Companies that Back their products!

[freestone]

Some companies that I recently had good customer service from:

SPOT- Sent me a new unit after reporting that mine failed to boot after changing the batteries.
Exped- Replaced my Down Air Mat 9 with a new mat after one of the inner chambers ruptured. It was at least 8 years old.
Gossamer Gear- Responded immediately to my email after breaking the tip off my trekking pole. They paid the shipping for a replacement tip.
Western Mountaineering-Always responds to questions on their Facebook site. Check it out, there is an awesome picture of some of their bags in the High Sierra.

[gary c.]

Over Memorial weekend in the GTW I caught my Eureka Spitfire tent on a tree and tore the bag pretty good. I sent an email to the company and asked them if they had a replacement bag for my 10yr old tent. I got a reply back that they didn't have the original bag anymore but a universal one was on the way for no charge. Great customer service for a 10yr old tent.

[sambieni]

REI.
After just a day or two of use, my brand new Sawyer Squeeze kept leaking. The washer kept falling out and I nearly lost it a number of times on trail. I just live chatted REI to ask how to resolve this; I simply assumed they would suggest a new washer. They took a bit, but investigated with their product team and just said, we will ship you tomorrow a brand new one no charge - and keep the old! So now I new on the way and old as a backup. Very unexpected. Very cool.

[oldranger]

1exped.jpg

Last night I sent the following message to Exped:

On sept. 12 I embarked on a 2 week hike in the Northeastern portion of Yosemite. One thing I look forward to is the comfort of sleeping on my Hyperlight synmat MW. It had performed flawlessly for 21 nights in 2016. However no sooner did I lay down on it on night 1 did I hear a pop and discovered that one of the baffles between the tubes had blown. This made sleep a little challenging. Two nights later two more baffles blew. The next night more blew so trying to sleep on it was like trying to sleep on a giant inflated pool toy sausage. Deflating almost worked except the insulation became useless and it was too cold. This is a bit much for a 70 year old man to tolerate. So i was forced to hijack my friends skinny closed cell pad, dig holes for my hips, and consume much more thc and cbd than normal. Consequently much of the last 8 days or so of the trip is kind of hazy but I do remember being stuck in my tent for nearly 36 hours due to snow, wind and cold while lying on less than 3/4 inch of old closed cell foam.

While I expect an occasional puncture in ultra lite pads I did not expect failure due to a just plain faulty construction. 21 nights at nearly $190 is, in my opinion, a ripoff. I await your response before posting my scathing review on the internet.

Today I received the following response:

Hi Michael,

Thank you for the email. I am really sorry to see what happened to your mat. We would be happy to get this switched out with a brand new one for you. The new one will also have a newer baffle material so this should not be an issue for you again. All we need you to do is send back your mat to us using the shipping label attached and once we get it here we will ship a new one out right away. Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great day!


Best Regards,

Alex Kim / Customer Service Specialist
Alex@exped.com

Well I did have a great day but I sure hope the baffle material solves the problem.

[oldranger]

Received the replacement pad some time while away from Bend for 3 and a half weeks. The pad has some significant improvements over the original (now has non slip design on the upper surface. I have hopes that will stop my bag from twisting as I toss and turn during the night.) and is about 1.5 oz heavier.) The big surprise was the air pillow they tossed in with the mattress. hopefully the baffles are actually stronger than the old model.

[ndpanda]

Same thing happened to me with the exact same model pad in Oct 2016. Same area, too. (And like you I had used it the previous year for a couple of longish trips without any problems.) Hiked in from Virginia Lakes on Day 1 and the first baffle blew out that night camped on Return Creek. Second day we only got a ways up Spiller Canyon due to a snowstorm and two more baffles blew that night. Hunkered down there another night waiting for weather to clear and warm and no more baffles blew but there was a hump in the middle of the pad that made sleep almost impossible unless it was so deflated that I felt cold from the ground through the insulation. We resumed hiking the next day but ended up cutting the trip a couple days short in large part because I was miserable at night.

