Shout out on behalf of Bushnell

[Dr. Bombay]

(fantastic customer service)

Wanted to relate a quick story about an incredible customer service experience I recently had with Bushnell.

Last May I was at a super high end resort in southeast Georgia and I dropped my Nikon 500G in the middle of the fairway. On the very next hole we noticed and went back, much to our surprise the unit was gone and the group behind us hadn't even gotten to where I dropped it. Had my name/address/phone all clearly marked on the side. Someone stole that thing ;-(

Shortly after that a buddy in my group picked up a nice little Bushnell unit for like $210 on ebay, brand new. It was a model I had never seen before but what the heck, it was a Bushnell! I went and bought the same unit. Came in a nice big package with a picture of Sergio on it, brand new, etc...

The bad news is it was very difficult to use. For the most part it only worked in "scan" mode in which you'd get 3 or 4 different yardages and you had to pick the one closest to where a sprinkler or yardage marker indicated you should be. It really kind of defeated the purpose. I figured I must be doing something wrong so I dug out the owners manual and studied up, no mention of golf whatsoever in the manual. But plenty of references to hunting. So I studied up on the differences between hunting and golf range finders and supposedly a hunting rangefinder with "scan" mode should work just fine for golf too -- that definitely wasn't my experience.

After spending all summer trying to work with this thing I said screw it and picked up a like new Nikon 500G on ebay for $100...aaah relief! But this Bushnell was sitting there on my desk irritating me. For whatever reason I also kept the packaging and one day started studying it and the rangefinder real close. The unit had been manufactured in either June/'08 or August/'06, not sure which ('07 for the one my buddy has). But both were brand new when we got them? Took a closer look at the packaging...it had been repackaged by some company in California. Spoke with the seller about this and suggested a refund was in order since this hunting rangefinder had been misrepresented as a golf rangefinder, complete with big pictures of Sergio. As you might expect, he told me to go pound sand.

Last resort, wrote a letter to Bushnell with all the details and mailed it to them along with the rangefinder and the original packaging.

RESULT: A BRAND NEW 1600 TOURNAMENT EDITION ARRIVED ON MY DOORSTEP TODAY!!!

No questions asked by Bushnell. I figured if I did get a replacement surely it would be the most inexpensive model they make. But rather they sent me the top of the line...

...and I sure do appreciate it!

Sorry, that wasn't so short after all. Now my only problem is what to do since I have two excellent rangefinders!! Guess that's not such a bad problem to have.

PS. Attached a picture of the package it came in. They had hundreds of these things for sale on ebay. If you bought the same one and are having problems too might not hurt to bring it to the attention of Bushnell.