TYR Tactical

EOTech Sight Returns Overwhelming US Postal Service

Received this anecdote regarding the return of EOTech sights for refunds.  

Had an interesting conversation with the head of the Liberty St. postal office in Ann Arbor, MI today. That office is responsible for handling all the mail going to EOtech returns in Ann Arbor, MI. I sent my EXPS2-0 in for a refund that was approved and it wasn’t showing as delivered yet, and was supposed to get there on Dec 8.
Today the guy at that office called me and apologized for not being able to locate it. They believe it was delivered but the carrier forgot to scan it because of the volume of packages being sent there. 

Apparently they are getting 2 USPS truck loads a day in volume. Enough that USPS had asked EOtech to send a truck to the USPS office to come get all the packages.

This is for their Returns Dept. There are that many going back there.

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70 Responses to “EOTech Sight Returns Overwhelming US Postal Service”

  1. R. Johnson says:

    Wow. The wrath of the shooting community is coming down on them like a hammer.

  2. Thomas 67 says:

    By the looks of this the processing time will be a bit longer than the 4 to 6 weeks they first claimed.

  3. Keith says:

    What is everyone planning on replacing their EOTech with?

  4. VP says:

    Sorry for not following this closer. Is there a plan in place for Government Agencies to return EoTech’s in bulk for a refund? Not sure how this will work. We bought our E0Tech’s through ADS

    • GJU says:

      Have you heard anything on large returns? I have about 25-30 units to return… I sent an email and haven’t received an answer yet….still waiting…

  5. Ricky says:

    Thus is why I shipped via UPS. I’m done with USPS for more than one reason.

  6. Max says:

    I shipped UPS. USPS has become a nightmare costing my biz big money this year! Free $50 insurance on Priority Mail package is a scam! They deny, deny, deny. If the carrier steals it or delivers it to the wrong address but marks it delivered, you are out of luck.

    • DSM says:

      Totally. I can’t stand the USPS. If I have to listen to another whine about them being responsible for their own retirement my shoe is going through the TV. “But we were going to short change it and then ask for a handout when we’ve squandered the money in our Union benefits….” Welcome to the world of being solvent, Cliff.

      • Dellis says:

        True story bro….I am calling the post office, why? Well cause they lost a package (Dawson Knife). So I am upset and call, it rings, rings and rings…….and rings. In fact it rings the whole time I am on way to said post office. It’s ringing while I am in line and while I get called up to the counter.

        Clerk – “Next please?”

        Me – “Yes, would you like to get that phone ringing in the back?”

        Clerk – “Oh nah, we never answer the phone here”

        Me – “Ya! I know! It’s me that’s been ringing it for the last 15 minutes and me that’s waiting for someone to answer it!”

        Clerk – “Oh….well sorry sir but we don’t have the time to answer phones”

        Me – “So you all have a phone, you list the number even in the phone book and website but don’t care to answer it?”

        Clerk – “How can I help you sir?”

        THAT’S what our tax dollars do for us. Here’s some fun, look up your nearest USP ratings and notice if they are ever over 3 stars. If you have a 3 star USP near by count yourself lucky. Ours are like 1 and 2 star only because you can’t leave a NEGATIVE star count!!

        • Joe says:

          Talk about going postal. Chill man. It’s called FedEx.

        • balais says:

          Its bad where I live too.

          I made the mistake of asking them to check a package at 1400, which they informed me they cannot since they close at 1500 on a saturday.

          My response was less than civil. Who closes at 1500 on a saturday and expects to be any kind of ‘business saavy’?

          The post office are literally the most incompetent, 4IQ neandrathals I ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

          And they couldn’t care less.

        • JOE says:

          Psssst. Not your tax dollars. The USPS is, by law, self-funded and its priorities are, by law, subject to the whims of whatever legislation Congress directs.

