Think I'll join in.
Just read about Pentax pulling BS, then Zeiss. A comment in another thread reminded me about how Nikon decided they no longer wanted to be associated with greasy hunters so they quit making scopes, & how their so-called lifetime warranty is sure to fail. Damn all of them.
I'll add Bushnell. They tried to feed me 3 different loads of crap over a rangefinder I sent in. I told a newish coworker the story & he had had a similar experience, & maybe got fed more BS than I got.
Him & Bushnell? Never again. Me? I try to never say never, but I'd sure hesitate even if they came out with the best product ever.
Companies struggling more?? Or simply not caring about the customer??
I'm not in that business but, I suspect it's a "pendulum swing".
On one end of the swing you've got: "100% no fault we'll cover anything for any reason". Usually what that means is you're paying 5x + what something is worth up front so they can warrantee it for your 2x-3x before they change models and invalidate your warrantee. The resultant "minimal fee" to "upgrade" to the newest model is what I've always figured is pretty close to their actual production cost.
On the other end you've got: "What can the accountants push back onto the consumers without significant market-share loss?". Oft-times they'll have a "standard" warrantee service that is "free" but takes for friggin-ever, usually at least long enough to cost you a season worth of use. Then of course there's the "minimal fee" expedited service.
Somewhere closer to the middle is where consumers are happiest.
