I've thought long and hard about composing something for social media to discuss my experience with Naish. And I have come to the conclusion that I should share my findings and expose the truth behind the so called warranty you believe you have, and the one you actually have.

Background. I have kitesurfed for 15 years. Flown just about every brand there is, with enthusiasm for this much loved sport. I believe I'm an ambassador to the sport and promote it in every way possible. An ex instructor, I now kitesurf only for pleasure and my passion for the sport is as high as its always been. I look after my gear relentlessly.

The product
I purchaseda brand new 2016 12m Naish Pivot with bar n lines a few months back from my local shop a few months back after testing it. I've flown it several times, never crashed or even touched salt water.

Incident
Last Sunday I was out with a few mates pumping up on soft sand when my leading edge exploded. I was hand pumping and I had reached about 90 percent of normal pressure when it banged. I saw the bladder and the leading edge had completely failed.

Warranty beliefs.
Naturally, like anyone else including all my kitesurfing mates who saw the explosion, I thought " a trip back to my local shop for a replacement under warranty" After all, it was well inside its 12 month warranty period and it hadn't exploded on impact, ever been impacted nor had it ever been dragged on a shelly beach.

Warranty BS
The shop tried to make a warranty claim through the Naish distributor in Sydney, who knocked it back. Their excuse was "user error" and "it's probably got caught on a sharp object ". Iwas told I'd have topay for a new bladder and a repair myself. So I called the Distributers directly to explain my case in an attempt for him to see sense. I explained how the kite had been looked after meticulously and it had never been in a fight. Also how I promote his brand when ever I'm asked for kite advise. I explained about my love for the sport and how long I'd been passionate towards it. Unfortunately all I got back from him was "not interested mate, what do you expect a new kite, it's four months old now !"

Conclusion
To allyou beginners out there who assume a warranty is a warranty, when it comes to Naish, buyer beware because their warranty ain't worth the paper it's written on.

I contacted Naish directly and after a week now, still not heard a thing.

I'll never buy another Naish product and ill endeavour to tell as many people as possible of my experience with them. The distributor in Sydney who I spoke on the phone with will be reading this, he know who he is.

Your views are welcomed.

I don’t post a lot on this site, but I needed to back up a fellow kiter and ambassador of the sport.

I was one of the kiters that witnessed this kite explode and what is being said by Andy is absolutely true. The beach in question is Moffat Beach, those who know it, know that it is free of obstructions, rocks etc and additionally it is groomed daily by the local council. After witnessing and inspecting the blow out I believe it is a fault with the product, potentially a weak point or defect in the manufacturing and there is no question that this should have been covered under warranty.

I was about to purchase a new pivot myself but after this story I have second thoughts.
Terrible customer and product service support is all I can say!

My advice is don't deal with the distributor as you didn't buy from them and they generally aren't interested in dealing with the public, unless it benefits them. Let the retailer deal with them. **** flows up hill in these situations.

Hunt around the ACCC's website for more detailed information on warranties and email the shop expressing your concerns with these, given you have proof / witnesses that you weren't in the wrong. Keep it polite and ask for an email reply within 2 business days.

Find the email for the distributor, or Naish customer contact and CC them in on it. Retailers love this () but more importantly a small retailer can't afford any negativity with business as bad as it is. They won't lose money, the distributor will just send them a free harness or something. Retailer covers the repair and the harness probably only cost the distributer $30-$75

I'd expect a phone call with offer for repair, however if nothing is resolved then post it on their facebook, seabreeze etc. It's a ****ty thing to do but often sees results.

Edit: how many other shops sell Naish in QLD? This is perfect oppertunity for them to get on here and help if they have a solid relationship with Naish. Actually even scrap Naish as this could be a better ROI than any team rider if it was handled right.

As above, don't bother with the distributor or Naish...its the retailers responsibility. Australia law dictates that a product must be "lasting" and fit for purpose...clearly if its 4 months old this meets neither.

www.accc.gov.au/business/treating-customers-fairly/consumers-rights-obligations

You can contact them if you get nowhere, and they are very helpful. I had an instance where a product failed and I couldn't get anything from the shop....one call from the ACC and they all of a sudden they bent over backwards.

