Rifle Scopes leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

[inalabama]

i saw the recent write up on horus customer service and given my very recent experience with leupold's customer service/warranty department i thought i should pass it on.
a few weeks ago i bought a new mark 4 m5 4.5 x 14 h27 reticle mil/mil from cals sporting armory for a great price, just under $1,800. when the scope arrived i noticed it had a problem as it had 12 clicks per mil v. the 10 it should have been [so at 30 clicks where was I? 3 mils by clicks or 2.3 mils or thereabouts on the dial? enough to make you crazy!]. after posting my query Frank encouraged me to quickly call leupold as they would take care of me.
the following monday morning [first business day] i called and spoke to both Steve DiGregorio and Tim [can't remember last name]in the tactical optics dept..
i explained the situation and my dissapointment, first leupold scope i ever bought [i explained I have had nightforces and most other brands and now have some hensoldts and i decided to try this scope as i was happy with my leupold spotting scope with h32 reticle i recently acquired and i never had this type of problem before with the internals messed up [and for $1,800? "geez guys..."].
we worked out an arrangement in a few minutes, as i wanted the scope back fast to shoot a match this saturday. they agreed if i paid for overnight shipping to them, when they got the scope the next day [tuesday] they would take it into their custom shop and that day diagnose the problem & either repair it or replace the scope that same day & overnight it back to me that day at their expense so i would have it back the day after, wednesday of this week.
they kept their word and did all that. it turns out the parts internally were mixed up and they noted it had a m1 set of click internals [smaller clicks]. as they had a lead customer service tech go over the scope, inspect and fix it, their advice was that i was best off getting back my own scope. i went with that advice, got it back yesterday at 10am and "voila" the scope is perfect, clicks are dead on [10 per mil as expected, NICE!].
so while i was really dissapointed that i got the scope with a defect, within 72 hours and at my cost of $85 for overnight shipping with insurance i got the scope back inspected, repaired and in perfect condition.
i mentioned that i wondered how it slipped through their quality inspections before shipping, but I suppose this kind of thing could happen with any manufacturer [I've seen posts about lots of other brands] and it was my "bad luck" that i got one with a problem [they said this particular issue has never been brought to their attention before].
the bottom line is that i still believe that i should not have gotten a scope for this kind of money with that kind of problem and they need to tighten up their assemlby line quality control. however, with all that said, their customer service was excellent and that is what this thread is about.
i will take the chance and buy from them again in the future now that i know i don't have to worry about customer service/warranty issues and that those guys really care about their reputation and making things right really fast.

 

[jeo556]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

I'm really glad to hear that they fixed it quick for you but I'd be a lot more impressed if they didn't make you pay for the overnight shipping. I mean, you just paid an additional $85 for thier screw-up.

They are selling ~$2K scopes so they should expect that customers buying these scope may need them for competition or possibly even more serious situations. Needing the scope back right away isn't your fault. They should have mailed you a new one right away and let you ship the faulty scope when you got a chance.

Sorry to rain on your parade but this isn't A+++++ CS in my opinion, especially when talking about a ~$2K scope. Acceptable but definetly not great.

 

[inalabama]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

I never said it was A+++++ CS I said it was +++1 CS! They also are giving me some nice scope covers too...u r entitled 2 your opinion. Doesn't change mine though.

 

[BobinNC]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

Out of pocket for a new scope, bad out of the box, $1800.00.
Out of pocket, to ship it back overnight, for them to make it right, $85.00
Thinking that this is ++++1 Customer service, Priceless....

 

[Brada2]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

i have to agree with these guys, i recently bought a nightforce and when i got it there was dust inside of the damn thing....now i didnt pay $1800 for the scope but i sure as hell didnt pay $85 for them to fix it. i own a leupold and i love it so im not crapping on them but if my leupy does break due to there mistake i will never pay them a dime to fix it, and i wont ever spend another dime on there products if they ask me to pay for shipping/repair or whatever.

im glad to hear that you got your scope fixed. theres nothing worse than dumping a bunch of money into glass and getting a paper weight....i think you should call um and get some "goodies" for free like an ARD ( around $90 )

 

[inalabama]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

ok boys, i have no dog in this fight [that it seems a few of you will always want to have], i dont really care if you dont agree with my thread or not, its wasnt posted to be a poll. i suggest you buy a scope from horus as when it goes sideways they wont even call you back....
hey brada2-good idea and yes they have since sent me goodies so its now actually a wash.
fyi the purpose of this thread was to give others who ran into a leupi problem some leupi history on how they would respond and who to call, so you can stop posting here now....unless you want to waste more of your time, then go for it!

 

[Kevlars]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

Inalabama,

Glad to hear it worked out. My dealings with Leupold have been fantastic. I lost some screws for my scope rings and the mounting nut. No questions asked -- I totally expected to pay , but they just sent them out at their cost. They really have a good CS department. I own both Leupold and NF, I prefer the NF feel -- however both are very good.

