I was taking one of my daily walks back in January and near a big chug-hole in the road lay a pair of Leupold binoculars still in the case. Must have been laying on someone's trailer or pickup and bounced off when they hit that pot hole. I looked them over and everything appeared to be there except the center post, where the focus knob lives, was bent and one of the plastic adjustable eyepieces was busted; optics were all great. I took it home and found most of the plastic eyepieces still in the case.
Next day on my walk, I found two, small pieces of plastic at the scene, pocketed them and returned home. Sure enough, everything fit. A little epoxy later and eyepiece was repaired--at least good enough for me. I posted them on our NextDoor app, to see if anyone would claim them. Never heard a word.
The bent center post interfered with the operation of the focus knob, so, not having enough sense to leave things alone...I dug into the mechanics of it and ended up breaking off, not one, but both brass screws behind the focus knob. I thought they were attachment screws, but found out too late that they were the focusing post screws. "Oh, well," I thought. "Easy come, easy go."
A couple days later, I was looking on the Leupold site how much these babies cost and made myself feel even worse. I also noticed a statement about Leupold's Lifetime Warranty. Hmmmm. I boxed up the binoc's, wrote a letter that clearly stated how I found them and that I WAS NOT THE ORIGINAL OWNER. Sent it to their Service Center in Oregon ($15 postage) and got an email a couple weeks later. First line read: "We have received your product and estimate warranty service to be completed in approximately 5 weeks from the date your product arrived." Whoa, whoa, whoa! This was hoped for, but not expected. So, five weeks were up the 3rd week of Feb and no word. I thought, "Yeah, they finally got to my service item, read the letter and discarded the binoculars. They'll be sending me a nasty email next."
Well, early this week, I got that email, but it wasn't nasty. It was to inform me (now referred to as "the Customer") that my order had SHIPPED! Yesterday, I received (via UPS--if USPS had done it, they would have lost it) a brand new, cellophane wrapped, unopened, unmolested or serviced, pair of Leupold BX-1 10x42mm binoculars. Well, if I wasn't a customer before--I am now. I can see this as one of the easier repairs the Service Center does--toss the broken ones, send this guy a new pair. It's good customer service and will ensure I think kindly of Leupold.
Anyway, thought it was a good thing to share...
https://www.leupold.com/bx-1-mckenzie-hd-10x42mm
Next day on my walk, I found two, small pieces of plastic at the scene, pocketed them and returned home. Sure enough, everything fit. A little epoxy later and eyepiece was repaired--at least good enough for me. I posted them on our NextDoor app, to see if anyone would claim them. Never heard a word.
The bent center post interfered with the operation of the focus knob, so, not having enough sense to leave things alone...I dug into the mechanics of it and ended up breaking off, not one, but both brass screws behind the focus knob. I thought they were attachment screws, but found out too late that they were the focusing post screws. "Oh, well," I thought. "Easy come, easy go."
A couple days later, I was looking on the Leupold site how much these babies cost and made myself feel even worse. I also noticed a statement about Leupold's Lifetime Warranty. Hmmmm. I boxed up the binoc's, wrote a letter that clearly stated how I found them and that I WAS NOT THE ORIGINAL OWNER. Sent it to their Service Center in Oregon ($15 postage) and got an email a couple weeks later. First line read: "We have received your product and estimate warranty service to be completed in approximately 5 weeks from the date your product arrived." Whoa, whoa, whoa! This was hoped for, but not expected. So, five weeks were up the 3rd week of Feb and no word. I thought, "Yeah, they finally got to my service item, read the letter and discarded the binoculars. They'll be sending me a nasty email next."
Well, early this week, I got that email, but it wasn't nasty. It was to inform me (now referred to as "the Customer") that my order had SHIPPED! Yesterday, I received (via UPS--if USPS had done it, they would have lost it) a brand new, cellophane wrapped, unopened, unmolested or serviced, pair of Leupold BX-1 10x42mm binoculars. Well, if I wasn't a customer before--I am now. I can see this as one of the easier repairs the Service Center does--toss the broken ones, send this guy a new pair. It's good customer service and will ensure I think kindly of Leupold.
Anyway, thought it was a good thing to share...
https://www.leupold.com/bx-1-mckenzie-hd-10x42mm
