Pulsar optical

[robbieince]

Hi guys

I would just like to relate my recent experience with Pulsar Optical - such as it was....

I decided to add an optical instrument to my setup that is otherwise photographically biased. I also felt that having been to quite a few excellent star parties and enjoyed looking through other peoples dobsonians that a 12 inch open tube Dob would be the one for me.

I scoured the for private ads but got nowhere so eventually found a "deal of the day" offer through pulsar £625 for a bnib ex display skywatcher flex tube 300. On Friday last week I rang

them. No answer on first call - second answered by staff announcing themselves as The Astronomy And Nature Centre.

Yes it was in stock and was still available! Being a cautious bloke I asked for them to double check - she asked a colleauge who confirmed. I paid by debit card then and there bit asked them to wait 5 mins as I needed to transfer funds between accounts. I was told thAt this was fine as accounts would take longer than that to process anyway. I received an e mail confirming my order.

I rang back later that day to confirm my funds had transferred and was told that the transaction would go through that night.

Saturday morning I checked my account - no change. I rang back and asked why no transaction had been processed - I gotan answer of I have no idea but it can't now go through till Monday. Grrr. I asked if then I could have a courtesy next day

delivery and was told That this would be requested.

Monday came and no transaction so I fire off another mail asking for info. Later I received a mail back asking me to call them and I had a missed call froM them. Called back but they closed at 5 and I missed them. I get home check my bank and they have charged the full amount. Hmm a bit confused.

I rang them first thing on Tuesday and I was told thAt the scope had "been sold to someone else 20 mins before my first call". This is 3 days later.....

Needless to say I was annoyed as they would not supply Nother at that price especially when they admitted that they had also charged my card.

They promised an immediate refund which eventually came through on Thursday night.

No apology, no explanation.

Needless to say I have written expressing my disgust at their poor service and questionable charging policies.

I decided to contact FLO on Wed - scope arrived on Thursday having received 3 mails and 3 calls from FLO all in nearly 2 days.

Just thought you might be interested.

[Glider]

My son asked me what I wanted for Christmas on Sunday. I told him an AE side by side bar, the lower cost silver one.

On Monday morning he went online and ordered one from Pulsar Optical's website.

On Wednesday an ungraded black side by side bar arrived with a hand written note apologising that the silver were out of stock.

Now I've had to wrap it and put it under the tree.

Excellent.

[davehunt]

I am in the market for a Skywatcher 8" Dob.This morning,I found one on the Pulsar-Optical website,which stated "in stock".I ordered one,and paid for it with Paypal. Mid afternoon,I had a phone call from them asking me would I mind waiting for it till mid April... I cancelled. Their website now says out of stock. I have not yet been refunded.As all users of Paypal will now payments and refunds can be effected in an instant. Beware.

[davehunt]

After my very unfortunate experience with this company,I was contacted by James Munson who took the time to explain,apologise,and make a generous offer should I choose to buy from Pulsar later in the month when Skwatcher deliver.A firm can do no more than that to rectify a blunder.Thank you,Pulsar,and you will get my order....so long as the 8" Dobs turn up as and when expected.

[skinnyonce]

Since it seems obvious this forum is UK based, was wondering if I should try again with( pulsar optical )

I was wondering if anybody has one of these I wanted to get one,, BUT the company Pulsar Optics put me thru the ringer and had to do a paypal dispute and claims for monies return.. to bad as I really like the polar scope and wanted to add it to my wedge set up

Astro Engineering AC602 Polarmate - Precise Polar Finder

[George]

Astro Engineering LX200 Accessories

Pulsar Observatory Dome Accessories

Ive not used either of these companys so cannot comment on their service.

[DoctorD]

Hi

Pulsar Optical, Scope n Skies and Astronomy & Nature Centre are all the same company - they also run Astro Boot.

I've only bought small value items (most expensive was GSO 32mm plossl) from them and never had a problem.

Hope this helps.

Paul

[Geno]

Bought an ST80 of them this week, dispatched the same day as I ordered and arrived the next day, good communication, no problems.

[Breakintheclouds]

I've had both good and bad experiences with that company, and find them hit and miss. Most of the time it's been fine, but it's almost like somebody's decided that 1 in 10 transactions has to become a big pain in the whatsit!

[glowjet]

This unit is quite interesting as it Polar aligns similar to the Losmandy method, where the Polar scope is revolved in its housing till it matches the the position of Polaris at any given date and time as can be retrieved from such as Jason Dales free program "Polar Finder", its then just a simple adjustment of the mounts Alt/Az to drop Polaris into the offset circle. I doubt the statement "alignment to observatory standards" because to start with the Polar scope is not on the telescopes optical axis where the losmandy unit is, the difference is small, I agree, but it will have an effect on the RA tracking, is it worth it at over £100 ? , you can make your own by mounting a Polar scope in a finder bracket with a device that allows the unit to revolve on its axis, align with your scopes axis and your done, add an LED, Maplin supply ones which work direct off 12V with a built in resistor. At the end of the day this only gives you a good starting point of alignment of scope and mount and its also very simple as it does not involve the headache of date and time circles which causes so many problems for those starting out, however, for imaging for any length of time you will still need to do a star alignment or involve a separate tracking system. Sorry to go a bit, but just my two pennyworth

John.