 

[former naval person]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

I have several Leupolds and the service has allways been excellent. A few weeks ago my LRTactical scope dust cover got stepped on...some fumble footed oaf. I emailed and asked about a replacement and the cost. They sent me two on their dime for no charge. +++++1 service rating to my opinion.

 

[DT1]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

My experience with Leupold CS is consistent with inalabama's. The problem is, I've had to use it several times.

No such problems since I started saving up more and purchasing S&B scopes....I know anything can and will break. Just my experience.

 

[Tunanut]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

I have sent in two Leupold's over the years, they've always taken great care of me. Two week turn around both times. Never any questions asked, just send them in and they fixed it. Good to know that when you have issues with your leopold's, they are taken care of.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

Moral of the story. If you have something good to say about Leupold be careful to dose it with a taste of salt about how it could have been better.
I have owned Leupold scopes for 29 years and have put them to some rough use but I have no desire to relate my experience here in the optics section of this site. I don't feel the need to subject myself to the flagellations of those determined to find fault with Leupold.
Alabama I am glad you had a good experience and shared it despite the risk.

 

[BobinNC]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

I'm curious how someone is supposed to act/react to this post? With glee???

I mean, I would say the same about any scope maker who:

1) Performed no quality checks on an $1800. optic product. If they performed any quality checks at all, moa gears installed on a MIL turret should be an easy to find, no?

2) The poster paid $85. to ship it back to have it made right by the maker. It should have cost him nothing. It was the makers fault and problem.

3) It is ridiculous to give kudos to a company for fixing something promptly, that should never have left the factory if the first damn place. Oh, and again Leupold let the poster pay $85. for that privilege.

4) inalabama should get credit for doing his due diligence and throughly checking his scope out and finding the problem himself.

I have no problem with his sharing his experience. In fact true stories like this are very useful. The only thing I have a personal problem with, is the OP thinking that this is outstanding service and support. He is entitled to his opinion, that this is great service; as I am in my opinion that this is not great or outstanding service, support, or indicative of a quality product....

5) Someday maybe Leupold, and other makers (who maybe haven't learned yet) will learn that Quality, Customer Service, and Support starts before you ship your product, and not just fixing it quickly after it gets into a customer hands.

I've seen IOR, Vortex, USO, among others get routinely bashed for putting out new defective products, and/or having unusually high failure rates. If and when a company deserves it, they should get bashed, and Leupold is no exception.

Bob

 

[jeo556]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

Repeated post

 

[jeo556]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: armorpl8chikn</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Moral of the story. If you have something good to say about Leupold be careful to dose it with a taste of salt about how it could have been better.
I have owned Leupold scopes for 29 years and have put them to some rough use but I have no desire to relate my experience here in the optics section of this site. I don't feel the need to subject myself to the flagellations of those determined to find fault with Leupold.
Alabama I am glad you had a good experience and shared it despite the risk. </div></div>

You Leupold guys are hillarious. No one said anything about Leupold other than this instance is NOT good customer service and here you with this "shhh... we can't talk about Leupold in front of the guards" BS. Truthfully I could not care less what anyone's opinion of Leupold is.

I currently have a SS 5-20x HD on order and if it was delivered with this same problem I would hardly think it awesome of SWFA when they asked me to pay the overnight return shipping. I mean this isn't some flakes on the internal surface of a lens, or a small scratch on the tube. It was sent with incorrect internals.......that is a pretty bad if you ask me. If I were the guy at Leupold I'd be embarrassed and would hardly think it right to aks the customer to pay for the return shipping to the tune of $85. Hey, maybe I'm just a cheapskate.


If you can honestly tell me with a straight face that you think this particular instance is good customer service you are either in denial, or have been drinking too much kool-aid. Either way I would not want to play poker with you.

 

[Country]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

My experience with Leupold warranty service was also not the best. I sent back a scope because it would not hold zero. That was the only complaint . However they also replaced the objective lens system. The zero problem was fixed. However the new objective lens was way inferior to my old lens and was dull and not able to fucus right. It was obvious that they had used a cheap garbage new lens .
Afeter sending it back twice I fiannaly got onto a guy at Lepold that was a range shooter and he told me to send it back a third time and he would take it to the range and test it. If he would not use it then they would give me a new scope. Well I got an email back saying the the scopes performance was NO GOOD!and a new scope would be coming back.
I got the new scope and it works OK but it is not the same optical quality of my old scope. The question I have is , why was it not possible for the warranty technicians to see that the scope was poor optical quality with the aid of a factory lab but a guy taking it to the range could see it was crap??
I am not nocking Leupold they made it right in the end but it cost me a packet to do that . It should not take three returns to get a problem resolved and new parts should be the same quality as the original scope.
However I have also had great service from them on other issues .
Go figure.

 

[samnev]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

Had great servive with them on my Leupy spotter.

 

[slowr1der]

Re: leupold customer service/support is truelly +++1

I've also had my share of dealings with Leupolds customer service. Now, I've only used their hunting scopes and never had a Mark IV so I'm not sure if that makes any difference or not. However, I got decent service, but nothing I thought was all that great. They did fix the scopes for free and in one instance it was an older scope from the late 90's, but you also pay dearly for that warranty when buying the scope.

