Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Recent Cabelas Experience...

Or should I say a recent Bass Pro Shop ran Cabelas experience...

There is a house brand Cabelas Scope I have been thinking about getting..
it is their Convenant 7 Series, in a 3 x 21 power range, 50 mm objective, 34 mm tube...

I know some folks in the scope snob crowd would chuckle over a Cabelas scope, but having
several of these, they are more than enough scope to withstand the recoil of the cartridges I would
shoot out of the guns they would be mounted on... mainly chambered in 223, or 22.250 or 243...maybe 260 Rem..

Scope is normally $350.00 and its on sale for $250.00 so I made a nice leisurely trip 150 miles up I 5 to Eugene
to pick one up....escorted to the front register by one of their Optics Dept Employees.. stating security reasons..
Uhhhh. okay... sure...

Get to the register, show my I.D. if a military discount is offered....the zit faced millennial tells me "thank you for your service".
scans the scope.... and then asks... would you like to buy a 3 year protection plan for $89.95?"

Wait a minute young man.... sez right on the box... lifetime warranty.... why would I need a 3 year "service protection plan" for $90 on a scope with a lifetime warranty? I don't know sir, I'm just reading the computer screen...

Maybe I need to take this over to your customer service desk then and they can tell me over there, why your computer screen is trying to scam me out of $90.00...... Go over to customer service... middle aged gal, tells me, she has no idea why he asked me that question..... she scans it and gets the same message to ask the customer about a $90 three year warranty on it....
she says that makes no sense... it says lifetime warranty right here on the box... so she calls up some management type from the optics dept....

He comes up and tells us both, that Bass Pro made a policy change two weeks ago.... NOW ALL optics come with a 90 warranty, with a receipt... after that, there is no warranty... regardless of what the box says on the side....the customer's one option is the adittional 3 year warranty starting at $90 and going up as the price of the scope increases....Why would me or anyone want to buy a scope that has NO Warranty as soon as you leave the store?? I couldn't tel you sir, all I can tell you is its Bass Pro Shops policies now on all scopes...Do you want it or not? " let me think about it..."

Go outside and dial Cabelas 800 customer service number.. nice lady tells me this is Bass Pro's New Policy on ALL Cabelas products.. you have to purchase a warranty and 3 years is the life of the warranty, regardless of circumstances... ALL Cabelas products someone may have purchased before that time, that had a warranty, lifetime or less.. is NOW NULL & VOID....
Like my Alaskan Guide Tent for instance....plus the other Cabelas scopes I have purchased that have life time warranties...

any Name brand manufacturer for scopes, like Leupold Burris etc, come with NO warranty thru Cabelas or Bass Pro either, was what I was told.... you can purchase a 3 year warranty via Bass Pro, or you walk out the store with it, the warranty is between you and the manufacturer....

Bass Pro is not honoring ANY warranty on any products Cabelas had sold.... if not bought within the last 90 days, it has NO Warranty.....

Thought I'd share this with the campfire... needless to say, I didn't take the item home...now everything i have from them, bought in good faith, if it needs any repair, tough luck on you.....Instantly lost me as a customer.....

I've never bought anything from Bass Pro, as there are none around here..... closest one would be down in California...
but in my travels, I have been thru their stores... nothing much impressed me with the products they had on the shelves available, especially their house brand stuff....can see why they are trying to peddle an expense "warranty" for three years... kinda like who buys a scope to use for just 3 deer seasons?......

Locally I bet this is going to help Sportsman's Warehouse sales big time....we've got quite a few of those here up and down I 5 and over on the east side of the Cascades....

I work in retail at my second job. Almost all defects or problems get handled directly between the manufacturer and buyer after a couple months.

Sucks that they removed the layer of service between the two that they had given.

Same as GM. Lots of people were SOL when the bailout resulted in their "reorganization"

Very interesting.

Good to know. Thanks

Thanks for posting this John. I’ve generally stayed away from Cabelas since BP took em over but this really seals the deal for me.

Doesn't surprise me, but it certainly good that you followed up on it. I said Cabelas would be going down the toilet with Bass Pro Shops taking them over.

