Trijicon Acog warranty issues

[Revolver Ocelot]

I would like to say first and foremost that this happened a couple years ago and am only posting it at a friends suggestion. I was discussing an incident in afghanistan under which an trijicon acog was damaged, he asked what had happened to it and I told him I had a less than pleasant run in with trijicon over it. He seemed to think that some prospective buyers might find this information interesting, so here it is.

I don't really want to get into the details of what had occurred that caused the damage, mostly because I consider it kind of personal, and also because Trijicon did not care to ask what caused the damage, or to what extent it was damaged. I had emailed them to inform them that during operations in Afghanistan an incident occurred under which I came out unharmed but my Acog was not so lucky, and I inquired as to whether or not the warranty covered it. To which they replied:

"Thank you for your service to our country and for your use of Trijicon products. Glad to hear that you emerged unharmed. Much as we would like to help out, unfortunately the warranty does not cover damage sustained in combat. We can however offer you a military discount of up to 25% on our products if you are active duty or retired military."

So in affect all I got was the usual thank you for your service, and here is the standard discount that you can likely beat shopping around online. While I understand it is withing their right to do this I found myself more than a little disappointed that their warranty effectively does not cover damage that could be caused under anything you could effectively call "professional" use. They made no attempt to determine the level to which it was damaged, they just flat out wouldn't take it. But rather than argue with them about it, I just voted with my money and bought an Aimpoint who's warranty does cover such damage (had great experiences with both them and surefire), and tossed the Acog in the trash. Best part, in 10 years when the batteries finally die I won't have to pay the manufacturer to replace them.

I am not posting this to start a flame war, or to say that Trijicon makes a bad product (which they don't), I just want to point this out to prospective buyers that may be considering this as an option for military or duty use.

 

[wally]

Your home owners, life, & auto insurance don't cover acts of war either!

I do think it was very short sighted on their part as a missed opportunity for some awesome word of mouth advertising. I'd suspect a replacement would cost far less than any of their ads in gun rags or on the Outdoor Channel, and be way more effective to those touched by your story.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

It does seem like they could have at least discussed the issue before summarily refusing to work on the scope.

 

[wideym]

With so many ACOGs showing up on the surplus market, it's only natural for them not to warranty every battle damaged unit. Unrepairable units are supposed to be de-milled before coding out, but many are not and some that are look like battle damage.

I bought a TAONSN1 ACOG while in Iraq as a combat multiplier, since we were short of them (along with belt fed mgs and night vision devices). It's scratched all to hell on one side, but I keep it as a memento of my time in Iraq.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

Your home owners, life, & auto insurance don't cover acts of war either!

True, but I'm not talking about insurance, I'm talking about a warranty not covering damage caused under which the optic was designed for, I mean after all it is the advanced COMBAT optical gunsight. Maybe I'm wrong but to me that's like buying an atv with a warranty and then being told the repair is not covered because I was "off roading"

 

[HexHead]

Read the warranty, I'll bet the word "limited" is in there somewhere and also some verbiage about manufacturing defects. Expecting the manufacturer to warranty a unit damaged in combat is probably the dumbest thing I've ever read on here, and that was a pretty high bar.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

ignore

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

Interesting developement, after the conversation with my friend I pondered about the eotech mrds that I had mounted on the acog at the time of the incident (it's glass was scratched beyond any ability to reasonably see through it). So I dug it out and contacted the manufacturer just to see what would happen, I hadn't done this previously as I thought it would be a waste of time (what optics manufacturer covers scratched glass these days?). But to my surprise they gave me a number and told me to send it in where they would cover it under warranty BECAUSE it happened in combat. Now I call that irony, but a big thumbs up to Eotech as well!

Expecting the manufacturer to warranty a unit damaged in combat is probably the dumbest thing I've ever read on here, and that was a pretty high bar

Actually the body of the optic has a lifetime warranty (at their option of course), I certainly expected the possibility that it wouldn't be covered under warranty, what I didn't expect was them to not even bother inquiring as to the nature of the damage or not to at least ask to see it to determine whether or not it is salvageable. Call it dumb if you want, but while they won't cover it I know now of 4 manufacturers that will cover damage covered in combat, it's free advertising.

All said and done I would have paid to fix it if they would have at least tried, I mean who spends that kind of money on an optic and doesn't at least try and see if the manufacturer will fix it? if I had to pay half the price of a new optic to fix the one I had it still would have been preferable to pitching it and buying a new one.

 

[jmorris]

Best part, in 10 years when the batteries finally die I won't have to pay the manufacturer to replace them.

Yeah, it's about half the cost of a new one to service an acog reflex vs a few bucks for a new batt.

 

[Gordon]

I am very soured on ACOGs because of their ridiculous tritium renewal charge, talk about planned obsolete !

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Guess I'm the lucky one...

Had one of those goofy units with the integrated Irons on top. It simply fell over one day and the fronts post and front lens hood conspired to break the lens and compromise the scope.

Free to me!

Another NSN had the tritium go south far too soon.

Free to me.

The whopper - I bought to take overseas an NSN and fortunately had time to set-up state-side. Almost no illum whatsoever and the interior would fog...

Sent it back and almost immediately heard from them: Turns out it was one outstanding knock-off and as long as I stated in writing what authorized dealer (in fact distributor) had sold it - with circumstances - they'd square me away and square they did.

Free to me!


Todd.

