I have been an REI member since 2000. I have bought and used their branded gear for years, in part because of the lifetime warranty. I was fine paying the premium retail price knowing that if something went wrong, I could always get a new one. Ant it kept me brand loyal and from cruising the internet for the “Best Deal.” I was willing to pay that premium for peace of mind. Taking that into account, I was a little butt-hurt about their change from lifetime to a 1-year warranty in 2013, but I get it, there was some abuse and people went to great lengths to game them. People suck and some of them ruined it for the rest of us.
I have had some good experience since the change: I had the soles fall off a pair of Vans snowboard boots two years ago and they replaced them no questions because the sole failure was an obvious manufacture’s defect. Same for a bike pump 6 months later.
Yesterday, I took a rain coat in that had a lining that was separating from the outer layer. I was told that the issue was “normal wear and tear” and that it would not be replaced. I took the pronouncement and ALMOST just bought a new one, but decided to look elsewhere first. The more I sat with it and the more it stewed in my brain, the more it irked me. $120 (original cost) is not a small amount of money for me, so I decided to go back and argue the point with the return desk.
I printed out the original product info (thank you interwebs!) that listed the rain jacket lining as “permanently bonded to the outer layer…” and I printed both the original warranty (pre-2013) and the current warranty that lists product defect as a reason for full refund. If that didn’t work, I brought some excessive firepower: a printed copy of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act with the portion highlighted about a company having to honor the warranty from the time of purchase.
I showed up and happened to get a sales associate who again said it was normal wear and tear as currently described in their internal policy instructions, BUT that he would honor the “sprite of the original guarantee” and give me store credit for the full purchase amount. Things almost took a left turn when he had to have a manager override though. The manager showed up, looked at the jacket, and started to say no. I quickly pulled the Magnuson-Moss doc out of my backpack, I started flipping pages and his eyes got wide. He asked if I was an attorney and I said, “Nope, better: I am an engineer.” There were guarded smiles and I was told that they were aware of the legalese I was about to throw down and without admitting I was right or that the Act was applicable, he keyed in his credentials and walked away.
I left my local REI with a new Northface raincoat, and $10 left on my store credit. I am not sure when I will spend that $10 as I will be shopping on-line for gear deals and will darken REI’s doors very little in the future for gear purchases.
