Bushnell's 'BS' Warranties

I have a Bushnell scope that needs service due to specks of paint on an internal lens.
Bushnell offers 3 types of warranties for their riflescopes and binos that are handled by Ampro sales NZ.

ALL 3 warranties require the purchase receipt from an authorized NZ retailer to prove the optics were not overseas imported (and how many people keep receipts long term....or if bought s/h even get the purchase receipt?).

1 - Bushnell's first warranty is their 'Ironclad warranty' but it should be renamed the 'Wet cardboard warranty'.
It is supposedly 'fully transferable' to other owners - but only if you have the original NZ purchase receipt.
In 2022 it "covers the lifetime (20-30 years) of any Bushnell product made on or after April 2018".

But here's the problem....after every April, the year increases for eligibility. Therefore it is really only a four-year warranty, ie in 2020 it covered products made from April 2016 onwards, while in 2021 it covered products made from April 2017 onwards, and this year it only covers those scopes made from April 2018 onwards.
As my scope was made in 2016 it is no longer eligible for this warranty.

2 - The second warranty Bushnell offers is their 'Limited Lifetime Warranty', which covers defects in materials and workmanship for the 'reasonable lifetime' of the product (whatever Bushnell decides that is). But this only covers riflescopes if you are the original purchaser with the original NZ purchase receipt made out in your name (I bought my scope s/h).

3 - The third warranty Bushnell offers is their 'Yes, that's covered' Lifetime warranty.
However, that only covers the later Elite series of riflescopes: Elite Tactical, 6500, 4500, 3500 (not 4200 or 3200), and the Legend Ultra HD or Trophy scopes.
Plus it only covers those above scopes purchased on or after 1st July 2017 with a NZ purchase receipt.

At the end of my phone call with Ampro Sales, I was told that the only option left is I can get the scope cleaned by them which will be around $70-$80 plus postage there and back.

So much for Bushnell warranties...

.....never had this issue with a Leupold :D - just saying.

What does the factory warranty state, NZ wholesalers are quite good at having their own version of "warranties" Have more than once found documentation with the item offering a longer warranty than the NZ outlet offers.

Maybe try contacting Bushnell international. Often manufacturers will direct local agents to come to the party to help protect their brand.

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Originally Posted by tetawa

What does the factory warranty state, NZ wholesalers are quite good at having their own version of "warranties" Have more than once found documentation with the item offering a longer warranty than the NZ outlet offers.

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The factory warranty is the same as I quoted, the only difference is that the NZ version states that a NZ proof of purchase receipt is required that shows it was not parallel imported. But even with that NZ stipulation removed, I am still outside their year of manufacture eligibility as made in 2016.
An email to Bushnell USA might still be worth sending though...

Was it purchased second hand or new? If new and paid for via eftpos often the bank transaction is enough to convince them, or at least should be enough to get a copy of the receipt from the retailer. If purchased new and it had the defect from new (obviously if it's paint flecks inside the glass) then point out to them that it was never fit for the purpose it was sold for and under the CGA it should be replaced or repaired, CGA rights can not be overwritten or removed by a warranty.

But you bought it second hand. You bought it off some joker. Why does Bushnell owe you anything?

I have had a Bushnell scope replaced no questions asked under their warranty, after some nasty impact damage. But I had a business relationship with Bushnell. I was a customer.

I don't understand this, your going to have to type it out slowly for me to grasp.

"1 - Bushnell's first warranty is their 'Ironclad warranty' but it should be renamed the 'Wet cardboard warranty'.
It is supposedly 'fully transferable' to other owners - but only if you have the original NZ purchase receipt.
In 2022 it "covers the lifetime (20-30 years) of any Bushnell product made on or after April 2018".

But here's the problem....after every April, the year increases for eligibility. Therefore it is really only a four-year warranty, ie in 2020 it covered products made from April 2016 onwards, while in 2021 it covered products made from April 2017 onwards, and this year it only covers those scopes made from April 2018 onwards.
As my scope was made in 2016 it is no longer eligible for this warranty."


