Optics warranty issues....... let's hear them.

GMC403

GMC403

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Rant?..... Question?....... I'm not sure.

I was in Cabelas yesterday walking the gun rack and I overheard a guy asking questions about scopes. He was looking at the Zeiss / Leupold section of the case and was inquiring about a scope for his 06' for out to 300yds.

The guy behind the counter said "don't waste your money, inside 300y you won't notice any difference in the glass". He then proceeded to take the guy down to the Vortex section while telling the customer "what you want is to be protected....... you can drive over these Vortex and they'll send you a new one".

I hear it over and over again....... Vortex has the best warranty.


Now my question,

You guys with Leupy's, Zeiss, etc. What sort of failure rate are you experiencing?, and further to that, what kind of issues are the failures?

I've owned dozens of Leupolds, plenty of Bushnell Elites, a couple Zeiss & Nikons. I've shot plenty of rounds, and carried them plenty of miles. Fortunately I've never had to send a scope in for repair/warranty.
 
I had an issue with vortex, I bought a scope that someone had crushed the tube carelessly trying to tighten their rings. I sent it in to get checked out and they sent me back the next generation of that scope for free! The nerve of those guys!
 
GMC403 said:
Rant?..... Question?....... I'm not sure.

I was in Cabelas yesterday walking the gun rack and I overheard a guy asking questions about scopes. He was looking at the Zeiss / Leupold section of the case and was inquiring about a scope for his 06' for out to 300yds.

The guy behind the counter said "don't waste your money, inside 300y you won't notice any difference in the glass". He then proceeded to take the guy down to the Vortex section while telling the customer "what you want is to be protected....... you can drive over these Vortex and they'll send you a new one".

I hear it over and over again....... Vortex has the best warranty.


Now my question,

You guys with Leupy's, Zeiss, etc. What sort of failure rate are you experiencing?, and further to that, what kind of issues are the failures?

I've owned dozens of Leupolds, plenty of Bushnell Elites, a couple Zeiss & Nikons. I've shot plenty of rounds, and carried them plenty of miles. Fortunately I've never had to send a scope in for repair/warranty.
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The counter clown earns Vortex bucks for his own purchases by selling Vortex products. The more he sells the more he gets. The customer and their needs are far from most counter clowns' concerns. What most including customers don't understand is that glass clarity is only ONE OF MANY ASPECTS to consider when selecting an optic and it is far from the most important. Even with the ridiculous rate of failure that Vortex experiences the majority of issues are not the lenses themselves. Often it's reticle failure, tracking system failure or a lens coming loose.

Slamfire said:
Sounds like the sales guy has been tasked to move certain inventory out the door. :p

No warranty work needed to date on any Nikon product I own.
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Slamfire has it figured out...
 
The only issue with a scope I have had to date is with one of my Leupolds and the magnification adjustment being very stiff to turn. Sent it into Korth and they fixed it up and shipped it back to me right away. Very happy with the service from them. Now I am looking into having Korth change out a reticle on one of my old Leupolds to something with more subtentions.
 
GMC403 said:
The guy behind the counter said "don't waste your money, inside 300y you won't notice any difference in the glass".
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orly_owl.jpg
 
3 Vortex RMAs . What a joke. Their stuff is absolute garbage.
1 Nikon RMA, the dirt bags sent my scope back without fixing it because of " grey " market imports . Way to pass the buck.
1 Bushnell RMA on a cheap POS banner scope that I blew up with tannerite as soon as I got the replacement back.

Those are the 3 brands I will never own again.
 
DILLIGAF said:
3 Vortex RMAs . What a joke. Their stuff is absolute garbage.
1 Nikon RMA, the dirt bags sent my scope back without fixing it because of " grey " market imports . Way to pass the buck.
1 Bushnell RMA on a cheap POS banner scope that I blew up with tannerite as soon as I got the replacement back.

Those are the 3 brands I will never own again.
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Can you please embellish on the Nikon 'grey' market? I have several Nikons now, I like their scopes.

Only scope I have had to send back was a Zeiss Terra that shook itself loose in 6 months sitting on my K31. When I sent it back, I was told it can take up to 9 months to be returned - so I guess I can be grateful it only took 2 months for the replacement to show up.
 
Zedbra said:
Can you please embellish on the Nikon 'grey' market? I have several Nikons now, I like their scopes.

Only scope I have had to send back was a Zeiss Terra that shook itself loose in 6 months sitting on my K31. When I sent it back, I was told it can take up to 9 months to be returned - so I guess I can be grateful it only took 2 months for the replacement to show up.
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He means it wasn't imported through an exclusive importer... it probably was brought back from USA and not legally imported
 
Yes it was legally imported thru a dealer here. But since I didnt pay full Canadian MSRP and get ripped off by a Canadian pricing they didnt cover it. So the dealer had to waste his time sending it back to the US to get fixed.

Goes to show how we get the short end of the stick in Canada with ridiculously high MSRPs thank god for importers like IRG to bring the Canadian market down :)
 
DILLIGAF said:
Yes it was legally imported thru a dealer here. But since I didnt pay full Canadian MSRP and get ripped off by a Canadian pricing they didnt cover it. So the dealer had to waste his time sending it back to the US to get fixed.

Goes to show how we get the short end of the stick in Canada with ridiculously high MSRPs thank god for importers like IRG to bring the Canadian market down :)
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We've all heard the same story from almost every scope company, though; if you buy in/from the States then the warranty must be done in the States. Some car companies now will not honour cross-border warranty work - makes you wonder about going on a long car trip down south.
 
Leupolds....
Actually, bought a 10X Leupold fixed magnification with broken Crosshairs.
Sent it in to Korth and two weeks later it was back in my hands repaired.
No fuss, No mess and a report that all was good 2 Go.
Sold it a couple weeks later, so all good.

Rob

ps, I tend not to put much faith into what those sales Reps say from behind the counter...
 
I have Leupold, bushnell, Burris and Nikon. I had a 4x bushnell scope chief fog up on first outing back in the 80's. It was promptly replaced. Had a bushnell elite 3200 4-12x40AO lose some brightness after about 6 yrs. they replaced it with a newer elite 4-16x40 AO. Beautiful scope that sits on my .204. Had 2 Japanese tasco world class scopes fail after over 20 yrs of hard use. A 2-7x32 that lost zero above 4x and a 1.75-5x20 that lost brightness. By this time bushnell had bought tasco and replaced them with Chinese crap which I sold upon receiving them.
 
I've send in a Leupold scope due to debris inside the lenses. It sat at Korth for 2 months before they even acknowledged they had it and fixed it. I experienced pretty bad customer service over the phone when I called to ask what was taking so long. Don't think I'll buy another Leupold in Canada. It did come back fixed, but the bad experience was with Korth.

I also had a focus issue in my Vortex Razor binos and I sent them into Vortex over christmas. Took 6 weeks to get them back but I'll give them a break for 2 weeks due to the Christmas break. They came back fixed as well.
 
I sent my Swarovski rangefinder in which I've probably had for 8-10 years. It had a dead button. They emailed me a shipping label, fixed it for free, refurbished the exterior (it was quite beat up... I use this EVERY time I go hunting) and had it sent back in a month at no charge. I was quite surprised as these do not have more than one year warranty. Great companies stand behind their products.
 
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