Eastern mtn sports ripoff

imported
#1

WATCH OUT fOR EASTERN MOUTAIN SPORTS.
THESE GUYS HAVE REALLY GOTTEN BAD!
I purchased a pair of zip off hiking pants to use for this years thru hike.
Now after my warm up hikes the stitching on the pockets and seams are unraveling.
Took them to the store here in Rhode Island and explained about the problem.
Hoping they would switch them out for another pair.
Now this is a quote from the store manager, tyler “It is no longer eastern moutain sports
policy to honor clothing or gear retuns”.
The best they could do is to send them out to be sewed. at my expense.
What a far cry from being an outfitter you can rely on For the trail.
I guess I have to hope my new polarfleece 200 holds up.
Maybe this is why their other store’s are closing ?
I guess that will be my last purchase at their company!
What a far cry from REI’s policy of
if its not right we will make it right.

chestnut

#2

Unused clothing can be returned or exchanged, but it sounds like you have a warranty-related concern on used merchandise. You might try calling their 800 number and framing the matter in that context. However the fastest solution may be take matters into your own hands, by finding a friend or relative who can fix and/or bolster the wear areas, assuming the item is otherwise workable for your hike.

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#3

I guess my point is this, when you are out on the trail and your gear fails, It is great to know there is some support for your gear. If it is a brand name like gregory or kelty or whoever your local outfitter can help you. but if ems will not support their product where are you going to go?
On my past thru hikes, when I had an issue they would send a new piece of gear to your next mail drop, you send your’s,back in the same box, if they felt it was not from abuse it was no charge.
Now that was great customer service at EMS.
That’s why I say it was a great company.

chestnut

#4

I bet your problem is that the RI store just doesn’t get it. They’re kind of out of the loop of the long trails experience. Again, try the 800 #.

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#5

Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but you aren’t actually a thru-hike in need, out in the middle of nowhere, right now. You’re just another customer walking into a store with used clothing and a sense of entitlement. I’m not necessarily defending EMS’ actions here, just sensing that the context isn’t necessarily to your advantage in this case.

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#6

Well lets see, I very carefully explained that I was leaving for the trail to thru hike in two days.
Which of course leaves very little time to send out to sew.
And any one who manages an ems should know something about the apalachain trail and thru hiking.
Anyways in these times is it really wise to treat your long time customer base to where they will no longer shop there?
I have spent thousands there over the past years.
All I say is no more. Rei is my new home.

chestnut

#7

Well this is what happens when stores become trendy. Think back to the North Face Fleece Jacket from when it first came out. It was made of good quality fleece that stood up to real weather. The ones they sell now, if you can get a real north face and not some knock up, are pieces of junk that fall apart after a few months.

In my area, CT, EMS has become very trendy for people who have too much money and want to look “sporty”. With that high demand the only thing I can assume is that the quality has gone down.

I too purchased a pair of zip off pants from them a year ago, they ripped after my first hike and I managed to patch them with a nice gortex patch that has held for a while.

My conclusion is similar to Chestnut’s go somewhere else. However, I’ve found that LL Bean is far better with their returns. I bought a tent from them 8 years ago, returned it a month ago and was fully paid back for the orginal price no questions. I had about 150 nights in it. They will replace or repay you for any product. Can’t beat that.

Good luck on your hike chestnut.

Super Scout

#8

I’m telling you, the right attitude counts for a lot, and it’s a two way street. To get what you want, sometimes you gotta know when and how to step across that street to meet the other party when they won’t meet you in the middle.

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#9

I could not have been more diplomatic.
Carefully showing him the lack of wear on other parts of the pants.
No wear on the cuffs knees or zippers.
I really think as he so pointedly said, that this is ems’s new policy.
And if that is true where is the support?

chestnut

#10

Why should LL Bean take a tent back that you have used for 150 nights? Seems to me you have a lot of gall trying to return a product that you are prefectly happy with and met your reqwuiremnts. I think its great that LL Beane has a liberal ruturn policy but lame that “loyal” customers abuse that policy. :mad

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#11

Don’t be too surprised when LL Beane goes out of business and you are forced to buy equipment from Walmart

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#12

In regards to being just another customer with a sense of “entitlement” I guess I was led to beleive that gear designed for the purpose of hiking should actualy do that.
This is my third pair from EMS over the three thru hikes. The other two finished both of their thru hikes.
Not good for much after that of course, but that’s okay.
A great product.
But when a pair falls apart after a few day hikes.
I beleive I should be “entitled” to some redress in that case. I mean if you buy a new car and the wheels fall off on the way home?
At this point I really dont care about the price of the pants.
In retail your customers should never be “just another customer”.
It is kind of strange, I don’t post much on the forums but this issue just kinda got to me.

chestnut

#13

Anyone who’s hiking the Appalachian Trail should know how to spell it - no? :smiley:

Low

#14

I had a problem some stitching with my LL Bean Vista tent. I called them first and they said to send the whole tent back. The tent was several years old which I explained, but I had never noticed that 2 peices of tent were stitched together that weren’t supposed to be. I expected to incur some charge, but they sent a whole new tent. LL Bean contracts with Johnson Tent Company for their tents. I was very surprised and happy. I have also purchased gear from EMS but have never had to replace anything.

