Disappointment about Bushnell customer service and quality control (1 Viewer)

It started with the Diopter Ring of the new 8x42 NatureView I got. Please refer to this for details:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=272862

I have sent an email to Bushnell customer service on 12/17 and requested their email so that I could send them the photos to illustrate the problem. I mentioned I was considering a refund in the email. I got their reply on 12/18 and I immediately sent them the photos on the same day. However, up to now, I still have not received any reply yet.

At the same time, I have sent also sent B&H which I ordered the binoculars with the photos on 12/17. They considered it was defective and sent me a new one. You know, I have received a new one on 12/27. The dipoter ring is perfect this time. However, there is an obvious fault as you will see on the attached photo. As it is only a cosmetic fault and B&H already did a very good job, I accepted this new one.

B&H said they would report the problem to the manufacturer so they could improve their quality control. I do hope so and I believe they should also improve their quality of the customer service as well.

I really wouldnt consider it a fault.

I would not worry with it, as long as the binocular works ok. I understand you want to get the best buy for your money. Does the view look ok for both the 8x42 and 8x32?

perterra said:

I really wouldnt consider it a fault.

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That's why I used "cosmetic fault". As the material of that part is plastic, I believe it should be easy to avoid this happen.

mooreorless said:

I would not worry with it, as long as the binocular works ok. I understand you want to get the best buy for your money. Does the view look ok for both the 8x42 and 8x32?

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That's true and I am just wondering if the customer service and quality control can be better.

Regarding the 8x42 and 8x32, frankly, I have not tried much yet. However, in a sunny day, the 8x32 has performed very well and I could not tell the difference between it and the 8x42. As the 8x32 is much lighter, I believe I will use it more often in order to reduce the weight of my gears.

The 8x42 is often to get extra contrast in dark foreground and bright spotty background.
For example, birds under a leafy summer canopy on a sunny day. That's a challenging
contrast range. 8x42s often look relatively longer, and conical.
I suspect there is glare-suppression logic behind that as well.
I saw a huge number of 8x42s in the "Birders" film, which takes place in
Central Park, NYC. Bright skies, crowded birds, deep shade in summer.

zeissist said:

That's true and I am just wondering if the customer service and quality control can be better.

.

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It's a cost trade off, how much more expensive would it be if Bushnell scrapped every component that was less than perfect, losing both the part and the man hours/labor that went in to producing the part. Every part thats scrapped adds to the cost of the product sold.

I think you would have to move up to well above the price of the nature views to gain the level of cosmetic perfection. You would see the Elite much better finished, perfection is expensive

OPTIC_NUT said:

The 8x42 is often to get extra contrast in dark foreground and bright spotty background.
For example, birds under a leafy summer canopy on a sunny day. That's a challenging
contrast range. 8x42s often look relatively longer, and conical.
I suspect there is glare-suppression logic behind that as well.
I saw a huge number of 8x42s in the "Birders" film, which takes place in
Central Park, NYC. Bright skies, crowded birds, deep shade in summer.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your info and I will be aware of that.

perterra said:

It's a cost trade off, how much more expensive would it be if Bushnell scrapped every component that was less than perfect, losing both the part and the man hours/labor that went in to producing the part. Every part thats scrapped adds to the cost of the product sold.

I think you would have to move up to well above the price of the nature views to gain the level of cosmetic perfection. You would see the Elite much better finished, perfection is expensive

Click to expand...

I agree with you and I just think that the customer service of Bushnell should be more responsive even though I have not bought their higher end product.

Speaking of more expensive model, I have tried the Ultra HD 8x42 and old version of the NatureView 8x42 in a shop before. I found the view was really a bit brighter with the Ultra HD but I liked the colors viewed from the NatureView. It looked a bit more saturated to me. However, as mine is the new version of the NatureView. I wonder if it behaves the same way.