Some of you asked me to follow-up on my experience with Meade and their warranty work on my field test scope.
Short history, the scope is a 10" SCT, 2010 fork drive and when doing a false star collimation we noticed severe astigmatism. No one at work ever noticed this in the past, or cared actually. Scope is about 20years old but has a lifetime warranty (jealous?)
Ok, contacted Meade the other day for the RMA status. This is what my voice mail returned call from Meade said:
Replaced all optics with new optics with UHTC coatings, corrector, secondary and primary.
Replaced all screws that showed signs of rust or corrosion
Tested the electronic drives for both axis (this part caught me by surprise because I didn't ask them to check this).
So ok, my co-worker says I'm being too forgiving here. After all, they did screw-up on the optics when it was built and there is no way the optics would have changed over time. This said, I still appreciate my not having to go to war with them. They were nice from the beginning to the end and even returned calls. Everyone I spoke with, either in person or on the phone was pleasant and followed through. Quite frankly, I'm not used to this. My experience lately with any company usually turns into a horror story, so this was a good thing.
One last thing and we'll see if they actually follow up on this. I asked them to make me up a label and box for my 14mm 4000 UW ep. I realize this is a shot in the dark, but my ep is new and came without a box from the dealer who lost it. We'll see if they'll do this favor for me and put it in the box with the scope. Please, don't call them and ask them to do this for you, cause they won't and I'll be lucky if they'll do it for me. But Meade, if you're reading here, PLEEEEEEEEEEEZ.
So my hats off to Meade and the nice folks there. Now let's hope that UPS doesn't squish it, but it only needs to be driven a short distance from the factory. So there you have it. Joe Conway
PS> I get to compare Meade service with Celestron next. We tested my new 9.25XLT SCT with our Zygo Interferometer the other day and it has pretty bad astigmatism. So along with all of the cosmetic issues, this ones going back to the factory. So I'll follow-up on how they treat me on this.
Short history, the scope is a 10" SCT, 2010 fork drive and when doing a false star collimation we noticed severe astigmatism. No one at work ever noticed this in the past, or cared actually. Scope is about 20years old but has a lifetime warranty (jealous?)
Ok, contacted Meade the other day for the RMA status. This is what my voice mail returned call from Meade said:
Replaced all optics with new optics with UHTC coatings, corrector, secondary and primary.
Replaced all screws that showed signs of rust or corrosion
Tested the electronic drives for both axis (this part caught me by surprise because I didn't ask them to check this).
So ok, my co-worker says I'm being too forgiving here. After all, they did screw-up on the optics when it was built and there is no way the optics would have changed over time. This said, I still appreciate my not having to go to war with them. They were nice from the beginning to the end and even returned calls. Everyone I spoke with, either in person or on the phone was pleasant and followed through. Quite frankly, I'm not used to this. My experience lately with any company usually turns into a horror story, so this was a good thing.
One last thing and we'll see if they actually follow up on this. I asked them to make me up a label and box for my 14mm 4000 UW ep. I realize this is a shot in the dark, but my ep is new and came without a box from the dealer who lost it. We'll see if they'll do this favor for me and put it in the box with the scope. Please, don't call them and ask them to do this for you, cause they won't and I'll be lucky if they'll do it for me. But Meade, if you're reading here, PLEEEEEEEEEEEZ.
So my hats off to Meade and the nice folks there. Now let's hope that UPS doesn't squish it, but it only needs to be driven a short distance from the factory. So there you have it. Joe Conway
PS> I get to compare Meade service with Celestron next. We tested my new 9.25XLT SCT with our Zygo Interferometer the other day and it has pretty bad astigmatism. So along with all of the cosmetic issues, this ones going back to the factory. So I'll follow-up on how they treat me on this.
