So I spoke to Kevin at Boyne Country Sports (BCS) a few minutes ago and was given my options about the damage our poor snowboards suffered in their high flying adventure Sunday. Yakima’s warranty replaces the rack only. It is a limited warranty and therefore has limited options for me, the poor consumer who had the misfortune of a rack failure. However, they do have some sort of an insurance claim system I am welcome to pursue for compensation on board repair/replacement should I choose to exercise that option. That is what the manufacturer of my now totaled, but otherwise brand new, Yakima Fat Cat 6 rack can do for me.
Knowing this, and most likely sensing the frustration in my voice as Kevin relayed this news to me over the phone, BCS will be stepping up to the plate to try and make this right for me. Kevin feels awful and has never had any board rack do this let alone a Yakima one. As a result, he contacted the Novi store and gave them the details of what happened. I am to take in the three surviving boards for a little repair shop TLC, basic edge tune and base wax for mine and Jen’s and a complete edge and base make-over for Chris’s poor mangled board. This will make him happy, though I suspect a brand new board would do just the same and it may come to that in the event the scratches can’t be buffed out sufficiently in the repair shop or the mangled edge is too deeply gouged to salvage.
As for poor Tristan’s board, the bindings will be removed, the wax stripped, the edges dulled, and it will be mounted on his wall as a trophy of his first four years as a snowboarder. Hopefully we can find a board his size at one of the BCS locations where I have been informed they will offer us their best deal. Since any board below a 124 is hard to come by, particularly this late in the season, I am not optimistic that we will locate one without the use of the Internet, but we will certainly try. In any case, the replacement of Tristan’s board will be an out-of-pocket expense for Jen and I.
I have the customer service number for Yakima and will contact them about their “insurance claim” system, but I am not holding my breath that they will offer me much. I have photos, and can prove that it was their latch that failed, was not a result of carelessness or improper installation on my part or that of Kevin and BCS, and will use the threat of legal action if required but … the replacement cost of Tristan’s board, realistically, is about $100 … even the added principle of making them responsible for the damage just doesn’t seem worth it to me. In the event Chris’s board is a total loss as well, that might make it worth the legal avenue but with just one board it hardly seems worth the headache.
And to those of you wondering the obvious question, yes I will replace my Yakima Fat Cat 6 rack with another one just like it, provided that when it is mounted to my car it locks both front and back without issue. Yes I will keep my Yakima hitch mounted bike rack. And, yes I will continue to purchase and recommend Yakima to my friends and family. One catastrophic latch failure is a fluke and a forgivable one provided they are willing to compensate me even just a little for the expense of replacing Tristan’s board. If they refuse to do that, I might take a closer look at Thule as a replacement for the Fat Cat 6 rack provided I can get one from BCS who has been nothing short of EXCELLENT in dealing with all the issues I’ve had with the now totaled rack.
To be continued … (after I get Yakima on the phone and some details about their “insurance claim” system)
No comments:
Post a Comment