NZbinodude
Well-known member
I've done the same - bought a Noctivid. Build quality is excellent.
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Swarovski SLC 10X42 Rubber Casing Fault (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Mick Sway
- Start date
The Swarovski agent in Italy only acts as a go-between for the paperwork, but won't take care of the very expensive insured international shipping, which, as I said is preposterous giving how much their gear costs... Also, we attended a Swarovski event in the Dolomites in October where we hoped we could just hand over the binoculars to their rep but they refused to do anything about it as "they had to follow the procedure". We had contacted them just before the event as the eyepieces also needed replacing (🙄) and suggested they bring them over to save them the shipping costs, but they said they couldn't do that either! How stupid is that? Not very environmentally friendly either (since they are so proud of their compostable whatever casing...)... 😡
Fingers crossed. We did our best to package them carefully... They would really deserve a class action for their appalling service (and for the poor quality of their gear!)
PYRTLE
Old Berkshire Boy
Did you really expect the oculars, rubber armouring, regassing, cleaning and final inspection to be carried out by the marketing team whilst they were in Italy? These repairs have to be carried out in their factory workshops by the trained personnel, then checked for collimation etc before being shipped back to the customer. Surely you acknowledge that they have set procedures and systems which need to be adhered to?
Of course not. Replacing the rubber eyepieces doesn't require any expert workmanship - in fact they just mail them to you and you screw them on yourself. For this reason I was hoping that they would just bring them over rather than waiting for them to be shipped. And of course the casing has to be replaced in their factory - but it would only make sense that after having paid more than 2000 € for a supposedly top of the range piece of gear they would at least pay for the very expensive international shipping, OR I could have handed them over at the event in the Dolomites, since I am sure that they have couriers going to and fro between their Austrian HQ and the Italian office. It's only common sense, and more environmentally friendly.
PYRTLE
Old Berkshire Boy
My confusion, I took "eyepieces" as meaning the ocular lens rather than eyecup which is the general word we use.
Maybe I haven't been too clear: the point is not that I cannot afford the postage (and btw, the fact that I bought it a few years ago doesn't mean anything, as my circumstances could have changed by now, as they have for a lot of people over the past couple of years, and as far as you know it could also have been a present, or the investment of a lifetime for which we had been saving for years), the point is that these are supposedly top of the range binoculars and lots of people, here on BF and also birders we know personally in Italy have had exactly the same problem, so it's a WELL KNOWN FAULT of this and of similar models and for this reason they are covered by the 10-year warranty (used to be lifelong back in the day).
And I was also curious to know if this was an Italian peculiarity or if people in other countries had had to pay for the shipping costs.
If you buy something faulty on Amazon or on most e-commerce sites, returns are ALWAYS free, even if you have spent 10 Euros, never mind for something which should be the Ferrari of binoculars and instead falls apart after a few years. Swarovski is being skint on this and devious too because they haven't acknowledged the problem - a product recall with apologies would have been the right thing to do.
In my case the "rubber" on my CL Pocket has become sticky , for various reasons it is not feasable to return them to the Swaovski factory.
I have resorted to drastic measures to try and remove the stickiness.
I used lighter fluid and talcum powder , this removed most , but not all the stickiness ,we will see how long this lasts.
I think that this "environmentally correct" nonsense is being overdone , perhaps it is really "cost cutting"
Needless to say I am rather miffed by all this.
I have resorted to drastic measures to try and remove the stickiness.
I used lighter fluid and talcum powder , this removed most , but not all the stickiness ,we will see how long this lasts.
I think that this "environmentally correct" nonsense is being overdone , perhaps it is really "cost cutting"
Needless to say I am rather miffed by all this.
dries1
Member
I pay for all my binoculars to be shipped in for service whether on Warranty or not. I would also think that Swarovski will take care of the glass for no cost after the 10 year period, even if it is the armor.
Perhaps Swarovski can provide some info on the armor issue. Would be interesting if some of the armor (that failed) was ground up and run in a GC to check for the usual suspects.
Perhaps Swarovski can provide some info on the armor issue. Would be interesting if some of the armor (that failed) was ground up and run in a GC to check for the usual suspects.
John A Roberts
Well-known member
A possible workaround for those concerned as to the lack of durability of the current TPU based coverings, could be a protective cover (?)
See an interesting example on an EL Range (presumedly the RF control button can still be activated by pressing the cover).
Whether it’s a handmade or a commercial product I’m unsure, though the workmanship is clearly of a high standard.
The images are from the bottom of the page at: Swarovski EL Range TA 8x42 WB
John
See an interesting example on an EL Range (presumedly the RF control button can still be activated by pressing the cover).
Whether it’s a handmade or a commercial product I’m unsure, though the workmanship is clearly of a high standard.
The images are from the bottom of the page at: Swarovski EL Range TA 8x42 WB
John
Mick Sway
Well-known member
Interesting. However I don't think many will go for it. In contrast to Swarovski , I recently had to test Vortex's lifetime guarantee on their bins. I can't emphasize the difference in service enough , of that received by Vortex comapred to Swaro. I returned a 12 year old pair of accidentally damaged, Viper 10 x 42's , for repair to the Vortex UK agent. Within three days I had received a replacement pair , because the originals would have required too much work abroad . The funny thing was that they were damaged on Lesvos by someone else , who had forgotten to pack theirs , so I loaned them my spare pair - I was none too pleased by the outcome of that decision to help someone.
Thank you @Mick Sway for the information. It seems many cheaper and developing binoculars brands offer more interesting warranty. It is sad that Swarovski made their 30 year warranty to 10 years. I think many pay that alpha price for the good after selling service they offer. It seems Swarovski don’t care the customers point of view anymore. Especially think of their biodegradable armor. Certainly we should pay them to replace the armor after ending of warranty period. It could be once a three years or less for those who are living tropical climates.
Eventually we did send the binos to Swarovski in Austria. It cost us around 50 Euros, and they got lost in transit, after three weeks without news we called the Austrian office and they presumably called their Customs office or Post office or whatever and two days later they received the parcel. A couple of weeks later we go the binoculars back safe and sound at no extra cost. So all's well that ends well, but our doubts about the quality of this range of optics remain in place. We'll see how long the new casing lasts, and we certainly won't consider Swarovski if we need to replace any of our binoculars, unless of course they change their casings.
Thotmosis
Well-known member
Does the recent Habicht's GA have this Mickey Mouse armor......?
forent
Well-known member
😂
Swarovski or the art of switching from rubber to rubbish.
Luckily it doesn't 😃 It comes with the traditional thick rubber armor. That is one reason to keep Habicht GA. I don't need to worry about armor degradation. Because I don't like to have extra works to send them back 😂 That's one reason why I use Habicht more often compared to the NL.