MAXPEDITION: problems with their zippers? / customer care?

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fausto nasafiaschi

Joined
Aug 6, 2000
Messages
506
Hi All,

I'm posting this thread to know if any of you guys have experienced problems with zippers on Maxped stuff and if any of you have dealt with their customer care service.
I'm (or at least I was) a maxped fan, bought two versipacks (fatboy & jumbo) and several of their smaller holders. I've always been happy with their stuff until the zippers on my jumbo (top pouch and ccw compartment) failed miserably. A couple of days ago I've contacted Maxped customer care (see below the e-mail i sent them) but so far I have received no answers yet. I may have been spoiled in the past by the stellar customer care service provided by Spyderco and Fisher (pens) but I think that if someone cares about his products he/she would be able to at least aknowledge the receipt of a complain over a period of 48 hours........................
Despite the pathetic zippers failure on my jumbo & their crappy customer care service, I like their designs, and would like to get myself a Mongo versipack to replace the jumbo with it.
Do you think I should still trust Maxped (and think that the bad zippers where just a QC freak) or what?
Your advice / opinions are welcome
Fausto
P.S.
The knife forum I'm referring to in the message below is the italian one I usually post on.

----- Original Message -----
From: Fausto Mazza
To: info-at-maxpedition.com
Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2010 6:54 PM
Subject: Warranty Repairs of zippers failures on maxpedition jumbo


Good day,

My name is Fausto Mazza and I'm writing from Genova in Italy.
I would like to bring to your attention the zippers failures on my maxpedition jumbo, which I have bought when it first came out on the us market and used as EDC bag ever since.
Both the zipper on the top pouch (on top of closing flap) and the one of the CCW compartment have failed over tha last couple of months. While I don't care about the one on the top pouch (I've removed the top pouch from the flap) the one of the CCW compartment bothers me a great deal as I use this compartment to carry my wallett and keys.

I thought about fixing the problem with the help of a local cobbler but, the fellows on the knife forum I'm a member reminded me of the lifetime guarantee on your products and advised me to try to contact instead Maxped warranty service.
My question is are you guys going to honor the warranty on your product? If yes please let me know how to proceed.

This is the second versipack I owned the first one being a fatboy, which I sold -as good as new- after 4 years of use with zero problems. As a matter of fact, despite the daily all weather use the cordura and stitching on my jumbo are still perfect. It makes me even more annoyed with the zippers problem.........

Another question is about the Mongo Versipack. As I was also interested in purchasing one to replace the jumbo (and use the jumbo at work to carry the essentials on the job site), first I would like to know if you guys have taken measures to prevent these zippers problems to occur.

Best regards,

Fausto Mazza
 
A couple of days ago I've contacted Maxped customer care (see below the e-mail i sent them) but so far I have received no answers yet.
Click to expand...
In general companies don't respond well to email. Of course I understand international phone calls are expensive and it's probably much easier for you to write in English than to speak English on the phone, but that's the way it is, for most companies. Maybe someday companies will figure out email is a good way to communicate with their customers, but that day hasn't arrived yet.

This past weekend was a holiday weekend here in the US, too.
 
Well...first, you sent the e-mail on a Sunday. Max-P isn't open on Sunday. Second, Monday was a holiday here in the States, so they wouldn't have had anyone in the office to respond. I would hardly consider less than one business day to be bad CS.
 
I think its pretty irresponsible to initiate such a thread when you have not given the company a reasonable amount of time to respond, given the circumstances.

To use terms like "pathetic" and "crappy" to denigrate a company in this manner says far more about your attitude and character than it does about the company to whom you refer.
 
I'm sorry I wasn't aware that monday was a holiday in the States (I don't live there, january 18 is a normal working day in Italy) and, as I stated, I may have been spoiled by the amazing service provided by other companies. On these basis I'm more than willing to apologize and take back the term "crappy" applied to Maxped Service. Considered that I think their supplies to be "heavy duty" and I have two broken zippers ( I could have easily lost my cell phone or have my wallet picked) I still maintain the use of the term pathetic to describe the failure.
Also, I have stated that I would like to buy another of their products and probably I will, keeping my fingers crossed for zippers, proceed with the purchase. Obviously I'm not trying to denigrate anybody otherwise I would have made false claims (e.g. having tried to get in touch with them for the longest time....).
I'm hoping to get an answer from Maxped and I will be more than happy to post it over here as soon as I get it.
F
 
apologies if I missed it but what kind of failure? Did the zipper jump the track? Did it come undone? Did it explode? What happened. Maxpedition uses serious zippers on their stuff. I can't imagine breaking them unless 1. it was just a defect or 2. you were abusing the pack outside of it's design parameters. But do keep in mind, Maxpedition doesn't make the zippers. Pretty sure they use YKK zippers. They just sew them in. And the manufacturer of the zippers probably churns them out by the billions so there's bound to be a dud. Wait and see if Maxpedition Honors their warranty. But the Zipper "Failure" would be the CC issue of the company that made them. If it lasted 4 years of daily use how in the world would you have expected Maxpedition to know it was gonna happen? There is always a dud from time to time in any mass produced item. It happens. I'm sure they'll take care of you.

