When it comes to brands that market their no questions asked, lifetime warranty, particularly one with a reputation for not only replacing products, but regularly replacing said products with upgraded products, I recommend asking some questions.
The first question would be this, why would they replace it vs repairing it? It could be that they just want to make a customer happy. Or, it could be that it is just as cost effective to replace it as it is to repair it. $$$ is most always the deciding factor in business, particularly in a situation where a company has multiple options to choose from (repair vs replace) that can/will fulfill their commitment. IF for some reason the answer to the above question is that it is lower cost to replace, the next logical question to me is how can that be? How could it be, for example, lower cost to replace a complete scope vs repairing a canted reticle, or replacing an erector system that doesn’t work properly? I’ve been around manufacturing and manufactured goods my entire career. I can’t see that there would be more than one hour of assembly labor in most rifle scopes. How cheaply made (cost of scope to company) does a product have to be that it doesn’t justify spending even hour of labor, plus the cost of the defective component, to repair it vs just giving away a new one.
After coming to terms with the above, consider what type of cost vs price structure, or margins need to be in place for the above business model to be profitable. Keeping in mind that they have to cover overhead and what must be the largest marketing budget in sporting optics. Now, if a Vortex Viper 2.5-10x44 sells for $500 at Midway, and that $500 covers both Midway’s and Vortex’s profit demands, plus Vortex’s marketing, plus some margin to cover their warranty costs (to replace whatever % of them fail), etc… how much of that $500 is left to pay for the actual cost to produce the scope. $200? $100? $50? At anyone of those, it has to be made from CHEAP components.
I’ll take my chances, and my money, elsewhere.
Carry on……LOL
I think replacing the scope is to make the customer happy. It doesn't just make them happy because they are getting a brand new scope, possibly even an upgrade but also keeps the customer from having to wait on the repairs. There are plenty of nightmares out on the internet about poor CS from scope manufacturers. From the very get go, vortex has been about customer support. When they first started appearing on the market, everyone was talking about their great customer support and how it was the best CS in the industry. It has helped them a great deal with sales. I know I bought their scopes because of all of the hype. I mentioned before that I am not all that impressed with the glass but they seem to be solid scopes. I have had 4, none of which ever had to be sent back. As for their cost, I think if the scope is repairable, they repair it and sell it as refurbished. There is a website aaoptics that sells refurbished vortex scopes. Also, how many scopes get sent back? If its low percentage compared to sales then replacing a defective scope with a new one is no big deal.
I am with you as far as taking my money elsewhere simply because in my opinion the quality of the glass itself does not compete with other scopes in the same price range.
