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Saw your board in half to get your money back

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Created by Naranek > 9 months ago, 2 Aug 2022
Naranek
28 posts
2 Aug 2022 6:08PM
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I bought a JP Australia X-Winger IPR board in the spring and it had some quality issues as described in this thread earlier:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Wing-Foiling/Wind-Wings/JP-x-winger-experience-?page=1#10

They finally got back to me and said that they need Proof of Destruction before they can handle the warranty claim. Basically they want a photo where the board is cut across with the serial number visible, and I even got an example image of a poor sawn-in-half JP board

Honestly - I'm shocked about this. In a world that's fighting climate change and aiming toward sustainability, intentionally destroying a functioning product is just unbelievable. It's also my only board and destroying it in the middle of the season would be bonkers, but the suggestion sounds crazy even if that weren't an issue.

Is this a common practice with JP? What about other manufacturers? What kind of responses have you had with warranty claims?

airsail
QLD, 1537 posts
2 Aug 2022 8:27PM
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I've seen it happen before, saves the shipping cost of sending the old board back to the manufacturer for destruction. Kite manufacturers do similar requiring the tips to be cut off making the kite unrepairable.

Normally the shop will handle the destruction, after handing you the replacement.


At least you know your getting the board replaced.

Grantmac
2317 posts
3 Aug 2022 3:06AM
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Standard procedure with any Cobra board.

Funny how many boards you see with a repair seam running through the middle....

TooMuchEpoxy
420 posts
3 Aug 2022 6:19AM
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I did this with a board once and glued and re-lamed it back together with extra reinforcement and kept riding it - flipped the replacement to a buddy.

MidAtlanticFoil
818 posts
3 Aug 2022 6:29AM
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Saw this with a friends Fanatic board.

JuriM
116 posts
3 Aug 2022 3:51PM
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I had a minor warranty issue once with a Starboard (over 15 years ago) and they were OK with having a local board repair fix the board and pay for the repair. It was an ecologically sound decision and while the board was only 99% good as new visually, it was functionally 100% good after it was repaired.

I can understand destroying the board if it has build quality issues that are more than just superficial. If it's just issues like the pads coming off or a bit of topcoat chipping off, a partial refund would be a good solution. However, I also realize you have to be careful with partial refunds as there are people in the world who might take advantage of that and fabricate a situation just to get some money back.

What would you do? In this case, we're mid-season, so destroying the board to get a refund would leave Naranek without a board (having to buy a new one and wait for a refund from the shop). The board works fine, but it's missing a bit here and there. It was heavily discounted to start with, so even a full refund wouldn't cover the cost of a new board bought locally.

Personally, I would probably keep the board as is and remember the situation when buying my next board.

Winger12
32 posts
3 Aug 2022 5:20PM
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Tough decission. If the main problem is just some paint peeling off and kickpad, i would personally repair them myself given the other option. Just remember which brand you buy next...

I have to comment how things should be dealt with: i had problems with Gong board about year ago. Sent images to them. They came back in couple of days and offered me two options:
1. To fix board locally and they would pay the bill
2. Send board to them for repair. I chose latter as i thought that value of the board would remain better if fixed by original manufacturer with right colors etc.

They arranged a courier company to pick the board from my home. And couple of weeks after that sent brand new board as replacement, delivered to my door. And i'm not living in France, far away from it. All paid and arranged by them. Was really happy how that worked out. Have had worse experiences with other expensive brands.

drlazone
155 posts
4 Aug 2022 8:08AM
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I had same issue with Quatro board.
After I voiced the concerns about the environment, they worked out a deal with the reseller to repair and resell rather than destroy
Kudos to Quatro.

Naranek
28 posts
5 Aug 2022 3:14PM
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Thanks for the replies! Good to know that this is somewhat usual practice. I guess I'll just repair what I can myself and stay away from JP in the future. Too bad Fanatic does this as well, but nice to know that Gong has a better stance on the warranty claims. I'm already using Gong foils and I've had only good experiences with them so far, so I might go that route for my next boards as well - if they only made one with sharper edges

Foxi
153 posts
5 Aug 2022 3:40PM
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I?m just running through a similar process with Fanatic (very quick as my board type being stocked fortrunately) and they immediately shipped a replacement in exchange for the old board (to be given to the shop) or the mentioned chainsaw massacre proof. I guess that it?s all based on the agreement with the manufacturer, who has very little costs per piece, so that any repairs in wealthy countries would not pay off FROM A PURE COMMERCIAL point of view AND cause administrative burdens nobody wants to carry. Marketing of course also prefers not to have to many boards with major repair signs on the beaches. Or in social media .

Dspace
VIC, 320 posts
5 Aug 2022 6:13PM
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My related story is with a hand wing. Duotone made me cut a 4m Slick in half and send them the picture before they would send me a warranty replacement. The irony is that the warranty replacement wing had the same warranty issue, so I made a DIY fix and just moved on. Only time I've ever had any wing gear warranty issue

airsail
QLD, 1537 posts
6 Aug 2022 1:14AM
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Select to expand quote
Dspace said..
My related story is with a hand wing. Duotone made me cut a 4m Slick in half and send them the picture before they would send me a warranty replacement. The irony is that the warranty replacement wing had the same warranty issue, so I made a DIY fix and just moved on. Only time I've ever had any wing gear warranty issue


Last years 4mtr Slick needs a longer boom than standard, was this the issue?

Dspace
VIC, 320 posts
6 Aug 2022 8:20AM
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Select to expand quote
airsail said..


Dspace said..
My related story is with a hand wing. Duotone made me cut a 4m Slick in half and send them the picture before they would send me a warranty replacement. The irony is that the warranty replacement wing had the same warranty issue, so I made a DIY fix and just moved on. Only time I've ever had any wing gear warranty issue




Last years 4mtr Slick needs a longer boom than standard, was this the issue?



Yep, that was the exact issue. The replacement 4m Slick I got had the exact same issue so I just made a boom extension and called it a day. My 5m and 6m Slicks didn't have this issue at all.

Back on topic; I understand the need to avoid having a customer sell a defective wing by requiring evidence of destroying it, but I just sold that replacement 4m Slick this week (I upgraded to SLS's) with full disclosure of the issue and my boom extension fix to go with it

airsail
QLD, 1537 posts
6 Aug 2022 8:23AM
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Select to expand quote
Dspace said..

airsail said..



Dspace said..
My related story is with a hand wing. Duotone made me cut a 4m Slick in half and send them the picture before they would send me a warranty replacement. The irony is that the warranty replacement wing had the same warranty issue, so I made a DIY fix and just moved on. Only time I've ever had any wing gear warranty issue





Last years 4mtr Slick needs a longer boom than standard, was this the issue?




Yep, that was the exact issue. The replacement 4m Slick I got had the exact same issue so I just made a boom extension and called it a day. My 5m and 6m Slicks didn't have this issue at all.

Back on topic; I understand the need to avoid having a customer sell a defective wing by requiring evidence of destroying it, but I just sold that replacement 4m Slick this week (I upgraded to SLS's) with full disclosure of the issue and my boom extension fix to go with it


3 x 4mtr Slicks at our local, all the same issue. Duotone seems to have mucked up designing that size.



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"Saw your board in half to get your money back" started by Naranek