Gear Issues

[Johnny Monsoon]

Maybe this should be in gear, but... maybe not.

Not long after I put the XX down (in August) and ended the life of my GT Air mesh Cortech jacket I decided to go for something a bit sturdier.  I shopped around and took a look at what was available.  Comparing leather weight, armor, and fit (I was VERY liberal with pricepoint) I arrived at what I thought was a very good garment.  I got a Tourmaster Magnum jacket.

Now, I didn't use this jacket for about two months while I decided to get the bike fixed for riding in the end of the season.  At that time, I was still in NE.  I have since moved to TX.  The jacket was probably worn some 6 times prior to my move down to TX, and in that time the cuff velcro tab (two rectangles of leather stitched together with velcro on one side) had come un-stitched, allowing the two rectangles to separate.  It isn't really anything but an annoyance, but it did call in question the overall workmanship of the jacket.  The stitching looks good everywhere else, but I wonder...

Once I finally got internet access, I e-mailed Tourmaster/Cortech telling them about the problem.  I didn't get a reply until today.  I'll post that in a minute.

In the mean time, I had yet another failure.  Two days ago (the last time I wore the jacket) I put the zipper together and started to zip it up.  I've never had any problem with the zipper binding at all, and even on this occasion I did not need to pull hard to close it.  As I pulled it up, I was momentarily baffled as to how my hand had slipped off the tab.  Then it occurred to me that the zipper pull had broken off.  Great.  I ran a split-key-ring through the remaining tab to make it operable.

The majority of the jacket is good, but the doubts I have about corner-cutting have me worried.  Never once, ever, did I have any experience like this on any of my Joe Rocket gear which is substantially older and  far more seasoned.  All my JR zippers still work like new, and all the stitching on everything is perfect despite thousands and thousands of miles under extremely harsh and extreme conditions.

Anyway, here's what Tourmaster had to say to me:

Dear Johnny Monsoon,

Thank you for your interest in Tourmaster.com. As this is not a common
occurrence, I would like to suggest that you return to the dealer in
 which
you initially purchased the item through to get a RMA number set up for
 you,
which is required for submission for a warranty inspection. As we are a
manufacturer/distributor, we do not typically sell direct to the public
 and
are not set up to receive things direct from consumers. As the dealer
 is the
one who purchased it through us, we need them to submit it to us for
 proper
evaluations, etc. Once they issue you a RMA, it will take anywhere
 between 2
and 4 weeks depending on what transpires during the evaluation and what
 must
take place next. Thank you for taking the time out to contact us, I am
 sorry
that you have experienced issues with your Tourmaster/Cortech purchase.

Melissa Westervelt
Tourmaster.com
Cortechperformance.com

2-4 Weeks?!?  Also, there's just no way I'm going to get back to PSP in Omaha to deal with this.  What a headache.  Not sure how I feel about this company anymore; especially after the dismal fit and design of the last jacket.

[Mr Sunshine]

What on earth do you expect them to do?  Fly you to their plant and custom fit it for ou?

[brevity]

Sounds like typical manufacturer BS to me...  What a PITA.  I hate to say it, but I bet most manufacturers, whether JR, First Gear, Fieldsheer, etc... would probably all react the same way.  Any one have a postive result from a consumer complaint?

[mtrider16]

Reply and tell them your story and ask if you can take it to a dealer in Texas.  The worst they can say is NO.

Course it might be faster to take it to a lether shop. (I hate arguing warranties   )

By the way, your info with your avatar still says you live in Omaha.    

David

[RickC1957]

Write them again....attach this thread....I will never buy Tourmaster products if they give you this kind of run around

[Scratch33]

I went through the same deal a couple years ago with my Fieldsheer Pants -- the zippers Fieldsheer was putting on their stuff at that time were cheap crap, and when I contacted them they told me I couldn't send the pants back to them directly for repairs; I had to take it back to the local stealer who in turn would send it to the distributor for "evaluation".  

After being bounced back-and-forth between Fieldsheer, the stealer and the distributor for about 4 months, I stomped into the stealer's showroom and made them make the calls and experience the frustration.  After about 3 hours of them getting the same runaround, they finally caved in and refunded me my money - in cash - on the spot.

