Most warranties on windsurfing gear seem to be only on manufacturing defects. Windsurfing gear gets put through a lot of abuse as part of normal use thus I guess manufacturers can't cover breakage unless it can be directly related to a manufacturing error.
I would be interested to know what windsurfers think the answer to these questions are:
If you have a wipe out the first time sailing with a brand new mast or boom and it breaks. Do you think it should be covered by warranty?
If you have a wipe out sailing with a 11 month old well used mast or boom and it breaks. Do you think it should be covered by warranty?
What if a mast snaps the first time you apply down haul to it?
It would appear to me most warranties do not cover breakage due to wipe outs.
Good post..
After some bad advice, I once tried to warranty a boom in the UK after I bent it and cracked the front, it was 2 months old, the guy in the shop took one look at me and told me I was dreaming.. He was right, there was nothing wrong with the boom, I trashed it from being a spaz..
Same with boards, consumers insist boards are built light, then muppets proceed to land jumps flat, which snaps them.. They then have the nerve to try get a warranty job!!.. This happens a lot and it just sends the RRP price of the boards up for honest consumers..
Read any warranty description form with any object sold: Warranty will cover fabrication defects. That is the magical sentence. I use to be in the repair business and was fixing equipment under warranty....peeps are totally incredible with their claims. One of my favourite was that guy who wanted a vacuum cleaner replaced because the motor burnt out, I checked it and found he had never emptied the poor little vacuum in months, when I pointed that to him he said that the vacuum was too powerful collecting too much crap and he did not know it had to be emptied anyway!
Beat me dead!
Some of you should listen to the ABC radio segment with Consumer Affairs (Perth that is). Quite informative on consumer rights.....
All the scenarios (except the 11 month one maybe) described by Legless I would deem to be fairly normal and as such if you had a "wave" boom or mast it should be fit for purpose and built to take the occasional wipeout.
If anything breaks first time and brand new I think you would have a very good case to get a replacement no matter if it was a wipeout or not. I am reasonably sure that the statement that refers to manufacturing defects only won't hold up if you go to Consumer Affairs - or whatever it is called now - because if an item is sold for a certain purpose (windsurfing is high risk according to the Stirling Council 
) and it breaks "prematurely" when being used as it is sold for it should be replaced under warranty.
I do however think 11 months of hard or MIS-use would be a bit rude to try for a warranty but definitely I would if I was a better sailor and never crashed.
One thing to remember also is that for a lot of people a year quite often only equates to less than 20 or 30 uses.
The first line of defense for a retailer is "NNaah mate! You were too hard on it." and hope you give up...........
I wouldn't buy a brand again that broke in those scenarios.
I trashed a boom on the first use a couple of seasons ago. Went hard forwards hooked in and the result was two very bent arms... I didn't bother as it was totally my doing.
Many years ago when carbon booms first hit the market I had one that the adjustment completely failed after about 6 months use, never put it under any strain beyond what it should have been able to handle. Sent it back for warrantee and no go.
I have pretty much accepted that if you happen to get looked after for warranties after you have bought the product count yourself lucky.
) and it breaks "prematurely" when being used as it is sold for it should be replaced under warranty.
) and it breaks "prematurely" when being used as it is sold for it should be replaced under warranty.
) and it breaks "prematurely" when being used as it is sold for it should be replaced under warranty.
One thing not mentioned above is a lot of people get satisfaction with the Consumer Affairs rule (or is it a law someplace?) that manufacturers have to cover the product outside the warranty period if it does not last as long as "reasonably expected"
EG: most washing machines last 5 yrs. Yours craps itself at 14 months, when it has 12mth warranty.
This is covered by the manufacturer as every other one they made lasted 5yrs. (Yes they cover it a few days out of warranty but I mean even longer)
Seems windsurfers don't really try to use this one - maybe cos we are used to being refused warranty even in the first few months as the retailer / manufacturer claimed the buyer abused it.
I have seen a few boards snapped and you can clearly see an area of glass that was not fully wet out. If that was a 2y/o board and all the others lasted longer, and it is an obvious defect then I reckon consumer affairs would go to bat for you.
Consumer Affairs or DOCEP (Department of Consumer and Employee Protection) for WA is here now:
www.commerce.wa.gov.au/
As to the questions. I think it should be be covered without a doubt in the first and last instances, depends on the situation of the middle. I think when you pay good money for something you should get a reasonable lifetime out of it when it is used as designed - this is what warranties are for.
Comparing wiping out windsurfing cant be compared to crashing a car. I mean come on, imagine if people learnt to drive like they learn to windsurf. The roads would be a scary place to be. If you want to use this analogy then yeh, your gear wouldnt be covered if you crashed into a jetty or a sea wall or another windsurfer.
I have been in the windsurfing industry for about 9 years now and i have seen alot of sailors walk into shops or wholesalers with gear the want to get a warranty on.
I also have a been doing board and sail repairs for many years so it pretty easy to spot something that has been a manufacturing problem or an abuse problem ie If you buy a new UJ and the tendon or rubber breaks after a couple of uses it almost an instant warranty and most shops would just replace it on the spot.
