Zeiss - Customer Service

[Woodrow]

10x42 Victory HT - Had an objective eyepiece come loose internally - So I sent them back in the original box for what i thought would be covered completely by warranty. They are telling me it was because of "impact damage" and its not covered.....will cost $800 to repair. I called and very nicely explained that they were not impacted whatsoever and have just been used in typical wear and tear hunting situations. I felt the glasses were an 8 out of 10 after being approx 6 years old.

Needless to say very unhappy with the response- from one of the high end manufacturers.....

I will take my business elsewhere

Has anyone had this type of experience or am crazy for expecting these to get fixed??

 

[Elk2008]

Sorry to hear about this. $800 seems unreasonable to me for this.

 

[Spoonbill]

That’s wierd. I called Zeiss about replacement lense covers for a pair of binos that belonged to my granddad and they sent the replacements to me for the cost of shipping if not free. These binos were marked West Germany so I was suprised they still had lense covers.

 

[Jpott3]

Wow that’s definitely discouraging


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[alaska_bou]

I had an issue last year with a pair of zeiss binos. I called customer service and it became apparent they would have to go back to Germany for repair. Zeiss not only gave me a prepaid return shipping label but they sent me a replacement pair with overnight shipping. My experience could not have been better.

 

[Woodrow]

Now see- that is the level of customer service I would expect form one of the Higher end Manufacturers.

I know there will be good and bad experiences with any of them..... I was just not expecting this poor of warranty service from Zeiss.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

I had a great experience with Zeiss CS. Conquest scope wouldn’t hold a zero. Sent it back and they sent me a brand new scope no questions asked.

 

[SomeJackassOnAForum]

So, "Objective Eyepieces" don't exist. Not sure if it's an objective lens or an ocular lens that was damaged, but it sounds like they found an impact point and are probably doing a housing replacement.

If they're saying "impact damage", you probably have a deformation focus point on your housing under the armoring. You're not crazy for expecting them to get fixed, however, it sounds like you don't just expect them to get fixed, but fixed for free. If they found an impact point, that's not a warranty issue anymore than a front-end collision is a warranty issue on a car.

Paying for repairs is unpleasant. You can get a set of binos with a no-fault warranty, of course, then you're paying for every other guy's screw-ups in the price instead of for the glass.

 

[cornfedkiller]

I had a great experience with Zeiss CS. Conquest scope wouldn’t hold a zero. Sent it back and they sent me a brand new scope no questions asked.

Same experience.

 

[7layerburrito]

Yeah, I busted an eyecup on a pair of Conquest HD's and had a new one sent to me 72 hours later.

 

[Woodrow]

Well it sounds like if they are with the 5 year window - you have better luck getting things fixed / covered. I believe mine are 6-7 years old.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Hunting partner had a set of the Big Eyes....tripod blew over. He was, I think, over 5 year by a handful of days.....huge repair estimate. He now has a 5 year and 28 day old paperweight.

 

[SkunkCabbage]

Dealing with Gentec here in Canada put me over the edge waiting for over a year for replacement eye cup. It took multiple phone calls to check in and it was like I was talking to someone that didn’t took notes. Boom a year and a half later I was sent a bunch of them. Guess they got that note sorted out.

 

[missjordan]

I’ve had good experience with their customer service as well. Broken eye cups on my conquest binos and they’ve fixed them quickly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[7layerburrito]

After breaking my first one I thought "I wonder if these things break a lot..." lol. I love my Conquests but wish they were burlier, at least the eye cups.

 

[Carson76]

10x42 Victory HT - Had an objective eyepiece come loose internally - So I sent them back in the original box for what i thought would be covered completely by warranty. They are telling me it was because of "impact damage" and its not covered.....will cost $800 to repair. I called and very nicely explained that they were not impacted whatsoever and have just been used in typical wear and tear hunting situations. I felt the glasses were an 8 out of 10 after being approx 6 years old.

Needless to say very unhappy with the response- from one of the high end manufacturers.....

I will take my business elsewhere

Has anyone had this type of experience or am crazy for expecting these to get fixed??

Here is the bill I got from zeiss and photos of my spotting scope. The eyepiece button fell or broke off I honestly don't know. My eyepiece will not come off and isn't focusing properly apparently it came unscrewed inside when I tried to remove it. There is no external damage to my scope but according to zeiss it apparently needs a complete rebuild or something. I'm definitely taking my business elsewhere there repair department is the worst I have ever dealt with. Swarovski is the only way to go they have excellent warranty and service and they're optics are unmatched.

 

[sr80]

I had a pair of conquests with broken eye cups as well, i had them taped with electrical tape for years. Tape did the trick for me, but last summer on my sheep hunt and dropped them and they rolled 500m down a mountain and off a small cliff. I found one half of them, they broke right at the hinge section. The glass didnt break and my outdoorsmans adapter was still threaded onto the side i found. So i was still able to use them on my tripod as a monocular for the remainder of the trip. So when i got home i reached out to zeiss usa. (i am in BC) And the guy told me to reach out to gentec, so i asked him do you think there is any point to even reaching out to them, i was outside of my 5 year no fault warranty time. And he said they might take care of you. So i reached out to gentec, a couple months later they finally got back to me after me sending multiple emails. They told me to send them in. So i did, thinking wow they might actually help me out. So after a few weeks they tell me they are sending them to Germany now. Then i get an email with an invoice or a new set of conquests at a "discounted price" which was a few hundred more than cabelas was selling them for. And a bill for $50 for the inspection / quote LOL. I sent them pictures of the "monocular" it was clearly effed and beyond repair. There was no way it needed to go to germany to be come up with that conclusion. Anyway I told em i wasnt paying their inspection fee and bought a pair of mavens, which i think are better anyways.

