Well, appropriate or not, I'm going to go ahead and relate an experience I had with CS Tactical;
I bought a Minox ZP-5, MR4 from CST about a year and a half ago. At the time, MR4's were in extremely short supply, as well as changing from the old rep on the east coast to the one in Texas (Blaser, I think). CST/Mike/Richard told me they had "found one in the system" and could have it to me in very short order (2 or 3 days). Of course, I said sure, as I didn't have to pay a premium for it. When the scope arrived, it had minor, yet conclusive indications of having been a salesman's sample (writing on the tube in pencil, faint ring marks, etc).
I called CST and talked to Richard and explained it to him. I told him that if I was buying a heavily discounted scope, that would be one thing, but for a full boat priced Mercedes or Porsche equivalent, I was not warm to the idea of potentially inheriting someone else's problems.
He asked that I be patient and he would talk to Mike and Mike would call me back within the hour. Mike called 25 minutes later. We discussed it briefly and he basically said "check your e-mail, you'll be receiving a prepaid shipping label to return it to us (CST) within an hour". 30 minutes (or so) later, I was printing out the shipping label and boxing up the "old" one (was only able to fondle it for an hour or so) and sent it back.
They (CST) received it, inspected it and said "yep, it's been used, how do you want to proceed ?". I said I still wanted a new one. They didn't have any in stock, but there was a shipment on the way. They didn't bump anyone else to put me at the top of the list (which is completely understandable/acceptable), but said that not all of the shipment was sold, so I would get one out of that shipment (which is what ultimately happened, to my satisfaction).
Edit, 092218; At no point in time did I ever think CST had any idea that the scope that they ultimately sent (routed to me) was used/demo'd. If anything, I think they were trying their very best to provide top notch customer service by finding "a scope in the system" and did not know that someone else had "pulled a fast one on them", and on me. I have nothing but respect and appreciation for CST. Like I said, they get it.
The point is that when someone spends upwards of $3,000.00 for anything, much less a scope, there is a different level of service expected by the consumer. Did CST meet my expectations ? No. They vastly exceeded them. Keep in mind, CST probably had to "eat" some of the profit from an otherwise "clean sale" and had to put it into their demo pool.....by no fault of their own. They took a hit and I took a little in terms of delivery. Fair is fair. CST are obviously in this for the long haul, and they know that. Short term thinking doesn't work here. CST are investing in their products, their business and most importantly, their customers. They get it.
From my perspective, (assuming everything that has been written previously is accurate), if I were the consumer I would have been quite disappointed in Nightforce and their policy. "Policies" are written by humans, they are not spit out of a computer randomly. Someone, somewhere, made the decision to enforce their warranty/non-warranty policy in that fashion. That fashion is not complimentary to the manner/mindset to which I buy high ticket items.
Additionally, I'm puzzled about how a scope that can have such a "stellar reputation" for being "rugged" can "just break", as described (again, assuming the description is accurate). I'm not interested in getting in a pissing match with anyone over this. There are obviously a lot of differing opinions on this subject and that's great. I don't discount anyone else's opinions any more than I think my opinion should take precedent over what anyone else thinks.
Me ? I simply vote with my wallet......Thanks CST for great C/S
I bought a Minox ZP-5, MR4 from CST about a year and a half ago. At the time, MR4's were in extremely short supply, as well as changing from the old rep on the east coast to the one in Texas (Blaser, I think). CST/Mike/Richard told me they had "found one in the system" and could have it to me in very short order (2 or 3 days). Of course, I said sure, as I didn't have to pay a premium for it. When the scope arrived, it had minor, yet conclusive indications of having been a salesman's sample (writing on the tube in pencil, faint ring marks, etc).
I called CST and talked to Richard and explained it to him. I told him that if I was buying a heavily discounted scope, that would be one thing, but for a full boat priced Mercedes or Porsche equivalent, I was not warm to the idea of potentially inheriting someone else's problems.
He asked that I be patient and he would talk to Mike and Mike would call me back within the hour. Mike called 25 minutes later. We discussed it briefly and he basically said "check your e-mail, you'll be receiving a prepaid shipping label to return it to us (CST) within an hour". 30 minutes (or so) later, I was printing out the shipping label and boxing up the "old" one (was only able to fondle it for an hour or so) and sent it back.
They (CST) received it, inspected it and said "yep, it's been used, how do you want to proceed ?". I said I still wanted a new one. They didn't have any in stock, but there was a shipment on the way. They didn't bump anyone else to put me at the top of the list (which is completely understandable/acceptable), but said that not all of the shipment was sold, so I would get one out of that shipment (which is what ultimately happened, to my satisfaction).
Edit, 092218; At no point in time did I ever think CST had any idea that the scope that they ultimately sent (routed to me) was used/demo'd. If anything, I think they were trying their very best to provide top notch customer service by finding "a scope in the system" and did not know that someone else had "pulled a fast one on them", and on me. I have nothing but respect and appreciation for CST. Like I said, they get it.
The point is that when someone spends upwards of $3,000.00 for anything, much less a scope, there is a different level of service expected by the consumer. Did CST meet my expectations ? No. They vastly exceeded them. Keep in mind, CST probably had to "eat" some of the profit from an otherwise "clean sale" and had to put it into their demo pool.....by no fault of their own. They took a hit and I took a little in terms of delivery. Fair is fair. CST are obviously in this for the long haul, and they know that. Short term thinking doesn't work here. CST are investing in their products, their business and most importantly, their customers. They get it.
From my perspective, (assuming everything that has been written previously is accurate), if I were the consumer I would have been quite disappointed in Nightforce and their policy. "Policies" are written by humans, they are not spit out of a computer randomly. Someone, somewhere, made the decision to enforce their warranty/non-warranty policy in that fashion. That fashion is not complimentary to the manner/mindset to which I buy high ticket items.
Additionally, I'm puzzled about how a scope that can have such a "stellar reputation" for being "rugged" can "just break", as described (again, assuming the description is accurate). I'm not interested in getting in a pissing match with anyone over this. There are obviously a lot of differing opinions on this subject and that's great. I don't discount anyone else's opinions any more than I think my opinion should take precedent over what anyone else thinks.
Me ? I simply vote with my wallet......Thanks CST for great C/S
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