Hi All
I just wanted to share my recent experiences about Explore Scientific's customer service. Several Weeks ago I discovered some fungus on my CF Explore Scientific CF 127mm refractor. I am the second owner of that scope and was not sure whether ES would walk the talk regarding their service claims.
I contacted Explore Scientific customer service who very promptly explained how to disassemble the lens assembly and how to clean the lens.
When I disassembled the lens I found the first element had very little fungus and was easily cleaned. The next two elements were however embedded in a lens cell and the fungus was on the inner surfaces of these two lenses.
The lens assembly had no easy means for disassembly, the screws being filled in and made flush with the surface to ensure no tampering. After various discussions with ES on options such as dipping the whole lens assembly in acetone, (unclear whether the silicone spacer between the two elements would withstand the acetone), it was decided to return to ES the lens cell assembly alone. It was forwarded to them 2 weeks ago.
Today I received a package that contained a brand new lens assembly AND, a new first element that I had managed to clean but not forwarded to them. Also included was a new front cap. All this was packaged beautifully and forwarded back to me at no further cost!
Talk about standing behind the product's lifetime warranty claims as per their web site.. Truly remarkable in my view.
I feel that recognition of their efforts provides an example of how to engage with, and delight amateur astronomy customers. It gives you confidence when buying their products and assurance that their after sales support matches the talk. Anyway that is my good news and my experience.
Ted
