zeiss customer care

[jay 22]

hi guys now i have a couple of zeiss scopes a victory and a conquest. and i really rate them. so i picked up a second conquest because for the cost i don't think the optics can be beaten.

but i found today that the scope has some foreign body in it. looks like a piece of white tissue or plastic. now im talking very small and most people wouldn't notice it but i can. now i contacted the seller to let him know and he didnt ever notice it. a couple of members of my family looked through it. and they couldnt even tell.

anyway i hear that zeiss don't repair the conquest branded scopes. because there made for the market in the usa. yet a friend of mine had a problem with his not long back. it wouldnt hold zero. he contacted zeiss and they repaired it free of charge it had to go away.

so when i rang today the woman on the other end of the phone said they dont send the conquests away. i explained to her there is a life time transferable warranty on these scopes. but she says thats only if your in the usa. to which i told her about my friends scope.

she then went on to say that they did send the conquest back but stopped it due to the customs charge coming back into the country which the customer didn't want to pay. the last one was around £90.

i can understand the postage fees but i was on the understanding that stuff under warranty doesn't get charged any tax and export fees ? when my rcbs scales broke they sent me replacement parts from the states. and it said on packaging no fees to be paid due to repair ???



the woman on the phone told me to ring back and speak to the manager tomorrow. which i will do to see where i stand with the repair.
dont get me wrong i could just carry on using the scope. but as i understand it should get fixed under warranty.

i have already contacted paul burke in Birmingham about it. and I can send it to him for a service if the worse comes to the worse as i hear his service is great and for little cost. i was thinking about buying a zeiss bino rangfinder. last week but now im kind of glad i didnt.

don't get me wrong there stuff is great and make superb scopes etc. but there service to has find of knocked them down the list a bit for me


i bet swaro and s&b would have done it free of charge

 

[danpd]

I think this is a little unfair,

When you are the official importer of a product you also take on the warranty responsibility, which is fair enough as you have profited from its sale. The Conquest scope has never been sold in the UK therefore Zeiss UK have no financial stake in the scope, as such why should they repair your scope? If you had bought a legit UK imported model then i'm sure they would be bending backwards to help you. I'm sure that if you are polite to them they will point you in the right direction as to getting it repaired.

 

[jay 22]

i understand what your saying danpd. but why repair some conquests and not others ? i told her i didn't even mind paying. but from what she said it didnt sound like they could do a lot

its not much hardship i can get it repaired local to me if need be. and more then likely cheaper and quicker in the long run.

 

[Hornet 6]

I can understand their position on this and why, but it isn't fair to people who buy them second hand thinking a Zeiss transferable warranty was just that.
Also why sell the Conquest bins over here but not the scopes, the bins get the warranty.
As for the import export charges, warranty items are exempt, but only if you can show the original receipt,or so customs told me when I argued the point.

Neil.

 

[stone]

I had the same issue
I have a conquest I brought from a reputable dealer in the UK as i wanted a Zeiss scope , which developed a fault
I approached Zeiss UK as they proudly portray the Zeiss name and products often in big writing to catch your attention to official Zeiss products ,
as the conquest is an official Zeiss product I thought I would ask for help
They told me as it was a Zeiss conquest there was nothing they could do and told me to contact the shop I bought it from to get them to sort it
Not quite what I had expected Zeiss
it seems if I want to sort the problem I need to actually go to Zeiss themselves
Now how confusing is that

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

european scopes are now mainly 30mm
conquests are 25mm so never marketed here in the uk like the binos.
grey import cars dont carry a warranty from official importers why should these scopes??
if you send it personally to zeiss usa im sure they will repair it.
i bought some danner boots from usa which leaked from new and the uk importers wouldn't touch them.
Also i imagine the extra money we pay for the non-conquest scope goes towards a valid warranty

 

[stone]

I can see your point John
But how many car dealerships promote they are the product not just a dealer/importer
Zeiss Uk
What does that read to you??

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

the thing is stone it is no secret that conquest scopes ARE not sold in the uk or that they do not carry a warranty, buyig cheap and expecting everything after pleading ignorance is a poor excuse.
now there is duralyt no one needs to buy cheaper conquest scopes.
Anyone buying an expensive scope shops around for the best deal,,, it will soon be evident that they are not sold mainstream in the uk.

 

[Loki]

I recall reading on a Forum somewhere that Zeiss in Germany will sort out problems on Conquest scopes but it has to be through them direct.

Seems to me it has to be worth an email and/or a telephone call to chatter it through with them.

