Surefire turn around time?

I just sent in an L4 to be replaced by Surefire last Monday. I'm a couple hundred miles north in the same state and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with Surefire and how long they normally might take to re send an item out. I'm getting a little bit antsy about this and I'm hoping someone will say they are as fast as greased lightening.

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keithhr said:
I just sent in an L4 to be replaced by Surefire last Monday. I'm a couple hundred miles north in the same state and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with Surefire and how long they normally might take to re send an item out. I'm getting a little bit antsy about this and I'm hoping someone will say they are as fast as greased lightening.

[/ QUOTE ] Sent mine back last Tuesday via overnight. Haven't heard anything yet, then again with the 4th and all I didn't yet expect to. Plus they told me they'd ship it back via UPS which isn't exactly known for getting things places fast.

I'd be pretty pissed if Surefire sent my L4 back by UPS Ground, especially if I had paid for overnight service to send it to them. To S. Florida UPS Ground would take a full 7 business days to get to me from CA. Seems like they could at least use 2nd Day Air to return it to you (It's not that heavy an item).

After all, the reason it needs to be returned in the first place is because of Surefires exclusion of a very important component. Surefire flashlights are supposed to be a premium, satisfaction guaranteed type of product. I paid $145 for my L4, and feel it shouldn't cost me more (in time and/or money) in order to make it perform as advertised. I feel that if a product commands a premium price it should offer premium customer service to back it up.

I wouldn't get your hopes up for a speedy ruturn guys. If SureFire lives up to their past performance, warranty items take forever. So far, it's been over 2-weeks which I've waited for my 2-A2 replacement tailswitches. Prior to that, I waited 6-weeks for a replacement E2E bezel.

If anyone's interested, I live only about 15 miles from the SureFire headquarters in Fountain Valley, CA. I don't know if the turnaround time would be faster if someone personally dropped off their light for repair there, but last week I called them and asked if I could bring in a P60 lamp assembly to check the focus, and they said sure.

If anyone's had any experience personally visiting the SureFire HQ, let us know. I'd be happy to personally bring anyone's SF light over for a repair for the cost of shipping and a few bucks for gas, if it'll speed up turnaround time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Living only a few miles from SureFire, I think I have a slight shipping advantage, as well as others living nearby to Fountain Valley. (I've had some UPS ground shipments from SF arrive at my doorstep in just one day.) So far, of the few SureFire lights I've sent back for warranty repair, or under the plain "begging & groveling repair request" - I've always experienced an average ten-working-day turnaround time (roughly two weeks). Not bad at all...

And to answer the question in advance... the items I requested repair for in the past were an E2e & KL1, L1, and 6P. I suspect the time will vary for certain items.

-Jim

I couldn't wait, so I called surefire this morning, I sent it to them on June 30, at this point they can't tell me if they have received it, then the tech guy mumbled something about 7-10 business working days, with it taking them 3-4 days after receiving it to log it into their data base. I apparently won't get, see, or hear about the L4 return for a while. It's a good thing I've got the Pelican M6 drop in 5 watter and the micro illuminator coming this week to tide me over.

Sorry to hear this, guys. It makes me glad I requested SF to send the gaskets to me -- I received them over the weekend and now all is well with my now-watertight L4. Hang in there!!

Hello keithhr,

I believe that items that are returned to SureFire have to go through a check in process, get an engineering look at the problem, go to the repair department, go back through quality control, and then finally get shipped back out. Needless to say, this process takes time.

I sent an M1 in because of a defective LED. I asked about how long it would take to get it replaced, and was given 6 weeks as a target. I got it back in 5 weeks.

Your mileage may vary.

Tom

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LitFuse said:
I'd be pretty pissed if Surefire sent my L4 back by UPS Ground, especially if I had paid for overnight service to send it to them.


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That's kind of an odd statement. Surefire doesn't get any of that extra money you spent for overnight service. Whether the light arrives by UPS Ground, USPS Priority, hand-delivered courier, passenger pigeon, whatever... it's all exactly the same on Surefire's end.

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LitFuse said:
I feel that if a product commands a premium price it should offer premium customer service to back it up.


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Thus begs the question: Do Surefire's have a premium price? Maybe for their standard line (6P, G2, D2), yes. There are many other lights of similar quality for less. But with your L4, I don't think the price complaint is justified. Who else has a production 5W LS in a small 2x123 configuration?

I don't mean to belittle your warranty problems, but maybe you expect too much.

CPF is all about high expectations. Flashlights are important to us.

