ORIGINAL: garywi

I bought Zurich Z2's (which now I don't think they make any longer), and the temples (ear pieces) keep breaking where they snap onto the main sunglasses.

I have ordered new ones twice.

I just take them out of the case, open up the temples and they break off.

Gary

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Subject: Zurich Pilot - Temples

I don’t blame you for being upset at the breakages of the “Pilot” style Zurich sunglasses. I would be too, if it happened to me.

Please allow me to give you a peek behind the scene of this manufacturer. As an Optician, it was my dream to make sunglasses work better and last longer than other sunglasses (even expensive ones) on the market.

Twenty-three years ago I started out with the “Original” style sunglasses with the same goals. After the first 3 to 5 years, I finally got all the “bugs” worked out, and my dream was eventually realized. Now I can say that the “Original” style sunglasses accomplishes or performs all that we promote them to do.

Our sunglass styles are not based on the latest fashions, like other brands of sunglasses. Zurich’s are made to protect your eyes from sun damage and to cut extreme glare, so that you can track your plane in the sun. No other sunglasses attempts to do the same.

As Dr. Steinberg, O.D. (leading Optometrist) points out on our website, the RC airplane hobby is especially “dangerous” for the eyes, far more than any other sport or outdoor hobby. Therefore, RC modelers need more protection than most. We are very serious about eye protection, as well as, cutting that bright glare so that you won’t lose your plane in the sun.

About a year or so ago, we became aware of the breakage problem on our new fashion style “Pilot” style sunglasses. We had engineered the Pilot style to be highly break resistant. We were greatly disappointed when the breakages started to occur. We began the process of trying to determine the reason for the breakage, and to resolve this problem.

Unfortunately, about this time I became seriously ill (in January of 2008), and was at death’s door. All my initial investigation, research and funds came to a screeching halt until I recently recovered. THANK GOD!!! I am now 100% well and continuing to solve the breakage problem … which should not have occurred, according to the design engineer who assured me that the temples would not break.

My original dream and my promise to you, as our customer, is that I will correct this problem as soon as I can. I too, want to stop the breakage and offer a quality product as promoted.

Meanwhile, we will NOT charge for replacement temples or for shipping. You will get free replacements – no cost to you at all until this problem is resolved. Please contact us for any other concerns or for replacement of the Pilot temples. We really do care about the quality of our products, and we care about you, being satisfied with our products.

Thank you for reading this, and for your understanding and consideration.

Bruce Holden
Owner/Optician

Dear goliathman,

I am sorry our rep was so rude to you at Joe Nall. Unfortunately, he is not normally rude. During that time of year, he found out that he had a progressive throat cancer, and he was not feeling well at all. He since had chemo and radiation treatment, and he is doing better now. I am very sorry for his treatment of you, and we have heard of others too.

It sound like you are talking about the "Original" style sunglasses, which fits over prescription lenses (RX). Our Original Zurich will fit over most RX lenses. For smaller RX frames, we do have a "velcro shelf" adaptation to our temples to make the RX frames fit better inside the Zurich.

When broken, we offer free replacements (lenses and temples) at the shows/events. However, back in the office, we have overhead costs to cover - that's the reason for the nominal fee. In these hard economic times, many small companies go out of business. We've made a conscientious effort not to raise our sunglass prices (even though our raw materials and production costs has risen) in 10+ years. So, the nominal fee charged for office expenses is very fair.

Our sunglasses are all made and coated in the USA. Our material used is the best optical quality for lenses, including the coatings. Our lenses have pure optics, just like the RX lens quality - which is the reason for the higher costs. Our sunglasses mold (in making of our lenses) are optically ground and polished for clarity. Think about how expensive RX lenses are (RX sunglasses too) ... that's because of the optical grounding process. It is labor and machine costs involved. These processes are very costly here in the USA. However, the quality is here too.

Our coatings are the best in the industry, which is only scratch resistant, and not scratch proof. Since they can still be scratched, you need to treat them with reasonable care. Only use cotton cloths to wipe them with and only use mild dish liquid soap to clean them with.

If you own a pair of our sunglasses, and you are having problems with them, please let me help you. If you are just inquiring out them, please let me know what other questions you may have.

Best Regards,
Esther

ORIGINAL: TideFlyer

Interesting. I`ve had two pair of the " old style " now for several years and never had any problems. I never fly without them.