Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Poor Zeiss Warranty Experience...

i've always had good experience w Zeiss customer service. Ive paid them for some repairs too. Zeiss was always fair with me. A used 6+ year old optic admittedly used in harsh conditions and possibly tampered would most likely NOT be covered by anyones warranty.

I worked with many Germans in the meat business in my early years. The above statement is bang on.

They don't call them "square heads" for nothing.

I have had mostly good experiences with all the Alphas on my glass. Had multiple great experiences with Zeiss in the past, but just had a so-so one recently which surprised me.

I know people have banged on Leica in the past but I just had them go way above what I expected on a used set of binos I bought recently, their service has really improved.

Leupold and Vortex never disappoints as well.

I’ll just say I’ve had above and beyond great experiences in dealing with Zeiss and their warranty, from replacements to loaners.

It may be more about who you talk to, and how you talk to them??? I know the technician I dealt with was great. His name is Ben. His supervisor was an azzhat though.

I bought a 85MM Diascope brand new back in 2007.

The ocular never fit into the scope body correctly, but the spotting scope was operational and image was fine, so I kept using it.

About 2014, the coarse focus knob quick working. No worries though, still had the fine focus.

The ocular then got what looked liked a pubic hair in the interior lens.

So I packed it up and set it to Zeiss to get the 3 items repaired, mainly getting the interior of all lenses cleaned. And remove that pubic hair.

They set me an email saying the scope could not be repaired, and if I wanted, I could buy their Gavia or whatever for for a reduced price of $3,400. Such a deal……………🙄

I called and spoke to Joe. After a 45 minute “discussion,” he agreed to fix the coarse knob, make the ocular fully connect to the scope body, but not clean the ocular. We argued more, but that was his offer. He shipped it back, with the pubic hair and all.

I will never ever buy a Zeiss anything. Never ever.

And "Tampered" may just be a convenient excuse not to honor a "lifetime" warrantied product that incidentally has no stipulations that harsh conditions will void the warranty. I've seen many of these warranty complaints and for some reason it's always the more expensive models that "somehow" have their warranties voided.

You bought it used and it was tampered with. The seller was dishonest with you, if the seller did not tell you he screwed with it then what did you expect?

You are the first person I have heard have any issue with their customer service. I have never had to send one of their products to them.

I had a 3-9x40 Conquest that had started to fog. I sent it in for repair and they sent me a 3-9x40 Terra. The image quality was better on the Conquest and the eye relief and mounting length were much better too. I sold the Terra and I haven't bought anything Zeiss since then.

You would get a VX4 now if that had happened recently

I have become cynical toward all forms of warranties. They all depend on and are only as good as the vendor's philosophy of customer relations, and commitment. Golden Rule, Rotary Four-Way Test. The warranties themselves are written by lawyers, and full of loopholes. That and "lifetime" depends on the longevity of the company.

Caveat Emptor

It's pretty easy to google around and find real world experiences about who honors their warranty and who doesn't, and who kind of halfasssed does the job. The list of those who go the extra mile to please their customers is getting very short.

Hold on now, Zeiss said it was tampered with, but gave no further info on that, which is a bit suspect to me.

Who would tamper with a spotting scope, and why, in a way that could harm the focus mechanism? What could possibly be gained by "tampering"?

Zeiss may be correct here, but they may not be. On what insufficient facts we have here, I am disinclined to believe Zeiss. If the "tampering" was true, I would have expected more information.

I have been on both sides of the warranty issue, and in denying a warranty request, I would always explain the facts to the customer. I expect the same of others, and I think that comports with most people's business expectations.

Did he asK why in the hell you were trying to look at your di ck with your spotting scope?

Yep, and to further that, if he sent the Terra or old POS Diavari like the one I can buy for $250, they would send a V4 of similar power range. Kind of a win win there. As for the 3-9x42 Terra, their glass was just as good as the Conquests I've had.

Good points. My recent experience was with new home warranty. A total joke, full of exceptions, loopholes for builder. If the house falls down, maybe...

I'm not sure why Vortex gets a bad rap, the ones I have I'm happy with. I bought a used, a 2-7x32 Crossfire II off a local forum, and had the crosshair turn crooked after my second shot. I called Vortex the next day and they said we'll ship you a new scope and a return label to send the broken scope back. I said I bought this scope used, the guy said it doesn't matter, it's covered. I received the new scope in less than a week. Top notch CS in my book.

The best customer service is the one you never have to use. YMMV

That sounds good and all, but every optics seller/maker has a customer service department for a reason......they all break.

Wasn’t looking at my di ck but kinda sorta told Joe he was being one and that Zeiss s ucks if that is how they treat customers who want their optic simply cleaned and repaired with their “lifetime warranty”