Don't buy Cabelas optics- or anything Cabelas house-branded

Sasquatch

Sasquatch

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I don't want to rehash the buyout of Cabelas by BassPro- we all knew less competition was a bad thing and some things would be worse. But you wouldn't think it ended up with redefining what 'lifetime' means.

I bought a Cabelas Covenant 4 scope. Decent glass, really good price, FFP- something to throw on a fun rifle. It says right on the box "Lifetime Warranty". And Cabelas themselves had a warranty that anything house branded had a lifetime warranty.
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This past weekend the scope broke- the reticle is canted at 20 degrees off vertical. I boxed it up, had the original receipt, and contacted customer support.

"Lifetime warranty is only one year".

I mean, I get it- if I had a cabelas pair of boots- wear and tear would mean a year before they fell apart.

But scopes really don't have a 'lifetime'- which is why every optics whose name you heard of has a (real) lifetime guarantee (Holosun, Athlon, Vortex- and then you get to the good stuff). We all know that Cabelas doesn't actually make scopes, it is likely one of those other brands above.

I have only had one scope go bad- an Athlon which they replaced (and upgraded) under warranty. I'm not @Jayne , the bane of optics.

So stupidity on my part- and I'm not done- I'm going to go into the store and talk to a manager. Ultimately, I've written it off to a lesson learned- it wasn't a ton of money so it ended up being not too expensive a lesson.

But learn from my lesson- don't buy the house brand, buy something with a manufacturer's warranty- or even better use a legitimate dealer like @gr8fuldoug who would make it right.

(something funny I found afterwards in the box- the manual for it has "Riflescope Warranty p. 15". There is no page 15)
 
Car0linab0y said:
That's because there is no warranty...?

Thanks for the update...

That sucks.
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Well, the box says "Lifetime Warranty"- but yeah, I guess they ran out of ink when they printed the manual as there is just a blank page. I was hoping to use that at the store to force a replacement, but all I have is that blank page. Convenient.

Oh! I was reading reviews of these and someone else had this- and even showed the nothing-on-15 page.

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"Show me where it says that a lifetime warranty = one year".

In this case, they burden is on them to back up their statement if you have the time and inclination to be a PITA about it. Eventually they will replace it to shut you up since it is not a lot of money.
 
Sasquatch said:
I'm not @Jayne , the bane of optics.
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Hey, no reason to get all personal now.

Sasquatch said:
So stupidity on my part- and I'm not done- I'm going to go into the store and talk to a manager.
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I don't think it's all that dumb of an idea. One of the appeals of brick and mortar retail is that... they exist and you can go in. You're not being a douche here, you're just expecting the lifetime warranty to be longer than 1 year. I get that cell phone companies have been able to redefine 'unlimited' to mean limited, but they're somehow a protected class.

Bring the receipt, bring the box and useless manual, be professional (or at least not an ass) and make that manager show you where it says 'lifetime = 1 year'. Bet they don't pull that crap in person and just try to make it right.
 
Button Pusher said:
I would bring it to the store and exchange it.

Do they sell it today, buy it and then return the bad one next week. They are going to have a class action to deal with if they don't make things right with customers.
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Wouldn’t be their first.

www.reuters.com

Bass Pro class action over socks (yes, socks): A 'lifetime' of lessons

Some things are magnets for litigation: Medical devices. Superfund sites. Smartphone patents.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

And I’d 100% do the exchange method in this case.

It feels like they’d rather take the [very low] risk of you suing them than replacing a few hundred dollar optic. Clearly they don’t care about the customer. There is no fathomable way someone can interpret lifetime to mean 1yr. You might be able to say lifetime = average useful life for an item that is expected to wear, like socks, shoes, etc.

Either way, in most cases lifetime warranties are a terrible idea from a business perspective. If you’re selling pet rocks, sure, offer a lifetime warranty. Optics, electronics, clothing, vehicles, appliances, no way!
 
