In praise of Orion's customer service.

I want to share with you all a very positive experience with Orion customer service/technical support.

When I first received my Intelliscope XT10i off the clearance section, everything was working great. However, after 2 weeks, on my next observing session, I was getting ridiculous warp factors of -80. We initially suspected the Azimuth Encoder and a new one was sent out to me. When that didnt fix it, I got a new Azimuth Encoder Magnet disc and then the handheld controller with the altitude encoders/magnet next. None of this corrected the problem. Finally, we diagnosed the problem to the encoder connector board that couples the two encoders to the controller(happened to be a bad soldering connection on that board). I received that one also and that took care of the problem. Once I did this, the controller was putting objects in the field of view of my 9mm Nagler.

Through all this, Orion's tech support was very patient and never hesitated to send me parts continously till the problem was eventually resolved. All they asked in return was to send the defective part back so that, so they can look into it. Another instance of the excellent support Orion provided me was when they replaced the primary mirror of my old XT10 2 months after the warrany expired.

I am really glad to have Orion in this marketplace and recommend it to anybody who is shopping for a decent telescope on a budget.

Vignesh

Srinivas,

I'm glad you had a good experience with Orion's tech dep't. I didn't.

James Adams

I have never had to use Orion's Technical Service but, I find their Order Dept. First Rate. Very professional and I get the shipment within 4 days of ordering. All orders have gone out the same day of the order and they follow up with emailed invoice and UPS/FedEx shipping info/date. They have always been very courteous on the phone. I do know a couple people who had slight problems on an item and their report is Orion took care of the problem, even sending one of them a brand new Eq. Mnt. to replace the old one. You can't beat that.