Broken Board, Warranty, SERIOUS ISSUE

[kiterskateboard]

I was paulwallbaby6969 but apparently someone blocked me b/c I mentioned the manufacturer Litewave Dave. What kind of democracy is this? Litewave advertises here, I guess.
But please understand this, my goal is not to flame Litewave Dave. I mentioned that in my original post that I wanted to keep the manufacturer's name out of this unless it was shown that only he and one other were the only ones with no real warranties. In fact, I really liked the Litewave Dave board that I rode, until it broke. And I was shocked when I found out that there is basically no warranty on it. Why? because when one pays $500+ for a kiteboard they should expect some kind of real warranty to be honored as long as the board is being used as it is intended to be used. The snowboard/kiteboard comparison is an awful one again, because we're talking about snowboards costing $75 that are riding on hard ice, and a $500-600+ kiteboard being used on water.

[Litewave Dave]

FYI, Litewave warranty policy: http://www.litewavedesigns.com/warranty.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-Dave

[gbgreen59]

High end new snowboards go for $400 to $600 US. You can buy a used snowboard on ebay for $75, but it will be the one that a good snowboarder got rid of. You bought a medium priced new kiteboard for $500 (very good deal since you can pay more than $800). A medium priced new snowboard will cost between $200 and $300 US. Again, as it was said earlier, if you are hard on your equipment, you should expect to replace it regularly. I broke my new snowboard ($300) after about 1/2 of a season and hard ice was not what caused it to break.

[kiterskateboard]

Dave,
I'm glad to see you're on the forum. I've looked up a Slingshot warranty, and it has the same clause regarding no coverage from breakage due to impact. Yet, Slingshot, Naish and most other companies seem to have been replacing boards no questions asked. Your warranty specifies impact as being caused by "kiteloops". I don't even do kiteloops. But I've been kiting long enough to know that I land 90% softer than the majority of kiters out there.
Answer me this: I realize that like an insurance policy, the word "impact" is there to protect you from having to replace every board that breaks and you don't want to set a precedent, but what about a user who likes your products, speaks highly of your products to his friends, pays retail price for your products, uses your products as they're intended to be used, but when he breaks your board that's less than a year old, why do you tell him he is SOL? Again, I really like your boards but I honestly can not afford to buy a new board every year at $500+ a pop. The point is, with such huge profit margins, why would you not offer the same service that every other company seems to offer?
Secondly, if you interpret the word "impact" in its absolute sense then the instant someone puts a board on their feet, any possible warranty for future breakage disappears, b/c technically they've put impact on their board the first time it hits the water. While insurance companies try to get away with the same BS, they also apply a reasonable man standard to each situation.

Here's the slingshot warranty http://buyslingshotsports.com/s.nl/sc.2 ... ry.2258/.f" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mulletrider]

I've actually had some great experiences with Liquid Force. I had the '07 luxury straps which I loved until they broke last summer. All I did was go to their website and find the customer service rep's contact info. Maybe one or 2 emails back and forth and a brand new pair of straps were on my doorstep a few days later.

I was riding last week and broke my straps again (I don’t know if this is common or not, I’ve talked to other riders and they haven’t had issues). I emailed the same LF dude, told him they broke and I was in a bind cause I’m goin to maui on the 9th and I need straps! He said the ‘08’s should arrive in a couple days. He got a shipment on April 2nd and overnighted them to me yesterday…I got them this morning. I haven't paid a penny for the replacements.

I don’t know why people are having warranty issues with LF. Yea it took some time to find the right guy to talk to, but once I did it was almost like no questions asked. I don't even know what their specific policy is, but they have definitely taken care of me as a customer

oh and to clarify I have no connection to ANY kite company or shop, just thought I should share a positive experience.

[Rogue Wave]

.... and buy handshaped ones, and not "cheap ass" production boards.

Well said!

It's all about customer service. I just can't understand why production companies are so stingy with their warranties. Their boards cost very little to produce and the goodwill that goes along with replacing one is well worth the replacement cost (you'd thnk!).

I offer an unlimited warranty on my custom boards against manufacturer's defects and do everything possible to make sure I don't ever have to replace a single one. Generally when a customer breaks a board, they are well aware that they did something really stupid for it to break and don't expect a replacement.

Jimmy Lewis once replaced a customer's board that got stolen before he even received it. Now that's the ultimate in customer service. My hats off to people like him in the industry!

Lee

[Dwight]

I agree, it is true most brands replace broken boards and kites at up to one year, even through "offically" they don't put this in writting.

I think the manufacturers know they have a lot to learn yet about how to build gear that will last, so they go above and beyond to support their customers.

[papasmerf]

yeah, what the hell. give the guy a new board dave. he paid full retail? and no warrenty? that sucks.

[whiskas]

Both those warranty texts are extremely vague, and basically state that "we can replace your board if we feel like it". So its just a case of goodwill toward the customer or not.

[mulletrider]

Hey LW Dave, thanks for replacing my Stealth last year. I broke it while riding in SPI. I came home, sent him some pics of the crack, and he personally dropped a new tsunami off for me at my local shop as he was passing through. Tell me that's not great customer service.

I was never doing anything crazy to break my board (or straps from post above). I just email or call them and say what actually happened.

I have however broken a SS board, but it was totally my fault, I didn't even ask for it to be replaced. I'm pretty sure a carbonfiber/sheet metal board would have snapped on that crash!