Last Thursday morning I received my new 12m Nitro4. That day had appropriate conditions predicted to take it down to the beach and give it a go. When I got there the conditions were a tad light but I pumped up and thought to give it a go regardless. I had a couple of tacks and the wind was a bit light so I went back to shore and rested the kite on the beach waiting for the wind to get a little more legs. After about 30mins the leading edge had deflated. ?!. Disappointed I went back home and sent an email to the Switch warranty that night. Early in the morning I received a reply asking me to pump up the kite and spray the leading edge with soapy water and take a pic of the leak. I did this and discovered that the LE one pump nipple for the middle strut was leaking around the base. I immediately sent this pic to the warranty dept and within one hour they had ordered me a replacement kite. Within another 3 hours I received notification that it had been shipped. By that time it was less than 24 hours (22 in fact) since I first discovered the problem. The kite was shipped Friday afternoon and I received it Monday morning. Although I was disappointed and surprised initially at a problem being present at all the Switch after sales service is second to non and made up completely for the presence of the problem. The only after sales comparison I can make is 18 months ago when I bought a 14m North kite. The same happened... pumped up for the first time and the kite didn't hold pressure. However on this occasion a replacement kite definitely was not an option. The retailer did fix the leaking bladder in a week but I insisted I be supplied a new, non repaired replacement bladder. After all it was supposedly a premium product and I had certainly paid a premium price.To cut along story short it took me 6 months of me hounding the retailer to receive the bladder... all the time being told by the retailer... oh North are dropping the ball on this one... I'll ring them right now... it was sent 2 weeks ago.. blah blah blah. I think that some if not all of the major kite brands should look at Switch to find out what premium service really is.
Select to expand quoteHaydn24 said..
Nice
did they send an enter button for your keyboard as well? 
Not sure if it is the case here but I have had trouble before where I have formatted a reply properly, with paragraphs etc, but when I have posted it it comes out like the above one.
Something to do with the text editor, I think it was when on my iPad.
Very refreshing to hear, Im glad someone has come forward with a good customer service experience…its easier to complain than it is complement.. I reckon we should take snarlberski's example and in the spirit of christmas give some shout outs for the good experiences and customer service you might have received this year.
Impressive.
I've bought an ozone, core and a North and they all still work 3 years later. Never had to send them back.
Select to expand quotewishy said..
Impressive.
I've bought an ozone, core and a North and they all still work 3 years later. Never had to send them back.
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones cos if you had of had to you wouldn't have been able to at all
Switch have the business model for the future.There prices are unbeatable .There overheads are low.I have not tried there kites yet , but at 600 bucks for a 7 m kite is a bargain compared to $1300 to $1600 for the main brands.
Select to expand quotesnalberski said..wishy said..
Impressive.
I've bought an ozone, core and a North and they all still work 3 years later. Never had to send them back.
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones cos if you had of had to you wouldn't have been able to at all
Thats bashing 3 brands in one, I have no experience with Core or North but Ozone have always been very good to me.
Select to expand quotetgcp said..snalberski said..wishy said..
Impressive.
I've bought an ozone, core and a North and they all still work 3 years later. Never had to send them back.
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones cos if you had of had to you wouldn't have been able to at all
Thats bashing 3 brands in one, I have no experience with Core or North but Ozone have always been very good to me.
Your correct...my apologies... I have only had experience with North. I can tell you however that when I had the out of box failure with my North kite and suggested that an entire replacement may be a reasonable expectation I was told "North dont do that"
Personally I don't think it's a fair comparison. Switch don't use retailers so they are responsible for warranty. If you buy one of the big brands through a retailer and it's defective out of the box, then it's the retailers responsibility to service the warranty claim. When you have issues down the track and it's no longer the retailers responsibility, yep agreed good luck but Switch aren't angels in the department either from experience.
I think people bash brands, there is some great service provided by the ridders working on some shops, i know here in vic the shops i deal with tend to be really good with supporting their brands. Good to hear when support is done right.
Nice customer service but I'm surprised the OP was on the email to Switch before doing any fault finding first?
Select to expand quotesnalberski said..tgcp said..snalberski said..wishy said..
Impressive.
I've bought an ozone, core and a North and they all still work 3 years later. Never had to send them back.
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones cos if you had of had to you wouldn't have been able to at all
Thats bashing 3 brands in one, I have no experience with Core or North but Ozone have always been very good to me.
Your correct...my apologies... I have only had experience with North. I can tell you however that when I had the out of box failure with my North kite and suggested that an entire replacement may be a reasonable expectation I was told "North dont do that"
I remember you bashing local stores, complaining how they were milking it in Oz. You also said you were buying your North kites in the US....
Did you buy that North kite in the US and then harassed your local to get a new bladder?
Select to expand quoteLivit said..
I remember you bashing local stores, complaining how they were milking it in Oz. You also said you were buying your North kites in the US....
Did you buy that North kite in the US and then harassed your local to get a new bladder?
My intention has been misread as is mostly the case in these forums. I was trying to big up the service provided by a kite company rather than bash a brand. North kites are great kites and I have been very happy with all my North Kites but the experience I have had with after sales was hopeless. I subsequently learned that after sales and warranty claims are the responsibility of the retailer not the distributor or manufacturer. So to point a stink finger at North is possibly unfair and not really what I was trying to convey. I'm sure other people have had different experiences or possibly have lower expectations.
