big ups to Smith customer service

[Tap]

FYI - their customer service rocks.

I sent in a pair of Triad Regulator goggles that wouldn't stop fogging (and the outrigger system wouldn't stay in) and a pair of Mainline Slider sunglasses that were losing their rubber arm-pad. Both at least 3 years old and very well used.

Both items replaced with new product. Can you ask for anything more?

nope. smith - me likey.

[Son1cdeth]

Had the same experiences with them (with the same glasses no less, the mainline). I've sent them back 2 times now, gotten new glasses each time.

lifelong customer here because of that!

[upallnight]

Smith customer service has helped me out sooooo many times -- and it is not because they've had to repair defective products.

I've had 2 or 3 instances with broken frames (sunglasses) that were completely my fault (umm....like hopping in my car when they were on the seat....d'oh!), and every time they offered me a great deal or replaced them for free.

A few years ago, a friend and I got stuck about halfway up an alpine climb in the Sierras (about 3,000'+ to the summit; mostly 4th class with some short 5th class sections) when a major storm rolled in. We were in an east-facing couloir/gully, so we were completely taken by surprise when the blue sky went grey (we could not see a thing to the West once we were climbing).

Well, we had to bail ASAP as there was no safe place and the sudden downpour loosened up some rocks that started to rain down all around. In fact, one refrigerator-size block literally exploded about 200' from where we were...exactly where we would have been had we not been a bit off-route at the time. It scared the hell out of us!

To make a long story short, 12 hours after we started retreating, we reached the car. The retreat took an incredibly long time as my buddy forgot his headlamp, we were in trail runners (they were fine for going up, but what we didn't count on was having to change our descent route and travel down over snow as it started to firm up again at night...), we had to downclimb sections of wet and sometimes loose rock, and we had to continually build snow bollards to rap down sections of this steep snow (these were very nerve-wracking for me as I kept feeling like the snow would not hold and we would plummet into the complete darkness of that moonless night.

I had been checking on my Smith sunglasses in my pack every time I had to reach in there, and they were OK. When we finally made it to flat ground (hallelujah!), I grabbed one more thing out of my pack and we walked the last mile to the trailhead. I remembered thinking something fell out, but we were in a talus field.

Back at the car, I realized that my sunglasses were gone. At 1 a.m., I didn't have the energy to go back (or think that a search would be fruitful); I was just happy to be alive.

I called Smith the following Monday morning and explained the situation.

I wasn't looking for anything for free, I was simply hoping to just get them to sell me a pair of frames as I already had lenses -- but they went above and beyond and sent me a free pair. That was just way over the top.

This is a very long-winded way of saying that Smith made me a customer for life right thurr.

[RootSkier]

Smiths customer service is so good it is fully retarded.

But I guess its easy to throw around new replacements when actual cost is probably $2.50 and retail is $110.

[Jumper Bones]

Smith's great customer service is why I've been a returning customer of theirs going on 7 years now. Incredibly satisfied, both in the product, and in the service when they break. Each time I've sent broken sunglasses in, they've come back brand-new, and with new lenses in.

Much more than I can say about Oakley.

Keep it up Smith!

[upallnight]

Smiths customer service is so good it is fully retarded.

But I guess its easy to throw around new replacements when actual cost is probably $2.50 and retail is $110.

Heh heh...probably true. That said, that has not been my experience with some other companies, even when their product retails for the same amount.

[noslog]

Perhaps everyone knows this, perhaps not. Teresa Hukari, the customer service manager at Smith, was seriously injured in a ski accident in Sun Valley on March 4 and remains in a Boise hospital. More information can be found at http://web.mac.com/bhukari/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html.

Y'all might consider copying your positive feedback directly to Smith for Teresa and the other folks there. They could use some good news.

[Yonder_River]

Did you have to send in a proof of purchase with the glasses?

I have an old pair, but lost the receipt and their website mentions sending that in.