REI Changes Its Warranty Policy

Got this email from REI today with the subject "100% Satisfaction Guarantee"

"A LETTER TO OUR MEMBERS"

Since 1938, getting you outfitted with the right gear to enjoy your
outdoor adventures has been our number one goal. We have earned
a well-deserved reputation for our friendly expertise, and our 100%
guarantee means that we stand behind everything we sell.

REI has one of the best return policies in retail, and we remain committed
to your satisfaction with everything you buy at REI. We also have a
small, but growing, number of customers who stretch our policy beyond
its intended purpose. To ensure that we can continue to offer our 100%
Satisfaction Guarantee, we're updating our policy: You have one year
from purchase to return or exchange any item you're not satisfied with,
except items purchased from REI-OUTLET, which must be returned
within 30 days of purchase. If you want to learn more, please click here.
These updates enable us to maintain our robust policy and, as always,
stand behind all purchases made at REI and REI-OUTLET.

We are committed to getting you into the very best gear and apparel for
your outdoor adventures. This means offering you great service and
standing behind the products we sell. That was the case in 1938, and it
remains true today. I thank you for your support and patronage of REI
and wish you a season of unforgettable outdoor experiences.

Tim Spangler
Senior Vice President, Retail

EMS is still lifetime, I wonder if it will also change?

We also have a
small, but growing, number of customers who stretch our policy beyond
its intended purpose.

It's about time. Having worked for a while in an outdoor retail store, I heard some of the "policy stretchers."

"I love this book bag, but it's 8 years old and sort of dirty. I just want a new one."

"It (a wooden toboggan) broke when I drove over it with my car. I want my money back."

"This (a folding camp chair) broke when I sat in it." The chair was rated at 250 lbs. and the "stretcher" weighed at least 450 lbs.

"I dried it in front of the fire and it melted."

"It (any thoroughly used up, worn, torn, abused piece of clothing) doesn't fit."

The list goes on.

teejay

Too many abused the policy.

I worked for several years in retail, and I'd see the abuse a lot. We were stuck...have some angry tool yell and cause a scene to have us take it back (where we'd just through it in the trash more often than not) or tell them to pound sand and lose them going forward. Despite what many people think...not every manufacturer takes back their items. Small retailers would have to eat the cost...which means it gets added to other items in an attempt to stay afloat. I know this because I did the buying, and the costing, of some of the gear. We had to plan on x% of items coming back, so our margin had that built into it.

Next time you pat yourself on the back about getting that "free" item, remember that we all helped to pay for it.

The title of this thread is incorrect. REI has altered its 100% satisfaction guarantee, however, its lifetime limited warranty remains unchanged, as far as I can tell. That is, you can still return a product at anytime if there is a material or workmanship defect. Note, too, that this are in addition to any individual manufacturer's warranty, which REI will also honor/service.

Quietman said:

EMS is still lifetime, I wonder if it will also change?

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Whose lifetime? EMS or the customer?

LLBean has a good warranty but REI's change doesn't alter anything as far as I'm concerned, though things bought at the end of a season and not used until well into the intended season might effect some.

I wouldn't be surprised if LLBean follows suit sooner or later. I have a relative that works in their service department and she tells me that people abuse their return policy as well.

I was told by EMS staff each time I bought boots or trail shoes there to NOT wear them outside if I thought I might have to return them.

I had some boots where the rand was separating and EMS offered to pro-rate them if I wanted to buy new ones. I was able to re-glue the rand and it has held ever since.

Tim

Quietman said:

EMS is still lifetime, I wonder if it will also change?

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That is definitely not the case with the EMS in Lake Placid.

Daniel Eagan said:

That is definitely not the case with the EMS in Lake Placid.

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Not surprised to hear this. I always wondered if that might be the case. "Different strokes for different folks."

There are numerous yard sale junkies in Maine that buy anything with a LL bean tag on it and then return it to the store to get money back. There apparently is a policy in place to deal with these folks. I have also heard that they some try to get credit for LL Bean merchandise that have permanently altered tags on them which indicate that they were sold as seconds or disposed of at goodwill.

I find this change pretty disappointing. I think the "100% Satisfaction Guarantee" was a big draw for me to shop there.

As a longtime member of REI, I have done my share of exchanging items that broke or didn't meet my expectations long after the warranty had expired: a jacket whose zipper failed, a touch-screen GPS that wouldn't work with my fingers, etc...

It was easy to pay a premium price for their gear when I had the assurance of the guarantee.

It will be easier now to save the 2 hour drive and shop closer to home.