        • Pete says:

          Here’s why I hate my post office:
          When my townhome was built, they built another set down the road one block (~450 yds) away. They were supposed to build another set across the street from us and another adjacent to the one a block down, but the builders ran out of money in 2008 and left the lots empty. They had built a bricked cutout for mail boxes in front of our set and another bricked cutout in front of the set down the road. For some reason, they simply installed the “clusterbox unit” (CBU) mailboxes down by the other set of townhomes (~450 yds down the street and past one intersection) that would have served the two sets of townhomes down there and rerouted the mail for our set of townhomes to the box for the set of townhomes that never got built. A bit odd, but I got it. So when I moved in I called the post office and asked if I could install new mailboxes. The nice young lady looked up the zoning on my street and said yes, as long as they were curbside boxes, not entryway, and that they conformed to some height and distance from the curb requirements. I said great, collected some cash from the neighbors, sank some postholes, poured some concrete and installed a set of mailboxes for all seven townhomes at a cost of ~$500 and some labor. They looked great and matched the other homes on the street. Then I called the post office, and asked them to now deliver to the new mailboxes, they said no prob and delivered to them… for about a week. Then the carrier went back to the old CBU. I asked him why. He said his manager had insisted he not use our new mailboxes. I met with the manager. After bullshitting me about why I should be super happy with his 4 and a half football fields away mailboxes, I got the real reason out of him – for postal workers union rules, the “clusterbox unit” counts as one “stop” for all seven units, whereas my mailboxes count as seven “stops.” This is despite the fact that mine were filled from the driver’s seat of the postal truck and the CBU required exiting the truck and filling from the backside.
          UPS and fedex have no trouble delivering to my door, the USPS will only deliver what fits in their tiny little CBU box 450 yds down the road, anything else is a note and a trip to the post office 15 minutes away. I tried appealing this BS, but eventually gave up. USPS sucks. FedEx and UPS have their issues, but at least they deliver to my G*&d&^m door.

  7. Dave says:

    They must be getting overwhelmed; I submitted the my return authorization form and still haven’t heard back from EOTech.

    • JM says:

      Make sure you provide a receipt and or value you are looking for. That is what held mine up. Basically the incomplete requests get filed for later when they have time to follow up with you.

      • Bill says:

        I didn’t have, nor provide a receipt and they accepted.

        • Bill says:

          Forgot to add, they did ask, and also asked for the amount I was requesting for reimbursement. I said $500.

          Probably wind up just keeping it as 1). I love it. 2). With flip covers, accucam QD mount, scope coat etc. I’d be out replacing that for another sight. Meanwhile did but a Mepro M21 and it’s very nice. I like the fact they provide QD mounts and a killflash by default.

  8. Paul says:

    All well and good. But the question still stands – is EO Tech going to provide a REFUND check for cash money?.

    Or are they going to give everyone the short shrift and give people a ‘gift certificate’?

    Has anyone actually received a check yet?

  9. Jeff S. says:

    UPS is running on time. The 2 sent back arrived today as scheduled. I’ll be happy if I get my money back before Feb.

  10. EB says:

    The gift certificate photoshop has been debunked numerous times. Let’s move on.

    • Stephen W says:

      I agree that the gift certificate that is circulating is fake. However, does anyone have absolute proof the refund will be in cash? The reason I ask is that I and a few of my friends have sent over 30 emails to customer service asking what form the refund would be. All emails have been replied to, but that question is never addressed or answered.

      • JB says:

        30 emails?

        Well, now we know why everything else is being delayed.

      • Charles Spradlin says:

        I sent 3 total emails and Mike Kroll ..Customer Service Mngr..responded each time by the next day. The last was my refund amount…$22.00 less than purchase price. Sent copy of purchase invoice in 2nd email and hard copy in package sent to them. Guess I won’t bitch.
        They received it on the 11th. No check yet. Still waiting. But something curious. The RA that was to be sent in with return had spaces for RA Auth numbers. Never received any. Only the email saying that my refund was approved and “send a copy of this email along with your HWS”

        We shall see.

  11. straps says:

    My EO sits on a shotgun that resides in the trunk of my zippy VW “clean” diesel…

  12. BAP45 says:

    Dang…. That is an insane amount of volume. And a lot of refunds.

  13. Phargus says:

    Oh man, why didn’t I send it UPS?! I mean, they’re picking up the tab on the shipping and everything. I didn’t need to go all cheap-O. I guess I got into my work-mode cruise control again.

  14. So.. My question is.. and I haven’t been able to find this anywhere in any of the writings.. so please forgive me if this has been answered.. but for dealers like myself, Is EOTech going to be fixing this problem in the future and continuing to manufacture the sights to what the specs were as advertised? I’ve written them.. but I can’t suspect I’m not the only person asking them about this, and with the flood of returns I’m sure they have other pressing issues to worry about..