If your scope was purchased in 2016 with and ironclad 20yr warranty
Please explain how it is now out of Warranty?

Ps, I've have had a Bushnell Elite 4200 replace by ampro no questions asked, but.... the reticle was quite clearly on the piss and it was some time ago.

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Originally Posted by Nickoli

.....never had this issue with a Leupold :D - just saying.

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leupold warranty is unreal. you just cant fault the service

What model scope is it, how much did you pay for it, from who and when?

Was it new or second hand?

I think this will help you get objective opinion as to whether or not you have a legitimate grievance or whether you are just whingeing.

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Originally Posted by Mintie

Was it purchased second hand or new? If new and paid for via eftpos often the bank transaction is enough to convince them, or at least should be enough to get a copy of the receipt from the retailer. If purchased new and it had the defect from new (obviously if it's paint flecks inside the glass) then point out to them that it was never fit for the purpose it was sold for and under the CGA it should be replaced or repaired, CGA rights can not be overwritten or removed by a warranty.

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Originally Posted by Hermitage

But this only covers riflescopes if you are the original purchaser with the original NZ purchase receipt made out in your name (I bought my scope s/h)

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Originally Posted by JohnDuxbury

But you bought it second hand. You bought it off some joker. Why does Bushnell owe you anything?

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Originally Posted by Hermitage

1 - Bushnell's first warranty is their 'Ironclad warranty'... It is supposedly 'fully transferable' to other owners - but only if you have the original NZ purchase receipt.
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So.... you bought it used then? Almost no warranties transfer when products are on sold, buying second hand has always been buyer beware

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Originally Posted by Hermitage

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Did you ask for a receipt?

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Originally Posted by jakewire

I don't understand this, your going to have to type it out slowly for me to grasp.
If your scope was purchased in 2016 with and ironclad 20yr warranty
Please explain how it is now out of Warranty?

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Yeah, this is a good point as it seems to be a 'loophole' Bushnell is using to get around the 20 or 30 years stated
This is because Bushnell's 'Ironclad warranty' turns out to be really only for 4 years NOT 20 or 30 years.
Bushnell gets around this by every year increasing by one year the manufacturing date of the scope so that only that year onwards is covered.

For instance, in 2020 they state that if your scope was made on or after April 2016 then you are covered by the Ironclad warranty. So if your scope was made in June 2018 send it in and they will fix or replace.
However, when the next year rolls along (2021), your scope is only covered by the 'Ironclad warranty' if it was made in or after April 2017 (so those made in 2016 are no longer covered by the 'Ironclad' and fall into the 'Limited Lifetime Warranty' which requires original purchase receipt in your name.

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Originally Posted by Pengy

Did you ask for a receipt?

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If I contact the original owner to see if he has the original receipt then that would only work if he bought the scope after April 2018.

You see this scope was made in 2016 so under Bushnell's' Ironclad' fully transferable warranty I can only claim on it if it was now back in 2020.
However because it is now 2022, the scope would have to be made in April 2018 onwards.

This Bushnell 'Ironclad warranty' is BS because they keep advancing the year of eligibility so that it turns out to be a 4 year warranty only.

For those who are lost with this Bushnell Ironclad warranty in regard to years, it was explained to me like this by an Ampro salesperson (who when I said I will do a write up on this forum about the Bushnell warranty.....stated "Yes you should write it up to warn others about the way the warranty works"). Direct quote.

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Originally Posted by Hermitage

If I contact the original owner to see if he has the original receipt then that would only work if he bought the scope after April 2018.

You see this scope was made in 2016 so under Bushnell's' Ironclad' fully transferable warranty I can only claim on it if it was now back in 2020.
However because it is now 2022, the scope would have to be made in April 2018 onwards.

This Bushnell 'Ironclad warranty' is BS because they keep advancing the year of eligibility so that it turns out to be a 4 year warranty only.

For those who are lost with this Bushnell Ironclad warranty in regard to years, it was explained to me like this by an Ampro salesperson (who when I said I will do a write up on this forum about the Bushnell warranty.....stated "Yes you should write it up to warn others about the way the warranty works"). Direct quote.

