Good Customer Service is not Dead

All reports to the contrary, many companies apparently still care about doing right by their customers. Some examples:

Outdoor Research will repair all of their equipment that fails due to defects (poor seams, bad materials, whatever) for free, for life. They just ask you to pay to mail the item to them. I thought the foot straps (feet straps?) on my gaiters had failed during my Rainier climb. The ends of the straps pointed out and they didn't seem to be attached to anything. So I dealt with a very nice gentleman in Customer Service who set me up with a RA (Repair Authorization) and gave me all the info I needed to send the gaiters in to them. Turns out the straps weren't broken, I'm just an idiot. Outdoor Research repaired (patched) the holes that my crampons had ripped in the gaiters and replaced the security tabs on the front of the gaiters. Holes poked in the material of an item by sharp spiky things is not generally repaired for free. Awesome guys. You just earned a customer for life!

Petzl makes the crampons I purchased last year. I trimmed the crampon straps to fit my first set of boots. Turns out that I cut the straps so short that they won't work with any other pair of boots I want to use. This is not good. I've mostly got by using a pair of Grivel crampon straps. Those are still too short for plastic boots. So I called Petzl to see if I can buy some replacement straps. The rep I need to talk to is on vacation. He calls me and tells me he has a pair of straps from a used pair of crampons. They don't have any obvious wear and they're mine if I want them. I say sure and ask what I owe him. He says I don't owe them anything. They even pay for shipping!!! What company does that?!

Katadyn make water filters and purifiers. Dev and I have one. We've used it about 5 or times since we got it in May. I pumped some water on my overnight trip last weekend. Then I pulled the inlet hose off of the filter. The hose fitting snapped off the body and stayed with the hose. So I email Katadyn looking to buy a filter housing. The gal in their support office refused payment and asked for my address so they could send me a replacement housing free of charge.

All three companies got a fix for free with no hassle and no run around. Freakin' awesome.