Leupold Scope Warranty

• Aug 27, 2013

• #1

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308reloader

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Question for everyone:
I work at a gun store in Northwestern Montana and (I love my job) we had a customer come in with an odd situation. He had the unfortunate experience of going through a house fire. This gentleman is a devoted Leupold customer, with many of their products in his possession. Unfortunately, approximately 9 (nine) rifle scopes went through the fire, as did a few pairs of 'field glasses' as he called them.
We called Leupold for him and they said that fire damage isn't covered by their warranty and he'd have to buy new scopes because they won't touch them. Has anyone heard of such a dilemma? This customer told us he bought his first Leupold in 1964 or '68 and still has that particular scope.
Now I'm kind of a pessimist. I think word-of-mouth is one of the best advertisers or deterrents in the world. What say you all? Thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated, but keep it to a dull roar though. I'm just asking and what I've said about word-of-mouth is my opinion alone!

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #2

Oak

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I would never expect a company to replace items lost in a fire. That's what homeowner's insurance is for.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #3

bjtc_brian

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Oak said:

I would never expect a company to replace items lost in a fire. That's what homeowner's insurance is for.

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Yeah, what Oak said! Hope possessions were the only things lost in the fire, and am sad people have to go through something like this!

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #4

WyOpitz

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Oak said:

I would never expect a company to replace items lost in a fire. That's what homeowner's insurance is for.

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I agree 100%

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #5

Big Fin

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I agree about word of mouth being very important. And the word of mouth comes from both sides, his mouth and the company.

I think Oak nailed it. There is no way I would ask any company for warranty work on something I was responsible for insuring on my end, via homeowners or otherwise. If I failed to insure, then bad on me.

If I did ask for a company to warranty something like this, I would worry that the word of mouth that would spread about me and my expectations would probably not be positive.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #6

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spook12

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Oak said:

I would never expect a company to replace items lost in a fire. That's what homeowner's insurance is for.

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100% agree a good company should stand behind their product and repair or replace anything that fails ''Within Reason''. Chevy doesn't owe you a new truck because yours has 250,000 miles on it and is now a piece of wore out crap,or was in a accident that totaled it.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #7

elk_hunter

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Oak said:

I would never expect a company to replace items lost in a fire. That's what homeowner's insurance is for.

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We have a winner!

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #8

L

L. I. Yankee

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Homeowners 100%.....

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #9

nidahunter

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A good company will warrant their products to be free from defects in workmanship and manufacturing. Unfortunately being in a fire is not the fault of the manufacturer. Homeowners insurance should cover that.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #10

WyOpitz

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To Leopold's credit, I do believe they have done some extraordinary things for some of their customers. I once read in some hunting mag a long time ago that a guy rested his gun on the tire of the vehicle and forgot about it. Drove off, rifle fell over and he ran it over destroying the scope. Leopold supposedly sent him a brand new scope. This wasn't their fault but occurred while hunting. I'm sure these things are done at their discretion. A house fire is well beyond what I would expect from any company y.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #11

C

cowboy

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Oak said:

I would never expect a company to replace items lost in a fire. That's what homeowner's insurance is for.

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I think everyone is agreement with Oak on this.

Looking at it from another perspective: Refurbishing "anything" from a fire is a risky business at best. How hot did it get, was tube or adjustments warped, some annealing had to take place, glass affected, "O" ring seals, etc. etc???

Short of Leupold sending him "X" number of new scopes and field glasses, I'm not sure they would want to rebuild fire damaged units.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #12

M

MNElkNut

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I agree wholeheartedly and then some. This is an insurance issue completely and NOT a warranty issue.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #13

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308reloader

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The idea of home-owner's insurance was debated by us at the store too and I am in agreement, but there are conflicting stories between Leupold and the consumer. Apparently none of the firearms were damaged in the fire. None of the wood-stocked rifles were damaged or disturbed in the least, so says the home/rifle scope owner. Leupold tells a story about the fire being so hot that it damaged the scopes beyond repair. He was even hoping for a repair/replacement that he would have been charged for. They apparently wouldn't even do that. Again, much of this falls into the 'so-says-the-consumer' category. I did not personally talk to Leupold, but that's the story that's getting told. Something about the whole scenario seems a bit 'off' to me, but I'm not entirely sure.
You'd think, if Mr. Consumer was as dedicated a customer as he says he is, he would know what they do/don't warranty against. I typically know what my scope(s) manufacturers will cover and will not cover. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see him able to replace his collection somehow or another, but at the same time, he needs to be aware and advised as to what proper procedures may be in order to cover his belongings in the event he has to endure another such tragedy!!

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #14

muledeerjunkie

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I totally agree on homeowners insurance, but make sure to check the fine print in your policy concerning coverage of firearms (they are similar to jewelry). Our policy had a dollar amount cap on firearms, so I purchased an extra "rider" to cover full replacement of all my firearms if destroyed by fire, theft, etc. The basic cap would of replaced about five nice rifle/scope combinations, nothing more! This poor guy's insurance company will cut him a check, but it most likely won't be enough money to cover full replacement of all nine rifle/scope combinations.

 

• Aug 27, 2013

• #15

Oak

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My 2 cents, which probably isn't worth that: it doesn't matter the condition of anything else in the house (wood-stocked rifles, etc). If the optics are damaged, the insurance company is responsible, and it is their job to determine whether they can be repaired or need to be replaced. He either has insurance or not. If not, he's probably out of luck. I wouldn't think word of mouth would hurt Leupold in this case, as I don't think many people would expect the company to do what you think they should do.