As far as boards go, they don't just snap in the middle from normal sailing so this is out, a delem in the skin could be covered if the board is not damaged anywhere and has water in it.
Any cracked boxes are a bit of a grey area as some people try to run too big a fin the box is intended for, but sometimes these could be fault from being molded incorrectly.
As far as stripped inserts footstraps and pads, it's a bit rare for these to be faulty from new. If an insert is faulty it will strip out when it's getting strapped up in the store before you get it, and shops will inspect a board 100% before it gets sold so they don't get bad feedback..
If your paint falls of and the grip and stickers after a few sails this would be a manufacture problem..
Sails would generaly fail the first time you rig it up, same as a mast, this is when they get loaded for the first time and it obvious they where faulty, if you crash and pull the sail out the water with a seam ripped in 2, you probably did it..
Booms can be made using dodgy molding in the front, rear ends or clips as these parts don't usual break otherwise. Some carbon booms could be layed-up incorrectly but very rare and alloy boom can be made from cheap alloy or good alloy, if you pay $200 for a new alloy boom don't expect it to handle big flat landings, being massively overpowered or too many hooked in big crashes.
If you 100% sure your gear failed from normal use get in contact with where you bought it. A quick phone call to the importer and the store should know if there has been any other claims with similar problems, most shops will do the most to keep you happy so you come back and buy more gear..
All gear should have a weight rating...that would do 2 things for me;
Pro - encourage me to not be such a fat bastard and lose some weight.
Con - void all warranty claims I've managed to get over the years.
) and it breaks "prematurely" when being used as it is sold for it should be replaced under warranty.)
^^^ Wipeouts are generally a result of one of 3 things
-Inexperience - have suffered many wipeouts from this one - not reading the conditions correctly, or having the ability to handle said conditions.
-Laziness - guilty as charged! It's too easy to bail over water or try something that you know will result in a wipeout because it won't (hopefully) hurt you. A couple of years ago I tried to limit the amount of stacks I had by telling myself that I should treat it as if I was on a motorbike on a hard surface...worked for a bit, and my skills did improve until laziness crept back in!
-Hardcore - not something that I would categorise many of my wipeouts as, but more for the guys that push the boundaries trying new moves and wipeout spectacularly!
Who mountain bikes here? I'd be interested to know the similarities in warranty claims. I have, for example, a very cheap mountain bike that has a sticker saying "not for tricks and off road riding". My mountain bike in the UK on the other hand was marketed as a downhill bike - with 6" of travel front and rear.
If I break my Coles mountain bike riding off a kerb - no issues as I have been told not to and it cost me $80. If I did a 10' step down on the DH bike and broke it - was that "normal use" or not?
With windsurfing you can buy products that have "wave" in the name (eg my ExoWave) so it therefore must surely have to stand up to "normal" use - which is wavesailing, jumping and of course wipe outs.
I'm sure I saw in an advert in a recent Boards mag for a mast that had a three year no questions asked replacement deal. If you can break it - they replace it. I'll see if I can find it.
Yes a lot of the newer mast brands are offering unconditional warranties, it then starts to become similar to other products like a laptop - would you pay an $200 extra for another 2 years warranty?
I don't know much about the fine print of these warranties and what countries they are valid in.
I mountain bike a lot (have 5 from $800-5k) and I'm on the MTB forums, a lot. I've seen quite a few threads on the warranty claims. Some from people doing huge donwnhill drops and some just have their frame crack from riding (or so they say). The claim results vary depending on the manufacturer and on damage. Most companies only warranty to the original owner. If the owner is original and the breakage happens in a weld, MOST of the time it will get warrantied. If you crack a tube it varies, even on a full downhill rig. They're designed for insane riding but they're not designed to be crashed. If you land it and crack it, well it all depends on the manufacturers kindness. Most of the time they'll sell you another frame at "cost". The thing is that people only post bad results on the forums; I know. I've never posted about my warranty claims getting resolved but I sure will complain. :)
On a personal note, I just started windsurfing, or more like sailing. There's barely any wind where I'm at. There are no waves either. But I don't care. I was looking for a SUP but when I saw the Bic Jungle Wind had a mast track/dagger I was sold. I've never windsurf/sailed before and after a few rides I can't stop daydreaming about going out to sail again. I'm pretty paranoid about cracking anything on the setup but I've learned from my mtb riding that as long as I'm ok, somehow I will buy more parts. I have 10 screws and a plate in my left leg from mtb. If the board cracks in flat water though, I'll be bitching like crazy!
!
I have a feeling this thread upset a few people in the windsurfing industry I think they would prefer that people did not go to consumer affairs and just accept what ever they are told about a warranty.
I had a carbon boom replaced an aluminum boom and received a store credit on a damaged sail and had a board replaced due to warranties, I don't feel lucky as some of those faults required a 1-2 hour swim to shore and a 30 min jog and a 3 hour nagging session from the missus