[bomber]

no doubt there are example of hideous behavior from the manufacturer/distributor/dealer chain --

the response you got, though, isn't one of them, IMO

they had no way of knowing the seller wasn't right down the street from ya, and 4 weeks isn't a bad turnaround for this kinda thing

that said, unless a product just flat out fails catastrophically, I generally either fix it myself, or go to a local repair place that'll fix it for a reasonable charge, and quickly, too

repair joints exist to repair things -- Tourmaster's gig is to get hings made, and sell em to distributors

not saying you shouldn't be disappointed, cus ya should, but pointing out that instant gratification due to a warrenty is likelhy to be not so instant

[FiremanBob]

More reason for my continuing effort to avoid buying anything made in China.

[cultureslayer]

The stitching on my Teknic jacket is coming apart in one place.  I'll see how their response compares.  It's my summer jacket and I've been putting off sending it in for fear of the long turn around.

[Johnny Monsoon]

Ah, I've given you all the wrong impression in this thread...

I'm irked that they don't deal with warranty issues directly; I mean, what in the world would the guy selling chains, Plexus, and conchos know about how a jacket should hold up?  Frankly, with the relationship I have with the dealer I bought it from I could get their OK to pretty much do whatever from them; but I don't have them at my disposal.  They are ultimately responsible for their product, not the dealer who had nothing to do with the manufacture of that product.  And how do they get off even remotely questioning that a jacket that's failed in two different ways (albiet reasonably insignificant ones) within 3 months of ownership and less than a month of wear might not present further doubts to the overall quality of the jacket?

Were I the owner of that company, I'd want to get my hands on this jacket pronto so I could deal with folks who were making the jackets to ensure they weren't sending out a bunch of items that made my company look bad.  I'd offer a replacement upon receipt of the defective one.  Clearly I'm not making up the defects, and they can be readily verified in about two seconds.  I purchased a jacket that will eventually fail; that's a given.  However, it is quite reasonable to expect it to last a minimum of 3 seasons prior to seeing anything remotely resembling these types of failures.  Were I returning this jacket after some three years I would expect questions and arguments about replacements, etc. but I do not think it is reasonable to expect a buyer to be satisfied with a product that has exhibited this sort of failure after such infrequent and gentle use.

Poor form.  There are several MC gear companies that will offer up a replacement without much of any question at all.  Given the nature of this gear, I would expect them to take a much more direct interest in making sure they produce a safe, quality product.  IMO, my satisfaction is secondary to isolating defective items; and the isolation and quick replacement of those items will have a direct, positive, affect on my satisfaction as a customer.

[mtrider16]

Manufacturer's believe that they contract out the sales force and customer interaction to the dealer/distributor network.  This reduces the size of the company's customer service department and they hope that their product sees more customer exposure.

This model works well for the automakers and the guys that make all the dodads in the electrical catalogs.  Do you get to call the manufacture when the switch you buy from Applied fails?

I agree with you, that this model is poor in this case, especially as there are companies with better customer service.

Perhaps I should ask this question the next time I buy something, "Who do I talk to if I end up having a problem with the product?"

David

[Johnny Monsoon]

UPDATE:

I responded to Melissa at Tourmaster, explaining that I was in transit, didn't have the receipt handy, and wouldn't be able to get to Omaha to square this with the dealer.  I did, however, give her my bank account trace number for the transaction so she could verify the purchase with PowerSports Pro, and told her that it would be no problem for her to verify my purchase on 14 Aug, then gave her contact numbers to PSP and to myself.

She promptly responded that even though they were not generally set up to deal with customers directly, that given the circumstances, she'd issue an RMA number (I presume this is a returned-merchandise/defect tracking number) after providing her with just a bit more information.  I gave her the information she requested (yesterday) and I had a response waiting for me today with the RMA number and an estimate of 2-4 weeks turnaround time after I ship it off to her.

I suspect the times are more to cover their backsides than a realistic guess, but I'm happy with the outcome thus far.  After I get into my new home and get my household goods (to include my spare gear) delivered, I'll send it off.  Then we'll see what the final outcome looks like.

So, despite my frustrations and disappointment with the gear, it would seem they have the latitude to deal with issues on the fly, and are willing to hear the customer.  So, in that regard they get a    Hopefully the outcome will be equally good.  While I'm still irritated that I'm having to deal with this on such a gently used item in such a short time from purchase, I can at least respect the fact that they're making an effort to correct the situation.