Kite Companies / Shops and how they honor their warranties

[bryanleighty]

Just wanted to start a thread for people to post their stories about kite shops and companies that have helped out when their products have had issues.

Figure this is what will really seperate shops and kite manufactors apart.

Success and Failure stories appreciated...

Maybe this could be a sticky?

[bryanleighty]

Success Stories:

1. Extreme Kites - helped out immediately when a Kite I purchased from them had a flaw. They called BEST for me and took care of the issue within a day. They also sold me the kites w/ the full manufactor's warranty and I am sure they would have honored this. A few other kite shops I called looking to save a few $$$ would not offer this.

2. BEST Kiteboarding - Mailed me replacement bladders (tho only 1 was damaged) the next day.

3. Ocean Rodeo - Sent me replacement parts for my Session Harness w/o any proof that I had the harness. I just emailed OR and I got a response the items were in the mail in about 48 hours.

Failure Stories:

So far.. zero.

[toby wilson]

Success Stories

1.Skyway Scott: Replaced a deleted post on the forum with 100 new ones on the very same day that the deletion took place.

2.Ebone: Immediately replaced Hello Kitty rainbow nipple tassels for Roy when the suction cups reportedly began to fail due to excessive use. I am told that these will be the next item up for sale in the apparel section of www.epickitesurfing.com.

Failure Stories

No failures to report.

Failure Stories

My buddy has North kite which has blown all bladders (all of them) in a week. Two friends who bought the same kite at the same time had the same problem.

He was sent replacement bladders which also popped after first ride.

Now obviously this must be a problem with the kite... maybe the stitching is popping the bladders or something strange. He called and wanted a refund or different kite since he JUST bought this kite. Was told they would sell him a different kite at a discount but not refund for the kite or replace with different kite. They also wanted him to pay return shipping over seas and back if they decided it wasnt a warranty issue.

He still has the kite and is going back and forth with them.

He's come to the conclusion that he is just going to take the loss and set it on fire... selling it would mean giving someone else the problem.

I told him to take a crap in it and mail it back to them.

I will never buy a North product.

[/u]

[toby wilson]

I would buy a North before Best.













Just kidding Tom...

[bryanleighty]

i think i see where this is going....

Punk.

Successes:

DaKine sent me a new fusion harness after a leash ring got ripped out of it by my Double Hello Kitty on the 9m Waroo. No charge aside from shipping it back to them. They worked me with to make sure I got the size and color harness replacement I wanted.

Litewave: Litewave Dave sent me a new board for $40.00 shipping and no other charges after I broke one that was 8 months old or so (really, Captain Ass and Board Blaster broke it).

Slingshot: took one of their first OnePumps back from me after it exploded during my initial inflation of the kite.

www.inflatablefarmanimals.com accepted a defective inflatable sheep that somehow popped...wait a minute, never mind.

Failures:

Nice Bindings. I bought a pair of bindings from them that failed. They replied once with two replacement parts. The bindings immediately failed again soon thereafter for the same problem. Nice then responded with SILENCE. FUK DEM.

Walgreens: asshole manager in one of their Orlando stores actually accused me of shoplifting when I dropped by to leave a piss on my way over to kiteboard St. Augustine. It was priceless, though, when I disclosed my professional background and explained that I could sue Walgreens, as well as him personally, for defaming me with a false shoplifting accusation. What a dumbass that guy was. Still, I hate 'em because the corporate office didn't have the ballz to response to a scathing letter regarding same. Punkz.

Dakine, after changing sizes from one year to the next, saw my post on kiteforum explaining to another rider that size L was now an XL because dakine changed their sizes. I mentioned that I had to return the harness for a replacement because the L I ordered to replace my old L was too small!

Dakine rep emailed me and asked me for my address. I received a NEW dakine harness in the mail, size XL free of charge. So now I have two new harnesses. Wow!

[Jake]

You make the call: I purchased a 55cm Waroo bar from Extreme Kites on October 23. They shipped me a standard Best 55cm bar. After talking to Daryl and Scott over the phone and e-mailing them pictures of the bar I convinced them what they shipped me was not a Waroo bar. They said that Best must have put that in their shipment of bars by mistake and that was their last Best bar. They did not have any Waroo conversion kits either. So I returned the bar to them. They said that Best would convert the bar and ship it out to me. However, Best did not have any Waroo conversion kits left. So to make it up to me Daryl said that Best would ship me a new 2007 55cm bar. He apologized and said he wouldn't be surprised if I didn't do business with them again and then gave me Best's number so I could deal directly with them. Basically he wrote me off as a customer. I was OK with that as long as I got the bar. However, every time I called Best I was told they were waiting on a shipment of the bars from China and they would be there in another 2 weeks. Now I've been waiting almost 2 months for the bar so I can use it with my new Waroos (I know I can use a standard bar, but I launch and land solo and I need the extended depower capabilities of the bar). Today Best said they would not get the bars in until after January 1. As I didn't make the purchase with Best, my fear is that they will forget about the arrangements with Extreme and I will wind up without a bar and be out $200+.