Customer service: Primary Arms and Bushnell

[aaronu]

So, my son has a rifle with a Bushnell red dot and a Primary Arms 3x magnifier on a flip-to-side mount. He didn't get the screws properly torqued on the flip mount and lost some screws. He also lost a turret cap on the red dot. I emailed both companies at the provided CS link asking if and how I may purchase replacement parts.

Primary Arms: I got a response email from Justo later that day. He asked how many I needed and indicated that he was checking with his optics department to see if they had any. Fast forward exactly 1 week and a box showed up with replacement screws. Since I had bought the magnifier directly, I had an account on their website, I didn't even need to provide a shipping address.

Bushnell: it's now been 10 days and I am still waiting on an email response. For a turret cap that I've read somewhere will cost me $8.50 + shipping, if they even have them.

I am not the guy who can afford super expensive optics, although I appreciate what I have. Being more of a budget customer I don't expect much. Primary Arms just donated back a portion of the small profits they got from me (Justo's time, some materials and the shipping cost), cheerfully and without any hassle whatsoever. I feel like I should send a bit more profit their way as a thank you. Besides, I like the ACSS reticle. Maybe I should get one of the rimfire ones.

Bushnell? Still waiting.

 

[cdb1]

Many companies respond better if you call them.

 

[aaronu]

Fair point. I emailed first simply because that was what both companies requested on their website. Bushnell does list a phone number but their main support contact page is a giant form to fill out... that is what I used. I will follow up with Bushnell and I expect they will be helpful. But I followed their process and they, so far, blew me off. Honestly if they are not going to respond to messages using their recommended system then they need to turn it off and just offer a phone number.

The bigger part of this, to me, is the excellent support response I got from Primary Arms. I wish more companies operated the way they did in terms of how they treat customers.

 

[BigBL87]

Bushnell was slow with me, and I actually ended up calling after not hearing anything for a month when I sent my scope in. If you want a quicker response, I'd definitely recommend calling. When I called the person I got was a big help.

I think part of it is ALOT of people prefer email, so that side of CS may get overwhelmed with the volume compared to the phone side. Thats just a guess though.

When I had to contact Primary Arms, I had a similar experience. They're great.

 

[cdb1]

I certainly understand the frustration of doing it their(Bushnell) way and not receiving a response.

I’ll also fess up to being an old guy who much prefers a phone call to Email. In fact I’ve gotten to the point where I won’t do business with a company that doesn’t publish a customer service/contact number.

 

[wiscoaster]

I'm definitely a Primary Arms guy. Also Vortex. Outstanding customer service both. No experience with Bushnell.