Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Has Leupold CS gone downhill?

I remember when I could send them a scope and they would repair,add turrets, whatever and I would have the scope back in less than 2 weeks from the day I shipped it, and that was from Alaska. They have had my scope in their possession for 15 days and still can't give me a status of the repair. Is this the new norm for them?

It might not be that the CS has gone down, they might just be busy right now.

The wait time is variable. It seems like in winter they are slow....maybe everybody just got around to sending in the scopes that crapped out during hunting season, or waited until winter to get a new reticle in their varmint scope. It also seems like the wait increased after the CDS turret came out and more people were ordering custom turrets. I know the hold time on the phone sure went up.

There was no other direction for them to go! They set the standard

I guess when you are used to a certain level of service, and you get something different it's a bit suprising. When I sent it off I figured I'd have it back in a couple weeks not a month or more. Chit it took two weeks just to get an MOA dial, the last time I called and ordered one I had it in like 3-4 days. They must be busy doing something this winter.

Had 2 get M1 turrets last month and total turn time from Colorado was less than 3 weeks. Seemed pretty decent to me. Need to get another boxed up.

Yes, they are busy.

What is the going rate to add M1 turrents? I'm thinking about adding to two 2.5-8x's.

Thanks

WTF is a turrent?

It's like a really hard rain, you know "turrential" downpour

They are one of the fastest in the industry. They make a great product, doing their best to get one in everyone hands. A lot of people send in their scopes this time of year for clean up or fix something so they are not waiting until the last minute before hunting season. Swarovski is 6 to 7 weeks out right now.
It's worth a little wait...

Don't like that, oughta try Zeiss times...... I dread sending in 2 scopes and better get to it if I want em back by this fall...

I"m used to waiting on things, the best usually take time, so I"M a bit opposite, suprised when things happen fast and usually suspicious.

TDD, 2 cost me $179 and change for roundtrip including freight.

thanks for the info. I need spell check or maybe I need to turn off spell check.

I'm one of those who tends to send Leupolds in for fixing or changes in winter, because I've got enough other scopes to keep on shooting. This winter I sent in five, and got 'em back in three weeks.

I suspect reticle and "turrent" changes are taking up more of their time, but how many million Leupolds are out there now?

John...that brings up a question, with amount of shooting you have to do...Have you ever "wore out" a scope? Glass loose, adjustments gone, etc....

Not glass loose very often, though it has happened, and a couple of times the objective bell itself unscrewed.

Have had too many scopes, of a bunch of makes, go belly-up in various ways to keep count. Often they do it in the first 40-50 rounds, but they will wear out after a few hundred rounds too.

I hope not. My LGS has about 20 that he still needs to send off to Beaverton. Been a busy month I guess....

15 days?

You been in a coma?

Try to find ammo, reloading components, Best of luck there.

Mcmillan stock, In 6 months hopefully,

order a barrel, 6 months to a year,

Gunsmiths, not even taking new work.......

15 days, gimme a break.

I just sent one in for a turrent, hope it doesn't take more than 16 days or I might go nuts.

Leupold and Burris have outstanding customer service. I like being able to send scopes in to add turrets or change the the reticle to something I prefer.I have sent both of them so many scopes to upgrade I get X-MAS cards from them.
TEXMAG

Sent a box of 6 scopes to Leupold this winter and they were all returned within 3 weeks, in perfect condition. Damn good CS from my point of view.

Steve

Just going off my past experience with them smart azz! I have never had a scope sit with them for more than 2 weeks without being touched, that's why I asked......

The wait times on warranty work are longer than they used to be. Matter of fact, I sent in a scope for some warranty work and another for some Custom Shop work at the same time. The Custom Shop order came back to me at least a week or two sooner than the warranty work. I think they're hammered right now.

It's not just Leupold either. I called Smith and Wesson earlier this week and they said if I sent anything in to the Performance Center, turnaround would be about a year. [bleep] blows.