When I got home I discovered that several people on the Backpacking Light forum had reported similar experiences with the Exped Hyperlights. There was no problem getting a new pad from Exped upon their receipt of the blown one, though they did not acknowledge any widespread issues or—at that time, anyway—mention any changes in the pad design or materials. The experience left me leery of chancing the replacement on a long trip, so I switched to a heavier Sea to Summit pad that has two separate layers of air chambers (top and bottom). It's much more comfortable, and I figure if one layer gets screwed up the other layer can provide some insulation and cushioning. Sea to Summit also claims to use a superior laminating method with the interior baffles that makes blow-outs less likely. Downside is the substantial weight penalty.

I've still got the replacement Exped in its original packaging. I've yet to decide whether to put it up for sale or give it a try on a short trip. Trouble is, it's the long trips where the light weight makes it such an appealing choice.

[limpingcrab]

Astral shoes. My brother and I both had a pair for fishing that we loved. By the time mine wore out and the stitching came undone (5 years?) they did not make that model anymore. They still let me choose whichever shoe I wanted from their website and they were at my house two days later. I've heard similar stories from other customers.

If you need shoes to wear in and around water, get Astral!

[jdille]

Big Agnes. My four year old Slater UL2 split along a reinforced stake tab when I went to attach the pole to one of the DAC clips on the last night of a Mono Meadow loop the week of July 4th. We are pretty careful with our gear-- especially because the material of the tent is so lightweight. We have another few weeks of trips planned this summer and I was worried that they wouldn't be able to fix it or that it would be expensive to repair.They don't make the tent anymore and with a husband that is 6'2'', it was tough find a lightweight tent that was long enough to be comfortable (the Slater UL2 is 96 inches long).

Big Agnes received the tent on July 18th. They repaired it and shipped it back on July 31st. Didn't charge for the repair or the shipping. I am super happy about my experience with them.

[robow8]

I've got two.
I've got a three year old Sierra Designs tent that the shock cord on the poles had lost it's shock. (And I keep the poles as extended as practical to relieve stress off of the shock cord) I used the online warranty form to create a ticket earlier in the year, but didn't send them in, as a friend was going to use the tent. Got the tent back a few weeks ago and sent the poles off. Got notification on a Monday that they had received the poles, and that there was a 4 to 6 week turnaround estimate, this being the busy season and all. Got another notification the following Monday that the job was done and that the poles would be shipped shortly. Got them back yesterday, with fresh shock cord installed!


Second one is ULA packs. My Wife and I both have ULA packs, having moved on from Deuter packs that never fit quite right. My son was using my old Deuter, but found it very uncomfortable. (I think he's a little bit of a wimp!) He decided that he wanted a ULA pack, and wanted to try some on. Well, we were going to be in Logan, Utah in the middle of July, so I sent them an email to see if we could swing by and try on some packs. Chris, the owner, said sure and gave me a contact number. So I called Rodney and set up an appointment. We get up there, and this place is pretty small. But it's full of finished packs, and materials, and half a dozen women at sewing machines. I was like a kid in a candy store! So my son tried on some packs, and decided on what he wanted, only to find out that that certain fabric is only made to order. We were a little bummed, when Rodney said, "we can sew you one up in a couple of hours." I asked when we would need to pick it up by, and he said that they close at 5, so before then. I asked him if 2pm would work and he said yes. So we went and got lunch and goofed around for a bit, and went back at 2 and his pack and an accessory shoulder strap pocket were all done. Awesome service!

[MountainMinstrel]

ZPacks I have had my Ark Haul pack since 2015 and it had the old style stay pocket that had a tendency to allow the stays to slip past them. Last year the problem became bad enough that I decided to send the pack back to have the pockets and stays upgraded. This was just last month. Despite the fact that the pack is nearly 4 years old (twice the warranty) they are going to do the work for free and they are also going to patch the couple of small holes in the mesh back panel at no charge. You cannot go wrong with this company! They stand behind their products big time!