looksharp65
Well-known member
On Sep 13, 2022 I ordered a Svbony SV202 10x50 ED.
Item arrived after just a couple of days despite the message from E**y saying about three weeks.
Very first impression was not so bad, but then I found the binoculars behaving strangely. I had to move the diopter incessantly and could still not quite find the sharpness.
Then I found excessive CA with high-contrast backlighting. Then the right and the left barrel appeared to have very different colour rendition - a pale yellow house looked peach-coloured in one and greyish green in the other.
I can induce double-vision voluntarily which helps me to assess collimation problems. None such were found this way, but there seemed to be a minute divergence between the optical axises because each barrel showed a slight bit more of its lateral field than the other did their medial field edges. No height deviation could be detected. If anything, a very slight rotation of the images could be traced. But when I turned the binoculars backwards, things became apparent. It was impossible to get a unified image with consistent field edges.
For comparison, my Meostar 8x32 is slightly out of collimation height-wise (I can handle that) but looking through it backwards did not cause any double-vision or dislocated field edges.
The streetlamp test was extremely bad. Huge rainbow-coloured circle sectors or fans radiating out beside the light sources. Looking into the eyepieces at about 35 degrees angle to the optical axis made the fans disappear. As you can tell, this sample isn't worth a nickel.
The next day I contacted the *b*y seller, retevis.eu, for a return and refund. Sep 18, his first reaction was to urge me to cancel the return process saying he'd ask the technicians as there could be some [mumbo-jumbo] "problems with the parameters". I replied on Sep 19 that I had not yet taken action, as I was awaiting instructions regarding shipping and such, but that it was my intention to return and be reimbursed.
His reply on Sep 21, translated from German, as follows:
"Do you consent to us returning your product to the warehouse and having the warehouse staff inspect and repair it for you? If it is indeed a product quality problem, we can issue a new package for you. Do you agree? Please cancel the platform return request first. Please don't worry, we will solve the problem for you. And we can offer you a discount on your next purchase of our products."
Suffice to say, his reply wasn't greeted with utmost delight from my side. I made it very clear that a repair or exchange henceforward would be out of the question. Then he wanted to know more about the faults, asking for images to his own email, and asking me to allow him to send a replacement.
I took photos of the very obvious failure in the streetlamp test to that email address, along with a detailed verbal exposition of the binocular's numerous faults, and that I might be willing to accept an exchange after all.
Three hours later, I received a message that the return was accepted. Later that day I got this message to my email:
"Hello my friend Thanks for your patient reply. I have asked our technicians to check the problem as you said.
thank you so much for your suggestion. If the technician replies, we can modify this error to meet your usage requirements. I would also like to know if this is a general problem or just a problem with the product you received. I will send you 1 new package again. Also, I purchased a DHL return label on the platform for you. But according to the zip code you provided, when I purchased the return label, the zip code was wrong.
I'm just going to tell you about the return label first. If the return label doesn't work in the future, I can repurchase it for you again. You do not need to return the package now.
Have a nice day."
The return label's zip code was indeed faulty, as sender country was set to Germany and not Sweden. Sep 30 I asked for a new return label. Oct 4 I got the message that they were out of office, but that I should receive another label Oct 6. On Oct 7, he asked which logistics company we normally use in Sweden and proposed that I should cover the return fee myself, later to be reimbursed. I asked for another label and got a UPS label, the original one was DHL.
He has asked at least twice if the binoculars and the box appear as new, which strengthens my suspicion that they ship previously returned items to new customers.
I dispatched the binoculars and went to the platform to mark the item as shipped, which was not possible because it was linked to the original, faulty label.
They arrived at their warehouse in Hamburg, DE on Oct 14. After two weeks I sent a message asking about the refund. Another week later I tried the same to his email rather than on the **ay platform. Since the seller apparently thinks things will go away if he keeps quiet, I have instead posted this and also contacted the platform.
On October 12, I got a message from E*** saying that since the item wasn't returned within the specified time-frame, hence case is now closed.
Now I'm 2400 SEK short and I don't even have the useless binoculars. The seller has consistently done his utmost to escape the return process and the refund, all the time with his cheerful "Don't worry".
I think this slow-motion trainwreck excuse for professional customer care and product quality speaks for itself. Obviously, not every sample leaving CN is this bad (I have the good Svbony 406P ED as a good example), but the failure rate is sky-high. When factoring in politics, and how the crappy samples mean a huge loss for the environment, it is painfully clear that cheap Chinese optics are a lottery with big hazards. In this particular case, 'fraudulent' comes to mind when describing Retevis.
While I'm usually a meek man, I have to restrain myself not to reveal my inner thoughts and feelings. 'Furious' doesn't even begin to describe my feelings.
