensing
optician will give you a lesson on how to use them correctly. This
could be the cause of the problem.

If you still can't get used to them, you have to ask - was the sight
test correct in the first place? i.e. was the prescription they made
them to in the first place correct? They can restet you and find out.

If after all that, they can't find anything wrong, and you simply
can't get the hang of them, then give up and ask to go back to
bifocals or single vision glasses.

In this case, the issue is more of a moral and ethical one rather than
a legal one. If they have done their jobs correctly, then they're not
obliged by law to give you a more appropriate solution. But ethically,
they may feel obliged to. For example, how did they sell them to you?
Did you ask for varifocals, or did they sell them to you?

If the latter, then there's a stronger ethical case for asking them to
give you a more suitable solution.

And I agree... ask to speak to a dispensing optician in the first
place, and an opthalmic optician in the second instance rather than
the 'sales dragon'! :)

HI,
I've been using varifocal lenses for years.  (Had to get accustomed to
tilting my head down further to weed my lawn, since it was out of
focus through the reading focal part.)  If you find that a horizontal
line of text is out of focus at the start and end of the line, this
suggests that the lenses were not correctly  oriented when they were
cut to fit the frames.
From my experience, the lenses are delivered to the optometrist as
circular pieces with markings to show eyeball center and
vertical/horizontal orientation.  If he confused these, even on just
your dominant eye, this would lead to what you describe.
You could try holding your glasses in front of one eye and turning
them and see if you can discover that at some angle you don't have the
problem.

But that would just strengthen your argument when you go back to where
you bought the glasses

I believe that if everything is right with the glasses there is
nothing to get used to.  (1) is the prescription correct in the first
place...I got mine double-checked for free  (2) are the lenses made
according to the prescription and are without defects...this can be
checked also.  (3) are the glasses fitted so as to give optimum vision
(working with the person who fits them until you get a maximum visual
benefit can be a make-break point in wearing the glasses).   Try #3
first as that could be your problem.

It took me several weeks to adjust to my progressive lenses. Now I
love 'em, but at first I was frustrated and annoyed.

My guess is that the frames are sitting too low, and that you're
looking through the narrower intermediate vision zone instead of the
wider reading area near the bottom of the lens.  Lift the frame up a
few mm or tilt your head back and see if that works better.

One other possibility: you've got trendy frames that don't have enough
vertical space for the lenses, and most of the reading area was cut
off when fitting the lenses to the frame.

And another other possibility: the reading addition is too strong, so
you're using a weaker but narrower portion of the lens.
 
Anyway, as to your main question, if the optician or lab made a
mistake, if they don't fix it for free with an apology, they're
weasels.