    Thanks in advance if anyone has any info

    Adam Fox
    Defiant Tactical
    http://www.defianttactical.com

    • Bob says:

      The flaw is inherent to the design. I don’t believe they will be fixing it. They have already disclosed on their website that their sights have parallax issues, and shift zero with temperature. Now any buyer knows what they are getting. I don’t know who would still want one though.

    • Jack says:

      Adam,

      You really need to get in contact with your dealer support rep on this. If the article above has not given you an idea of the urgency, imagine it as something of a line of over a million people and growing, waiting for a refund. Thankfully, you’re a dealer so you should be able to get a hold of someone.

      As for the sight itself, I don’t see the sight rising back to the status it once had unless L3 viciously attacks every single quality control issue that has come up, their big wig being a guilty party is the largest one. How will they correct that I wonder.

      Decline of EOTech? Yup. Are they dead yet? That’s their choice, but they will have to apologize, shake hands with end users, and pour eveverything into a new product with an extremely rigid and uncompromising standard of testing. Better to make the entire thing viewable by the public, and not with some sappy tearjerker with all the employes telling you to buy the product and ignore an executive’s total screw up.

      The last part isn’t a rant, but an observation of how I’ve seen the downfall of three companies.

  15. Mbskin says:

    If you look at return form it asks for serial # as well failure description. My first thought is if your not original purchaser…then you won’t get anything. And if you are…if problem you describe is not issue with unit…ditto. I know and many other dealers that over half people sending units in did not buy new or have no problem at all just want money or something new.

    • Phargus says:

      I was not the original purchaser. Nor did I have a receipt, place of purchase, a reason for the refund or anything else. Under explanation of failure, I put “refund”. I was approved within 24 hours.

  16. jks says:

    I bet the majority of them are the 512’s that everybody regretted getting but were stuck with it, until now! Lol!!! Aimpoint time!

  17. TheDizzle says:

    Sent mine back FedEx. Insured it for exactly what I paid for it and it came out to be $13.

  18. LCSO264 says:

    First off, I am by no means advertising or stumping for EoTech. They deserve what they are getting, based on the cover-up they participated in.

    That said, I’ve opted to keep my XPS, where I live, I will “never” encounter the thermal/temperature variances involved in the reticle shift, nor will I encounter the type of humidity involved in the dimming of the reticle. I like the halo style site vrs the more traditional red dot. that is just simply my preference. I’ve tried Aimpoints, and they are for sure top of the shelf in quality, I just like the “field of view” the EoTech provides.

    That said, like Defiant Tactical asked, does anyone know if EoTech has any future? I can’t see how they can recover from the monetary loss associated to this colossal failure.

    Again, the military/DoD/etc…. was 110% correct in their litigation based on the information they discovered. As is anyone who chooses to send their site back for a refund, for that matter….. I just personally have chosen not to…..

    • PB says:

      Bro, you’re better than that. I’ve told you for years that you are clinging to a sinking ship. It’s time to let go.

  19. Dutch K says:

    Never thought of the massive volume of return mail. Since I work in the area I dropped mine off yesterday. So glad……

  20. Stephen W says:

    I agree that the gift certificate that is circulating is fake. However, does anyone have absolute proof the refund will be in cash? The reason I ask is that I and a few of my friends have sent over 30 emails to customer service asking what form the refund would be. All emails have been replied to, but that question is never addressed or answered.

  21. Len says:

    All they are going to do is revise the specs for the units, not fix them or the design, so mine went back for a refund. Where I live I will see those temperature shifts (low numbers, never 122F) and I can buy $100 sights that will do better than EOTech, so it is dumb for me to have spent all that money and keep it. I did buy a couple of Vortex Spitfires and a few Primary Arms dots. Since I’ve had 2 Aimpoint Comps fail on me not once, not twice but three times (sent back for repair and charged for it as they are out of warranty twice and they still failed every time) I can’t see buying anything Aimpoint either.

  22. almonster says:

    I tried calling EoTech about 6 times and they don’t pickup the phone. This completely sucks. I have like 6 units, a few Aimpoints and Trijicons.

    Not happy with the fact that they did this at all. Burned up all my goodwill especially since there isn’t a fix.

    To compound the issue, with temp changes and changes in air density, barrel whip profile, all of these can contribute to accuracy. The sight is just one factor and I wonder how the Mil tested it. What was held constant? Were other optics compared the same way? I’d be surprised if the others don’t also exhibit this issue as well.

    • mike says:

      all optics exhibit these issue to some degree. I can’t imagine that L3 won’t fire back with their own test data…

  23. Josh says:

    I applied to work for them at Camp Pendleton, glad I didn’t get an interview!

