...is a bad day, still.
Everything conspired yesterday. When I finally was able to leave the house, I had only a few hours before sunset and a call came in. It was a woman with a redtail hawk in her yard. When I got there, the bird was grounded with a broken wing. She said she only called me because after a week in her 6 ft privacy fenced micro-yard, she was worried because the hawk would not eat any of the bread she was throwing out. SMH. The bird was so far gone it had no chance and I had to euthanize.
Got to the spot I was headed for and in no time a brigade of orange wearing people on the backs of 4 wheelers came driving thru. There was no trail nearby! Furthermore this was a no motorized vehicle zone! I moved to the next spot, whatdya know, guys unloading 4 wheelers off trailors.
Went to a fallback position and ended up stalking into the sun with the wind at my back. <insert sarcasm font here> Hooray! I had 30 minutes to sundown and was distracted with trying to make time to get to a spot to sit and rattle when I stumbled, dropped my Steiner binos...AND BROKE THEM! Look for my upcoming thread in the trading post, I am offering not one, but TWO Steiner 8x42 monoculars.
I called Steiner today to ask if they could be repaired. The young man, Bill, on the customer service line began by asking detailed questions. He then explained that the break sounds like the high impact resistant plastic bushing is designed to take a lifetime of hard use in the field and is integral to the frame of the two tubes. Consequently, it cannot be repaired. Furthermore, if I dropped them so hard that the hinges broke, I likely jarred the internals loose and they would be junk anyway. He apologized and told me that they would not fix my binos. He then asked for my email address. I said, no thanks, I don't want to get their advertising since I can no longer afford to purchase their product, even if the quality justifies the price. He laughed at me. The customer service rep had THE NERVE TO LAUGH AT ME, THE CUSTOMER, OVER THE PHONE!!!
I almost let him have it. That's when he said he needed to send me the warranty return form so they could replace them brand new. I said I was at fault for dropping them, it wasn't their product's failure. He said, "So what? Those hinges have lifetime warranty. WE believe in our product so that in the end, YOU can, too."
I tell ya, I am a fan of Steiner products, sure. But now I believe in the company's service, too. And just to prove he was a company man, he suggested I go to their website, click on accessories, and purchase the harness system....that way I won't drop the next pair!
