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.

Haydn24 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.

Impressive.
I've bought an ozone, core and a North and they all still work 3 years later. Never had to send them back.

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.

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 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.

snalberski 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?