Binocular Company Service Repair
Equipment
I was very plesently suprised today when I called the Nikon repair service and was told that my 6 year old Nikon Prostaff 10x25 binoculars would be repaired for free.( both eye caps were broken and one fell off) No questions asked, no bill of sale needed.
All I had to do was pay the postage (UPS, $14) to send it. I could expect a two week turn a round.
It seems that more and more binocular companys have or are how offering this service regardless how the product was damaged.
my best, Paul
I bought a pair of Steiners at a garage sale once for $35. They are the permanent-focus (which I love - have two pairs..) and each diopter is adjusted separately. One just spun. I sent them in for an estimate on repair and told them exactly how I'd acquired them.
A week later I received a new pair, no questions asked.
OTOH, Tom took his Zeiss 10x42s on our first caribou hunt and after day one they were worthless for the rest of the hunt. Totally fogged. When he returned he contacted Zeiss and they told him "too bad, our binoculars aren't moisture-proof". They offered to give him a small trade-in on a new pair.
I have 2 good friends who both had 15 year old Zeiss 10/32 binos....both fogged up (at different times) and were returned for repair and they both received new Zeiss binos with no hassle.
Joe
Good customer service is the best thing a company can have next to a superior product.
Thanks for the info! I bought a pair of 10x50 Nikons at a Sportsman's Warehouse 6 years ago and noticed they had a crack in the optical lens afterwards. That business is now closed so I was wondering if Nikon would still fix them.
I just did the same with of 10x42's. Both my cups were cracked and would fall off periodically. Finally lost one at a 3D shoot a few weeks ago and called Nikon fully expecting to pay for the repair and was pleasantly surprised when they said send them in the repair is free. Nice working with you Nikon!
Fogged my Zeiss classics twice. After the second time I said I wanted to trade in on a new pair. They sent back the same binos, supposedly 'fixed.' Put them on a shelf, bought a pair of Swaros and haven't regretted the switch once.
a few years ago I had leica binos that at the time, were about 15 years old. I purchased them new and had the receipt.
they developed black flecks on one of the lens' that I was later told was from an O-ring that deteriorated.
I paid shipping and leica fixed them at no charge.
I bought a swaro spotter on ebay that ended up having a defect on an interior lens. Called them, sent it in, totally rebuild at no charge.
I had a pair of leupold compacts, thoroughly abused they spent more time on my truck floor than anywhere and were often cleaned with a dirty shirt. Anyway.... I think the biggest problem was they were scratched up. I sent them in and was sent a replacement pair that retailed for neArly twice as much....no charge.
I had my entry level Zeiss's fog up on me once. Sent them in and had a brand new pair sent back to me, no questions asked.
Also had a pair of Leupold's loose the rubber eye cup and I called to see if they could send me the eye cup so I could glue it on and they told me to send them in for repair. I received a brand new pair in return at no cost.
Bot companies have treated me more than fair!
Flip side:
Brunton Epoch/Icon with unconditional no questions asked lifetime coverage...Brunton dropped their optics line and told me "tough luck".
Kowa spotting scope with receipt & original paperwork lifetime warranty. Scope fogged up (granted it's nearly 20-years old, but I'm the original owner). I was told they no longer make the scope or have parts but would give me a new model at substantial discount. Works out to be maybe 15% lower than lowest online price I can find. Whoopee (tongue in cheek).
Great to hear about brands that treat customers right!
I'm beting you're going to get a new binocular as Nikon doesn't really repair much, they just replace them.
FYI binocular is already plural, a PAIR of binoculars is two binoculars.
You can thank Vortex for that. Once Vortex came on the scene as a serious optics player with their VIP warranty, all the other players started calling out their warranty.
Nikon used to have the worst "lifetime" warranty in the business. Most cases they called the "defect" as owner neglect and would not cover under warranty.
In the past when you send in a product for warranty Nikon would replace it(if warranted) with a refirb. Never a NEW IN THE BOX product.
Got a brand new pair of Pentax after disclosing I destroyed them. They have almost all raised their game.
Had the same issue with my bushnell trophy binos. The eye piece fell off as I was twisting it. Called bushnell and was told that it would cost x amount to fix and I told them that the glass was a bit over a year old, didn't matter. I will never buy another bushnell product, it will be Nikon.
Just don't buy Bushnell! Had a.very high end bino from them, and their warranty was crap. Same experience with their range finder. Only Vortex and above for me.
Had a top end Bushnell rangefinder (Elite 1500) basically from when they came out. 8 years later it stopped working and they did nothing for me. Haven't bought Buchnell since.
APauls, what di the rangfinder have for a warranty? I'm betting being that it's electrical it had a one year or at best a two year warranty. I'm really betting it didn't have an 8 year warranty on the electonics.
Vortex did make other companies come out with idiot proof warranties also but at the expense of honest and real world users. Why should a warranty cover an optic that you dropped off a cliff or ran over with your truck? All this does is make the rest of us pay more or get less for our money because the company isn't going to eat up the added costs of idiot warranties.
As for Vortex yes they do have a good warranty but it's also probably the most used warranty because of low quality control. Ask an honest dealer and see how many Vortex come back as defective compared to other optic companies in the same price range? I own one Vortex product. I wanted a cheaper red dot for a beater AR so I bought a SPARC II, after eating two batteries in under a month I realized that no matter how low you set it it wouldn't shut complelety off. So I sent it in and yes they replaced it for free and fast but if they would have just done it right the first time I wouldn't have had to use the warranty.