Travis

Thanks Travis, that's what I was wondering. I can only imagine that their jump into the tactical world has added a lot of business for them too. That plus the added redfield line has to make them busier too. They've sure added a lot of stuff to their line up in that last 3-4 years.

S&W told me the same thing. I used Alex Hamilton and had my smith back in 2 weeks! S&W could not have done the work better.

I understand Leupold now employes over 700 Americans building optics. That's a company to respect and patronize

It's everybody. McMillan, Smith, Colt, Leupold. That school shooting caused such a scare everybody and their [bleep] brother became interested in guns overnight.

Everybody always says we should promote our sports. I say [bleep] that, I want the range and the mountain to myself.


Travis

Don't get me going on Alex...

I won't be sending him anything again any time soon.



Travis

+1...

Been waiting 7 months now on a guides order from Leupold. About ready to get my money back.

What did you order spj?

1 scope, 1 rangefinder, some rings and scope covers.

Sent a scope to Leupold on 01/31. They e-mailed me a notice on 02/04 of receipt and estimated turnaround of 18 business days.

Got the scope back this morning.

In my experience, their CS is very good. However, it's their initial QC that I've been disappointed with as of late.

Don't want to sound too sour but was hoping to have it for a hunt in November...

What's a "guides order?"



Travis

Are you talking about a pro deal? As I recall, the Leupold pro deal wasn't that great of a discount.

Deflave, the yhave a program that allows guides and a few other professions to buy direct a couple scopes/ range finders/ spotters a year. Not my place to quote how much but I guess I'll add its a good enough deal I haven't asked for $ back yet!

Also add sent in a scope for TMR and CDS retro and it was around 5 weeks, no problem with that turnaround for the work.

Roger that.



Travis

After the turrent change it will be ready for kudo hunting.

Cub,

What did C/S tell you about the status? Did you call and talk to a tech or just C/S? At certain times the C/S people are not able to contact the techs who have the current status. If there are unresolved or complex issues there might be an update in the computer system that C/S can reference.

Repairs and custom shop times vary during the year with no rhyme or reason. As you'd expect, wait times are longer just before hunting season. I drop off optics at the Leupold facility in Beavertown year 'round. Sometimes they are super fast, other times they are super slow. I wouldn't overthink it or draw any firm conclusions based on a couple delayed repairs.

Jason

I order through their G&O program also. Must be a high demand scope to take that long.

I don't know who I talked to as far as what dept he specifically worked in, I did the automated deal and got product tech support or something of that nature. As of when I posted this thread he said it was received on the 11th but had no other status for me. It isn't the end of the world , I was just unaware that the repair times had increased so much that's why I started this thread. Like I said Earlier, it's been a few years since I had to have one fixed or any custom work done , but it never used to take take this long.

I sent a VX II 4-12 AO scope in for M1 turrets the first part if Feb. and had it back right at 2 weeks, still cost $129. Ordered a custom CDS dial for my VX6 and had it in 4 days, no charge. I'm happy with their CS and QC.

If it's legit Leupold will fix it, don't get in a hurry though

I got an email yesterday from Leupold CS about the scope I mailed on 2/26/14. They have received it and expect it to be shipped out next Tuesday. Not bad.

When you peddle junk, you get a backlog of repairs.

I got my scope back today. 13 day turnaround from my USPS to Leupold back to my door with a new M1 turret installed. No complaints here.

I Just got a scope back from Leupold's repair dept. It had a broken erector in the scope. They got the scope in three days via the USPS. They called me to let me know they were beginning the work. I asked them if they could upgrade the reticle to a LR Duplex on the VX III while they were at it. They said no problem. $69.00, for the reticle upgrade, and 9 days from the time I sent my scope in, I had it back at my door. This included a weekend and two days of them waiting on a return call from me.

Not bad if you ask me....

No one has had more practice at customer service than leupold.

