Take care when buying expensive Thermal or night vision from private sellers - demand proof of original purchase as part of the package

[Spear Chucker]

I thought I might mention something - a tip I have learned by hindsight.

Demand proof of original purchase from the vendor.

I recently bought a Pulsar Talion XQ38 from a member of the Stalking Directory. What I didn't know was that the Pulsar Talion XQ38 can have a reasonably serious fault...it can (not in all cases) shut down when you fire your rifle. Apparently. The reason for this is that the battery fit is not spot on, so the battery can disconnect momentarily with the recoil of the shot. The sight I bought has this fault. It can be fixed under warranty, but for the warranty to be validated, Pulsar HQ require sight of proof of purchase (receipt) and Thos. Jacks are stuck without it. Apparently they will not carry out the work without the receipt and they will not allow me to just pay for the work. Why this is I am not sure, I imagine it will be so that they are not repairing kit that has been procured by nefarious means. Fair enough.

The seller sold in good faith. He didn't have proof of purchase and had to ask the online supplier for it. The seller admitted that he hadn't got the money to pay me back if I returned the item.

There was no guarantee the online vendor would help, they certainly wouldn't have been obliged to for an item they sold two years ago.

In theory I could have ended up with another thermal spotter, slightly flasher than my Axion Key. One for each eye!!

Luckily for me, the online supplier was very helpful, the chap I bought from was honest and didn't just do a midnight flit. The manufacturer is now repairing the item under warranty. I did have a few days expecting the worst though.

 

[Andy morton]

Just had a similar experience with a thermal my mate bought 2nd hand , an iray E6 pro V2 ,
A very well known supplier of these units wasn’t great with their customer service/ aftercare in the 1st initial contact with them, wasn’t even prepared to take a look at it , even if paid for by my mate , think they just want you to bin it & buy new again , & not everyone can afford to do that.
Did some digging into the problems that was being caused by their firmware upgrade , spoke to the seller who managed to find & post proof of the original receipt , + service & upgrade details by said supplier , more phone calls to the supplier & a little heated discussion & just like magic , all of sudden they’ll take a look .
Long story short , he’s got it back & it’s now the unit it was before the firmware upgrade that sent it backwards ,
So yes , get proof of purchase if poss , & regarding firmware , “ if it ain’t broke , don’t fix it”,
If it’s working fine , leave it alone .

 

[jall55]

Yes so many of these businesses love you when you are spending thousands with them

I had a thermal issue and was advised if i didnt want to put a piece of card in the battery cap of my several thousand pound piece of equipment i could return it if i wanted ! Lol !

 

[Andy morton]

Yes so many of these businesses love you when you are spending thousands with them

I had a thermal issue and was advised if i didnt want to put a piece of card in the battery cap of my several thousand pound piece of equipment i could return it if i wanted ! Lol !

 

[Andy morton]

Yes all great when buying from them, l often wonder though that if the people that we all know & watch , who make the promo films on social media & YouTube , & ive nothing against the majority of them , as they can be so informative , IF they rang up the same suppliers with the same problems , would they get treated the same as us mere mortals , I’m not so sure they would ,

 

[jall55]

Yes all great when buying from them, l often wonder though that if the people that we all know & watch , who make the promo films on social media & YouTube , & ive nothing against the majority of them , as they can be so informative , IF they rang up the same suppliers with the same problems , would they get treated the same as us mere mortals , I’m not so sure they would ,

No probably not

But i could not believe the issues we had - we have circa 10 units and they were shocking with us - so much that we will now slowly change all the units to another brand during asset management

 

[Spear Chucker]

No probably not

But i could not believe the issues we had - we have circa 10 units and they were shocking with us - so much that we will now slowly change all the units to another brand during asset management

I will only buy from "my" dealer (Simpson bros) in person now. New only as well. The online boys are shockers to speak to in general. I got away with it by the skin of my teeth.

 

[jall55]

I will only buy from "my" dealer (Simpson bros) in person now. New only as well. The online boys are shockers to speak to in general. I got away with it by the skin of my teeth.

This is the distributor and then the manufacturer

Im not talking about not returning a battery or something - it was the charger base the booklet the plastic eye piece and the lens cloth
They opened up the pack and took the items out of a brand new scope

 

[Spear Chucker]

This is the distributor and then the manufacturer

Im not talking about not returning a battery or something - it was the charger base the booklet the plastic eye piece and the lens cloth
They opened up the pack and took the items out of a brand new scope

Blimey...the thing that irritates me is that is is so much easier to deal honestly. Why would someone do that? It defies belief. If you have 10 units, (or 1 in my book) look after the client and you can expect to sell another 10 over the years. Very short-sighted.

