Rifle Scopes Weaver Tactical Scope nightmare continues

[thequickad]

My brand new Weaver Tactical 3-15x50 scope arrived DOA with no illumination. Tried the usual troubleshooting (new batteries, checked contacts, ...etc.) Had to return to factory for repair. Nothing for two weeks, called and was told customer service was running about two weeks behind. 30 days passed, still nothing and still waiting.

Should have known better to buy a Weaver. Was very suspicious as I had read about poor customer service/warranty from Weaver. But since the scope was "made-in-Japan" and Weaver was offering $100 rebate, I decided to give it a try - big mistake.

starting the thread to steer potential buyers away since several resellers are advertising Weaver promotions.

 

[unreconstructed]

Weaver has a lifetime warranty on all optics to the first owner so you will be covered.

Disclaimer:
I am an engineer in the ATK Sporting Group.

I should have paid closer attention to this. I thought it had a lifetime warranty. My best friend bought a Weaver Tactical 3-15x50 on my advice. He bought it from Scott at Liberty Optics and the service was excellent. He's had no issues with his Weaver and it works fine. I still think it is a good value for the price. However, I don't like the lifetime warranty "only for the original buyer." That reduces resale value of his Weaver when he can afford to move up to a higher quality optic. You either stand behind your product or you don't. I'll consider the lack of warranty when I am suggesting "starter" scopes for my friends who are on a budget. Having said that, I'm not knocking the quality of the scope. It works. I will say that I was disappointed to hear ATK bought Weaver, and I'm not surprised to hear about the lack of ATK customer service.

 

[roggom]

Bummer to hear, although if the unit was DOA out of the box, I would have pursued a replacement from the vendor. Midway and many others would have simply replaced it as long as the scope was not mounted. Hopefully ATK squares you away. I have the same scope and its been rock solid for a couple years, I even considered upgrading it when I had the cash, but really could not justify the additional cost as the unit has so many nice features at the price point.

As far as the wait, yeah there is absolutely zero excuses for such a long delay. Period. Even if the CS call center has to be temp farmed overseas.

 

[SomeOtherGuy]

I've had a couple higher end Weavers that I've been very happy with. But at some point you notice that all the $500-1000 scopes made by LOW look very similar in a lot of ways, and you start preferring the ones that come with a lifetime warranty for any owner - Bushnell and Sightron come to mind. If Weaver changed their warranty to be for any owner, and maybe shortened service times, I would be much more likely to buy more of their products.

 

[thequickad]

I think Weaver is pretty sad to want to compete in the mid-end optics space and only has 1 part time technician to perform warranty work? On my scope, I just want it checked out that it was defective from the factory (how difficult can it be to put a battery in and see it does not work?) so I can get my credit from the vendor and buy another brand of scope.

Before I bought the scope I checked out the reviews posted by others and the blogs stated Weaver moved their facility a long time ago. So clearly Customer service is just not a priority for Weaver still having a backlog and still only 1 part time resource to do CS work.