Marbles,
Ive said the same thing many times: buy good stuff so you don't need customer service. Easy. I think I've just stopped considering them mutually exclusive. That's especially hard because I can't think of many cases where that prejudice isn't a safe bet.
Reliable stuff and "good" service-
I wanted an unnamed Firearms maNufacturer to take a look at one of their products that worked and was "in spec" but was doing something I considered troubling and indicative that something was wrong, regardless the spec. Sounds vague, but it was anything but.
They looked it over, never spoke with me about it besides the receptionist calling to collect payment for return shipping. After getting it back with no acknowledgement of anything wrong or repairs completed, and not realizing until after going to the range that nothing had been done at all, I called back.
I was told they didn't try to see if what I wrote had any merit, and gave it the same service procedures as all other items that come through the door. As requested I spelled it out for them, explained why I believed there was a defect, and explained why I believed some sort of fix was in their wheel house and within the scope of their warranty... and shipped it back a second time.
Like 5 months later I call to bug them about it and it turns out they are just "waiting to hear from me" about what I'd like to do, and told me they would not investigate what they made me write in detail for them to begin with, and refused to let me speak with the guy who got hands-on with it or anyone at all who could speak intelligently about the issue.
Their suggestion? Buy a new gun at MSRP from them, or a stock for like 800 bucks. F_ No. They say they'll hold onto it for me until I'm ready to provide payment for return shipping...
This Fiasco happeNed twice within a montH of receiving the gUn back from the firSt trip, and eAch "service" took like 2 months (not including "maybe he'll call us?" time). All said, that little customer service adventure began in January and didn't conclude until September, and by "conclude" I mean throw away 100 bucks in shipping fees and get back the same problem you began with.
Gun is fine (to them), but like the Nikon experience Maverick shared earlier, even though they've fulfilled what they consider reasonable service, I would have preferred they just send me a postcard telling me to smash a body part in a drawer and a photo of the whole service team giving me the finger. At least then we wouldn't have to be bashful about where we stand. They have the successful company, and their repair and customer service people are there so they can say they have one. That's not bustin' on the people--most were perfectly pleasant and seemed to be trying to help. Corporate policy simply left zero room for common sense to take the reigns in a weird situation.
The Nikon story was probably resolved in a way that they considered sufficient; some even call it "good." Whooptie-doo! "Good" is blah and the status quo to avoid getting a bad rap. On the other hand, striving to exceed "good" and having customer service actually be about serving customers at its core instead of just pushing a crappy corporate motto and motivational poster is rare, and to actually succeed while doing it is exceptional in my book.
Low end?
Played with most of their line but only owned things that said Razor on them. There are higher end binos out there, but I VERY recently assumed that throwing 2700 bucks at any perceived shortcomings in my current binos would guarantee of a superior product. Two days and hours of side-by-side comparison with a handful of quality (not $2700 quality) binoculars from the basement didn't turn out the way I expected or hoped.
So... I'll be listing some as new alphas will be listed here once my new-guy moratorium is up. That was an expensive, enlightening mistake. I always thought I was quite the optics snob, but probably not a very convincing one after I sell top-of-the-line in favor of some low-end kit.
The only reason I'm piping up on this thread so much is that I would have agreed with you word-for-word for my entire life up until about a week ago, and this whole discussion is pretty much a carbon copy of my little internal debate over the past few days.
I think I'll give everyone a break and knock off the walls of text. Hard to tell how long this got from a cell phone, and I'm just procrastinating some work I should have started a long time ago
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