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Meh, not surprising honestly, especially post Bass Pro Buy out. I had a family friend develop something like Bino Buddies and sold exclusively through Cabelas. He did pretty good for about 2 years until Cabelas came out with their in house brand and undercut his price. At the same time He got a cush promotion at his 9-5 and realized it wasn't worth the hassle. Come to find out, that's Cabelas MO for a lot of product development. New stuff gets brought in and sits center stage until Cabelas can develop a house brand equivalent.
 
When Dick Cabela died so did the brand. The beneficiaries of his estate sold it off to Bass Pro to settle the estate and that is when I quit going to Cabelas. Bass Pro sucked long before then.
And while I'm on a roll, Eveready offers no warranty anymore on anything they sell other than batteries and good luck with that too.
 
Went through the same thing with a pair of binoculars. 1 eye piece will not focus. Called, I believe tech support first, they sent me to the warranty department, who then told me there is no warranty and nothing to be done on my end to repair them or their end. If I did not get random Christmas gift cards to Cabelas or Bass Pro, I doubt I would spend much if any at all there now.
 
Button Pusher said:
I would bring it to the store and exchange it.
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This is what I did. But not finished yet.

Talked to a nice kid at the counter on the way in, showed him the canted reticle- he laughed and said he'd never seen that and to go to the back to get an exchange. Picked up a Cabelas scope (more to this story later) near equivalent- a Covenant 5 (3-15 FFP), which had a $299 price on it. Was the display model , so they had to grab the box from the back. Went back to the counter showed the electronic receipt and they were "Whoa- from 2019! We only have 60 day warranty." Me: (polite) "the box says Lifetime". "Oh, ok".

So, they give me a $200 credit towards the $299 scope (a bit of mess because they gave me the wrong box so had to adjust the price).

Now I have a $299 no warranty Cabelas scope. First thing: the price online is $250, so I'll get that price adjusted tomorrow.

And second thing- my own advice- I'll exchange it for a Vortex or anything else that has a real warranty when I go back in.
 
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I used to buy so much from Cabela’s that I got my name, gold engraved on the hardback catalog every year. Since Ass Pro bought them out, I don’t buy anything from them! Very inferior quality for their products, ammo is high, or nonexistent and the rest of their s is just crap!
 
I looked up a few. There's no excuse to buy Cabelas scopes when even an el-cheapo Simmons has a lifetime warranty.


BrandWarrantyInfo
Burris Forever WarrantyUnlimited3 year for thermals
Bushnell WarrantyProduct Lifetime (30 years)1 year for Red Dots, 20 for binoculars
Vortex VIP WarrantyUnlimitedIncludes accidental damage (house fire)
SimmonsLifetime of original owner1 year for red dots
Athlon Lifetime WarrantyLifetimeIncludes accidental damage. 3 years for thermals.
 
Okay final chapter:

Went back to the store showed them price was wrong but also it had zero warranty and I wanted to return it.

I got a store credit for the original purchase price and a refund for the amount I had to pay for the one I got in store.

Moral of the story is the name of the thread, don't buy house brand scopes.
 
Sasquatch said:
Moral of the story is the name of the thread, don't buy house brand scopes.
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Not all houses are created equal. I still really like my SWFA scopes and primary arms red dots. I agree that bass pro is trash and they ruined cabelas.
 
I guess I’m the only one that’s had great service from Cabelas, brought a nice pair of binoculars and a few years later the eye piece broke ….no paper work of anything and they gave me a new pair….
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Went back and bought another pair 8x40 (12x50 was the first pair).
 
THE PUNISHER said:
I guess I’m the only one that’s had great service from Cabelas, brought a nice pair of binoculars and a few years later the eye piece broke ….no paper work of anything and they gave me a new pair….
View attachment 704151

Went back and bought another pair 8x40 (12x50 was the first pair).
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They used to have a great warranty (pasted above). After the BP buyout, there is no warranty- in the scope I bought there was zero mention on the box or in the manual Chances are it would be 1 year or 60 days. They will sell you an extended warranty. Here's a story that I got a lot of info from on binoculars: https://www.birdforum.net/threads/cabelas-branded-optics-a-warranty-warning.390851/
 
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