My biggest issue with them isn't that the service is bad, but that I've had to use them so many times. Every Leupold I've used has failed. I've owned 5 of them, and 3 of the 5 failed. The other two I sold before I ever mounted.

Even my $40 Simmons still works, and that's what I find sad. I also did have to use Burris customer service and once, and I found it much better than Leupolds as they were just as fast and they paid the shipping both ways, and while it did still come back with a small issue still, they then just replaced it with a brand new scope.

That being said, I've had to send 3 scopes into Leupold. The first one had to be sent in twice. I bought it brand new, mounted it and sighted in the gun. I then put it up for about 8 months and never messed with it. I got it out and hunted with it for a couple of days, then I noticed that when I shot it that it looked like the picture you could see through the scope was shaking.
I sent it in this time and had to pay to ship it to them. It was over a month before I got it back. I was a little annoyed at how long it took, but it was during hunting season so I guess that's why it took so long.

Anyway, I got it back, sighted it in and put it up again. I got it out 9-10 months later to check and make sure it was still zeroed, only to find out it wouldn't hold zero. It was shooting all over the place. I took it off and replaced it with a Burris Fullfield II. The Burris had much better glass and best of all it's never lost zero and still works perfectly to this day.

Leupold fixed the scope again, and this time they did pay shipping as I complained to them that this was the second time this scope had been in for repair and that I thought it was ridiculous. They fixed it and sent it back to me. This time it was a little faster, but it still was over 3 weeks. I still have the scope, and it's worked fine since then, but still has glass that's not that great and crappy friction adjustments that track like I'd expect a $30 scope to.


The next Leupold I got I bought used from a buddy that was fed up with it. He hunted with it for a year on his muzzle loader. It worked great and he liked it. He put it up until the next year. He then got it out the next year to make sure it was still zeroed. I was there with him as I was shooting my muzzle loader also which wears my Leupold. He shot it and sure enough it was still dead on. It amazed me how well that muzzleloader shot, but of course he is a great shot. Anyway, he put cleaned it and got it ready to hunt. He didn't see any deer the next 2 days luckily. Anyway, we went to help another friend zero his new muzzle loader he'd just bought. When we were shooting he decided to get his out to show everyone else how well it shot. He shot and the first shot didn't even hit the target. We were shooting at a huge target at 100 yards that about a foot and a half by a foot and a half. He shot again and still didn't hit the target. Wondering what was going on he moved closer and finally got close enough it was on paper, but about a foot off at 20 yards. He tried to adjust it back to the center and quickly found out that it was moving with every shot.

I told him to send it into Leupold, but he said he didn't even want to mess with it so sold it to me for a super good deal. I sent it into Leupold and had to pay shipping again. They claimed they don't issue shipping labels unless it's been in several times. This time they were pretty fast and I had this scope back in under 3 weeks. It was actually about 2.5 weeks. I was pretty impressed. I ended up selling this one a little while later as it was a 2-7 and I just needed more power.

Then the next one I had came on a rifle I bought. It was an older Vari X IIc that was made in 1998 according to Leupold. So it was old and I wasn't too upset to see a big piece of dirt floating in the scope. I had no problems with it since I knew it was old. I sent it into Leupold to fix once again having to pay shipping. This one took quite a while again and was around a month before I got it back, but I did get it back. I didn't use it for a month or two and then finally mounted it took it to sight in, and brought it home. When I got home I looked at it inside a well lit room and noticed that there was still either a bunch of dust in the lower portion of the scope that was clearly visible, or cracks in the internal lens coatings. It really looked like cracks or scratches in coatings internally. I called Leupold again and they agreed to issue a shipping label since it was the second time it was coming in for the same issue and since they hadn't fixed it the first time. This time I sent it in and they got it back to me in just a week and a half or so. They were fast this time.

My complaint about that time was that it should have been fixed the first time it was there, and it clearly wasn't. I don't have an issue with a 13 year old scope giving me an issue, but I do have an issue with paying to ship it in, waiting a month, and it coming back and still having the same issue only in a different spot.

I sold the other 2 Leupolds I had before I ever mounted them.

So my problem with them isn't that the service is bad. I don't think it's anything exceptional, and I've dealt with other companies that are far better, but it has been decent and they have fixed the scopes. My problem with them is that I've had to keep using their service.

When even my $30 Tasco and Simmons work great and don't give me issues, I have a problem with my $250-300 Leupolds break that often. That said, they are no where near the quality of the other $200-300 hunting scopes I've used both adjustment wise and glass wise. IMO they are very comparable to the $30 Tasco I have glass wise, and the Tasco is slightly better in low light situations. The adjustments are also about what you'd expect on a $30 scope. Yet they want to charge $250-300 for this. You pay for that warranty service many times over with them, and it's not even all that special.

Now, I'm not saying Simmons and Tasco's are great because they certainly aren't, I'm just saying quality wise that seems to be more what the Leupold hunting scopes are similar to. The hunting scopes I've spent $2-300 on have blown away the Leupolds I've used, by a large amount.