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It's not the manufacture date that counts, it's day of sale. See a guy selling a Bushnell on T/M claims no receipt required for the Ironclad warranty.

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Originally Posted by tetawa

It's not the manufacture date that counts, it's day of sale. See a guy selling a Bushnell on T/M claims no receipt required for the Ironclad warranty.

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Under the Bushnell Ironclad warranty it is the date of manufacture NOT date of sale.
The guy on TMe saying 'no receipt needed' is incorrect.

Quote from Bushnell warranty:
"The Ironclad Warranty is a full lifetime warranty that covers the lifetime of any Bushnell product made on or after April 2017." (now being April 2022 it is only for scopes made on or after April 2018).

From Bushnell.com Ironclad warranty page:

This warranty covers all products within the following product families: Binoculars, Riflescopes, Laser Rangefinders, Spotting Scopes, Electro-Optics, and Trail Cameras (the “Product”), that were manufactured on or after June 2020, and each of their component parts, except electronic components (covered for 5 years under this warranty) and batteries, if the failing Product or component part has a defect in materials or workmanship and/or the failure effects the mechanical or optical operation or performance of the Product.

https://www.bushnell.com/on/demandwa...ent%208-20.pdf

Please explain.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

From Bushnell.com Ironclad warranty page:

This warranty covers all products within the following product families: Binoculars, Riflescopes, Laser Rangefinders, Spotting Scopes, Electro-Optics, and Trail Cameras (the “Product”), that were manufactured on or after June 2020, and each of their component parts, except electronic components (covered for 5 years under this warranty) and batteries, if the failing Product or component part has a defect in materials or workmanship and/or the failure effects the mechanical or optical operation or performance of the Product.

https://www.bushnell.com/on/demandwa...ent%208-20.pdf

Please explain.

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US Bushnell warranty.

NZ Bushnell warranty Bushnell Warranty Information

From Ampro:

The Ironclad Warranty is a full lifetime warranty that covers the lifetime of any Bushnell product made on or after April 2017.

The Ironclad Warranty is a full lifetime warranty that covers the defined lifetime of a product. Lifetimes can range from 1 to 30 years. A product’s lifetime can be found below and/or on the Bushnell webpage specific to this product. If this product isn’t working properly due to a covered defect, we will, at our option, either repair or replace the product and ship it back to you at no charge. This warranty is fully transferable and does not require product registration, however does require proof of purchase from an authorised NZ dealer.

You don’t have a purchase receipt.

Please explain why you think this therefore qualifies for cover, seeing as how are you don’t meet the criteria set out quite clearly by both the North American and local terms and conditions.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

From Ampro:

The Ironclad Warranty is a full lifetime warranty that covers the defined lifetime of a product. Lifetimes can range from 1 to 30 years. A product’s lifetime can be found below and/or on the Bushnell webpage specific to this product. If this product isn’t working properly due to a covered defect, we will, at our option, either repair or replace the product and ship it back to you at no charge. This warranty is fully transferable and does not require product registration, however does require proof of purchase from an authorised NZ dealer.

You don’t have a purchase receipt.

Please explain why you think this therefore qualifies for cover, seeing as how are you don’t meet the criteria set out quite clearly by both the North American and local terms and conditions.

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I think you need to reread my posts....really slowly.
What I am pointing out is that in NZ you need a purchase receipt for Bushnell's Ironclad 'fully transferable' warranty AND the scope must be manufactured BEFORE April 2018 to qualify (in 2022).
I have said my scope doesn't qualify even if I had the receipt from the previous owner as it was made in 2016.
What I am doing in this thread (like Ampro sales agreed with me on) is to inform others about Bushnell's BS warranty.
Nothing more nothing less.

No, I don’t need to read it all again, don’t be facetious, it does nothing for your arguments. I know the guys at Ampro, they’re a good bunch. And also businessmen. They’ve been nothing but super helpful and cooperative for me… replacing lost turret screws and caps at no charge, and very quickly, that kind of thing.

