What the heck happened to Bushnell's customer service?

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IMtheNRA

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I've been trying to call for a couple of months and I can't get CS to answer the phone. The operator, when I call the main office, says they're busy and to stay on hold. Today, I was caller 28 in line... I usually give up after 20 minutes of listening to hold music. Dozens of calls since September.

I can't believe they're part of Vista Outdoors. Usually, that group of companies has great customer service - RCBS is legendary, for example.

The warranty replacement scope they sent me last month is already broken and I'd like to speak with someone about a more durable replacement even if I have to pay for an upgrade. Does anyone have an inside line to their warranty department?

*Added this update on 12/10/2019: To be fair to Bushnell's product quality, I have to say that my warranty replacement scope did not break after all. I induced a turret malfunction when I zeroed the scope and then slipped the turrets to zero out the turret scale. I assumed the scope was broken, but a two minute call to tech support would have uncovered my mechanical error. Unfortunately, Bushnell was unable to take any of my calls on a timely basis. I realized my mistake after thinking about it and looking at the turret mechanism a few times. In my defense, I have to say that no owners manual was included with this scope. Of course, I still think it's awful that a guy can't get through to Bushnell's tech support or warranty departments within a reasonable amount of hold time.
 
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I had the same with rcbs couldn't get through.
Had to send a email.
I don't know if there is still power outages in California yet or what's going on.
 
Cannot recall the details as it was a couple years back and I'm terrible at this, but they got rid of most/all the Lenexa technical/repair/CS staff. Used to be able to call or walk in, talk to a guy who had helped design them, worked with EO Tech on their first versions etc.

Not sure where they ended up, but I bet all a part of corporate overlord cost cutting, as well as lots of engineering being overseas. Hopefully they will get get things sorted, notice the delay times and are working on it.
 
It's been awhile since Bushnell has been a 1st tier optics manufacturer.
My Dad's Spacemaster II still around here but it was midlevel in 1970. I don't think Bushnell has done much serious development since then.
 
IMtheNRA said:
I've been trying to call for a couple of months and I can't get CS to answer the phone. The operator, when I call the main office, says they're busy and to stay on hold. Today, I was caller 28 in line... I usually give up after 20 minutes of listening to hold music. Dozens of calls since September.
Click to expand...

When you make and sell totally junk garbage, it's not wise to answer the phone when the angry mobs call in to complain.

IMtheNRA said:
The warranty replacement scope they sent me last month is already broken and I'd like to speak with someone about a more durable replacement even if I have to pay for an upgrade. Does anyone have an inside line to their warranty department?
Click to expand...

If you're willing to pay for a better scope, then I suggest https://vortexoptics.com/ (best customer service in the industry). If not, then you're going to keep doing what you've been doing, and you're going to keep getting what you've been getting.
 
Last scope I sent for warranty took over 6 months for a replacement.
I said never again.
 
Believe me fellas, this is my last time around with Bushnell. I just want to get the warranty replacement that broke replaced under their "Ironclad warranty" and move on. After this, I'm never going have to listen to Bushnell hold music again as long as I live.
 
shoobe01 said:
Not sure where they ended up, but I bet all a part of corporate overlord cost cutting, as well as lots of engineering being overseas. Hopefully they will get get things sorted, notice the delay times and are working on it.
Click to expand...

Well, RCBS is in the same boat. Same corporate overlord - Vista Outdoors - and lots of overseas manufacturing. But, they answer the phone and provide me with incredible service despite the fact that all of my RCBS problems are actually caused by me.

I'm sincerely surprised that Bushnell's corporate culture is so different from other consumer product companies within Vista Outdoors.
 
IMtheNRA said:
Believe me fellas, this is my last time around with Bushnell. I just want to get the warranty replacement that broke replaced under their "Ironclad warranty" and move on. After this, I'm never going have to listen to Bushnell hold music again as long as I live.
Click to expand...

I don't understand this. Even if you do get a new scope, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to put it on your rifle? Are you going to take it hunting, knowing it could, and almost probably will, fail and ruin your hunting trip? You can't sell it for anything; who would give you more than $20 for it? Why not forgo all of that and get yourself a better, more reliable, scope now? Struggling to get a "free" scope from Bushnell seems like a false economy to me.
 