//L
Item arrived after just a couple of days despite the message from E**y saying about three weeks.
Very first impression was not so bad, but then I found the binoculars behaving strangely. I had to move the diopter incessantly and could still not quite find the sharpness.
Then I found excessive CA with high-contrast backlighting. Then the right and the left barrel appeared to have very different colour rendition - a pale yellow house looked peach-coloured in one and greyish green in the other.
I can induce double-vision voluntarily which helps me to assess collimation problems. None such were found this way, but there seemed to be a minute divergence between the optical axises because each barrel showed a slight bit more of its lateral field than the other did their medial field edges. No height deviation could be detected. If anything, a very slight rotation of the images could be traced. But when I turned the binoculars backwards, things became apparent. It was impossible to get a unified image with consistent field edges.
For comparison, my Meostar 8x32 is slightly out of collimation height-wise (I can handle that) but looking through it backwards did not cause any double-vision or dislocated field edges.
The streetlamp test was extremely bad. Huge rainbow-coloured circle sectors or fans radiating out beside the light sources. Looking into the eyepieces at about 35 degrees angle to the optical axis made the fans disappear. As you can tell, this sample isn't worth a nickel.
The next day I contacted the *b*y seller, retevis.eu, for a return and refund. Sep 18, his first reaction was to urge me to cancel the return process saying he'd ask the technicians as there could be some [mumbo-jumbo] "problems with the parameters". I replied on Sep 19 that I had not yet taken action, as I was awaiting instructions regarding shipping and such, but that it was my intention to return and be reimbursed.
His reply on Sep 21, translated from German, as follows:
"Do you consent to us returning your product to the warehouse and having the warehouse staff inspect and repair it for you? If it is indeed a product quality problem, we can issue a new package for you. Do you agree? Please cancel the platform return request first. Please don't worry, we will solve the problem for you. And we can offer you a discount on your next purchase of our products."
Suffice to say, his reply wasn't greeted with utmost delight from my side. I made it very clear that a repair or exchange henceforward would be out of the question. Then he wanted to know more about the faults, asking for images to his own email, and asking me to allow him to send a replacement.
I took photos of the very obvious failure in the streetlamp test to that email address, along with a detailed verbal exposition of the binocular's numerous faults, and that I might be willing to accept an exchange after all.
Three hours later, I received a message that the return was accepted. Later that day I got this message to my email:
"Hello my friend Thanks for your patient reply. I have asked our technicians to check the problem as you said.
thank you so much for your suggestion. If the technician replies, we can modify this error to meet your usage requirements. I would also like to know if this is a general problem or just a problem with the product you received. I will send you 1 new package again. Also, I purchased a DHL return label on the platform for you. But according to the zip code you provided, when I purchased the return label, the zip code was wrong.
I'm just going to tell you about the return label first. If the return label doesn't work in the future, I can repurchase it for you again. You do not need to return the package now.
Have a nice day."
The return label's zip code was indeed faulty, as sender country was set to Germany and not Sweden. Sep 30 I asked for a new return label. Oct 4 I got the message that they were out of office, but that I should receive another label Oct 6. On Oct 7, he asked which logistics company we normally use in Sweden and proposed that I should cover the return fee myself, later to be reimbursed. I asked for another label and got a UPS label, the original one was DHL.
He has asked at least twice if the binoculars and the box appear as new, which strengthens my suspicion that they ship previously returned items to new customers.
I dispatched the binoculars and went to the platform to mark the item as shipped, which was not possible because it was linked to the original, faulty label.
They arrived at their warehouse in Hamburg, DE on Oct 14. After two weeks I sent a message asking about the refund. Another week later I tried the same to his email rather than on the **ay platform. Since the seller apparently thinks things will go away if he keeps quiet, I have instead posted this and also contacted the platform.
On October 12, I got a message from E*** saying that since the item wasn't returned within the specified time-frame, hence case is now closed.
Now I'm 2400 SEK short and I don't even have the useless binoculars. The seller has consistently done his utmost to escape the return process and the refund, all the time with his cheerful "Don't worry".
I think this slow-motion trainwreck excuse for professional customer care and product quality speaks for itself. Obviously, not every sample leaving CN is this bad (I have the good Svbony 406P ED as a good example), but the failure rate is sky-high. When factoring in politics, and how the crappy samples mean a huge loss for the environment, it is painfully clear that cheap Chinese optics are a lottery with big hazards. In this particular case, 'fraudulent' comes to mind when describing Retevis.
While I'm usually a meek man, I have to restrain myself not to reveal my inner thoughts and feelings. 'Furious' doesn't even begin to describe my feelings.
//L
