Orion is having a crazy sale and competition

[Trevor Woodrow]

Hi All,

Let me begin by saying I HATE Orion Telescopes. However....they are having a pretty cool astroimaging sale and having an astroimaging contest. Check it out! Deadline for the contest is 9/15 and you need to have shot the image with either an Orion scope or ccd. Sorry guys, mounts don't count or I would enter. I am letting you all know because I would think it would be great if one of us win the competition!

Just a heads up, Good luck!

t

[Trevor Woodrow]

Lucky for them, I cannot swim anywheres near that far, lol!

[Marc Basti]

T, you're always whining about Orion, you're only one state away, go over there and give them a dope-slap. Marc

[Trevor Woodrow]

Twice they advised me that equipment that I had purchased from them in the past was junk and they could provide little or no support. They often do cannot confirm whether their own accessories will work with their own equipment and have suggested that I just order it and test it out myself...of course on my own dime for shipping and re-stocking fees. And the crowning jewel...it took six months, multiple calls and dozens of emails to get even anything close to an answer about a CCD I bought from them. In the end, I simply purchased another through another vendor and the Orion CCD sits collecting dust...Orion contacted me months later and after I told them all I went through they simply told me they were happy I was able to resolve the matter.

All my purchases go throught OPT now. The staff that I have dealt with there are a bit arrogant in my opinion...but they really know their stuff and their product...even when the product is not theirs. Like I said, I can deal with the 'tude, if they know what they are doing and the guys at OPT, in my experinece are top notch.

[Erik larsen]

Haha ya I understand that kind of attitude ruining a service relationship for sure.

I have always had great service from them and several times they took stuff back even out of warranty but then again I live just up the road from the headquarters and I can talk to them in person if I need to , the call center can be flaky at times but the CSR manager is a great guy.

[Trevor Woodrow]

Hey Erik! I was a loyal customer for years. Have had very few issues with their products, but there customer service leaves much to be desired. In the ten years that had dealings with them, I sought customer service advice 3x. They never once came close to addressing any of my concerns and showed very little knowledge about their own products. To add insult to injury, the customer service people were very rude and condescending...which I can handle if you actually know more than I do on a topic, but if you know less, and I am a customer, I cannot tolerate it. That's all. Nothing crazy, not like they killed my dog or anything, lol!

[Erik larsen]

Thanks for the heads up , what made you hate Orion.

I have always found them a great place to buy scope stuff.

[Marc Basti]

I'm using their 50mm guide scope, I'm in lol. Marc

[Trevor Woodrow]

Yeah, I 2x checked. In the past they have allowed if using an Orion Mount, but the specifically say through Orion telescope or CCD. Did I mention I hate them?