Thread: Pulsar poor product support

A mate of mine is having an issue with a Pulsar C50, this unit is 12 months old and is covered by a 2 year warranty. Apparently the problem is a known issue where the non removeable backup battery goes flat while the unit is off, as well as the image occasionally, randomly freezing. Since my mate is a bit of a technophobe it became my job to explain the problem and get it off to Advanced Optics, the NZ Pulsar distributor. I did this via Rivers to Ranges who were the retailer in this case. A couple of weeks after sending if for assessment I got a call from Rivers to Rangers to tell me that Advanced Optic did find a fault with the scope and they have decided to send it offshore for repair. The expected turnaround for this is 10 to 12 weeks. To my way of thinking this is very poor product support for a supposed premium product. Back up and support for any product should include the ability to deal with technical issues and repairs Locally (in NZ). If for some reason the repair is not possible then I would expect a replacement unit, or at the least a loan unit while they sort out the issue.
With technically complicated equipment like thermal and night vision gear the quality of the product support and the warranty are very important in my opinion. It looks to me like this is sadly lacking in the case of Advanced Optics. Based on this experience I would certainly not own one. Is this an isolated case? Or were we just unlucky with who we ended up dealing with at Advanced Optics?

I think you will find this with all scope issues it has to go back to the manufacturer.
I my case a Swarovski scope the importer gave me a loaner model to use while it was away.

Sent from my CPH2145 using Tapatalk

Leupolds go back and forth to the States all of the time. The owners seem to think this is a good thing.

With out knowing specifics I would suggest the required skill level to service thermal is not available and further guess special (f@#kin expensive even relative to cost of the equipment) test equipment and jigs are also required.
I doubt it would be viable given the numbers of thermals we are thinking about.

Our communication test set cost over 30k second hand and really you only use it occaisionally BUT when you need it you need it.

Back when I was first looking at thermals I had heard about slow warranty work with Pulsar, it also frustrated (and worried me) that there was about a 6 month wait list on thier products, if the product needed to be replaced because of a fault I didn't want to wait 6 months.

Thier internal or even thier own specific battery packs was also a massive turn off for me, I don't want to spend $500 to have a couple of spare batteries in the pack and I don't want to have an issue trying to track down a replacement battery 5 years down the track!

On doing more research I found the NZ agents for both Pard and Sytong offered loan units for any faulty gear, had stock or could get it fast and they used 18650 batteries which are cheap and easy to find. Made my decisions way easier.

I'd say anything going in and out of Belarus takes a back seat to helping their mates next door at the moment..

It isn't a new thing, pulsar turn around times are very average. Also a lot of the units do need to go back too. Couple of ours have taken longer than 10 to 12 weeks that's for sure.

I'm 8n the same boat with my merger xp50lrf binos. The rangefinder isn't centered anymore. 10-12 weeks, I went through guncity and they were trying to get me a loan unit.for the 10-12 weeks my thermals went back to Belarus. Apparently nothing was available, after I snapped a little and asked for a contact to call, a hand held loan unit was promptly sent to my door.

I got Pard because they don,t have an internal battery and only run on 18650 rechargable batterys so just change it when flat takes 20 seconds and alot less weight to carry around then a internal built in batterty

Originally Posted by 57jl

I got Pard because they don,t have an internal battery and only run on 18650 rechargable batterys so just change it when flat takes 20 seconds and alot less weight to carry around then a internal built in batterty

I really rate the pard as they seem pretty reliable robust and work.
Reasonable price as well and 18650 battery's.
I think fraser at owl optics can do quite a bit there and worst case get sent to aussie to fix.

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk
Touch base with me as can talk anybody through a choice of optic as used most of them.

I have owned both Pard and Hik Micro products and have experienced problems along the way with both brands, I think its just the nature of the beast, but in these cases the problems were dealt with fast and effectively by the distributor in NZ. When spending the type of money you need to spend on this type of gear that backup and support is worth gold. With either of these brands I can pick up the phone and talk to the distributor (the guy where the buck stops). I tried to find a phone number on Advanced Optics website without success, clearly contact with their customers is not important to them.
On the subject of waiting 10/12 weeks for a repair, this delay is ridiculous. DHL could have the scope to Belarus in 3/4 days and the same back to NZ. So why the huge delay with repairs??

3 things you should check with the manufacture for warranty before buying
1) Warranty length.
2) Expected service length if you get failure and mitigation eg demo or replacement
3) Warrantied for commercial use.

Originally Posted by zeropak

I have owned both Pard and Hik Micro products and have experienced problems along the way with both brands, I think its just the nature of the beast, but in these cases the problems were dealt with fast and effectively by the distributor in NZ. When spending the type of money you need to spend on this type of gear that backup and support is worth gold. With either of these brands I can pick up the phone and talk to the distributor (the guy where the buck stops). I tried to find a phone number on Advanced Optics website without success, clearly contact with their customers is not important to them.
On the subject of waiting 10/12 weeks for a repair, this delay is ridiculous. DHL could have the scope to Belarus in 3/4 days and the same back to NZ. So why the huge delay with repairs??

Perhaps because when they get there they are serviced in order they were recieved. If they are servicing a large region then this may mean delays. Also maybe some requirement may be needed to be met as regards export even though its for repair and if so when have you seen govt department work fast.
I think it unlikely importers deliberately "drag the chain" on warrenty repairs as its not in their interests to do so whatever the product is

Fraser can fix some issues otherwise it will have to go to Australia as there is a technician over there so turn around shouldn’t be too long

Originally Posted by mikee

Perhaps because when they get there they are serviced in order they were recieved. If they are servicing a large region then this may mean delays. Also maybe some requirement may be needed to be met as regards export even though its for repair and if so when have you seen govt department work fast.
I think it unlikely importers deliberately "drag the chain" on warrenty repairs as its not in their interests to do so whatever the product is

Some European countries require heavy paperwork as anything that is attached to a gun is treated as a restricted military product. Might be the case with Latvia / Pulsar. These sorts of countries tend to use paper based records too. And if that is the case you probably wouldnt send one unit for repair you would accumulate several first to minimise the headache.