 

[stone]

I agree
But Zeiss scopes are not cheap, they are affordable
The question is
what is a conquest?
What is a Duralyt ?
I hav both
They are both from the same company and both are available to buy in the Uk
Both come with a Zeiss warranty
But only one of them is covered by the UK
What is that about
Is it a Zeiss or not??
Are you Zeiss or not??
I buy a Zeiss scope because of the product not the country it is sold in
Why should I be at fault for that

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

Stone you need to speak to zeiss germany for all your answers, me i'm just a humble pro stlker and not up to speed in politics.
I can sell you any zeiss sporting product, but zeiss conquest rifle scopes??
they are not in any catalogue or price list??

 

[jay 22]

the thing is stone it is no secret that conquest scopes ARE not sold in the uk or that they do not carry a warranty, buyig cheap and expecting everything after pleading ignorance is a poor excuse.
now there is duralyt no one needs to buy cheaper conquest scopes.
Anyone buying an expensive scope shops around for the best deal,,, it will soon be evident that they are not sold mainstream in the uk.

john there not cheap scopes though. the reason zeiss don't sell the conquest here i am betting is because it would hit the sales of there other scopes.
pure and simple.

i have a victory and it is a fair bit better then the conquest. but at 3 times the price alot of people would buy the conquest because they offer great performance.
for little cost. yes they haven't got the moa range because there only 25mm tube. but for all round vermin and fox shooting there very hard to beat.

thats why ziess come out with the duralyt to sell on these shores.

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

jay when i said cheap i meant relatively.
when you bought it did you honestly know it wasn't covered in the uk.
and did you buy it from a zeiss dealer??

 

[stone]

Stone you need to speak to zeiss germany for all your answers, me i'm just a humble pro stlker and not up to speed in politics.
I can sell you any zeiss sporting product, but zeiss conquest rifle scopes??
they are not in any catalogue or price list??

Thank you for your honesty John
I can see why they are not on the list
Probably the Best scope Zeiss ever made
How can you go forward from there
30 mm tube or bigger maybe Or just create a new line

 

[jay 22]

jay when i said cheap i meant relatively.
when you bought it did you honestly know it wasn't covered in the uk.
and did you buy it from a zeiss dealer??

john i didn't buy it from a scope dealer. the person i got it off didn't even know. and if I let you look through it you more then likely wouldn't even see the specks of dirt or dust that is in there.

i like all my stuff to be spot on though as im picky. i had heard that zeiss uk wouldnt do anything with the conquest. and have had one for over 5 years with no problems so there pretty rock soild.

then a friend of mine on here had a problem with his. and got it fixed foc. so i did guess they work on them under warranty. its not really a problem. but a big company like zeiss
you would expect them to be a bit more helpful even if the owner has to pay to get it fixed by there sister company

 

[Grant.N]

You would not get this problem from Swarovski !!

 

[BuckarooUK]

The whole thing is a bloody con.

Lifetime guarantees are issued as the norm in the USA but we were reduced to 30yrs, 15 and now just 10yrs for the same products. I recently went to purchase a Swarovski scope and 'accidentally' discovered that it is now only available with a 10yrs guarantee after joking that at least i'd get 30yrs hassle free usage for the mortgage i was buyinh. The dealer was apologetic but certainly wasn't comming forward in disclosing the reduced guarantees!

It'll only get worse if we swallow it. My advice would be to contact Zeiss direct and start screaming. Mention that you are an active forum contributer and that the poor customer service is an active point of discussion.

I recently bought a pair of Swarovski SLCs from Alex over in the states which develped a problem where the focus knob seemed to be binding. I contacted Swaro UK only to be fobbed off. I immediately then forwarded Swaro UKs email to Swarovski themselves, demanded to know why they'd restrict their supposed legendary after sales service to US purchases only and invited them to read my postings describing the events on two threads (a large hunting forum and a bird watching forum). Swarovski not only repaired the set quickly (i'm guessing it was a simple thing) but also offered to loan me a pair whilst mine were away.

I could have went back to the guy i bought them from. He's a good guy and there wouldn't have been any fuss, but Swaro UK's attitude narked me off. They're a bloody international company. Do they think us so simple that we can't tell when we're being treated worse than the yanks? Bloody chancers!

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

i was told sometime ago reduced warranties is something to do with european law about replacing products and parts, don't know how true that is.

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

I recently went to purchase a Swarovski scope and 'accidentally' discovered that it is now only available with a 10yrs guarantee after joking that at least i'd get 30yrs hassle free usage for the mortgage i was buyinh. The dealer was apologetic but certainly wasn't comming forward in disclosing the reduced guarantees!

but Swaro UK's attitude narked me off. They're a bloody international company. Do they think us so simple that we can't tell when we're being treated worse than the yanks? Bloody chancers!

You would not get this problem from Swarovski !!

theres your answer, it will.

 

[jay 22]

i think with the current times alot of company's are looking back at there books. and thinking bloody hell we had x amount of repairs in over the years
which where fixed foc some even out of there warranty where fixed foc

if we lower that to 10 years that will soon stop and balance the books more