They have to protect themselves from people that buy cheap, defective secondhand gear that may or may not have been bought new in this country, trying and get it fixed at no cost. Why don’t you go and try that with a 2016 Hilux at your local Toyota dealership, for example.

I’m going to give my mate a call tomorrow morning and have a chat with him about your posts. See if he agrees with how you have represented this situation. Will be interesting to see what he says. BTW…. It says in two separate places on the Ampro website that the manufacture date relevant here is April 2017, not 2018. This shifting four year thing? We’ll see.

I remind you again, you do not have a receipt. That’s an inarguable failure to meet their terms & conditions.

Great and please add to this thread about what Ampro has to say as I am very interested.

Also, it states April 2017 because.....actually you know what... I just can't be bothered explaining it all to you again.

Look let's just pretend I actually give a shit what you are trying to say and leave it at that.

I think most lifetime warranties are a little like this. Companies like to advertise the good points and leave out the fine print, the warranty is just another feature. It's a bit like how a rangefinder will be an 1800 say with some fine print mentioning this is the best it will do in ideal conditions.

Some examples I can think of where lifetime warranties have some cost or there's been problems getting it sorted:
Vortex Optics
High-end (Scott and Sage) fly rods ($180 and 6-12 months wait)
Pulsar thermals (long waits) don't know if it's lifetime but was warranty.

At the end of the day you do your research and decide what you want to buy, second hand goods always have more risk. Luckily it's relatively easy now to find out the general trend of how good the aftersales service and/or warranty of a particular company is, just ask Google.

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Originally Posted by Hermitage

Great and please add to this thread about what Ampro has to say as I am very interested.

Also, it states April 2017 because.....actually you know what... I just can't be bothered explaining it all to you again.

Look let's just pretend I actually give a shit what you are trying to say and leave it at that.

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Lol, so you just made this thread to whinge and don't want our opinions?

This is some old man yells at clouds shit.

My 6500 is still gong strong over 12 years later. I've got the original receipt, but looks like I'm outer luck on many accounts.

Given I paid £349 in the UK, I'm not phased by a warranty anymore. I've definitely got my money outer it if, and only if it gives up.

Well that was an interesting conversation.
@Hermitage, I spoke with the lady you spoke to, and had a detailed review of what you think you heard. The guy I normally deal with (the Brand Manager) wasn’t there today but going forward you might like to contact him next week when he’s back. He is the expert on the warranties.

I don’t have the time or inclination now to write down everything that we discussed but the gist of it is that no one knows where you are getting this annual shift of date of warranty eligibility. It doesn’t exist. She is adamant that was not what she told you. The young lady was not sure if the eligibility date was April 2017 or April 2018 (it’s 2017) but she tells me it doesn’t shift every year as you claim.

Since Vista reorganised its optics brands in 2020 - including Bushnell - there have been lots of changes in the US warranty setup, which is driving downstream changes in the various overseas jurisdictions overseen by agents. There have been changes to warranties in New Zealand to reflect this, exactly the same way that Vortex Aus/NZ (Extravision) has been changing its warranties to better reflect the North American situation. Extravision has changed it’s Vortex warranty just recently after a good couple of years of problems because consumers get confused between the North American and local warranty cover. The brand manager at Ampro reorganised Bushnell warranties not long ago.

The bottom line is that you were told that you need a purchase receipt from a valid NZ retailer to be able to prove that this product is supported by Ampro. If you bought the product through TradeMe as I am led to believe then you can go back to the seller and see if he has one. If you can’t prove eligibility, then you have no case. I understand we are talking about a 6 year old cheap and cheerful AR-223 scope? That cost like $300 brand-new and you probably paid half that for? That’s what they go for on here…

That said, if you had a high end scope, were a good customer and had approached the matter sensibly then I very much doubt you would’ve had a problem.

If I catch up with the Brand Manager next week and he tells me you’re blabbing a load of nonsense on internet forums, I’ll let you know. Maybe you’ve just misunderstood what you’ve been told.

