Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Big bucks investment who wins the warranty support

I've heard lots of horror stories and equal rave reviews of most of the big players for warranty support.

I'm not a lawyer, so reading some of the warranty documents to compare them gets tedious. Guess my questions are simple over all

Company name. Years of warranty , transferable to or from another owner, does it include accident repair like dropping or water intrusion.

Then this is more opinion, how do they treat problems? Like you're bothering them? Like your the most important customer in their lives? Something in between.

Do the send repairs to Europe, serviced in America?

Turn around? Communication with customer upon receipt of the service item?

We mostly agree that bino's for example are very personal and not all brands fit all people. However some times I read here folks saying they have whittled down the choices and it's difficult to pick.

So maybe the warranty is the deal maker on the choice. What's been your first hand experience, no hearsay just your personal experience with repair and support..

I'll start off saying Leopold has been 100% flawless! only a week turnaround and always free. This for scopes. Never had leupold bino's.

Swarovski has been good, but took two months.
Nikon..... Never again. Worthless support just horrible by comparison. Argumentative, un responsive, and unfriendly.

Here's my limited, personal experience:

Leupold-support only, no repairs, 100% satisfied

Swaro-repair broken scope, misc support, 100% satisfied

Meopta- I didn't like the cheesy ocular covers on my 10x42HD's. They offered to send me some good ones free. They did, quickly, 100% satisfied.

Nikon-support was clueless.

Good topic!!

I'd like to hear how Weaver scopes CS and Warranty has been recently for Campfire folks.

Thank you......

FjLee

Hard to beat Leopold and Swaro in this category. Wouldn't touch a Leica for this reason alone.

Yes, good topic. Edited to add: this is NOT on the big bucks end but FWIW a comment on Nikon bad CS ad then extra good CS.

My son bought a low end pair of 10x50 Nikons while he was in high school. Surprisingly clear glass for the money. Within a few months the internals came loose. Nikon wanted $25 to repair them under warranty. Sent them in, got them back and within 30 minutes of minimal handling, the internals came loose again.

Phoned Nikon and they were hard as nails: "You broke them again, so send us another $25 and we will fix them." I was angry.

About three years ago I was at the Sportsman Show in Puyallup and my BIL stopped at the Nikon booth. I told him their warranty was useless and their customer service rude.

The fellow in the booth asked why I said that so I told him the story above. He told me that they have had bad customer service in the past but were working hard to give good service. He told me to send them in again with a letter. The old binos were long gone to grandchildren play, but he said to send them a letter anyway.

I did, mentioning him and saying that if they were going do anything that I preferred 8x32 ATB Monarchs and would pay the difference.

They sent new 8x32 ATB Monarchs at no charge.

Ten years ago some Nikon binoculars fogged. They senet me an upgrade for no cost. I have no idea how they are with scopes.

Bushnell turned my original 6500 4 1/2-30X50 around in a couple weeks. My complaint was it was blurry above about 25X. When I got it back it was crystal clear at the top end, but blurry below about 10X. I returned it for a full refund. They have a one year satisfaction guarantee on their Elites.

Interesting call this evening on this vary topic!

Zeiss binocular warranty is good for the life of any owner if purchased originally by an authorized dealer in the USA.

Leica and swarovski do not allow this. Warranty is only to original purchaser and some vintages of products were 10 years only. Steiner is 30 years.

With this said, swarovski has been known to support the current owner of a swarovski product originally purchased through and authorized dealer consistently. I don't know if they have this in writing anyplace, but they seem to honor this practice.

Leica would not, according to the fella I spoke to. His opinion, Zeiss because they put it in writing was the top support with swarovski effectively equal but not in writing, and leica I distant third for customer support.

It seems that Leica gets a bad rap on warranty. Maybe it's deserved? It is sure a more common theme then the Zeiss and swarovski brands. I've owned several Leica products in my life. Nothing has ever broken or needed to be repaired. My trinovid BA's are probably one of the oldest most heavily used things I've ever owned too.
Built to withstand about anything I've thrown at them. Hope I never need to experience a service visit.

Swaro will support you and turn around is much quicker typically
Leupold set the standard

Those are the two I wouldn't hesitate to trust

Vortex- As good as it gets.

