Patagonia rules!

I bought a nice Patagonia Nitro jacket back in '93 when my old Moonstone
was getting kind of haggard. It's been a great jacket for the past
eleven years. Many, many days on the mountain (working at Crested Butte
for seven seasons), around town, and in the backcountry. On warmer days
I'd wear a lighter Moonstone (that I exchanged for the one I mentioned
earlier + $100 which seemed pretty generous) but most days it was the
Nitro.
Fast-forward 11 years and it's this season just before Christmas. I'm
going to leave for my bike commute in the morning and the zipper on the
Nitro, which had been on the decline finally just failed. I couldn't
wear the jacket and had to either wear the big down jacket or the
lighter Moonstone. Wah! My favorite shell was broken.
I check Patagonia's web site and saw sending it in for repair could take
4-6 weeks and I didn't want to wait that long. So I sent it to a friend
who repairs stuff like this because she could do a rush order and it
would be worth it to get it back in time for some approaching storms.
She removed the old zipper and then noticed a bunch of delamination in
the shoulders. We talked and agreed it was time to send it to Patagonia
after all. I had to ski a couple of cold powder days with my lighter
shell, which wasn't as good as having my bomber shell, but much better
than not skiing powder.
So I sent it in. A week later I get a call from them saying "We sorry,
but your old jacket cannot be repaired. You will have to look in the
catalog and choose a replacement." So I did. I got my brand new Primo
shell yesterday and it's sooo nice! They are also sending be a check for
$5 because the Primo is $5 less than whet the Nitro cost back in the
day. This is great. I got to trade a beat up old shell for a new $350
one and $5 for a beer at the end of the day. If I wanted to I could just
pour that beer on myself ans still stay dry!
They have me as a customer for life, although I'm not sure if they'll
ever get more money from me. I'm just looking forward to the demise of
my Nitro bibs! If I do need a new shell (or whatever) I'll probably fork
up the dough and get Patagonia. With a warranty like that you just can't
go wrong.
Now for the true test I'll give it a nice cold powder day at Monarch
tomorrow (they are reporting 18" today). Yay!

Matt

On 2005-01-06, MattB penned:
So I sent it in. A week later I get a call from them saying "We sorry,
but your old jacket cannot be repaired. You will have to look in the
catalog and choose a replacement." So I did. I got my brand new Primo
shell yesterday and it's sooo nice! They are also sending be a check for
$5 because the Primo is $5 less than whet the Nitro cost back in the
day. This is great. I got to trade a beat up old shell for a new $350
one and $5 for a beer at the end of the day. If I wanted to I could just
pour that beer on myself ans still stay dry!

Wow. Nice. I will have to remember this for future (hopefully rare!)
purchases.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

That's just one of many good customer satisfaction stories I've heard
about Patagonia -- and Yvon Chouinard is reputed to be quite the mensch,
too.

--
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield, other days you're the bug.

"MattB" wrote in message
...

I got my brand new Primo shell yesterday and it's sooo nice! They are also
sending be a check for $5 because the Primo is $5 less than whet the Nitro
cost back in the day.

holy crap, that is sterling service.
Their thermals are amazing too, I always baulk at the price, but their
capilene stuff I got years and years ago still seems new, while polypro
stuff from various other brands is getting very crunchy (except teh Chili
Skins). The care label on the oldest top has actually disintigrated, but the
top looks new!

ant