Binoculars and bribery
Jun. 3rd, 2024 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivverAlliterative titles for the win!
I have a pair of travel 10x21 binoculars manufactured by Olympus that I bought years ago. "10" is the magnification amount and "21" is the objective lens diameter (basically, how much light gets admitted). They cost about $80, which in the world of binoculars isn't all that much - really good binocs, like the stuff hunters use, start in the $500 range and can get into the multiple thousands. My binocs are also really light and small.
Since I'm going to be traveling and am going to the DW Prom in August, I thought I'd look into getting a new pair of binocs with higher magnification. One of the (only) irritating things about the current pair is that it has rubber eyecups which have to be folded down for me, with my glasses, to use them. It's fiddly when touring and I have to remove the lens caps and fold down the eyecups every time.
Looking on Amazon, I find that most cheap binoculars in the $30-$100 range have either 8x or 10x magnification. There's a pair of binocs that advertises 300x25 magnification, which I know is false - that's just stupid. But I figured that it had hundreds of good reviews along the lines of "this is a great cheap pair that I use for traveling and bird watching", so it must have 8x, 10x, or hopefully 12x magnification. That's fine. It does have rubber eyecups, which is disapointing, but it's small and light, and I'm willing to take a $30 chance that this will be better; if it isn't, I'll give it to my sister. So I bought them.
They arrive, and they are fine. The magnification is 10x (there's a convenient tree outside my window that I can use to compare new binocs with my old one), and they're light enough. However, the eyecups are poorly designed and won't stay folded down, making the useless to me. I left a 3-star review (for the eyecups and the magnification lie) on Amazon, and tossed them into the travel box to give to my sister.
I then found another pair on Amazon, listed as 12x25, and with two other appealing features. It has screw eyecups, so you can leave the eyecups in either regular or glasses position at all times, and a single lens cap that covers both lenses and hooks onto the strap, so you can't drop/lose the lens caps. Okay, sounds great! I can blow another $30 on those and see if they're good enough.
They arrive, and first, their magnification is not 12x. Remember the tree? In these binocs, it's smaller than either my original pair or the pair for my sister. It's obviously 8x. (Also, I measured the objective lens, and it's 21, not 25.) The eyecups are great and the lens cap is great... but these are significantly larger and heavier than my original pair and not suitable for a trip where I'm traveling with a single carry-on and a backpack. But, they would be great for, say, leaving in the car where either me or my husband can use them without fiddling with eyecups. I left a 4-star review, because other than the magnification lie, they're fine.
Meanwhile, I receive an email from the company that I bought the first binoculars from, saying that they're sorry they didn't meet my expectations and offering me a refund without having to send the binoculars back. I thanked them and said no, I bought the things and have a use for them, so I don't want a refund. (I am perfectly willing to pay for the things I purchase. If I want my money back, I'll send the thing back in.) I continued to receive more emails from them, re-offering the refund and asking them what they can do to make my experience better. I told them, stop advertising the binoculars as 300x and tell the manufacturer to redesign the eyecups.
Then two days ago, I receive an email asking me to edit the review up to five stars or delete it, because "your negative review has had a huge negative impact on us", and they'll send me a $50 Amazon card as a gift. Ah, so that's what they're after, and they're not above bribery. (Note, three stars out of five is technically not negative.) I ignored them... and got a new email today, that said simply, "Is a $100 gift card okay?" Okay, finally, that got the "Will you kindly buzz off?" response that I guess they really wanted from me. :P My review was very factual, listing both the good attributes of the binocs and the two things that I had problems with (one of which was blatant false advertising), and I'm not leaving reviews for the good of the company, but for the good of the customer. And yes, I am above being bribed. If they want a better review, fix the problems!
I have a pair of travel 10x21 binoculars manufactured by Olympus that I bought years ago. "10" is the magnification amount and "21" is the objective lens diameter (basically, how much light gets admitted). They cost about $80, which in the world of binoculars isn't all that much - really good binocs, like the stuff hunters use, start in the $500 range and can get into the multiple thousands. My binocs are also really light and small.
Since I'm going to be traveling and am going to the DW Prom in August, I thought I'd look into getting a new pair of binocs with higher magnification. One of the (only) irritating things about the current pair is that it has rubber eyecups which have to be folded down for me, with my glasses, to use them. It's fiddly when touring and I have to remove the lens caps and fold down the eyecups every time.
Looking on Amazon, I find that most cheap binoculars in the $30-$100 range have either 8x or 10x magnification. There's a pair of binocs that advertises 300x25 magnification, which I know is false - that's just stupid. But I figured that it had hundreds of good reviews along the lines of "this is a great cheap pair that I use for traveling and bird watching", so it must have 8x, 10x, or hopefully 12x magnification. That's fine. It does have rubber eyecups, which is disapointing, but it's small and light, and I'm willing to take a $30 chance that this will be better; if it isn't, I'll give it to my sister. So I bought them.
They arrive, and they are fine. The magnification is 10x (there's a convenient tree outside my window that I can use to compare new binocs with my old one), and they're light enough. However, the eyecups are poorly designed and won't stay folded down, making the useless to me. I left a 3-star review (for the eyecups and the magnification lie) on Amazon, and tossed them into the travel box to give to my sister.
I then found another pair on Amazon, listed as 12x25, and with two other appealing features. It has screw eyecups, so you can leave the eyecups in either regular or glasses position at all times, and a single lens cap that covers both lenses and hooks onto the strap, so you can't drop/lose the lens caps. Okay, sounds great! I can blow another $30 on those and see if they're good enough.
They arrive, and first, their magnification is not 12x. Remember the tree? In these binocs, it's smaller than either my original pair or the pair for my sister. It's obviously 8x. (Also, I measured the objective lens, and it's 21, not 25.) The eyecups are great and the lens cap is great... but these are significantly larger and heavier than my original pair and not suitable for a trip where I'm traveling with a single carry-on and a backpack. But, they would be great for, say, leaving in the car where either me or my husband can use them without fiddling with eyecups. I left a 4-star review, because other than the magnification lie, they're fine.
Meanwhile, I receive an email from the company that I bought the first binoculars from, saying that they're sorry they didn't meet my expectations and offering me a refund without having to send the binoculars back. I thanked them and said no, I bought the things and have a use for them, so I don't want a refund. (I am perfectly willing to pay for the things I purchase. If I want my money back, I'll send the thing back in.) I continued to receive more emails from them, re-offering the refund and asking them what they can do to make my experience better. I told them, stop advertising the binoculars as 300x and tell the manufacturer to redesign the eyecups.
Then two days ago, I receive an email asking me to edit the review up to five stars or delete it, because "your negative review has had a huge negative impact on us", and they'll send me a $50 Amazon card as a gift. Ah, so that's what they're after, and they're not above bribery. (Note, three stars out of five is technically not negative.) I ignored them... and got a new email today, that said simply, "Is a $100 gift card okay?" Okay, finally, that got the "Will you kindly buzz off?" response that I guess they really wanted from me. :P My review was very factual, listing both the good attributes of the binocs and the two things that I had problems with (one of which was blatant false advertising), and I'm not leaving reviews for the good of the company, but for the good of the customer. And yes, I am above being bribed. If they want a better review, fix the problems!