Im not mad they didnt replace them, but i thought maybe there was a glimmer of hope being that nobody communicated that they were going to just be inspected to see if they could be repaired at a cost to me.

 

[Carson76]

I had a pair of conquests with broken eye cups as well, i had them taped with electrical tape for years. Tape did the trick for me, but last summer on my sheep hunt and dropped them and they rolled 500m down a mountain and off a small cliff. I found one half of them, they broke right at the hinge section. The glass didnt break and my outdoorsmans adapter was still threaded onto the side i found. So i was still able to use them on my tripod as a monocular for the remainder of the trip. So when i got home i reached out to zeiss usa. (i am in BC) And the guy told me to reach out to gentec, so i asked him do you think there is any point to even reaching out to them, i was outside of my 5 year no fault warranty time. And he said they might take care of you. So i reached out to gentec, a couple months later they finally got back to me after me sending multiple emails. They told me to send them in. So i did, thinking wow they might actually help me out. So after a few weeks they tell me they are sending them to Germany now. Then i get an email with an invoice or a new set of conquests at a "discounted price" which was a few hundred more than cabelas was selling them for. And a bill for $50 for the inspection / quote LOL. I sent them pictures of the "monocular" it was clearly effed and beyond repair. There was no way it needed to go to germany to be come up with that conclusion. Anyway I told em i wasnt paying their inspection fee and bought a pair of mavens, which i think are better anyways.

Im not mad they didnt replace them, but i thought maybe there was a glimmer of hope being that nobody communicated that they were going to just be inspected to see if they could be repaired at a cost to me.

If that had been Swarovski for 700 bucks they would have fixed them. I had Swarovski 12x50 el ride 10 miles on top of a car before flying off. I sent them in with smashed eye cup and big hole in the main housing. Pretty much destroyed and they were 6 or 7 yrs old. Swarovski called me up and apologized for the expensive Repair quote of just under $700. I didn't even blink I paid the bill and they sent them back like new. It was a completely reasonable repair cost for the damage. Zeiss however sent me the quote I posted on a scope with no damage anywhere. I have 3 of my items at Swarovski right now and only one had a charge. They are replacing all 4 lenses in my 10x42 els for $250. They're over 10 yrs old and well used.i have no complaints. I had a personal call from a repair manager about a $50 charge on an eyepiece for my spotting scope and he explained everything to me. They were replacing one lense due to scratches for $50. Anyway if your purchasing in the future trust me Swarovski is unmatched. I wouldn't waste your money with zeiss. They offered me another scope at a $500 discount so I asked him why would I consider that if they can't fix mine. He told me how great there warranty is. It was hard not to lose my mind why he was telling me that my scope was junk but if I bought another piece of junk from them he would warranty it. Trust me and buy Swarovski. I'm going to save my photos and info from zeiss and spend some time informing the public about they're customer service. In my opinion zeiss has the worst repair department I have ever dealt with. For anyone that doesn't believe me here are my 4 scopes and there's a reason 3 are Swarovski. You can look at all of my scopes including my zeiss. There is no damage to the zeiss. It literally has a button missing and they told me it has internal damage and they don't make money on repairs. How is that possible if they cannot replace a button for less than $1400. It's not a NASA telescope

 

[Carson76]

Now see- that is the level of customer service I would expect form one of the Higher end Manufacturers.

I know there will be good and bad experiences with any of them..... I was just not expecting this poor of warranty service from Zeiss.

I honestly almost fell out of my chair. I had to call 4 or 5 times and still have not heard from anyone. I just wanted someone to explain this quote. The gentleman I spoke to just repeatedly said ya I understand your frustration your scope looks very good but it has internal damage. I asked him how I could have damaged it so badly without even a scuff. I have another eyepiece so we will see if they at least got the button to release because my scope is fine. Either way I would never purchase another zeiss product. If there limited lifetime warranty actually covers anything I would sure like to know what it is

 

[sr80]

I honestly almost fell out of my chair. I had to call 4 or 5 times and still have not heard from anyone. I just wanted someone to explain this quote. The gentleman I spoke to just repeatedly said ya I understand your frustration your scope looks very good but it has internal damage. I asked him how I could have damaged it so badly without even a scuff. I have another eyepiece so we will see if they at least got the button to release because my scope is fine. Either way I would never purchase another zeiss product. If there limited lifetime warranty actually covers anything I would sure like to know what it is

thats super annoying, one would think that because it has internal damage ( no way that you could of damaged it ) they would cover that. But ya i wont both with ziess ever again, i do own a swaro spotter as well