Has the Arc'teryx warranty gone to shit?

[Mulletizer]

I sent something back to them in Yurp and have had a considerably less than stellar response. A garment that would have been an open-shut case either of the couple of times I've warrantied with a top end clothing companies previously (lightly worn, the zipper has split) isn't being warrantied, and they've demanded almost 50% of the purchase cost to replace the zipper.

And the CS response stinks (not because they've refused the warranty request - they've claimed the garment is way older than it actually is [I have the proof of purchase] and they've said it is heavily worn when it sure as heck is not). It's feels like the customer service people are being incentivised to turn warranty returns into revenue generating opportuntities. I guess I'll not buy their stuff any more.

[whyturn]

For their price and advertising it seems like bad form. Other companies like outdoor research and north face don't act this way based on my experience.

[hutash]

That sucks, time to escalate the complaint and ask for a supervisor. Have your proof of purchase at hand and tell them a split zipper is not from over use. Might mention 29 year old patagucci zipper don't split, and if they do they are warrantied.

[Timberridge]

Have Benny resubmit the garment to the warranty dept.

[kootenayskier]

Arrogant elitism is part of their brand identity. It's reflected in their styling, pricing, pro-purchase and warranty policies. You can choose to buy into this or not. I prefer to stick with companies like Patagonia and Outdoor Research, who treat me and my insignificant issues like they matter.

[dark_star]

Arrogant elitism is part of their brand identity. It's reflected in their styling, pricing, pro-purchase and warranty policies. You can choose to buy into this or not. I prefer to stick with companies like Patagonia and Outdoor Research, who treat me and my insignificant issues like they matter.

^^This. Patagonia and OR are my two favorite gear companies and they have both earned my lifetime loyalty. Never got on the Arcteryx bus, and the 1 jacket I have from them repeatedly delaminated at the seams. That being said, they warranteed that no problem and ultimately gave me generous credit for a new jacket. I guess YMMV.

[AlpiNord]

Great, now that I just bought my wife an Arc'Teryx shell....

Regarding OR's warranty, I keep wondering what their margins are because they replace items for minor problems. It's been impressive and I've benefited multiple times, but also seems wasteful vs repairing items with minor issues (mainly, crappy zippers).

On the other hand, Patagonia encourages customers to get their gear repaired vs replaced. This seems like a more sustainable and responsible model while reducing the huge wastefulness in the garment industry.

[neufox47]

Sent in a item and rexeived confirmation on 12.1.16. Nothing since. Will report back.

[guermo]

Agreed. I ran into the same warranty issue, something that was obviously wrong with their jacket was deemed my fault and they would not take care of me.

I find the brand embarrassing and am looking for a patch to cover their logo on my ripped jacket.

Arrogant elitism is part of their brand identity. It's reflected in their styling, pricing, pro-purchase and warranty policies. You can choose to buy into this or not. I prefer to stick with companies like Patagonia and Outdoor Research, who treat me and my insignificant issues like they matter.

[hutash]

Great, now that I just bought my wife an Arc'Teryx shell....

Regarding OR's warranty, I keep wondering what their margins are because they replace items for minor problems. It's been impressive and I've benefited multiple times, but also seems wasteful vs repairing items with minor issues (mainly, crappy zippers).

On the other hand, Patagonia encourages customers to get their gear repaired vs replaced. This seems like a more sustainable and responsible model while reducing the huge wastefulness in the garment industry.

This mostly true. I think it is great that Patagonia is doing a lot of repairs, most often at no cost even if users fault. That said, even stuff that gets replaced either gets recycled or donated, so it is not really wasted. Pattigucci is now recycling down, which a lot of my goose friends are very pleased with.

[Mulletizer]

Thanks folks. So I escalated this, we'll see what comes of it. It pisses me off that they refused a repair because the garment is "worn out" (which they define on their site as beyond repair), yet offered a paid-for repair (at a cost that makes me wonder if they treat warranty requests as a revenue-generating opportunity).

Anyway, it was a rare case of organisation and foresight that I kept the till receipt from when I bought it (and could actually find it...). If it all goes wrong I'll PM Benny.

Amusingly, I sent another jacket back a day later, also with a failed zipper (the store refused the return along with the fleece that I'm pissed about because of, ahem, a stain, ahem, that hadn't washed out first time). It'll be interesting to see if the same thing happens.

[Soups]

That sucks. Two years ago I had a 12-ish year old Alpha SV that did that same thing and was kept in great condition. Sent it in and no questions asked was given credit to order any shell I wanted that was available.

Super shitty change in customer service. Jack up the price to astronomically dumb proportions (the new Alpha SV was like $900) and basically cutout all warranty.

