Celestron Nexstar 114GT 114mm Go-To Reflector Telescope
by Celestron
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List Price: Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Celestron Nexstar 114GT 114mm Go-To Reflector Telescope
Customer Review: This should read zero stars for their poor customer service
Summary: 1 Stars
First, let me say that the telescope is OK, it's actually pretty nice for a basic beginners scope. You can see the rings of Saturn fairly well. The drive system is a little shaky, so if you go over a 166X magnification (optional 6mm eyepiece) you need to shut off the tracking to get a good view. But for the money I could live with that. That said, let me tell you about their disappointing customer service. I bought a bunch of Celestron accessories, hard carrying case, a tripod case, a case of eyepieces and filters, and a solar filter to look at the Sun, I spent a little extra money, All Celestron stuff. The second time I used the telescope I hit it on a doorknob and put a little dent in it. Stupid me, it was all my fault. It still works fine, but my poor brand new telescope has a dent in it about the size of a quarter and that sucks. I wanted to fix it, it all disassembles to the bare sheet metal tube in about 10 minutes or so, I tried to work the dent out, but it's still there. I put it all back together, it still works fine. I thought I would order a new tube no problem. WRONG!!!!!.I contacted the Celestron website and told them that I dented it and wanted to purchase a replacement tube. Their response was that they would not just sell me the part, I had to send the telescope back to them and they would replace it for me. Now, I didn't pay quite as much as it is listed on this site, but to send it back and get it fixed would have cost me with shipping 63% of the cost of a brand new unit complete in the box with the tripod and control panel, servo drive and everything. You do the math! In the real world this thin painted steel tube is maybe worth $20.00, it does have 20 prepunched holes in it and is painted flat black on the inside. I would have even probably paid $50.00 for it because then I wouldn't have had to look at this little dent every time I used my telescope forever.
Since their email response was a little frustrating, I thought I should call Celestron and talk to someone with some common sense and they'll realize that it's not reasonable to make me pay 63% of the price of a new complete package for this piece of sheet metal. I talked to the customer service manager and explained the situation and asked that they sell me a new tube and I'll assemble it myself, I would gladly purchase a collimation tool also so I could make sure the mirrors were alligned properly. That didn't seem like an outrageous request.
I was very nice to the gentleman (I wish I could remember his name, I'd post it here). He said they couldn't sell me the part "because it was fragile and they couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't get damaged in shipment". As God is my witness, that was the Customer Service Manager's excuse. Evidently it's OK for me to ship the telescope both ways, but they can't package the bare tube and ship it to me without damage. At that point I asked him specifically if he was refusing to sell me the tube unless they installed it, and he said "Yes". I told him I will never do business with them again, and I won't. I can guarantee you my next telescope will not be a Celestron. I own a small business myself, and deal with the retail public every day. If one of my employees provided this poor of service to one of my customers I would fire them. Their customer service is absolutely unacceptable in my opinion, and if you agree I ask you not to buy any of their equipment. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions at todd_d_glenn@yahoo.com . Feel free to contact Celestron if you feel that their policy is unreasonable at support@celestron.com . If you read this whole thing and finally got to this sentence, thanks for your time.
Customer Review: Hand Controller is a joke.
Summary: 1 Stars
I've owned this telescope for years, and for most of those years its been sitting in my closet collecting dust because it simply refuses to align. I've done everything to align this thing, and finally after years of this abuse, I've given up and called Tech Support which is another joke. They refuse to help me not simply because its out of warranty(no problem for me, I expected to have to pay), but because apparently they dont know exactly what the problem is.