Having Trouble Deciding Which Telescope Dealer to Order From?

You know what they say, "unlucky in love telescopes..."

Honestly, I don’t know how the rest of that expression normally goes. ...OK, wait a sec...the original expression is "Lucky in cards (gambling), unlucky in love" Here's a link.

Well, in my case, I’m unlucky in telescopes. I’ve seemed to have had my share of bad luck in acquiring telescopes. Not always of course, that is to say – not every single time. I have bought some really nice quality, telescopes in the past without issue. 

Over the years, there has been at least an equal number of: refractors with big dents in them, pinched optics, objective lenses with issues, etc. 

So…Without further adieu - Here's the topic of this post – I ordered a 6 inch Dobsonian. Yay! Ordering a new telescope! There aren't many finer feelings in the world, than ordering a new optical instrument for observing the night sky.

Here's the bad news: I ordered from Agena Astro (in California).

Now, I was originally going to be remaining completely objective about the experience – and was going to let you, the reader, decide what you thought. 

So, I was thinking that one of my next posts, would be describing how my latest telescope purchase went. As a kind of Poll, asking readers of this blog, and the folks in my social media contacts, what they thought about the experience. 

The plan was, that I would provide all of the facts, and photos! Objectively, because I honestly wanted to know, what the general consensus would be among you - my fellow hobbyists! Fellow amateur astronomers, and astrophotographers. You've all been through varying stages of purchasing telescopes and astronomy equipment. I thought it would be interesting? 

A Slight Change of Plans... 

Well, I will still do my best to remain objective. However, I unexpectedly stumbled across a clue or two — Which clearly illustrates that Agena Astro is a company which I will definitely not order from again. 

I'm going to try to make a long story short; and provide a shortened, cliff notes version:

It should go without saying, that if a customer sends back a telescope (presumably because it's defective) - That telescope, doesn't just get put back into the store stock — to be sent to the next, unsuspecting, foolish sucker of a customer. No, rather It's supposed to be sent back to the manufacturer, so that the dealer either gets credit for it, or reimbursed, or whatever the standard operating procedure is for dealers of astronomy equipment. Am I right?

It might even be argued, that dealers of astronomy equipment, have an even greater responsibility - because an awful experience (like the one I had) could very well turn off a beginner, from ever getting involved in the hobby in the 1st place.

I never thought I'd actually say this, but after decades of being involved in the hobby — I would in fact, rather pay a little bit more for an item, and be able to rest assured that: I won't have any Issues with it - then to have to deal with sneaky, uncaring, awful customer service. Or one might say, awful business practices, at the very least. Sending a customer a telescope, which was previously returned, for being defective, is simply indefensible.

Another interesting factor, is that I made it a point, of informing them, that I have an Astronomy Product Review blog. I mean...You wanna send a defective, previously returned (used) telescope to someone - who paid for a new telescope; I recommend you don't do it to someone who has a blog. I may not have a ton of visitors now...but I have a feeling that will be changing soon...

Well, they aren't worried - I guess they have that "too big to fail" viewpoint. 

Anyway, you talk about an astronomy equipment dealer, who doesn't care about their customers one bit? I give you Agena Astro.

I happen to really love and enjoy the hobby of amateur astronomy and astrophotography, and to have less-than-stellar dealings like this, from a reseller... It's just plain awful. 

There has been many times, when I just couldn't decide on which dealer to order equipment from — especially when the prices of the items were exactly the same, etc.. so It's very helpful to know which Dealers you should avoid. Some places should simply be avoided, at all costs.

Remember: That (defective/non-working) telescope should've been on it's way back to the manufacturer...Not to some unsuspecting customer.

Throughout this, I simply did my best to not think about it, or to be concerned about my funds being tied up in this little fiasco. 

And decided that, at the very least, I should share what happened to me, so that potential customers can be made aware.

In summary, I'd like to share some pictures (this is what I patiently waited a week for):

The outer and inner box were nearly ripped completely in half

So, I've decided not to go into all the gruesome details. Suffice it to say, that no one went above and beyond, to help make this fiasco right.

I've also decided that I'm not gonna mar my lovely blog, by leaving this post up permanently - So, it'll just be a temporary post. If I can save someone else from having to go through a similar experience, then it will have been worth it.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure:

A couple of months prior, I filled out the online form, to become an Affiliate of theirs. They didn't think my blog had sufficient traffic, to qualify me to be one of their Affiliates - Again, I filled out the form, but got turned down. That is totally OK! I pretty much expected that! 

What I didn't expect, is for the number of visitors to my blog to steadily increase lately...

I order from High Point Scientific, and have never had a problem with them, by the way.

Until next time,

Clear skies!