I received a nice pair of Bushnell binoculars as a gift several years ago. They ended up in a drawer, unused, and still packaged. I found them recently and was dismayed to discover that a manufacturing defect caused a vertical misalignment of the images in the left and right lenses, for which there was no adjustment. The effect on the brain after looking through them was the opposite of Advil. Fortuitously, I found a limited lifetime warranty  card and proceeded to ship said binoculars to Bushnell along with a requisite $10 extortion handling fee to get them repaired. A few weeks later I received a letter in the mail informing me that some technician’s Magic 8-Ball read “Customer’s Fault”, and so my discontinued binoculars would not be repaired nor replaced. Translation: “we don’t make the parts for this model anymore and would prefer not lose the money to send you a new, equivalent model.”

Now, I’m the type of person who has a long fuse and whose passionate rage is rocket-fueled by only a few things, of which include being called or implied a liar, treated unfairly, or simply written off as a sheep who won’t stand up and swing back. One stern but respectful phone call was all it took. Today my brand new pair of Bushnell Binoculars arrived in the mail and I am happy to say that the lenses line up beautifully. But I had to wonder how many Bushnell customers have received the same letter as I did and simply chose to fold. Persistence pays.