In fact, do let us know what they do. You're the first person I've heard of needing their warranty. I've always been curious as to how they handle it.
 
I understand zippers are not manufactured directly by Maxpedition and I know as well that they use good quality components from a reputable supplier (YKK) and I'm aware of the problems typical of mass productions. I've never abused the zippers e.g. forced them closed over stuff or even pinched anything in the tracks by accident (if I would have damaged them through abuse I wouldn't be bothered to contact Maxped or post, I would just go to a cobblershop to have the zippers replaced). They started to come open by themselves when they were apparently perfectly closed and I started to take extra care in making sure both sides were perfectly matched before pulling the runner and it seemed to work for a while (say I needed to do it 3 to 4 times to get the zip to close properly). Now the sides just don't close anymore no matter how carefully I do things.
Obviously I don't expect them to know that I had a problem with their stuff but, beside the warranty issue, I would like to know if I can just blame my bad luck ( I plainly got two bad zippers on my pack) or if there had been reports of zippers failures ( say a bad batch from YKK) from other users.
F
 
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I had the zipper on a Condor 2 come apart. It was doing the thing where you would zip it closed and it would just immediately open up again. They replaced the entire pack with a brand new one. I also had a Jumbo Fatboy in which the big main clip would not latch properly, it would just pull apart. They replaced that as well. So, I would say good customer service but either some poor QC or I was just really unlucky. I still like some of their though and carry a regular Fatboy now with no issues.
 
zephy5 said:
I had the zipper on a Condor 2 come apart. It was doing the thing where you would zip it closed and it would just immediately open up again. They replaced the entire pack with a brand new one. I also had a Jumbo Fatboy in which the big main clip would not latch properly, it would just pull apart. They replaced that as well. So, I would say good customer service but either some poor QC or I was just really unlucky. I still like some of their though and carry a regular Fatboy now with no issues.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that sounds like good news! Did you e-mail them or call ? They haven't replied yet to my e-mail I may as well try to call them next week.
F
 
They were all at SHOT this week. I'm guessing that they will still be swamped with new dealer orders (mine included), so it might take a few days for them to respond. They are good about customer service, so you should be fine.
 
Maxpedition does stand behind their gear as these fine folks have already said.
If you still dont receive a response in a couple days, pm or email me and I will contact Tim directly on your behalf.
 
zephy5 said:
I had the zipper on a Condor 2 come apart. It was doing the thing where you would zip it closed and it would just immediately open up again. They replaced the entire pack with a brand new one. I also had a Jumbo Fatboy in which the big main clip would not latch properly, it would just pull apart. They replaced that as well. So, I would say good customer service but either some poor QC or I was just really unlucky. I still like some of their though and carry a regular Fatboy now with no issues.
Click to expand...
That's encouraging. I have a Pygmy Falcon with the same problem on the zippers of the main bag and pouch, plus a shoulder strap that is separating from the bag after a year of light use. I have a RMA number, but was not enthused about the policy of sending it in for someone to determine whether or not it was a viable warranty issue or not. Guess I'll send it on in.
How long did it take to get your replacements?



btw, it's been awhile since I emailed them, but as I recall, their customer service responded within a day or two.
 
Eight days since your original post. Doesnt sound too good to me either. Shot Show aside, you certainly deserve the right to have heard something by now. I will be watching this to see how it turns out. I own a lot of their gear but have not used their warranty yet.
 
Hopefully things get straightened out soon, haven't really heard any complaints on their products or CS so it shouldn't be a problem.

On a side note, it is a small world since you are in Genova and I studied there two years ago at a school called A Door to Italy on Via Caffaro.
 
riz_aaroni said:
Hopefully things get straightened out soon, haven't really heard any complaints on their products or CS so it shouldn't be a problem.

On a side note, it is a small world since you are in Genova and I studied there two years ago at a school called A Door to Italy on Via Caffaro.
Click to expand...

You are right, it is a small world indeed!

Back on topic, I got an answer today on the mail, they offered two options (a) 30% discount on a new one, (b) send mine in for repairs. Unfortunately not living in the US I will have to pay for shipping and I risk running into import taxes with the italian customs............
I'm happy anyway that they answered to my e-mail, and now will see what to do.
F
 
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