 

[Koenig]

Unbelievable that distributors would behave like this. They only get one chance to put things right with me these days. Plenty of competition to buy from if vendors want to be ‘uphill’ when things go wrong.

 

[Bo Diddley]

My thoughts are "Caveat Emptor" especially going down the 2nd hand route, and do some research even before buying new.

Nothing now undergoes testing to any degree before it hits the open market, the customer is the guinea pig so to speak, issued with a 24-month guarantee that is dubious in my experience. We purchased a brand new Pulsar NV455 Digisight (I think that's correct) from our local gunshop, it never held zero from day one, and being digital NV virgins it took us some time to realise, six months of frustration.... the bother we had getting a replacement was immense, the importers just tried to kick into the long grass... the replacement unit was sold on as soon as we got it for £600, boxed & new, that went wrong within weeks, and because it was a replacement unit we got told it had no warranty . Just imagine the number of faulty digital units the companies must receive back.
I had a similar situation with a Pard 007, it ended up costing them more trying to fix it than just giving me a replacement, they must cost peanuts to make in China.

The YouTube superstars use any goodies that are sent to them, they are never going to give an honest review as they want more freebies next month to "Test"

It's "Marketing & Packaging"
I was told by a chap years ago whom I was loading for that the way to make money was to buy a £10 watch, put it in a £100 package and sell it for £1000..
His name was Robert Tchenguiz....

Caveat Emptor

 

[AlexD]

What a total contrast Pulsar's policies seem be to ATN. Seems a very backward stance for Pulsar to take, making the resale value of their second hand products next to zero.

My wife had suggested getting me a Pulsar monocular instead of the ATN Mars rifle scope I use as a monocular, but after I showed her this thread, she conceded I was right in suggest ATN from the outset so she is looking at their web site just now for a smaller thermal spotter. Nice for a husband to be right once in a while though she may substitute the word "while" for "Blue Moon".

ATN have been great, dealing with faults without charge, without any guarantee paperwork, with an unbeatable level of customer service. It was my better half that bought me the first ATN items as anniversary presents.

 

[Herb64]

Never believe a YouTube review site that includes the banner “includes paid promotion” I won’t name any but I’m sure if we wrote names on a piece of paper the same suspects or dealers would be on most pieces of paper.

 

[jall55]

What a total contrast Pulsar's policies seem be to ATN. Seems a very backward stance for Pulsar to take, making the resale value of their second hand products next to zero.

My wife had suggested getting me a Pulsar monocular instead of the ATN Mars rifle scope I use as a monocular, but after I showed her this thread, she conceded I was right in suggest ATN from the outset so she is looking at their web site just now for a smaller thermal spotter. Nice for a husband to be right once in a while though she may substitute the word "while" for "Blue Moon".

ATN have been great, dealing with faults without charge, without any guarantee paperwork, with an unbeatable level of customer service. It was my better half that bought me the first ATN items as anniversary presents.

Yes same here for me - We now have a few ATN items and as good if not better than the others - So far no issues

@ATNUK

 

[Dunwaters]

I thought I might mention something - a tip I have learned by hindsight.

Demand proof of original purchase from the vendor.

I recently bought a Pulsar Talion XQ38 from a member of the Stalking Directory. What I didn't know was that the Pulsar Talion XQ38 can have a reasonably serious fault...it can (not in all cases) shut down when you fire your rifle. Apparently. The reason for this is that the battery fit is not spot on, so the battery can disconnect momentarily with the recoil of the shot. The sight I bought has this fault. It can be fixed under warranty, but for the warranty to be validated, Pulsar HQ require sight of proof of purchase (receipt) and Thos. Jacks are stuck without it. Apparently they will not carry out the work without the receipt and they will not allow me to just pay for the work. Why this is I am not sure, I imagine it will be so that they are not repairing kit that has been procured by nefarious means. Fair enough.

The seller sold in good faith. He didn't have proof of purchase and had to ask the online supplier for it. The seller admitted that he hadn't got the money to pay me back if I returned the item.

There was no guarantee the online vendor would help, they certainly wouldn't have been obliged to for an item they sold two years ago.

In theory I could have ended up with another thermal spotter, slightly flasher than my Axion Key. One for each eye!!

Luckily for me, the online supplier was very helpful, the chap I bought from was honest and didn't just do a midnight flit. The manufacturer is now repairing the item under warranty. I did have a few days expecting the worst though.