11 days turnaround last 2 times. Have another there now. All for CS options, none were broken.....

I sent a VX-ll 6-18 in for a reticle issue about 3 weeks ago, shortly after Leupold received it I got a from a rep telling me that they did not have the parts needed to repair. She asked if they could send me a new in the box VX-2 6-18 to replace it. A week later I had a brand new scope in my hand. I would call that great customer service.

drover

I sent in 2 scopes almost a month ago, one for repair and one to upgrade to M1 elevation knob. Never heard a thing and was starting to get pretty worried they were lost, I called today and was told the one was repaired and they just needed my credit card to get started on the other.
Even though I had included all my info, home and work in the box, taped to each scope, they told me they didn't have a current e-mail and that's why I hadn't been contacted. BS, I said, and even so, a call would be in order don't you think?
I still like their optics, but I can't say I was too impressed with their service.

Yes Leupold has had lots of practice on their CS mostly because people buy used scopes, send em in to be checked out and then we have turrets and reticle changes. I would imagine defective scopes make up a small percentage of their workload.

I got an email the day they received it. It's looking like a 12-13 day turnaround this time. Not bad considering 6 days its tied up in transit.

I have sent a bunch in. Under 2 weeks every time...

Has Leupold CS gone downhill?

Unlikely, your Leupold is the standard I hold all others to.

I agree with this completely. I have sent in scopes I have bought used and sent them for service. I told them up front what they were and I expected to pay for the service. They either fixed the scope and even replaced one with a new one and I never have been charged a cent. The only thing I was out was shipping to send it to them. I've used a lot of their scopes over the years and never have had a defective issue...unless I made it defective. Those I have bought I still have. Had a defective issue with a new GR 7-12x32 binocular once and that one was replaced with a new one, but that is my only defective Leupold product issue. Sure some do get them and some probably have not been contacted properly etc., but I figure nobody's perfect. I'm going to have Leupold optics of some sort somewhere in my gear as long as I'm able to use the gear.

One thing I do with any company I need service from is to be a little proactive and check with them and see what the status is. Never hurts.

Try a 2 week turnaround with Zeiss, Leica, S&B, or even Swaro who has sterling service like Leupold. Minimum 6 weeks if you're lucky. It took 8 months to repair my neighbor's Zeiss spotter, so you better send your Euro stuff back during the off season. I had a Swaro A that went tits up during a hunt while trying to killa 190" muley.....they fixed it no problem but it took them 8 weeks.

I sent a Vari X 2/ 1-4 in , won't hold zero. I got a card back stating that they received the scope on 3/12 and estimated repairs will be completed in 18 days. It sounds like they're a little bit busy.

Check that. Scope just arrived. 11 day turnaround----AGAIN......

My limited customer service with leupold was terrible. Turn around was quick but one scope comtinued to fog and another still would not make any internal changes when turrets were adjusted.

So you actually returned a scope that NEEDED work... not just a used scope returned for a free check-up.

UPS just dropped off my scope, a 20 year old VariX II 1 X 4. It was gone for 6 weeks.The issue was that it wouldn't hold zero. Here's what the repair consisted of, replaced objective lens assembly,reworked erector system,replaced windage and elevation adjustments, complete mechanical, and internal inspection.Probably would have been cheaper for them to send me a new scope.

Sent them a 2-7 Ultralight last month because it lost zero. Got a postcard back saying that the repair would take 18 working days. It showed up on UPS on the 20th day.

Forgot to mention my only other experience was when I bought a used scope off of ebay for my 375. When I got it I could tell it was old and had been well used or maybe even abused. After mounting it up, on the third shot it went completely out of focus. Sent it in with a note explaining what happened and they sent me a brand new scope.
Count me with the Leupold loyals.

I sent 2 FX3 6x42 scopes in for a reticle change. I got them back in 6 days.


P

What did you go to?

I always have great experience with Leupold

If you want to know just how good their CS is, PM me