"...or to not take them and have the price of them taken off (but dont expect too much), and buy your own separately."
I specifically asked for that but I got told it's not an option. At least I got to change the 9 and 25 mm to a different size because I already had GSO versions of those ($50 all up for those plus a moon filter off E-bay, yay
).
The series 500s have nasty build quality (try screwing things into the thread that feels like it has been chiseled out), only single coatings and a very hard rubber eyecup, but I don't think that makes them only worthy of smashing, melting etc. This backlash seems a bit over the top. It's much easier to listen seriously to reasonable people than extremists.