The repair should have been covered under the sale of goods act which dates back to the nineteenth century and requires goods to be “ fit for purpose and of merchantable quality “.
In most cases if you need is “ proof of purchase “ , a card receipt is sufficient.
I honestly don’t understand how so many retailers get away with this crap.

 

[Spear Chucker]

The repair should have been covered under the sale of goods act which dates back to the nineteenth century and requires goods to be “ fit for purpose and of merchantable quality “.
In most cases if you need is “ proof of purchase “ , a card receipt is sufficient.
I honestly don’t understand how so many retailers get away with this crap.

To be fair, in my case, everyone did what they should have done and I was very lucky. It sounds like some of the other members above have not had the same experience. I have to say that I cannot fault Pulsar in their dealings with me so far. The distributor, a well known online shooting sports specialist I am chastened by the narrow squeak I have had though. there is no substitute for dealing with people, and better still, people you can easily visit in person.

 

[Ranger22]

I had issues with a new Pard 008 LRF, the dealer I bought it off was not interested in helping me one bit. Emails went back and forward, letters from trading standards got ignored. Sportsman GC fixed it but I really wanted my money back. Why should we accept new goods that are faulty and have them repaired? We shouldn’t, things should work as intended. I certainly won’t deal with that dealer again, even if he is giving good deals. He’s only interested in your money, nothing else

 

[Spear Chucker]

I had issues with a new Pard 008 LRF, the dealer I bought it off was not interested in helping me one bit. Emails went back and forward, letters from trading standards got ignored. Sportsman GC fixed it but I really wanted my money back. Why should we accept new goods that are faulty and have them repaired? We shouldn’t, things should work as intended. I certainly won’t deal with that dealer again, even if he is giving good deals. He’s only interested in your money, nothing else

The galling thing is that the chap obstructing you would be absolutely enraged if the boot were on the other foot and he had been supplied faulty goods. Unfortunately you then have to decide do I fight or do I just swallow it? With the cost of these bits of kit, "swallowing it" is not an option for most of us. Why should we acquiesce? All too easy for online distributors to retreat behind their screens.
I guess the next stage would be the small claims court and the risk of a CCJ. That would be bad news for a trading company as they would have to declare that to insurers at renewal and failure to do so would be likely to cause an insurer to reject claims and void their policies. Once they have a policy voided, it is almost impossible to get cover, or indeed a loan/mortgage. It just seems rubbish that we have to threaten nuclear war to get what should be fair treatment first time round.

 

[Ranger22]

The galling thing is that the chap obstructing you would be absolutely enraged if the boot were on the other foot and he had been supplied faulty goods. Unfortunately you then have to decide do I fight or do I just swallow it? With the cost of these bits of kit, "swallowing it" is not an option for most of us. Why should we acquiesce? All too easy for online distributors to retreat behind their screens.
I guess the next stage would be the small claims court and the risk of a CCJ. That would be bad news for a trading company as they would have to declare that to insurers at renewal and failure to do so would be likely to cause an insurer to reject claims and void their policies. Once they have a policy voided, it is almost impossible to get cover, or indeed a loan/mortgage. It just seems rubbish that we have to threaten nuclear war to get what should be fair treatment first time round.

If sportsman GC hadn’t been helpful and fixed it, court would have been the next step.

 

[jall55]

I thought I might mention something - a tip I have learned by hindsight.

Demand proof of original purchase from the vendor.

I recently bought a Pulsar Talion XQ38 from a member of the Stalking Directory. What I didn't know was that the Pulsar Talion XQ38 can have a reasonably serious fault...it can (not in all cases) shut down when you fire your rifle. Apparently. The reason for this is that the battery fit is not spot on, so the battery can disconnect momentarily with the recoil of the shot. The sight I bought has this fault. It can be fixed under warranty, but for the warranty to be validated, Pulsar HQ require sight of proof of purchase (receipt) and Thos. Jacks are stuck without it. Apparently they will not carry out the work without the receipt and they will not allow me to just pay for the work. Why this is I am not sure, I imagine it will be so that they are not repairing kit that has been procured by nefarious means. Fair enough.

The seller sold in good faith. He didn't have proof of purchase and had to ask the online supplier for it. The seller admitted that he hadn't got the money to pay me back if I returned the item.

There was no guarantee the online vendor would help, they certainly wouldn't have been obliged to for an item they sold two years ago.

In theory I could have ended up with another thermal spotter, slightly flasher than my Axion Key. One for each eye!!

Luckily for me, the online supplier was very helpful, the chap I bought from was honest and didn't just do a midnight flit. The manufacturer is now repairing the item under warranty. I did have a few days expecting the worst though.

Did the distributor /manufacturer pay to pick the item up from you or have you had to cover the postage ?