Steamer

#15

we haven’t shopped with them in a while, but in '03, paw-ee and i stood in awe of their very FINE treatment of us when our msr water filter broke and we went in to the ems store in hanover to see what we might purchase to repair it…low and behold!..they gave us a brand new filter (worth about $80!!!)…we couldn’t believe it!..(we made another small purchase with them just to say ‘thanks’, and have also tried to tell this story whenever we had the opportunity!)… we have always recommended this outfitter in hanover to prospective thru-hikers for this reason…so we hope their store can still handle requests and problems for hikers so gallantly as they did for us in '03!

maw-ee

#16

I found this thread to be interesting and entertaining, even if sometimes off-putting. It seems to me that a manufacturer’s warranty would extend over a long time if there is a defect, so it makes sense that even a 8-year old tent that was sewed incorrectly would still be replaced by the manufacturer. Good for them! I think it’s great that Leki repairs well used poles, usually at no charge to the owner, but there are AT hikers that think a pair of shoes with 500 miles and a ripped toe seam should be replaced by the manufacturer or a ultra-light backpack with 1000 miles and a ripped shoulder strap should be replaced by the manufacturer. Sometimes the expectations of hikers that their gear will last forever or at least for all of a thru-hike isn’t realistic. Everything wears out, backpacking gear included. I think many gear makers capitulate to even outrageous thru-hiker demands for replacing gear as a form of promotion. I, like Chestnut, have voted my outrage at a particular gear maker by boycotting their products and sharing my view with others. As an example, I have always been treated by W. L. Gore fairly to the extreme having three “failed” jackets replaced directly by them or the jacket maker themselves, but after years of using these products I have decided that in their useful range there are many cheaper and equal alternatives, so I am not likely to ever buy a Gore-tex jacket again. It seems to me that this forum is a good place to discuss these issues.

Flash

#17

In 06 i started the trail with a pair of asolo heavyweight boots.Whether it was that they were fit to small or my feet just widened(most likely) my feet were in some serious pain by neels gap.I ended up buying some light weight hiking shoes and sending the old beat boots home to NH to find I received a full return for the $160.00 I thought I wasted. They also traded my nalgene camelback out for free due to a small leak.Giving me not only a brand new one but a 3liter intead of the 2 that popped.Ill be gearing up with them again if I end up hiking this year fo sho.

mysticNNH

#18

I think it’s great when stores and manufacturers get behind the products they sell. Most likely the maker bears the cost of most replacements of gear with the gear shops passing this cost on to them. While the interests of these two are similar, they are not the same. The gear makers are trying to retain their business with the customer of their products, while the gear shop is trying to retain the business of all their offerings and brands in gear, clothes, etc. The cost to the maker does not nearly reflect the retail price that most of us pay. It costs the retailers nothing and is a small cost for the manufacturers, now if everyone returned their gear this would change, but the vocal “complainers” today usually get what they want whether their claim is “fair” or not.

Another issue this brings up for me is that even the most technically oriented gear makers are lead by the forces of the market to often go after the of “the around town” market. Often this leads to the best technical offerings either being watered down in quality or discontinued. I love to put my dollars toward the companies that retain the highest quality products, even if the go into the often more lucrative daily wear markets. We are lucky that there is also a group of small! gear makers out there innovating new and exciting technology and ideas.

Flash

#19

Good topic; good info all around.

I hate Salomon boots. They die out much too quick for me. My last pair died after 150 miles. I mean blew out.

The Customer Service? Exemplary (sp?). Thought I was just getting them repaired, but twice they sent me a new pair.

I do not hate Leki poles. Pretty much top of the line. Most outfitters, like the one I work at, will REPLACE broken parts. I’ve broken bottom sections on my poles twice, and just walked into the outfitter and boom—branny new sections. No need to go through the manufacturer—they’ve already given parts to the outfitter. Virtually every outfitter, even EMS, should be able to replace broken pole parts, unless they’ve run out.

This being said, I’ll share about my ‘hiker-gall’ story.

Some nobo had lost one of his boots. Just one. He asked my co-worker if he could buy just one boot.

“No,” my co-worker replied.

“I can’t get a deal?”

“Nope. What would I do with just one boot?”

The nobo blundered off.

Anyhow, EMS. Yeah, if that’s their new policy, then poo on them. And you are right to be a bit miffed. I would go direct to the manufacturer.

But if all else fails may I be so bold—unlike anyone else, or yourself, Chestnut—to suggest the following two words:

Duct Tape. :lol

Kineo Kid

#20

I would just point out that the glaring differences in customer service provided by EMS Hanover and EMS “Rhode Island,” in the examples above, are in every likelihood related to the fact that the former store has a strong familiarity with the Appalachian Trail “thru-hiker market,” while the latter has almost none. Neither store needs this market to survive, but Hanover recognizes that their customer service reputation is shaped, in part, by the perception that they support the AT and its hikers, especially thru-hikers. This is to say nothing of the fact that the Hanover store employees and management are also emotionally invested in the trail, since it comes right through town and because of DOC’s involvement with the trail. All of these aspects are missing at the RI store, not to mention that the RI employees and management are probably not much into hiking in the first place. They don’t connect, from a business standpoint or an emotional one, with the needs of an AT thru-hiker. This shouldn’t excuse poor customer service - and Chestnut seems to describe the type of problem that any store should’ve been quick to remedy - but it does demonstrate how blanket judgments can deceive. Rather than storming away from EMS for good, or at least right now while it’s in your best interest to make it work, try another store.

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