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.
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)
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.
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)