Although with the reasons stated above I doubt I'd ever buy another piece from them again. It was great stuff years ago, now not so much. The replacement jacket I got was no where near as bomber as my old SV. I actually have to be delicate with it.

[mtnjam]

Here's my experience with ArcTeryx. I had a zipper delam from the GoreTex, they gave me the run around on it. I posted something to the effect like the OP has done. ArcTeryx replaced jacket. Great.

A few years later I get a message from TGR forum manager asking me to remove my posting about ArcTeryx. Apparently ArcTeryx watches this message board and told the forum manager to ask me to remove my posting about ArcTeryx's lack of warranty service. Stating that is was a done deal (jacket warranty) and it would be bad for ArcTeryx's marketing.

I obliged and removed my thread.

I didn't know they were that petty. Let's just say I haven't bought another ArcTeryx jacket since.

[Benny Profane]

Have Benny resubmit the garment to the warranty dept.

Behold. Brand new Patagucci parka in two weeks since they received my 24 year old parka. You mock me, but, it ain't that Acertyx shit, nosiree. God bless murica!

[hutash]

Here's my experience with ArcTeryx. I had a zipper delam from the GoreTex, they gave me the run around on it. I posted something to the effect like the OP has done. ArcTeryx replaced jacket. Great.

A few years later I get a message from TGR forum manager asking me to remove my posting about ArcTeryx. Apparently ArcTeryx watches this message board and told the forum manager to ask me to remove my posting about ArcTeryx's lack of warranty service. Stating that is was a done deal (jacket warranty) and it would be bad for ArcTeryx's marketing.

I obliged and removed my thread.

I didn't know they were that petty. Let's just say I haven't bought another ArcTeryx jacket since.

Wow, what complete bullshit. If you posted they eventually made good they should be content with that. Maybe the next time they won't give their customers the run around, but that does not appear to be the case.

In the now (in)famous words of Jer, Arc'teryx "needs to own its fail."

[Mulletizer]

Here's my experience with ArcTeryx. I had a zipper delam from the GoreTex, they gave me the run around on it. I posted something to the effect like the OP has done. ArcTeryx replaced jacket. Great.

A few years later I get a message from TGR forum manager asking me to remove my posting about ArcTeryx. Apparently ArcTeryx watches this message board and told the forum manager to ask me to remove my posting about ArcTeryx's lack of warranty service. Stating that is was a done deal (jacket warranty) and it would be bad for ArcTeryx's marketing.

This is staggeringly weak behaviour. Really unimpressive.

[Timberridge]

I'm surprised DD hasn't weighed in yet. He must be out cruising the streets of Edina looking for soccer moms.

[NoPostholio]

He is on a mission to impregnate Bristol Palin with her fourth baby goat.

[whyturn]

Westcomb eh'
The bird is dead

[SkiLyft]

Sent my Rush in at the end of last season (powder skirt delam) they quickly repaired it (6 weeks) and sent it back free of charge.

Also the zipper on my cerium puffy died mid season last year, instead of shipping it off to BC the manager at the Denver store gave me $20 cash and said take it to a local tailor and have the repair done locally to save on time w/o my jacket.

So far so good, no complaints... and the Bird did not pay me to say this!

[AlpiNord]

FWIW, had these thread been in play two weeks ago, I probably would not have paid up for my wife's Arc'Teryx shell. I was under the impression the warranty and customer service 'had my back'. There were tons of other options I almost pulled the trigger on instead of Arc'Teryx at less cost.

[XXX-er]

I took my pack and soft-shell pants into the north van head office they put a new harness on the pack and gave a big credit on the pants which was more than what I paid so I bought more product

That was 2 years ago, we got a shell needing repair so I guess I will see if anything changed

[crashidy]

I had great service on a warranty last year. Sent my shell in fot a rip repair. They informed me that they could fix the rip but the lower part of the jacket failed their water repellent test. Gave me credit and choice of a new jacket. I'll buy arcteryx over any brand any day.

[bean]

I had a pair of bibs a few years ago with abrasion in the pockets that they patched, and an atom LT that they replaced the zipper on this year. The wife had similar items outright replaced but I don't remember what the issues were exactly.

[Mulletizer]

So the escalation hasn't gone so well so far. They have not answered my direct questions about why they won't warranty it, only re-stated that they won't. I don't believe there is anything in their warranty policy which disqualifies the item from warranty. It looks increasingly as if Arc'teryx CS is refusing to state why they won't warranty the item because they know I can (and will) argue that it's not legitimate. It feels really slippery.

On the other hand, they did offer to either replace the failed zipper for half their absurd original price (which was almost half the original [high] purchase cost of the garment), or give me a 40% discount in their online store. Whichever way, neither of these is honouring their warranty. And the way their customer service people have dealt with this has stunk.