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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Zeiss warranty and repair costs for secondhand owners (1 Viewer)

B

Boogieshrew

Well-known member
Hi,

can anyone tell me what Zeiss are like in their treatment of owners of secondhand Zeiss optics?

Is their UK warranty transferable? If not is their repair service reliable, fast and good value?

Or not :-C

Thanks
BS
 
Although I have never used it, Zeiss's aftermarket service dept. in Canada is handled by Gentech.

A friend who buys and sells a lot of bins. tells me they are great, and will repair any Zeiss bin, no matter the age, free of charge as long as the defect isn't collimation or obvious abuse.
 
Boogieshrew said:
Thanks for your responses guys but does anyone know what it's like here in the UK?
Click to expand...

Admittedly I was the first owner but I took a pair of Zeiss to their stand at the bird fair at Rutland and they were repaired on the spot, without charge and no one asked for a guarantee. They suffered from what I call floppiness in that both barrels kept moving making them almost unusable. Repair didn't take long.
 
Boogieshrew said:
Hi,

can anyone tell me what Zeiss are like in their treatment of owners of secondhand Zeiss optics?

Is their UK warranty transferable? If not is their repair service reliable, fast and good value?

Or not :-C

Thanks
BS
Click to expand...

BS

Zeiss UK (Cambridge) can do some repairs and adjustments and the spannerman there is Gary Hawkins. He is a true gent and a knowledgable bins enthusiast.

It has become normal for Zeiss UK to tackle this sort of maintenance on their stand at the Bird Fair when you can just step up on the stand and ask for help.

Otherwise go to their web page dealing with repairs and servicing:

http://sportsoptics.zeiss.com/worldwide/en_gb/customer-service.html


Lee
 
Thanks Troubadour and Scatcat.

I took delivery today of a secondhand pair of 7x42 Lotutec FLs. They are in top condition but I was wondering how Zeiss treat secondhand owners just in case I need their help in th future.

The Birdfair repair service sounds excellent.

Had a quick look through them yesterday (they are so bright! Especially in a snowy landscape) but I'm looking forward to the weekend when I can give them a proper trial. I can definitely see the well known fuzzy edges but hopefully they wont be annoying in use while birding.

Cheers
BS
 
Couple of questions...

What's the deal on rubber armor repair? The Zeiss USA warranty doesn't appear to cover the armor. Can I expect that the exception is due to the fact that the armor is considered a "service" item expected to wear out by way of use and or time? Is replacement an expensive proposition (for a Victory FL)? Why does Zeiss make the exception. As I recall, my Ultravids had a "no exceptions" forever warranty. Is it a difference in armoring or policy? Thanks
 
I got a reply today, but not the one I was hoping for!

First of all, my focus knob is a little out of the middle, it seems from their diagnose (they want to repair it, at least!). Focussing was still smooth, but a skewed knob will, after time, develop more play, and the cap on the focus know fell off all the time. I didn't realize this would be a problem, but Zeiss considers it a must-fix problem, and I guess they are right.
From now on, I will not put them loosely in my daypack anymore (I guess that's how the focusser got skewed, e.g. putting the bag down).

The focus repair is 130 EUR.

But above that, they charge 68EUR for cleaning and remounting the right objectif lens (+ nitrogen filling), while I feel that any cleaning on the inside should be warranty, and I must say I did not even see any dirt (would let them do anyway, as I do not want to have fungus or the like inside).

The rubber armour, which was actually my only concern, would be 30EUR for two objectif lens rubbers and the glueing. They didn't mention anything in the to-be-repaired sheet about the rubber on the polycarbonate part of the bin (where you put your thumbs when holding the bin, that part is also loose), and I feel that repairing rubber armour should be warranty, as it is clear that the glue they used, at least for some some batches, was clearly sub-par quality for a high-end binocular.

So today, I replied them that I can agree with repairing the focus knob as it is probably my fault, but I did argue about not wanting to pay for inside dirt and rubber housing issues. To be continued...

edit: I forgot to mention that 20EUR was within warranty (small parts), and 60EUR was coulance
 
Last edited:
Final message:
they got repaired for 130 EUR, which was the cost of repair for damage I did myself (focus knob). They were willing to repair rubber and objective lens at no cost.

I bought my pair in 2008 in the US and registered them immediately. I thus guessed I would have 30yrs or so of (transferrable) warranty, but the Zeiss representative told me on the telephone that there was only 5yr of full warranty + 5yr warranty for working hours as they were made in 2007. This was not a very logic reasoning to me, but anyway, even with warranty, I did some damage myself and that was the only thing I had to pay for.

So I now have a like-new but 5-year old heavily-used pair of 7x42 T*FL and, considering the price I bought them, and the repair cost, I am determined to bird another 10-15 yrs with them (as they are still one of the finest binoculars out there).
 
temmie said:
Final message:
they got repaired for 130 EUR, which was the cost of repair for damage I did myself (focus knob). They were willing to repair rubber and objective lens at no cost.

I bought my pair in 2008 in the US and registered them immediately. I thus guessed I would have 30yrs or so of (transferrable) warranty, but the Zeiss representative told me on the telephone that there was only 5yr of full warranty + 5yr warranty for working hours as they were made in 2007. This was not a very logic reasoning to me, but anyway, even with warranty, I did some damage myself and that was the only thing I had to pay for.

So I now have a like-new but 5-year old heavily-used pair of 7x42 T*FL and, considering the price I bought them, and the repair cost, I am determined to bird another 10-15 yrs with them (as they are still one of the finest binoculars out there).
Click to expand...

Hi Temmie

Glad you got a very reasonable result in the end. Enjoy in good health.

Lee
 
I had my dialyt 7x42 repaired last year(second hand). Fog on the prism... Zeiss didn't clean the prism, but replaced them. Zeiss charged me more than 400 EURs. When my dialyt's back, I was unhappy with the focus mechanism adjustment. So I sent it back, the second time was free, zeiss covered shipping.
 

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xu42 said:
I had my dialyt 7x42 repaired last year(second hand). Fog on the prism... Zeiss didn't clean the prism, but replaced them. Zeiss charged me more than 400 EURs. When my dialyt's back, I was unhappy with the focus mechanism adjustment. So I sent it back, the second time was free, zeiss covered shipping.
Click to expand...

A repair such as this would be free in Canada. My friend has sent several Zeiss to Gentec [the Canadian firm that handles Zeiss repair] with fogging, misting of internal components and the repair has been FOC each time.
 
james holdsworth said:
Although I have never used it, Zeiss's aftermarket service dept. in Canada is handled by Gentech.

A friend who buys and sells a lot of bins. tells me they are great, and will repair any Zeiss bin, no matter the age, free of charge as long as the defect isn't collimation or obvious abuse.
Click to expand...


My friend just received back an older pair [est. 1985] of 8x30 BGAT, with some misting on the internal glass.

Zeiss cleaned the glass and replaced the prisms - no charge. Bins are better than new.
 
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