Al

Impossibly high expectations just lead the user to be dissapointed. Not all customer service departments are as responsive as Arc Flashlight. If Surefire does depend on the military/spec ops people as much as we are led to believe, then I wouldn't expect them to care at all about individual purchases.

On the other hand - seeing as this is a mission-critical area of the flashlight, I would expect nothing less than a complete recall and replacements given out at the retailer level.

I'm speechless, almost, at the thought of having to wait 4-6
weeks to get a product replacement. I'm sure I will have to find out berfore then if they even got it. That is why I called this morning. If I waited too long , the Post Office could just say sorry, you missed the lost product filing time frame or something to that effect. If I don't get a new light within a couple of weeks, I will be very disappointed.

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shrap said:
Impossibly high expectations just lead the user to be dissapointed. Not all customer service departments are as responsive as Arc Flashlight. If Surefire does depend on the military/spec ops people as much as we are led to believe, then I wouldn't expect them to care at all about individual purchases.

On the other hand - seeing as this is a mission-critical area of the flashlight, I would expect nothing less than a complete recall and replacements given out at the retailer level.

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These expectations I find thought provoking to say the least. I will also keep these thoughts to myself...... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif ******self moderated*********

keithr,

You've set a deadline, let's see how this plays out.

- Don

3-4 weeks turn-around(once I waited 6 weeks for a new E2e bezel). If you ask for a manager and *****, 1-2 day turn-around.

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shrap said:
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LitFuse said:
I'd be pretty pissed if Surefire sent my L4 back by UPS Ground, especially if I had paid for overnight service to send it to them.


[/ QUOTE ]

That's kind of an odd statement. Surefire doesn't get any of that extra money you spent for overnight service. Whether the light arrives by UPS Ground, USPS Priority, hand-delivered courier, passenger pigeon, whatever... it's all exactly the same on Surefire's end.

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I understand that it's all the same at Surefires end, that wasn't my point. My point is that if I am willing to spend the extra money to return their defective merchandise via expedited shipping, I would hope they would reciprocate.
I recently had a hard drive crash on me. The drive was still under warranty, so I called Maxtor and got an RMA#. They offer an advance replacement option where you give them your CC # and they ship out your new drive via UPS 2nd Day Air, along with a prepaid return label to ship them back their defective merchandise. As long as the old drive shows up within 2 weeks they don't charge your card. To me this is an example of good customer service; you get your replacement in a couple of days and don't have to pay to return the defective item.

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shrap said:
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LitFuse said:
I feel that if a product commands a premium price it should offer premium customer service to back it up.


[/ QUOTE ]

Thus begs the question: Do Surefire's have a premium price? Maybe for their standard line (6P, G2, D2), yes. There are many other lights of similar quality for less. But with your L4, I don't think the price complaint is justified. Who else has a production 5W LS in a small 2x123 configuration?

I don't mean to belittle your warranty problems, but maybe you expect too much.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can see your point regarding the price of the L4 and I don't think it's overpriced. I think it is a reasonably priced, state of the art lighting tool. However I still feel that Surefire should (and could be) more receptive to the needs of their civilian consumers. After all, we are supposedly buying the best flashlights in the world. "Quality is exceptional, reliability is assured" to paraphrase the back of the box my L4 came in.
But then again, maybe you are right and I just expect too much. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

Peter

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shrap said:
[ QUOTE ]
LitFuse said:
I feel that if a product commands a premium price it should offer premium customer service to back it up.


[/ QUOTE ]

Thus begs the question: Do Surefire's have a premium price?

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I'm also awaiting my L4 to be replaced by SF. I don't think I have unreasonable expectations... if it takes a few weeks, it takes a few weeks.

However, I do think Surefires have premium prices, for sure! I own a number of them as many CPFers do, and I still buy them because, IMHO, they are the best, bar-none. I won't delude myself for a minute that they are bargains, though! You pay premium prices for premium products, that's just the way it works.

Just my two cents. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

once upon a time I used to pre package whole housing tracks. I would be told how many framing packages they were going to use per day,starting with the sub floor packages, first frame, second frame (floors) and then the roof packages. I would build these packages in reverse so that the last items I put on the load would be the first components they used. I'm sorry, but I can't muster any sympathy for their shipping department and them having to re label a package to send to me. I would expect them to have it shipped at most a couple of days after they receive what I sent them. The reason I called this morning was to verify that they got my package and they couldn't tell me that. I was really more concerned about whether it was in their possession.

i would say lights like the 6P, E2e are slightly overpriced, but lights like the L4 are definitely underpriced by a fair margin for what you get.