Leupold warranty experience

[couesbitten]

Just wanted to share my recent experience with all of you.

I bought a pair of Leupold Pinnacle binos 4 years ago, great glass very clear, hard to beat for the money. The next year I bought a pair of Leica Geovid binos, 'cause I had to have the range finder/bino combo. Anyway, I passed the Leupolds to my son, and in the last year or two, one of the eye cups has become loose and would not stay in the upright position.

Boxed them up and sent them in for repair, nine days later, I got a NEW pair of binos in the mail! That is good customer service.

Leupold customer for life.

[Gobble]

Their warranty and customer service is unmatched. During hunting season if you send you scope in for work they used to have a guarantee to have it back in 1 week or less. My dad dropped his rifle a couple of years ago with a 30 yr old Vari x II. It bent the scope so he called Leupold and explained this to them, unfortunatly they did not carry the size tube he had and offered a new scope at cost. They are great people.

[Ray]

Not optics but talk about unmatched service...

My friend has a cooper rifle in .22 hornet. The bolt broke while out shooting in Montana this spring. We were driving on the way back and stopped by their small facility. They mentioned that the bolt design had changed after this model. So they crafted a new bolt fix on the fly without any notice on the spot. Took about 30 minutes in their shop. No charge.

[C-Money]

I have had wonderful experiences with Leupold. They are my scope of choice! I have sent in two different scopes and got them back in about a week! Good people, worth a few extra bucks!

[firefighter4607]

  My dad has dealt with them a few times, most of the time they would send him back a new scope. We had a friend that would drop his scope every 3-4 years then send it in to them and they would replace it no questions asked.

[Huntbear]

I actually fell on my scope one year, and broke it.  Drove to Leupold, walked inside with my broken scope, walked out 15 minutes later with a new scope.  Was back hunting the next morning.

[thinkingman]

Too many stories like these for me to buy a Leupold.
I buy Burris and Nikon and have yet to send one back.

[Gobble]

Too many stories like these for me to buy a Leupold.
I buy Burris and Nikon and have yet to send one back.

  Not sure what you mean?

If you read the stories the warranties are granted with no questions asked. I don't care what scope you have, if you fall on or drop your scope on a rock you will have damage. Their optics are some of the best, if not the best.  That is why most serious hunters use them I bet 80% of the scopes out there are Leupold, they DO NOT fail. 

[thinkingman]

Too many stories like these for me to buy a Leupold.
I buy Burris and Nikon and have yet to send one back.

  Not sure what you mean?

If you read the stories the warranties are granted with no questions asked. I don't care what scope you have, if you fall on or drop your scope on a rock you will have damage. Their optics are some of the best, if not the best.  That is why most serious hunters use them I bet 80% of the scopes out there are Leupold, they DO NOT fail. 

Based on the Leupold that's on my buddies rifle that cost him a whitetail this year, the posts on this thread and hundreds of others on websites I frequent...LEUPOLDS DO FAIL.

[Bearhunter]

Dude, you drop your scope on a rock, (which I did about a month ago, still gotta send it in) it doesnt matter who manufactures it, its gonna get dented or broken is some sort of fashion.  Especially if it hits hard enough, there nothing out there thats bullet proof.  With a warranty like that its hard to buy nothing but leupold

[firefighter4607]

Based on the Leupold that's on my buddies rifle that cost him a whitetail this year, the posts on this thread and hundreds of others on websites I frequent...LEUPOLDS DO FAIL.
[/quote]

One of your buddies scope failed..... Did he have it sighted in a few days before the season? Did he drop it lately? Maybe he is just a BAD SHOT? You left out a lot of details when you are pointing fingers at Leupold. You say on THIS thread Leupold FAILED? I see all good things coming from this thread about Leupold's, only negative thing is yours! You must have a big big thing against Leupold.

[thinkingman]

Based on the Leupold that's on my buddies rifle that cost him a whitetail this year, the posts on this thread and hundreds of others on websites I frequent...LEUPOLDS DO FAIL.