To be clear, a legitimate defect in a rarely worn item is never a concern. They %$#@ who takes the time to carefully pull the threads off the rand around the sole of his boot because he came in last week trying to return them because he bought the wrong size and gave him blisters (and was denied a return) are the issues.

LL Bean's warranty, as I was corrected by gaiagirl, is not a lifetime warranty, but a satisfaction guarantee.

"Our products are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to have anything from L.L.Bean that is not completely satisfactory."

I have attempted to return things to LL Bean in the past and found them to be nothing but a pain. Zippers that don't work, Gore-Tex jackets that leak, shoes that come apart, and every time I have brought something back, I've been given a hassle about it or the item in question has been replaced with something straight out of Wal-Mart. Couple that with their dwindling selection of actual hiking merchandise, and I just stopped shopping there since I know I'll be disappointed. The salesmen there still tout the "lifetime" warranty, but now I know better and correct them when they mention it.

There is no local REI for me, so I rarely shop there anyway. I have not had to return anything to EMS in some time but do anticipate them changing their warranty as well. I did just buy an air mattress (EMS brand) from them and it had 2 leaks before I even used it. It has now sprung a 3rd leak so it's going back. The replacement Big Agnes I bought at the last minute while on a hiking trip has been great as has the Exped I've had for years. The Oboz shoes I bought for Italy last fall are also separating and the tread is still 1/2 there. It used to be that having a warranty meant the item you were buying was better than the ones without a warranty, but I doubt that is the case anymore.

Sign of the times.

wardsgirl said:

I find this change pretty disappointing. I think the "100% Satisfaction Guarantee" was a big draw for me to shop there.

As a longtime member of REI, I have done my share of exchanging items that broke or didn't meet my expectations long after the warranty had expired: a jacket whose zipper failed, a touch-screen GPS that wouldn't work with my fingers, etc...

It was easy to pay a premium price for their gear when I had the assurance of the guarantee.

It will be easier now to save the 2 hour drive and shop closer to home.

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I totally agree! I factor the premium paid to REI because I *often* don't like how stuff works but I keep most of what I buy and I spend a LOT of $ there. Now, I will buy from other places and pay premium (dogfunk.com/backcountry.com and llbean that offer a *REAL* 100% policy) to them instead of REI.

My experience with the LL Bean Outlet Store in Concord has been very good. I had a LL Bean jacket of unknown age on which the plastic zipper had died. I took it back to the store because of the published warranty and not because the jacket owed me anything. The jacket was perfect, except for the crappy plastic zipper. The brass ones are much better. The sales clerk tried to just give me any new jacket in the store but I wanted mine fixed. They sent it off to wherever they fix stuff and it came back to me in a few weeks with a new plastic zipper. OK, now the rest of the jacket is a little worse for wear than the zipper and I suppose I could tale it back again, but I won't.
In my experience, if you stand your ground and really want your perfectly good whatsit fixed, instead of a new one, they will do it. I didn't want or deserve a new jacket and they did what the guarantee says.

Becca M said:

I totally agree! I factor the premium paid to REI because I *often* don't like how stuff works but I keep most of what I buy and I spend a LOT of $ there. Now, I will buy from other places and pay premium (dogfunk.com/backcountry.com and llbean that offer a *REAL* 100% policy) to them instead of REI.

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I'll still pay the premium. Keep in mind that they're still keeping the lifetime warranty for defects in materials or workmanship:

http://www.rei.com/help/limited-warranty.html

Limited Warranty

If your item has a manufacturing defect in its materials or workmanship, you can return it at any time. Many of our items also have a separate warranty from the manufacturer, and you can also return any of those items that don’t meet the manufacturer's warranty.

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I think a year is a reasonable time to realize that my boots don't fit, or that I really needed a zero degree bag and not a 20+, or my new GPS doesn't have the functionality I need. I'm bummed that they're changing the policy, but I'm more disappointed that people abused the policy to the point they felt they had to. (I remember having posters on respected hiking forums tell me I should return a pair of EMS trekking poles that bent because "why not, that's the policy" despite the fact that the pole was several years old and only bent out of shape because I planted it in a rock pile to keep myself from doing a header down the trail)

Becca M said:

I totally agree! I factor the premium paid to REI because I *often* don't like how stuff works but I keep most of what I buy and I spend a LOT of $ there. Now, I will buy from other places and pay premium (dogfunk.com/backcountry.com and llbean that offer a *REAL* 100% policy) to them instead of REI.

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Curious...what do you think REI does with that after it's returned, used?