Only had to use once for a pair of binos that I dropped, but they were excellent

While Leica has a better image to my eyes, I will never buy another set. $479.00 was the quote to "clean" and replace the little plastic cap on the adjustment knob. It took 2 months to get the binoculars back after I told them no. (Maybe things have changed, this was 3 years ago)

Swaro. was easy to work with and had a very quick turnaround when I sent them binoculars to be serviced.

This disturbs me. Can anyone vouch for improved customer service from Leica? I don't want this thread to become a Leica CS bashing thread (I've seen those a few times). Just wanting some more recent first hand experiences.

If you've followed my current bino quest, I am impressed with the Ultravids and considering them. But for $2K, and hunting in a dusty part of the world (west Texas), it concerns me that something simple as getting them cleaned would be a huge hassle.

I have a bunch of Leupolds. Good for me, I never had to use the warranty - yet anyway.

Swarovski, years ago, not so, good. Last ten years, or more, great. Scope that wouldn't hold zero, fixed at no cost quickly.

Broken adjustment wheel on my old SLC. Repaired, plus cleaned and I think new lens installed at no charge. Better than new.

SIL bought a newer SLC from a guy that found them on the side of the road. Likely fell off a moving vehicle. The lens retainers were all damaged or broken, as was one adjustment wheel, but the glass looked good. He asked me about repair. I boxed them up, told the story on note to Swarovski, and asked for a repair estimate. A couple of weeks went by, then the glass came in the mail repaired and a no charge invoice included. This and the rifle scope were bought used.

Jack

I've only tried Bushnell, Nikon, and Vortex for any CS issues. Bushnell and Nikon were hit and miss, Vortex was great.

I've found it's best if you search around and find someone like a Senior level Marketing Manager etc that has some pull. If you can get in contact with them, things seem to happen quickly.

I'm sure that Leupold and Swarovski will be tops as far as CS is concerned, but I had two very good experiences with Steiner. Once was when they were being handled by Pioneer Research here in NJ and the other was when they switched over to Burris in Colorado. My 7x50 Whitetails developed a leak a couple of years ago and these bino's are at least 25 years old. Pioneer Research told me to send them in and that they would have to be sent to Germany for the repair. I was quoted about a 2 month turn around and that was accurate to the point of only several days. They cleaned them, purged them, replaced all the seals and greased what needed to be greased and didn't charge me a dime. The hinge also was replaced as well. My concern at the time was due to the age I didn't think they would still have parts but all was well. My other experience was with a pair of 6x30 Whitetails that were given to me by a close friend so they had value way beyond the cost. These were also about 25 years and not a big seller for them so I didn't expect them to have any parts to do the cleaning and resealing. I was pleasantly surprised when I got the call from Burris that they were able to find the necessary O-rings to do the job. With all the crap that is flooding the market these days from Asia I would seriously doubt that many of them would stock parts on a bino that were that old. They were returned to me in about a month and a half looking like new.

I purchased a Zeiss Conquest 3x9-40 rapid Z when they were clearing them out, when I received the scope it had a small defect in the glass, looked like a chipped windshield. Sent into Zeiss for repair and ended up with a HD5 3-15x42 RZ 600 as a replacement, with no cost to me.
Also had great CS from Vortex.

I've had great CS from Zeiss and Leupold. Haven't had the need with my Swaros.

Eric

Can't beat that with a stick.

Those I have used:
Leupold A+
Zeiss A
Swarovski A
Leica (binos in now waiting for response)

I have used customer service from the following, here the grade I would give them.

Swarovski A (3 products)
Zeiss A (2 products)
Vortex A (3 products)
Nikon C (4 products)
Bushnell D once and a A once (2 products)
Leica F twice (will never buy another product again!!!)
Minox A so far, will see more in a couple weeks. (1 product)
Leupold A (4 products)
Kahles B ( a bit lax on communication but once that was settled everything was great. (1 product)

My CS experience with the following:

Leupold +A (3 scopes)
Swarovski +A (1 scope, 1 bino. Bino's were my fault, Swaro fixed for free.)
Meopta +A (1 scope)
Nikon F (4 scopes) I will never buy another Nikon product.
Steiner +A (1 bino)