One of your buddies scope failed..... Did he have it sighted in a few days before the season? Did he drop it lately? Maybe he is just a BAD SHOT? You left out a lot of details when you are pointing fingers at Leupold. You say on THIS thread Leupold FAILED? I see all good things coming from this thread about Leupold's, only negative thing is yours! You must have a big big thing against Leupold.
[/quote]
I am a daily poster and reader of a number of optics websites, and it is like every week, somebody posts how great the repair/replacement service is on Leupold.  They ignore the fact that a great scope shouldn't need to be repaired/replaced.
If the Yugo website posters said how great it was that Yugo replaced the engine that blows up every 50k miles, would you rush out and buy a Yugo?

Leupold scopes have average glass and construction, yet their pricing is 20-40% higher than other manufacturers with similar glass.
I don't have anything against Leupold other than their customers think it's great to be able to send defective items in for repair or replacement.
They shouldn't be defective to begin with.
I purchased 2 Burris FFII's after directly comparing them to Leupolds costing much more.
The Burris' have been all over the Cascades, and suffered hundreds of rounds thru a hot recoil rifle and never even broke a sweat.
That's what good scopes do.
I read a post every week about a failed Leupold getting repaired or replaced and I wouldn't buy one because of the failure rate.
That's it, I don't want to argue...THEY FAIL and get repaired or replaced ON OTHER PEOPLES' GUNS, NOT MINE.

[C-Money]

Thinkingman, Burris scopes are great! I own a few my self. I hunt in a few states every year and the airlines are not nice to gun case. They get tossed around just like the rest of the baggage. When I get where I am going, I shoot my rifle like every responsible sportsmen should. My LEUPOLD scopes are right where I left them, every time! The two times I have sent in Leupold's for "repair" was for my own piece of mind. Due to the great warranty they checked out my scopes and put in some new parts but they were in good working order when I sent them in. Got a list of things they did to each. They are in my mind, the best! Plz dont get mad, Burris is another fine American company with a great product! Glad you use them.

[couesbitten]

I had to respond to thinkingman about his, in my opinion, flawed logic. The reason you hear so much about Leupold's great warranty coverage is not because they make an inferior product that has to be repaired frequently, but because they make a great product, are probably the number one selling scope in the U.S., and because of the number of scopes out there, you're more likely to hear about someone's warranty experience.

For example, in the latest issue of Bugle magazine, Wayne van Zwoll wrote an article with the results of his random questionnaire which was given to 730 RMEF 2008 Elk Camp attendees. Now I don't know about you, but I've never been to an RMEF Elk Camp, I've always wanted to go, but the logistics and the cost prevent me from doing so. My hunch is that a large majority of attendees are more "affluential" than myself, and are thus able to afford more "high dollar" equipment than I am. So assuming that, you might expect brands like Swarovski and Zeiss to be more popular with the responders of the questionnaire.

Here are the numbers for both rifle scopes and binoculars.

Riflescopes

Leupold  395
Nikon  33
Burris  33
Bushnell  32
Swarovski  27

Binoculars

Leupold  123
Swarovski  87
Bushnell  78
Nikon  76
Zeiss  44
Burris  33


So in conclusion, based on these numbers, either RMEF members are biased towards Leupold, or Leupold is just recognized as the great product they are. A Leupold is 12 times more likely to be found on top of a rifle than any other scope brand out there. I guess that you would also be 12 time more likely to hear about a warranty repair.

One more thing. I have a Burris Fullfield that I have had mounted on my .338 Win mag for about ten years. It has been repaired twice, and I assume that it will have to be repaired again. First time it was damaged while sighting it in after initial mounting. After less than 20 rounds, reticle came loose. Three years later same thing occurred. I told Burris that I really appreciate their warranty coverage, but what I would appreciate more is a rifle scope that could handle the recoil and wouldn't have to be repaired repeatedly.

[WDFW-SUX]

I just send them a VX III to change out the reticle to a varmit hunters one....can't wait