[George]

Is it worth £110?

I dont think so, even less so if you have a permanent setup and a decent illuminated eyepiece will cost half that.

[Telrad]

I have had good and bad experiences with Pulsar Optical, they can be hit and miss, although that depends on what you buy from either company - Pulsar Optical, Scope n Skies and Astronomy & Nature Centre. I purchased an item from Pulsar Optical and it arrived last week, previously I tried to buy an item that was advertised on thei website, unfortunately ity was NOT available, but is still being advertised now as available (I did explain to them they need to update their website). I think a few of the videos that Astronomy & Nature Centre have produced (available on YouTube) can be quite useful..

[chemtom24]

always had good experience with scopesnskies, brought 6/7 items off em and never had a problem.

[DOBBY]

IF you can get an answer on the 'phone... & IF it's in stock....it should be fine to order... IF you order on the net without 'phoning...it's a bit pot-luck to say the least

[twotter]

I live a few miles away from their shop and have always found them to be very good to deal with.

Mind you, I don't need to use their mail order department.

[Donkeiller]

In a word "NO"

and this is with face to face dealing.

[ronin]

Difficult to answer either way.

The majority of what they send goes out and arrives and you hear nothing about it.

Some of what you order they don't have in stock and so there can be problems. This what tends to be heard about. Have to say that most retailers these days do not stock all that they advertise. I have had to wait for an advrtised item quite a few times and it has remained as In Stock from other suppliers then SnS.

Also Pulsar = Scopes and Skies = Astro Enginering = Astronomy and Nature Centre.

The bit you want is therefore made by them so shouldn't be a problem.

I suppose that an orer from the US could cause them some concern. I suppose no-one in the US imports any of their items?

One possible option could be to email Green Witch, they often stock a fair few of the Astro Engineering items and ask if they could get and supply one. In effect place to order with GW who get the item and post it to you. GW have a pretty good reputation.

[spaceboy]

I have had some good customer service and some terrible and rather abrupt customer service. I've ordered items and got them next day and other times had to wait weeks only to find the item wasn't in stock in the first place (still took my money!). Refunds can sometimes take months to get but despite all this they do offer some items a very competitive prices or with additional gifts that despite the bad times I still find I return for more. I wouldn't say they were a bad company it's just that they don't seem to be running a tight ship. And I think you will find most people on the forum are big fans of Astro boot and I also find it a very handy service that no other dealers seem to offer.

[davehunt]

Spaceboy has it-I bought my SW Dob off them after some wrangling ,and was able to get it before others had them in stock.Had some free goodies as well to make up for the wrangling.The issues are ones of competence not integrity I think.

[skinnyonce]

[quote=ronin;

I suppose that an order from the US could cause them some concern.

It didnt stop them from taking my money,,

[ronin]

It didnt stop them from taking my money,,

Yep, and although all say they don't, I guess most do.

Your post seems to imply that you used paypal, in that case the money would come out immediatly. Paypal will take the money to be able to say that the purchase was OK to proceed.

I always assume that the money will depart my account immediatly. The web sites do not say that the money will be taken at some time in the future, they say that it has been processed (meaning they have accessed your account and taken the amount required) and that the order is placed.

[spaceboy]

This is correct Ronin. Payments by paypal are taken immediately and their site warns of this. The problem is if they show an item as "in stock" then what matter if they do take the payment immediately. Problem a lot have found is the stock level is not always as advertised. If you choose to pay by credit card then they will only take payment when the order is processed.

[spacebloke]

Good afternoon everyone,

After reading some bad press about these guys on the forums I was a little aprehensive about ordering from them, but they were the only supplier I could find for the Genini Dovetail bar.

Anyway I placed the order earlier this week for the silver version (I actually wanted the black one but I wasn't willing to pay the extra £5 for the colour ).

I recieved an email from them the next day letting me know that had no stock of the silver bar and they would send a black one at no extra charge, great stuff .

It arrived the following day and everything was great .

[meeesterjoe]

Just thought I`d tell you about my ongoing situation....

I ordered a 12" Metal Dew shield on the 24th November which was listed on their website as In stock and available for immediate despatch.

On the 30th November I managed to get through to them to enquire where it had got to..

I was told it had been made but AE were in the process of painting it and couldn`t be rushed.

I managed to get hold of someone there on the 19th December (after being diverted to a voice mailbox and NOT being called back) and was told that the batch were still being fabricated.!

It is now the 26th December and I still do not have my dew shield.Pulsar have told me I will Receive it "sometime" after the New year!!!

I am livid. They are so quick to take your money without first checking if they actually have the item to sell.

I was looking to buy the AC400 megawedge pro but now think I`ll go down a different route as I dread going through all this hassle again.

[johninderby]

Inconsistency is their biggest problem. Many times the service is great and as good as any dealer out there. However when things do go wrong they can go very, very wrong with goods not shipped and no communication etc. being among the problems and the in stock indication on the websfite is meaningless.

John