Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leupold won't be Getting ANY more of my business!

Yea, everyone without a duplex on a 30-06 is just a plain retard...and a marketing hype victim... Aic

NOT

I've known for years that Leupold won't warranty Premiers work or the scope, thats the reason Premier offered that service and they spelled it out that Leupold wouldn't warranty the scope since it had been modified and you had to send it to them. Up until the passing of Dick Thomas there never was a problem (maybe Dick had a commitment from Leupold) now Premier is walking away from that business and spelling out a NEW WARRANTY blaming Leupold. Right now you can send your scope back to Premier they changed the reticle or what ever took the scope apart to make those changes hold it up and just say nothing wrong with the reticle send it back to you saying it's leupold's problem since they didn't manufactor it. I think Premier screwed their customers.
I've got four boosted leupolds that Premier did and so far haven't had any problems. Just my .02

How did Premier screw thier customers? If you can't get parts you can't fix scopes. Sounds more like an issue with Leupold to me.

Terry

Whether it is a pickup or a jet airplane , no manufacturer is going to allow an outside shop to work on their product without the warranty being voided .

The fact that Leupold allowed this for years speaks to a relationship with Premier . This is REALLY unique when you consider the length of the warranty on loopie scopes .

Nothing lasts forever and sounds like the marraige went south .

In my view , the last guy that worked on it is responsible . That would be Premier . I'll just keep on buying loopies with the duplex 'cause that's what 'Stick said to do ! [I tried to drag one of the smiley faces up here but the little bastard wouldn't come ]

Leupold has the best warranty in the optics, and perhaps the shooting industry. I can't see why they wouldn't warranty a scope that Premier worked on when they'll work on a scope you drove over with your pickup---------or better yet, bought at a garage sale for $10 w/o glass in it. Are the bean counters at Leupold getting sharper pencils, or is it just an old marriage finally coming to an end?
222

Bingo ...more greed from Leupold

I gotta chime in and ask what is the big deal with the reticles? Seems to me like a solution to a non existant problem. Im not flaming, and I don't know anything about these aftermarket reticles. I do know Leupolds. Good quality for the money. There is better, but the jump in price, to my thinking kinda makes the better ones hitting that point of diminishing return level. I can clearly see the differences in the high end german glass over Leupold, I just don't know how much real world difference it would make in my hunting. The one thing I have never considered is changing reticles. But thats just me.

If Leupold endorses these reticles, and will ship them out for special orders to customers through Premier to have the work done then to the customer (if thats how its done)...then Leupold should warranty them as well. IMO. If this is something done totally aftermarket, then I understand if Leupold wont warranty them. Since Ive never studied about it, I have to claim ignorance.

280remguy - Leupold doesn't \ didn't ship the scopes bought directly from them. They offer a limited line of reticles and if a customer preferred something else they would just send their Leupold to Premier. You could also buy Leupolds directly from Premier with the reticle of your choosing. Perhaps if you tried a Premier #4 you might understand better why they are so popular. I have had a few Leupold's changed by Premier and their customer service is every bit as good as Leupolds. As for Leupolds "best in the industry" warranty it sure looks to me like others have caught on to the success of their lifetime warranty idea and are now offering the same. Time will tell if they are as good as Leupold about honoring them BUT what a lot of hunters are saying is that for less money you can buy even better glass than Leupold offers and get things like click adjustements and scope covers. I think this is going to bite them in the a$$. A big reason I might spring for the Leupold is because I could get it from Premier with the reticles I choose. Now I just won't spend the money on a Leupold. I already bought a Burris with a #4 and if these offerings expand and Nikon and Sightron and Weaver start offereing more reticle options this will cook Leupold in my opinon. Perhaps this industry pressure has already caught up to Leupold and this separation from Premier is their way bring a little cash into their coiffers and band-aid the bottom line. That is something a corp. might do if it was plannig to sell????? Who knows- but the whole thing seems like very short sighted planning to me.

Who's threatening Leupies warranty? Nikon comes close, but charges a small fee and shipping IIRC. Most other companys require some proof that you're the original purchaser. Leupold only cares that it's their scope, and charges nada.

Who's making better scopes for less money. Better needs to include not only optical quality, but water proof, and a huge "eyebox." Agreed on the need for click adjustments, but Leupold is adressing that finally.

BTW, Tasco, the leader in CHEAP (in all respects), won't honor the warranty of their older (pre buy-out) scopes even to the original owner. So all you Tasco owners, take care of your older glass. This should be a new thread probably, but oh well.

280 Rem guy I have Premier dots in all my scopes T6 weaver as well of all my Leupolds except my LPS premiere can,t do the LPS model and many of friends have them as well, none of us have ever had any problems, my friends Leupold has 2 dots one #3 and one 1/4" for target shooting, they wires that hold dots you can hardly see them Leupold dots seems like there attached to cables. and who wants a 1"dot to target shoot thats all leupold offered a few years back we being dealing with Premier for 35 years sad to see marriage break- up. I am sure Premiere was a very large seller for Leupold

I'd bet Sightron has a better warranty.....it breaks, you take it back to the retailer or send it back to Sightron. They don't care if your the original owner or not. I pick the SII over the VX-II everytime, not always so with certain VX-IIIs though. It sounds like a good business move for Leupold if they are taking that part over for themselves. Maybe Premier can look into different brands now, not a bad thing either. But then again, I drive a duplex and an '06 so... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

I might be mistaken but I am almost certain that the Generation II first focal plane mildot can only be had from Premier Reticles. Also you can get the gen 2 in the loopie spotting scope. The gen 2 is the cats meow and I heard a rumor that the army was going to shift over exclusively to it in loopie scopes for the sniper rifle.

