Today I visited the Bushnell Optics customer service/repair facility in Richmond Hill. I had two scopes with me. The first was a Simmons 2.5x20mm shotgun scope, purchased new at least 20+ years ago for about $30. After hundreds of shotgun slug rounds, followed by many hundreds of muzzleloader shots and finally thousands of .22lr rounds something had given way internally and the image was unfocused. The second was a Bushnell Sharpshooter 3-9x32mm with AO, approximately 12 years old and the victim of thousands of spring-piston air rifle rounds. This scope still functioned perfectly but I had clumsily broken one of the target turret covers and wanted to buy a replacement.
I spoke to a helpful gent named Al, who listened to my tales of woe and then explained that the Simmons was long out of production, and since no parts were available for it any repairs would be impossible. He suggested that I take a replacement scope, and then spent a fair bit of time going through the catalogs of Simmons, Bushnell, and Tasco, attempting to find a model that approximated the specs of the old Simmons to the best extent possible. I explained that the feature that mattered most to me was the exceptionally long eye relief, which made it possible to mount the scope low and forward of the hammer on leverguns and other exposed-hammer firearms. He eventually found a Banner model, designed for mounting on cantilever-equipped slug barrels and certainly far superior, optically speaking, to the old Simmons. He went into the back of the shop for a few moments, and then returned with my old Sharpshooter scope already fitted with its replacement turret cover, and a brand-new Banner shotgun scope to replace my old one...no charge.
A decades-old, bargain-basement scope replaced with no questions asked, in minutes, and at no cost to me...that is service as it should be, but rarely is. I have experienced that level of service with Leupold, but all other optics manufacturers with whom I have had dealings have fallen far short of that mark...that includes Zeiss (good service, but sloooooooow.....), Swarovski (mediocre service, and slooooooooooooooow....) Minox (good work, but still far from rapid), and Nikon ("here are your binoculars, sir....that will be $90, please...cash or charge?").
I have heard Bushnell's reputation slagged several times here and elsewhere on the internet. Al admitted that service for customers who were forced to deal through Canada Post would be obviously slower. There is no question that my ability to walk into their shop certainly didn't hurt.
Nevertheless, the courtesy and consideration with which my problem was handled was excellent, and I can't fault the no-questions-asked, fix-it-or-replace-it way it was handled. Bushnell will continue to get a fair chunk of my optics dollar.
John
I spoke to a helpful gent named Al, who listened to my tales of woe and then explained that the Simmons was long out of production, and since no parts were available for it any repairs would be impossible. He suggested that I take a replacement scope, and then spent a fair bit of time going through the catalogs of Simmons, Bushnell, and Tasco, attempting to find a model that approximated the specs of the old Simmons to the best extent possible. I explained that the feature that mattered most to me was the exceptionally long eye relief, which made it possible to mount the scope low and forward of the hammer on leverguns and other exposed-hammer firearms. He eventually found a Banner model, designed for mounting on cantilever-equipped slug barrels and certainly far superior, optically speaking, to the old Simmons. He went into the back of the shop for a few moments, and then returned with my old Sharpshooter scope already fitted with its replacement turret cover, and a brand-new Banner shotgun scope to replace my old one...no charge.
A decades-old, bargain-basement scope replaced with no questions asked, in minutes, and at no cost to me...that is service as it should be, but rarely is. I have experienced that level of service with Leupold, but all other optics manufacturers with whom I have had dealings have fallen far short of that mark...that includes Zeiss (good service, but sloooooooow.....), Swarovski (mediocre service, and slooooooooooooooow....) Minox (good work, but still far from rapid), and Nikon ("here are your binoculars, sir....that will be $90, please...cash or charge?").
I have heard Bushnell's reputation slagged several times here and elsewhere on the internet. Al admitted that service for customers who were forced to deal through Canada Post would be obviously slower. There is no question that my ability to walk into their shop certainly didn't hurt.
Nevertheless, the courtesy and consideration with which my problem was handled was excellent, and I can't fault the no-questions-asked, fix-it-or-replace-it way it was handled. Bushnell will continue to get a fair chunk of my optics dollar.
John