D.B. Cooper said:
I don't understand this. Even if you do get a new scope, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to put it on your rifle? Are you going to take it hunting, knowing it could, and almost probably will, fail and ruin your hunting trip? You can't sell it for anything; who would give you more than $20 for it? Why not forgo all of that and get yourself a better, more reliable, scope now? Struggling to get a "free" scope from Bushnell seems like a false economy to me.
Click to expand...

OK, I'll throw away the $950 Bushnell Forge scope rather than experience "false economy".
 
IMtheNRA said:
OK, I'll throw away the $950 Bushnell Forge scope rather than experience "false economy".
Click to expand...
I submit that you threw away the $950 when you gave it to Bushnell.

I didn't know they had the nerve to ask that much for one of their products. Honestly, when you said "Bushnell scope" I just assumed you had spent a hundred or so bucks.

Well look at it this way: stay on the phone as long as is required to get satisfaction, and then divide 950 by your time on the phone. The result is how much you paid yourself for being on the phone with Bushnell.
 
I had the same issue with Bushnell a few years ago. Gave the scope away and said I was done with them till I bought a Bushnell red dot for my turkey gun last year. Thankfully I haven't had any issues with it yet.
 
IMtheNRA said:
Well, RCBS is in the same boat. Same corporate overlord - Vista Outdoors - and lots of overseas manufacturing. But, they answer the phone and provide me with incredible service despite the fact that all of my RCBS problems are actually caused by me.

I'm sincerely surprised that Bushnell's corporate culture is so different from other consumer product companies within Vista Outdoors.
Click to expand...
Should have been clear, I have seen it with other companies as well, varying from division to division. Mergers take time, and often there are not just "culture mismatches" but the new overlords fire everyone who does an entire category of work, it takes a while to realize that, then to decide to staff it up again. Let's say for the sake of argument they recognize this issue and wish to add more CS people: They will be like all corporate folks and budget the staff for next year, so no hiring even starts till Jan. Then, get them. Then train... etc.

Example for this domain (been inside a few as well so seen it close up): L3 bought up simply everyone a few years back. Raytheon EO (thermals, like the X320...) was one. Apparently fired everyone or at least most did not choose to make the move, and if you want a cable, or manuals, or anything: tough. For like 2 years. In this case, I griped enough that I found my way to a legacy L3 employee who knew where all the boxes that Raytheon sent over were stored, a few days later mailed me a photocopy of the manual I needed. Nice in this one case, but that's no way to run a CS organization, of course. You can see how similar merger behavior would not scale to a larger org like Bushnell's day optics.
 
shoobe01 said:
Should have been clear, I have seen it with other companies as well, varying from division to division. Mergers take time, and often there are not just "culture mismatches" but the new overlords fire everyone who does an entire category of work, it takes a while to realize that, then to decide to staff it up again. Let's say for the sake of argument they recognize this issue and wish to add more CS people: They will be like all corporate folks and budget the staff for next year, so no hiring even starts till Jan. Then, get them. Then train... etc.
Click to expand...

This is 100% correct. I've seen it and am currently living through a similar situation. The new management team always wants to do things their way whether it makes sense or not.
 
To be fair to Bushnell's product quality, I have to say that my warranty replacement scope did not break after all. I induced a turret malfunction when I zeroed the scope and then slipped the turrets to zero out the turret scale. I assumed the scope was broken, but a two minute call to tech support would have uncovered my mechanical error. Unfortunately, Bushnell was unable to take any of my calls on a timely basis. I realized my mistake after thinking about it and looking at the turret mechanism a few times. In my defense, I have to say that no owners manual was included with this scope. Of course, I still think it's awful that a guy can't get through to Bushnell's tech support or warranty departments within a reasonable amount of hold time.
 
I have to say I had a positive experience recently with Bushnell. I sent a scope in that was covered under a lifetime warranty. That model is no longer made so they sent a replacement that was quite the upgrade. Total time was 3 weeks to the day from me shipping it off to the new one being delivered. Now, I will say that there was no communication in that time. I actually called to find out the status the day the scope was being delivered. I was on hold for a really really long time, just put the phone on speaker and did my work until someone answered. That took about 45 minutes. The lady that answered was pleasant and helpful, even checked the tracking number to see where it was. All in all I’m happy with the outcome but it shouldn’t take that long to get a person on the phone.
 
The Bushnell Elite series 3500 and 4500 scopes were always very good scopes with very few reported problems. We simply won't know how good or bad the new ones are until they have been in service for many years and many shots fired.
 
It’s your own fault. If you’d only taken the time to learn Chinese, you could have called the factory and spoken directly to the people who made it.
 
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