Also some folks feel that a loopie that has been run through the premier folks hands is a tad better assembled with a tad better QA than a standard loopie. Just stuff I heard.

This situation is a bad thing for us the customer I think because just like the other fellow said- who can afford them super high priced ferrrrrin scopes anyhow? Not me for sure!

Crap. Just when I get the game figured out they change all the rules!

Web page with Leupold history Leupold has been in business since 1907, made scopes for the military in WWII, and has sold sporting scopes since 1947.

I don't know when Premier Reticles started, but it probably wasn't before 1907. FWIW, Premier is listed in the 1957 Gun Digest at a Silver Springs MD address, but is not listed in the 1955 edition.
--Bob

at least premier left to work with the best scopes in the business

GG,

Just so I'm clear on this.........

Leupold won't warranty something that they didn't do (i.e. reticle work from Premiere) and they are bad guys.

Premiere won't warranty work that they didn't do (i.e. build the Leupold scope), and yet they are good guys.

What am I missing?

It would be preposterous to expect a company to take financial responsibility for something they have no control over (unless they are an insurance company and get paid to do so). It would be no different than Dale Jr expecting Chevy to fix his NASCAR rig after he blew the engine. Chevy would tell him to pound sand, and Leupold should tell anyone who screwed with the scope to pound sand.

Sightron will replace any product found to be defective due to workmanship or materials with a brand new product. If it breaks for any other reason than a defect due to workmanship or materials you are SOL. Leupold products that are found to have defects in materials or workmanship, will repaired or replaced. Leupold's lifetime warranty is also transferrable, you don't even need a proof of purchase. It has been known for years that Leupold has repaired or replaced a lot of scopes that failed due to actions of or accidents by their owners.

I think CAS just nailed it.

During my working years, I was a fine goldsmith. Frankly, when anyone else worked on one of my pieces, they generally screwed them up; used a lower melting-point solder (or, for pity's sake, the wrong color). And they usually broke my hard-won straight angles and planes by not knowing how to lap-polish (Oh yeah, just buff the crap out of Steve's work with Tripoli compound!!!!!).

I've even seen my platinum pieces haphazardly reworked with silver solder (the strength factor is remarkably different and the color match is nonexistant). Shhhhhh

No, I wouldn't guarantee someone else's screwups and sometimes, when it was really garbaged, I absolutely refused to work on the piece, no matter how much money was involved. It's HARD, but dammit, that's the way it is.

If Leupold made the decision not to guarantee work done by Premier, all I have to say is GOOD FOR THEM.

Steve

Steve ... what has been the working/warrantee relationship between the two in the past, written or unwritten? I was always under the impression that the relationship between Leupold and Premier was such that Leupold did nto really consider Premier's work to be "done by others" ... another way of saying it is that Premier was/is kinda like an 'authorized service center' at least with respect to reticle work, and that Leupold trusted them in that regard.

I'm just hoping that you can shed some light on what the real-world change is in the way the warranteed work between the two has changed ... not just how it's changed in print.

Then again, maybe I should just call Leupold to find out?

Friend WGM,

I have absolutely no idea about the working relationship between Leupold and Dick Thomas (Premier). Actually, I was kinda hoping that one of the Leupold guys who lurk on this site would clear that up for us.

Like most of the forum members, I always understood that there was a kind of friendly-business relationship between Leupold and Premier. Nobody ever actually told me, I just sort of knew it was there. Unwritten or written, things change, especially in business.

I did not hear about Dick's passing. He was a truly class act and a friend. We are diminished.

While I'm talking about "class acts," the folks at Leupold generally come under that heading. And the Leupold product itself totally does.

Now that I'm back to the status of normal gun-nut, and not a gun writer, I'm back to actually paying money for scopes. The last two I bought were Leupolds and I will continue to buy Leupolds. For my personal money, they are the finest in the business.

The few times that I've strayed to European optics, I've been screwed over by their short-minded typically-European warantee policies. The watch line in my store, Rolex, was precisely like that; love to take your money but they always found a way to weenie out of customer service. As a retailer, I hated that and over the years I spent literally tens of thousands of dollars making MY customers happy with their Rolex watches. Believe me, any time Rolex weenied out, I would let my customer know that it was ME, Timm's Jewelry, doing good....not Rolex. But then, being customer-sympathetic is probably why Karen and I were able to retire at ages 48 and 48; the folks loved us and our business thrived.

Back to Leupold, they totally back what they make. Period.

Steve

if yo have your truck customized at barneys garage and it breaks later, you cant expect chevy to back barneys work.
leupold is leupold. bang for buck the best out there. business is business and they cant offer everything under the sun... the fact it went on this long is a bonus but...........

enjoy........

woofer