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Don't buy a Core kite before you read this!

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ulukaya
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Don't buy a Core kite before you read this!

Postby ulukaya » Sun Aug 05, 2018 1:01 am

I have a 9 month old Core XR5 which I used like 15-20 sessions, and kept always dry in great condition. All of a sudden on 15 knots the bridle line breaks into 2.
When I contact the dealers as well as the rep in Florida, they invoice me for shipping from Germany and I have to wait at least 5 days to get the replacement part?

Is this a norm, every time some thing pops on my kite do I need to pay international shipping and wait a week to repair? (I know a kite repair guy could make a line same length and stitch it for me) But aren't at least the distributors suppose to keep spare parts? I'm pretty sure there are even consumer laws around it. You wouldn't buy any brand outside your country if you had to wait for an international shipping each time you need a part. Like when you want to replace a light of your Mercedes, do you ship it from Germany, I don't think so.

Apparently they haven't fixed a thing since viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2395834&hilit=core%20bridle

What they changed is they doubled the price of spare parts. As when I asked for this $17 bridle, the rep quickly suggested I change the E1 PF bridle for as low as $47.88. That's just a 60% increase from last year's price (29.90). Good luck to Core USA with this quick ripoff strategies.
Last edited by ulukaya on Mon Aug 27, 2018 3:01 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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ulukaya
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Re: Spare Parts: Do they always shipped international?

Postby ulukaya » Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:12 am

and they give you attitude when you ask for clarification. (disclosure I contacted him on Thursday night, he should've already finished this order on Friday. And I did bought it cheaper in EU but thinking I can still get spares in US if I need. I didn't buy a local brand in DR.)

You pay a huge premium to these kites and it's unacceptable that when you need some service they act like this.

"If you're not content, you may contact the retailer you bought your kite from for faster service, somewhere in Europe. I'm not so sure how any US consumer law applies to a purchase made outside of the US.

You're welcome, for processing your order on a Saturday at 9 pm. Have a great weekend."

foilholio
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Re: Spare Parts: Do they always shipped international?

Postby foilholio » Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:17 am

reseller magic!

They say you need them to stock parts, but when you need parts they don't stock them.

Yes you can just make bridle parts. You can just tie knots. Splice and stitch is not mandatory.

Faxie
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Re: Core Shake down Strikes again.

Postby Faxie » Sun Aug 05, 2018 3:36 pm

You get what you pay for, right?

ScoopZ
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Re: Core Shake down Strikes again.

Postby ScoopZ » Sun Aug 05, 2018 4:24 pm

They are all awful these days,
If you think thats bad, the price hike to upgrade to the new ozone release system is a 110% price hike over the last one.

I won't be doing that anytime ever.

sedluk
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Re: Don't buy a CORE kite before you read this!

Postby sedluk » Mon Aug 06, 2018 12:59 pm

I broke a bridle line on a German kite a few weeks ago, I had a kite in a tree and was glad that I only had one broken bridle line. I went online, selected my kite and bridle line and something like 5 days later it arrived and I was happy.

foilholio
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Re: Don't buy a CORE kite before you read this!

Postby foilholio » Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:20 pm

Personally I would have just tied it back together with an extension on the beach.

But hey.

Congratulations to Flysurfer direct parts sales.

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CaptainCore
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Re: Don't buy a Core kite before you read this!

Postby CaptainCore » Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:18 pm

ulukaya wrote:
Sun Aug 05, 2018 1:01 am
I have a 9 month old Core XR5 which I used like 15-20 sessions, and kept always dry in great condition. All of a sudden on 15 knots the bridle line breaks into 2.
When I contact the dealers as well as the rep in Florida, they invoice me for shipping from Germany and I have to wait at least 5 days to get the replacement part?

Is this a norm, every time some thing pops on my kite do I need to pay international shipping and wait a week to repair? (I know a kite repair guy could make a line same length and stitch it for me) But aren't at least the distributors suppose to keep spare parts? I'm pretty sure there are even consumer laws around it. You wouldn't buy any brand outside your country if you had to wait for an international shipping each time you need a part. Like when you want to replace a light of your Mercedes, do you ship it from Germany, I don't think so.

Apparently they haven't fixed a thing since viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2400299&p=1023797#p1023797

What they changed is they doubled the price of spare parts. As when I asked for this $17 bridle, the rep quickly suggested I change the E1 PF bridle for as low as $47.88. That's just a 60% increase from last year's price (29.90). Good luck to Core USA with this quick ripoff strategies.
In answer to your question, the answer is no, it's not the norm and yes distributors do carry backup stock just as the manufacturers should, but.. Until recently Bridles have not been an issue with Core and whatever it is about the set up with the XR5, (because we here in the UK have also had a couple of premature bridle failures, well not failure like yours, but undue wear which were quickly replaced.) that caused this will be quickly investigated. Core themselves were helpful and I imagine if there is an issue they will address it, it wouldn't be the first time that some far east supplier scalped the quality specs of an item like this.
However had you taken the issue straight to the internet in a deliberate attempt to destroy a companies reputation instead of contacting the head office to complain first, I'm sure I'd probably also have asked for the shipping costs. On a kite as young as the XR5 I'm quite sure you are as legally protected in your market as our customers are here in Europe, so frankly your suggestion of 'attitude' doesn't surprise me, but nonetheless two wrongs don't make a right, contact Core USA direct. They can't be held responsible for transit times between mainland Europe and the USA, hell our internal mail service here in the UK can take five days locally if the weekend is involved. The XR5 is a very good kite, there are lots and lots of happy users, if as you suggest we have bridle issues I'm sure we'll make sure there are spares, we all (Core distributers) carry spares particularly to known issues, but it's not BS when I say we seriously don't get that many problems, until now we have no bridle spares,never having needed them. I've been selling Core for four years now and have sold several hundred. I get depower rope wear problems with the Sensor bar occasionally, the odd blown valve, but until very recently not a single bridle failure, but I'm now duly aware and would have thanked you for a less public heads up.

Where do you store the kite? You don't have a rodent issue by any chance, nothing they like more than a good chew on a bridle line, just thinking aloud, even our worn bridles have not snapped.

I hope you get your carriage refunded, I'm sure it's an oversight.

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Re: Don't buy a Core kite before you read this!

Postby lewmt » Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:20 pm

Congratulations to Flysurfer direct parts sales.
US rep for Flysurfer is the worst! Doesn't back squat. Bought a 15M Boost 2 & will never buy another FS because of him. I met & got to know a couple of engineers @ FS and wanted to support them but after my bad experience - no way.

Best customer service I've ever gotten from any kite company is from Switch - which is surprising because of their price point.

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Beardytello
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Re: Don't buy a Core kite before you read this!

Postby Beardytello » Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:22 pm

I've read this. Still would buy a Core.

Thanks.


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