But seeing as how you don’t give a shit what I think then none of this matters eh…

;)

I don't rely on 'scope warranties. The CGAct covers me ok for the initial set out period and thereafter if a 'scope shits itself it simply gets binned. I cant be bothered with something once it has let me down.

Modern reputable brand mid to top range scopes are pretty damned reliable now-a-days.

If you buy an aged shitter you cant expect it to be supported for ever.

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Originally Posted by Pop Shot

My 6500 is still gong strong over 12 years later. I've got the original receipt, but looks like I'm outer luck on many accounts.

Given I paid £349 in the UK, I'm not phased by a warranty anymore. I've definitely got my money outer it if, and only if it gives up.

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the old .235 moa click days

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Originally Posted by Tahr

I don't rely on 'scope warranties. The CGAct covers me ok for the initial set out period and thereafter if a 'scope shits itself it simply gets binned. I cant be bothered with something once it has let me down.

Modern reputable brand mid to top range scopes are pretty damned reliable now-a-days.

If you buy an aged shitter you cant expect it to be supported for ever.

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@Thar - ever the diplomat, probably the closest you can get to saying "get over it" without actually saying "get over it.":D
Should have brought a "Modern reputable brand mid to top range scope" - such as all those that you have previously derided (including those not made anymore maybe)?

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Originally Posted by 199p

the old .235 moa click days

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At least the Jap made (Light Optical Works) ones will track...

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Originally Posted by caberslash

At least the Jap made (Light Optical Works) ones will track...

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Mine tracked amazing and always returned to zero just wasn't .25moa clicks but shooter allows for that so was fine.

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Originally Posted by 199p

Mine tracked amazing and always returned to zero just wasn't .25moa clicks but shooter allows for that so was fine.

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Same with the Swaro Z5. They test out at .243" per click.

That's what I use as a value anyway 'cos they that's what Greg Duley says after testing a few.

Gotta agree with @Tahr I have a bausch and lomb scope I paid $520 for in 1984 still going strong did I get my money's worth? I think so.

Well, I'm glad to hear that the 'shifting four-year' warranty is incorrect. That to me sounded like some sort of 'legalize loophole' that Bushnell was exploiting to get out of their lifetime warranty.

The salesperson I spoke to sounded very friendly and genuine but I can see how the confusion regarding 'shifting years' occurred. She had got the month of April correct but had used the year 2018 instead of 2017 for the start of eligibility for the 'Ironclad warranty'. When I pointed out the year had changed for eligibility she said she also noticed changing dates with the Bushnell warranty. Because she quoted April 2018 for eligibility this year (whereas the form stated 2017) I thought 2017 eligibility was for last year 2021, and Ampro had just not updated the website form as it was now April and it would update 1st May (if all this sounds confusing it's because it is...and is the underlying reason for all the confusion).

While the idea of a fully transferable warranty sounds great in practice for the consumer, the reality is that one hardly ever gets the original receipt with a s/h scope purchase. And because Bushnell/Ampro requires a NZ authorized dealer receipt to qualify for the Ironclad warranty, the average warranty will not fit into/be able to be 'fully transferable'.

It seems a lot of the posters seem to think I am/was a bit pissed my scope isn't covered...but I'm not. I could just get it cleaned by Ampro for around $80 which is not much. Also, the paint specks only show up on 3x zoom and I always use the scope between 6-12x so it's really a non-issue. The main point of the post was to warn others that you need to keep your receipt and the 'shifting 4-year' loophole....which now also turns out to be a non-issue (as long as you hold onto your receipt your warranty should stand).

It is 2016 Manufacture and there is no receipt, even if there was a receipt it appears quite clearly that this particular warranty was only offer from 2017 onwards.

This has been hard.:(:)

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Originally Posted by jakewire

It is 2016 Manufacture and there is no receipt, even if there was a receipt it appears quite clearly that this particular warranty was only offer from 2017 onwards.

This has been hard.:(:)

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Yes the Bushnell Ironclad warranty only starts with scopes made after April 2017....and in NZ you need the receipt. So be aware of this everyone.

And yes again....this has been confusingly hard.