My son was at the Cabelas in PA. just prior to bow season, looking for camo clothing. He came home complaining that they had hardly anything in stock camo clothing wise at the store.

I have also seen they are cutting out a lot of Cabelas brand winter clothing and showing Red Head brand instead.

Cutting down inventory even of small items like fish hooks eliminating certain size hooks I always bought from them and used.

It's to the point that I really don't care to do any business with them anymore. While we don't have and Sportsman Warehouses out here, they are making small Mom and Pop shops way more inviting to the average sportsman !!!

False advertising. DA interested?
That walmart bushnell has a lifetime warranty

Yep - Cabellas/Bass Pro didn't make the item... The manufacturer did - the warranty is with them...



Yes... Buy a new Ford and bring to a GM service bay for 'warranty work' and they'll just laugh at ya... Ford built it - Ford services it under warranty..

Well why would one company honor a competitors warranty? Other than good customer relations. They get no? profit out of it- may even be a losing proposition, with an additional layer or two of paperwork. Just a thought - I know jack about this - disclaimer!

So if BasTid/Cabelas puts a NAME brand scope on sale, buy it. The warranty is then you and manufacturer. I wouldn't trust an "associate" as a middleman anyway. As to the house brand warranty BS- I too would have walked away, middle fingers in air. Waving good-by.

I have Cabelas binocs bought when they were. They sent me a new pair when it's center focus went funky for no good reason after several years use - oh- maybe 20 years ago. "New" ones worked just fine since, tho bouncing them off that bear at 3 yards a couple years back DID make this one's center focus just a little bit stiffer. No problem. Probably was never under warranty for that anyway, even originally.

Another reason I quit shopping at Cabelas. They used to have good customer service, but since the BP take over everything has been fugged up. I don't have their credit card anymore and I have not stepped foot in either store in over a year. Never will go back.

I can buy cheap Chinese/Vietnamese crap, with no customer service or warranty, off the internet, all day long. It’s unfortunate that Cabela’s sold out to Bass Pro. I appreciated their customer service on their credit card as much as their stores.

Bass Pro is doing for Cabela’s, what Kmart/Eddie Lampert did for Sears......

Just drove by the Sidney store a couple hours ago. 1st time I haven’t stopped in. No more

Haven't set foot in a Cabelas in more than a year. Bought some hiking socks on my way to elk camp last year, and browsed the gun library.

Have found no reason to go back.

I was disappointed in BPS taking over Cabela’s too as even on-line buying seemed more problematic and I had been a forty-year customer and a quite good one. But,..can’t blame the Cabela family for this. Still have our C cc’s but now primarily use a Scheel’s card.

Then I was gifted a $500 dollar C’s gift card and made my way to the Mitchell, SD store to redeem it. I burned it on a new cooler and some of the Red Head summer clothing as I needed nothing else at the time this past summer.

I was very disappointed in both the fit of the shirts and the shorts after washing the stuff all of which bunched and puckered up like a prune sucking on alum. Certainly at least clothing seems to have taken a dive, quality-wise.

It’s must be kind of sad for the Cabela family also I would think.

Yeah, I'm sure they cried all the way to the bank.

Went by there a couple of days ago. Heck 25 years ago a buddy and I were plotting driving there from western Oregon just to experience the awesomeness that Cabelas was in our minds....


What a waste. Bastids.

I honestly cannot see BassPro (and now Cabelas) making it. Prices have gone out of sight, no warranties, poor inventory selection. Better deals had online if you research a little.

When a privately-owned company charges excessive prices, it is viewed as greed.
When publicly-traded companies charge excessive prices, it is viewed differently because they can hide behind the "widows and orphans" screen.

Or you can buy the same product with an "American" brand on it for 4x the price - but, you'll get a "free" warranty.

Yes, the manufacturer warranties the product. So, all claims must be sent to the manufacturer since Bass Pro/Cabellas don't make their own products. Their extended warranty (Gear Guard) allows you to simply return it to the store for immediate replacement. It also covers damage not normally covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/gear-guard-landing-page