  24. joe says:

    What holographic tubeless optics are near-peer competitors?

    I got to check one out 20 years ago mounted to a Carbon-15; very impressive to a young adult.

    Got an SU16B for a lightweight 5.56, Primary Arms dots of various varieties for an optic, decent but no HoloSight.

    That said, I’m glad now that I didn’t drop the coin, it would have been very frustrating given current events.

  25. Amal says:

    Has anyone checked out eotechlawsuit.com? I have a 553 that I took to Iraq in 06-07 and was stationed in Alaska, used it in both ranges of the temp extreme had problems in Iraq and switched it out for an ACOG.

  26. Wolf says:

    Hey y’all, can anyone who returned their sight tell me bout how long it took to get your refund check? my RMA was approved dec 10th, they received my sight on the 17th according to USPS, but now they won’t answer their email, and everytime I call I can’t get anyone at any extension, including the operator. So I’m up shit creek since they have my money and my sight. THanks.

    • Yoop says:

      I have not heard of anyone receiving a check OR a return email or information about their returned eotech. Like others, I sent mine in with the printed return authorization request confirmation, no word if it’s processing or received. I understand they are swamped. A simple press release saying they are working to fulfill returns and we will be refunded by check would suffice. If I would’ve known this is how it would go I would have waited. It basically got shipped into a black hole as of now.

      • Wolf says:

        They are making an already bad situation worse by keeping us in the dark. The least they could do is leave an automated message saying ” due to the high volume of returns we are unable to individually assist our customers at this time.” OR something. THe guy I was in touch with used to email me within a day of writing him when I had one of two of the eotechs I own fixed. As far as I’m concerned them having my eotech and refusing to talk to me is tantamount to trying to rob me.

        • Tony says:

          Those who still have theirs wait and see. They have already cheated the federal goverment why wouldn’t they do it to us. What a shame.

          • Wolf says:

            UPDATE!
            At 0527 this am, I recieved an email from EOTech entitled “EOTech product recieved. Body of the message was as follows:

            Dear XXXXXX XXXXXXX,
            Your product has been received and reviewed by EOTech and your refund is being processed. You will be updated by e-mail in the near future regarding check processing.

            Thank You,

            EOTech

  27. Mike says:

    First red flag was this spelling error in this sentence of my Return Authorization Request. “If you are retuning a MPO or HHS kit” I assume this is a auto reply. Why is there spelling errors? Is the gov secretly trying to take our sights? And leave us borderline defenseless or secretly getting names and addresses of people who potentially own “assault rifles” lol idk I’m gonna hold on to it until someone shows me the money…

  28. Johnny says:

    I sent mine back at the beginning of December. I sent UPS with signature for this very reason AND so I had proof they received it. Waiting on my 400 dollar check.

  29. Frost1124 says:

    has anyone got there refund back yet? if so how long did it take to get it?

  30. Joe garrett says:

    You get a approval email to send it in you do and hear nothing. That is no way to run a business. I will be filing a grievance with the Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau if I do not hear from them soon

  31. JT says:

    As of the morning of Jan 15th, a ton of e-mails from EOTech were sent out (according to website reports and also my personal receipt). They stated the following (FYI, I sent my XPS2-2 in Dec 14, it was marked received Dec 17 per tracking).

    Dear xxx xxxxxx,

    Your product has been received and reviewed by EOTech and your refund is being processed. You will be updated by e-mail in the near future regarding check processing.

    Thank You,

    EOTech

  32. James Feiffer says:

    I tested the EoTech refund website and it appears you get an automated reply email regardless of the serial # and $ amount you submitted. This concerns me a great deal as the email replies I received did not provide any actual RMA#. I decided to hold off sending back my $1000 MPO (EXPS 3-4+3X magnifier) until someone actually gets a refund. Also what is the rumor about Eotech filing chapter 7? I would hate to have my MPO in their hands and then the company goes chapter 7.

  33. Hrobles says:

    For those who are waiting for a refund, what are the names/ telephone numbers you used to speak with an EOTech employee? I shipped mine on 12-10-15, and the confirmed my refund. It is 2-11-16 and I have no received any refund. My sight was on my personal duty weapon and the sight has been banned by my agency because of liability to the agency, as a result of the lawsuit. I’m not feeling too comfortable with EOTech’s lack of communication.