 

[herrwalther]

I don't really want to get into the details of what had occurred that caused the damage, mostly because I consider it kind of personal, and also because Trijicon did not care to ask what caused the damage, or to what extent it was damaged. I had emailed them to inform them that during operations in Afghanistan an incident occurred under which I came out unharmed but my Acog was not so lucky, and I inquired as to whether or not the warranty covered it. To which they replied:

So was this a service/military issued ACOG or bought out of pocket? Trijicon works pretty well replacing issued ACOGs through the supply chain if they are actually damaged or destroyed during service on issued ACOGs. It pays to have an indefinite supply contract with them. If this was a personal device that is a pretty SOL moment.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

Id bet also part of this is they don't want to fool with stolen units. Lots of them came home with soldiers that weren't suppose to be taking them home. They were sold to the government so as long as there repairing those units for the government if its them asking you cant hardly fault them. Kind of like stealing a 3 year old corvette that was abused on a race track and asking chev to honor the warrantee because the engine is blown. I could be wrong but I really doubt if the military is in the habit of giving away perfectly good 1000 dollar optics as going home presents. I don't know but maybe theyd let someone have a busted one because they didn't want to bother with fixing it but you sure couldn't in that case expect trijicon to fix it for you for free.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

So was this a service/military issued ACOG or bought out of pocket? Trijicon works pretty well replacing issued ACOGs through the supply chain if they are actually damaged or destroyed during service on issued ACOGs. It pays to have an indefinite supply contract with them. If this was a personal device that is a pretty SOL moment.

As a matter of fact I am a 91F (small arms repaiman) when we receive a broken issued acog we do a turn in on it, but the only reason we do so is so that the manufacturer can dispose of the tritium properly. We receive no credit for it and the unit has to purchase their new one out of pocket essentially.

d bet also part of this is they don't want to fool with stolen units.

An easy way to mitigate this would be to request the serial number, they know which ones they sent where.

But for those curious I purchased this out of my own pocket. I would not have been upset had they tried to charge me for repair, I am more disappointed that they didn't even bother looking at it. But oh well, you live and you learn.

 

[Jeff White]

I am very soured on ACOGs because of their ridiculous tritium renewal charge, talk about planned obsolete !

What are they charging to replace the tritium in an ACOG these days? I have an original TAO-1 I bought in 1988. It has a 3 digit serial number and after 27 years the red tritium illumination is still usable. Several years ago I contacted Trijicon about changing the reticule (mine has the big dot in the middle of the cross hair that was originally there for close in use, kind of worthless with a 4X optic and not really good for more precise shooting at longer range.) they quoted me $245.00 along with replacing the tritium lamp. I paid $625 for the ACOG direct from Trijicon with a LE/Military discount. IIRC they were just under $900 suggested retail price back then.

 

[herrwalther]

As a matter of fact I am a 91F (small arms repaiman) when we receive a broken issued acog we do a turn in on it, but the only reason we do so is so that the manufacturer can dispose of the tritium properly. We receive no credit for it and the unit has to purchase their new one out of pocket essentially.

Very nice. I was 11B with a slot to attend 91F school at Ft Lee for a SMOS. New fiscal year started and my shot at school went away. I know some units like to keep spare weapons and optics on their MTOW in case something breaks.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

Very nice. I was 11B with a slot to attend 91F school at Ft Lee for a SMOS. New fiscal year started and my shot at school went away. I know some units like to keep spare weapons and optics on their MTOW in case something breaks.

I've seen some units try to do that, it's tricky and usually doesn't end well, all it takes is one honest guy to ruin it lol. To have something that you aren't authorized on your mtow means you basically have to keep it off of the books and hope no one notices during a layout. The easiest way to do that without getting in trouble is to order outside of the Army ordering system (i.e. buy direct from manufacturer), you end up paying more but you get to keep it.

 

[Lord Teapot]

been hovering between trijicon/aimpoint/eotech for awhile. trijicon off the list due to their clearly patronizing, blanket response to a warranty request.

 

[jmorris]

The comment about stolen units reminded me of this thread.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=662100

Guy bought a used unit and sent it in, was originally sold to Government so they contacted the DOD.

 

[Jeff White]

The DOD isn't selling ACOGs through DRMO because of the tritium lamp. They all go back to Trijicon to be demilitarized.

So any ACOG out there with a serial number that was originally sold to the govt. is most likely stolen.

 

[Sapper771]

been hovering between trijicon/aimpoint/eotech for awhile. trijicon off the list due to their clearly patronizing, blanket response to a warranty request.

This is sort of where I am at as well.

I have been seriously eyeballing a new TA31. $1200 is big money for me right now, but I have been putting some aside. After reading RO's experience, that TA31 is not looking as appealing.

An Aimpoint T-1/T-2 will look just as good on my carbine.

 

[herrwalther]

been hovering between trijicon/aimpoint/eotech for awhile. trijicon off the list due to their clearly patronizing, blanket response to a warranty request.

I have far more experience shooting with Aimpoint sights and only recently starting using Trijicon ACOGs when I was bumped to a team leader slot for my last year in. Given the two I would still prefer the Aimpoint. I was never impressed with Eotech even when I compared it to the CompM2.

 

[Gordon]

TA02 with an attached RMR is very hard to beat IMHO and I am saving for one for my Noveske Infidel .

 

[C-grunt]

Thats weird. I had an ACOG on my duty weapon (LE) that somehow broke. I emailed them and they sent me return postage right away. They fixed it no questions asked.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

Thats weird. I had an ACOG on my duty weapon (LE) that somehow broke. I emailed them and they sent me return postage right away. They fixed it no questions asked.

Generally speaking they seem to have a reasonable warranty, in this case the incident resulting in the damage having happened in afghanistan seemed to have voided the warranty. YMMV