Thread: Special Assembly Leupold Snapped Reticle

I have this Vari-X IIc 4-12x with custom click target turrets. They were made for Reloaders Supplies in the early 90s and I have used it for precision target .22.

I was out at the range today and the wire reticle just gave up the ghost and broke.

Does anyone know if Leupold fixes the reticles in these Vari-X IIc or would they just send me a 'Freedom' series 4-12x as a replacement? (or something to equal effect/value). I really need a scope with target turrets.

Also what's the best way to get this to Leupold....take it to a store or send it myself via NZ Post?

Not sure about replacement vs repair, but if you take it to a store they'll probably sting you $50-$60 to cover insured international shipping to the US and back. I've never looked into what it'd cost to post one myself so I don't know if that's a fair price or not. However this price barely covers what NZ Asia (the Leupold agents) would charge us at the big green store, so if anyone is creaming it it's the boys at NZ Asia, I kinda doubt that though, they were always fair to deal with in my 8 years selling scopes etc.

I contacted agents a few weeks back. They advised me to take into my local sports shop..... I left it with H&F Invercargill and am now awaiting a response from Leupold about it.
At the time there was no mention of me paying any $ at all........ will let you know when I hear back.

Originally Posted by SiB

I contacted agents a few weeks back. They advised me to take into my local sports shop..... I left it with H&F Invercargill and am now awaiting a response from Leupold about it.
At the time there was no mention of me paying any $ at all........ will let you know when I hear back.

No money for postage charged ....you must have the best (aka 'most unusual') H&F in NZ!

Contact Leupold customer service directly, based on my very recent experience you my be surprised at their response.

Originally Posted by S.E.G

Contact Leupold customer service directly, based on my very recent experience you my be surprised at their response.

Australia or USA Customer service?

I went straight to the US customer service

Originally Posted by S.E.G

I went straight to the US customer service

Yeah ok, that makes sense for a broken reticle in an older model Leupold. I suspect the Oz service center just does repairs on later models.

So that's what I will do tomorrow afternoon when it is the correct time in Oregon USA. Will report back on what they say tomorrow evening for those interested.

Thanks for those who replied with info.

I had a similar issue I sent it to the outfit in Queensland who did all the repairs and then the lens delaminated during assembly so was sent a replacement.

I think if you go on leupold website, they advise that you send your scope to your local agent rather than USA.
They took care of me when I sent them two scopes early last year, but I think they start to be a bit fed up at fixing scopes in USA when they have set up a service center in Australia .
Talk to nz Asia if needed .

Ive always just posted them back to Leupold in the States to whatever address seemed to have been the most appropriate, with a note in the box about what's wrong and my return address. To their credit the scopes always arrived back.

In the end I sent so many Vx111 and Vx3 back I got sick of the brand. The CDS on Leupolds' is great and everything underneath that is suspect I wouldn't have another one.

I sent a vari x II back via H&F. Took 6 weeks and cost $50.

Australian Leupold Repair said this when I contacted them in regards to sending them my scope:

"Thanks for your enquiry.
Unfortunately, we are unable to deal direct with customers from New Zealand due to import laws when returning scopes. You can still arrange this via the New Zealand distributor NZ Asia."

Nelson holiday down at NZ Asia but I'll contact them tomorrow about sending it to them.

I spoke to NZ Asia this morning pointing out that if I could help it, I would rather not take the scope into a H&F store, but just send the scope to them in Nelson directly.
However, NZ Asia said they get 20 to 30 Leupold scopes (mostly older models), per month due to warranty claims (!!). Therefore they find it easier to wait until they get a number of scopes to send to Oz and a number of return fixed scopes back from Oz and then send 2 or 3 to the same H&F store, rather than to individual owners.

NZ Asia also seems to get the postage paid this way as you end up paying $50 to $60 for the shipping. They said the money is for paying four ways of shipping "From H&F to NZ Asia, from NZ Asia to Oz, from Oz to NZ Asia, from NZ Asia to H&F" (direct quote).
The problem I find with this method is that when I sent in a Kahles scope for repair I only had to pay the postage to the NZ agents and they covered all the international shipping to Austria and back.

So after that call to NZ Asia, I rang Leupold USA.
They were more than happy for me to send them the scope for repair. If sent to Leupold USA, I would only have to pay the international shipping to Leupold and Leupold would pay the return international shipping to my door.

While I was speaking to them I mentioned how that sounds better as sending via NZ Asia would probably be more expensive The Leupold Customer Service guy seemed very interested in this and then asked me a lot of questions about NZ Asia shipping costs.
Turns out he was very surprised that they charge for shipping back from Oz and then from NZ Asia to a H&F store.
He said he would log a note for middle management to make some enquires into why NZ Asia is charging those costs and for now to just send my scope to them in the USA.

Which I will do tomorrow...

And this is why it takes so long going threw NZ asia, because they wait to they get enough product before sending it back, had to wait about 4 months with them before. The shipping price has always been doggy