Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Very Disappointed with my Sightron S-TAC 4-20x 50mm

I took a chance on the brand and should have listened to the voice in my head and I'm feeling pretty disappointed. I read lots of really good reviews all over the internet on their CS and the quality of the products.

When I received the scope it rattled out of the box. How can a manufacturer miss that in this day and age? I did mount the scope thinking maybe side focus scopes rattle - wrong they are not supposed to (Doh!)

After discussing with Sightron they wanted me to return it to them on my dime. They received it Friday 5/6/16 and after several attempts to find out the status on my scope they finally e-mailed me today 5/13/16 (Figures the Friday the 13th thing bite me). I won't receive it back until May 27th because they need parts from the factory to "repair" my scope.

The optics looked great but the customer service with respect to this incident are terrible. Never even fired broken out the factory door. I suggested they return the scope to the factory so they can see what they screwed up and to make me happy by sending me a new scope. Nope they are hearing none of it.

Just want to pass along a story about how unsupportive Sightron is in reality. I'd read so many good things about their CS, but that isn't the case for me.

Not sure about the complaint policy here
but this was approved by me Ted Culin, Tigard Oregon

The only thing that I think shows poor CS is shipping at your expense for a factory defective scope. They should have sent a pre paid shipping label. Did your retailer provide a solution at all?

I don't see how you think one week to diagnose and two weeks to fix a scope is unreasonable. It isn't. I also would have waited until I received the scope to make up mind and take to the Internet.

Why didn't you return it to the store where you bought it? Most will take scopes back if it wasn't mounted.

New scope defective out of the box... Only proper remedy IMO is replace or return for your money back.

My experience with their "customer service" is similar. No more for me!

Wonder why we buy Leupold ?

I'd send a brand new broken leupold back to the store too, not to leupold.

If the store wouldn't take back a broken new product, I'd say that's a larger reflection on the store, not sightron.

So we can all use their "excellent customer service"....

The best customer service.... is the kind you never have to use.... kinda like a carry pistol....

Sightron has poor CS.

Rattling out of the box is a good sign it was broken - assuming it happened at the factory rather than in transit is overly pessimistic at the very least. I certainly trust Sightron more that the horrible USPS.

Was it purchased at a retail outlet? My understanding is that if that were the case you should be able to pick up an in stock replacement on the spot according to their warranty.

If they return it in new condition in 3 weeks that doesn't seem unreasonable. In my lone experience with Leupold repairing a scope it would be the same with no extra hanb holding communication - but I wasn't expecting it.........but the Leupold did provide 20 years of service before going bad.

But if you are the kind of customer that needs the reassurance and hand holding to make you comfortable - you should only deal with local retailers who can give you that or really exceptional on line retailers CameralandNY is terrific but they take days off and get busy, Cabelas is very good and you could check status 15 times a day if you wanted.

I ordered my S-Tac directly from Sightron, and received excellent service and communication in doing so. My scope had no rattles...and after mounting it today, seems very impressive.

Did you read this on Chuck Hawk's?

No I did not read it on Chuck Hawks. I know a dealer that quit carrying Sightron due to poor service. I actually bought 3 Sightron Big Sky scopes from him, and then he would not carry them anymore. His main wholesaler is Graph and Sons, so he can supply anything in their inventory but won't accept Sightron orders. The dealer is Chickens shooter supply, and I imagine he is one of the most popular dealers for rifle silhouette needs. One of his best sellers is a 1/2 moa dot 6x20efr direct from Leupold custom shop. The sightron silhouette special was a direct copy of that model. Sightron has since dropped this model.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/chicken-shooters-supply-jacksonville

I have considered the Sightron but have heard and read so many negatives I could never make myself purchase one.

Just imagine the disappointment I have now that I found out that Swarovski scopes are no good...

shrapnel,



It's not that they're no good. It's that they are not as good as many of us thought they would be.

S&B, Swaro, Zeiss (non-conquest), Kahles are best

Leupold, Night Force close second

the rest

Savage 110 with a Swaro =s smart

Weatherby Mark V with a Sightron =s not smart

We spend thousands to hunt but resent spending a grand for a scope ? HUH ?

I killed a sightron a few years ago. They sent me a free hat, knife, and new scope.

That being said, I'm not a retard. I would not go through warranty on a broken brand new scope. I would return it to the vendor for a refund.

My experience with Leupold has been that they won't send me a prepaid shipping label either unless it's already been in for repair and they sent it back unfixed. (I've had several come back that still had issues and had to be sent in a second time.) They also usually take 4-6 weeks for me, so I don't really see how Sightron is any worse here. My experience with other manufacturers is also pretty similar. Burris is the only one that I've gotten to send me a pre-paid label on a scope the first go around. So, this experience imo is about as good as you should expect from any scope manufacturer.

Why didn't I wait to post my customer service experience - why wait there isn't anything more they are going to do for me. Maybe I should have looked a lot harder for bad customer service complaints regarding Sightron, but after five or six page of nothing but good things to say I took the chance.

Why didn't I return it to the seller. I was told by Sightron that since I had mounted the scope (Read Original) I had to return it to them instead of Midway who I purchased the scope from. The scope isn't available anywhere locally.

Yes I've experienced many CS interactions with Leupold. I guess I'm lucky that I can drive to their location in minutes. That said they rely a bit too much on the "excellent" customer service department instead of putting a bit more money into their scopes so, like someone already pointed out, you never have to experience their customer service department.

Why didn't I blindly plunk down over a thousand for a new scope from Night Force or Leupold, well simply put I don't have a spare grand floating around since my truck just cost me $5k in repairs.

Many moons ago I had lots of trouble with my Leupold scopes long and short is I sold them all and went to Weaver Grand Slams - never had an issue - zero. So after listening to some of the bench rest guys at my gun club who were using them and liked them I took a chance.

you all have a nice day now ya hear

I'm not sure the S-TAC line is the same level as the SIII line. The SIII line is a great value. Great glass and tracking. I've only had to send in one SII several years ago and I received good CS.