I know I may get slack for publicizing my experience with Leupold, but I think sharing will allow for an open discussion about what we as shooters/hunters/outdoors people should expect from the companies we support. I totally anticipate some will say my venting here is unjust, but I would also expect some to say "see...that's why I buy Swaros". Both can be true. In full disclosure, I only have service history with Schmidt, XLR, and Accuracy International to compare to...I don't know how others (i.e. Vortex) compare.
What Happened
Timeline of Events
What Happened
- Bought a Leupold MK5 12-40x Spotter with the TMR reticle.
- When I dialed-up the magnification (i.e. from 12x to 40x) the TMR reticle would spin in the same direction of the dial. (i.e. counter clockwise when I zoom-in)
- In addition, the scope was making an audible click sound when I was turning up and down the magnification quickly.
Timeline of Events
- Nov 21: Contacted Leupold regarding the issue and requested a warranty repair / replacement. Account created for Warranty.
- Nov 22: Shipped spotter to Leupold via UPS
- Nov 28: Leupold received scope
- Dec 7th: Received the following email from Leupold "...We have received your product and estimate warranty service to be completed in approximately 5 weeks from the date your product arrived."
- 1) Leupold does not cover shipping for warranty issues. This just seems absurd. These devices are not cheap to ship. I understand that some may take advantage of their flexible warranty and send items in for service that should not be covered, but in this case, Leupold should have at least offered to cover shipping up front with a prepaid label or advise me that they will pre-pay, but charge for shipping if the item is deemed to be outside of warranty. Accuracy International offered a pre-paid shipping label for warranty service no questions asked.
- 2) Leupold provided an unreasonably long lead-time: When I initially contacted Leupold about the warranty service the service rep wasn't able to provide and estimated turn around time beyond " a couple weeks". It took Leupold OVER one week to check in the scope upon receiving it (Nov 28 -> Dec 7). To then find it will be another 5 Weeks to inspect and repair my spotter was another kick in the balls. The reasoning was a big peculiar. Apparently, December is the busiest time of the year for optic warranty service because "every deer hunter in the country that dropped their scope or rifle out of a tree stand send their optics in for service right now". Really???? Ok, fine. But still, imagine waiting 5 weeks to service your GE Washer/Dryer....5 Weeks to repair your Samsung TV.....5 Weeks to replace a water gasket on your Chevy Silverado. I get that my scope is not mission critical to daily life like those other items, but it costs >$2K and I would have expected different. FWIW, when I wanted to have a reticle replaced in my SB PMii, it was only ~ 1 week for J to do the retrofit.
- 3) Leupold has no replacement / loaner program: When I contacted Leupold on Dec 7th to share my frustration for having to be without the spotter for so long, I also asked politely to disregard the warranty repair and to simply ship it back to be. I was told this is NOT an option because it had already been "checked in". So, at that point I had zero recourse. For a company of Leupold's resources, I was a bit surprised that they didn't offer to send a replacement or have a loaner program in place. In addition to the 5 week lead time, there is the 1+ week receiving time plus ~2 weeks for round-trip shipping. All in, I could be out for 2 months without a spotter. I have 3 matches during that time and I'm just super irked to have no backup. My plan is to mount an old Nightforce I have lying around onto my tripod. How absurd.
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