Sorry to hear about your bad warranty experience Andy. I think you have been professional in your considered post above and would have expected the retail outlet to mediate with the distributor in finding an acceptable warranty outcome.

Unlike you, I have had good warranty experiences with two other brands of gear I have purchased from "bricks and mortar" retail outlets. I too feel like a volunteer brand and shop ambassador.

Mark Shinn wrote me a personalised email through the shop I bought his equipment from and even went beyond my expectations by upgrading my purchase to the next year's model and throwing in a free board bag. I have no hesitation in recommending his Shinn brand of kiteboards and accessories.

I have also had Liquid Force gear replaced after extensive use during my warranty period. One was a bladder replacement and the other for a failed bar swivel. I was even allowed to pay to upgrade to a newer bar model (which has a more 2017 contemporary colour and a plastic covered depower line).

Interestingly I blew up a mate's Liquid Force leading edge while inflating the kite on the beach like you. The WOW surf kite is meant to take 12PSI (literally wow!!) and I used an LF SUP pump to get close to the green on the gauge. He had no issues in getting it repaired under his LF warranty free of charge after emailing pictures and a description through the shop he bought it from.

I justify buying new gear because of the warranty included in the new price. When the warranty expires, I'll either sell, donate it to a mate or use it until it dies...

Naish is now off my future purchase list. I have also heard that their lines are not as strong as LF, North, Ozone, etc... This is of concern to me as I'm clumsy, 6'5" and 100kg

Thanks for sharing your poor experience Andy and hope your next warranty goes as smoothly as mine have in the past.

Your claim does sound genuine, however, it seems like you are lacking clear evidence.

Kites don't blow up for any reason and major manufacturers probably get a few warranty claims like those on a weekly basis, so it's understandable that if you don't present them clear evidence of a manufacturing defect, they will naturally assume your kite has been damaged/abused.

It all depends where and how your kite blew up? The most likely scenario is that your kite blew up due to defective sewing along the Leading edge seams. If that's the case you would need to be able to show that the sewing was defective in the first place

This is just an example of a poor leading edge stitching job from the factory.


It's usually easy to spot defects like those with a close first inspection after inflating the kite. The Leading edge also starts to herniate along the defective area before it eventually blows up.

If your evidence of a manufacturing defect is solid you will have a fighting chance to ''win this case'' after lodging a complaint to the ACCC. Otherwise, it's ''your word against theirs'' and that typically doesn't go very far.

''it's not what you know, it's what you can prove''

Good luck,

Christian

Select to expand quote

cbulota said...
It's usually easy to spot defects like those with a close first inspection after inflating the kite. The Leading edge also starts to herniate along the defective area before it eventually blows up.

Surely it's crazy to expect anyone to do a "close first inspection" after buying a brand new kite? We are paying thousands of dollars for a bit of fabric so it should be expected that they are packed, shipped and sold to perform as expected. Kites arent any different to a new car, fridge, tv, lawn mower, computer, drill etc.

The ACCC tends to side with the consumer if they see it's not bull****.

Sorry folks, but you all know the policy on complaints about warranties here.

In the many years of running this forum, they have *never* ended well... here's from the policy developed 10+ years ago:

www.seabreeze.com.au/Members/Help/ForumRules.aspx#h40

Complaining about businesses:


When this occurs, the poster is usually quite fired up and emotional. Often the customer is now out to cause damage as possible to the business with the mission that they are "fully justified" (their words) and "simply stating facts" (their words) about the business/association.

This may be the case .. or not. There are many sides to any story.

The point is that the Seabreeze forums are not the appropriate place to resolve the issue. Go to the appropriate legal/government authority and do it there.

Choose not to, and end up in hot water. As soon as you flame a business, you'll usually get supporters of the business come out in defence and question your behaviour and motives. People interested in the discussion will seek more information from you.

It soon descends into an argument containing many and varied versions of the truth and everybody goes home unhappy. It has never ended well for anybody.

The business is damaged, the poster now has a stigma in the forum community (and now can't deal with many shops because the shops know what will happen if they cross this customer - their business will get dragged through the mud.)

A special note: This applies (and has been applied) to [i]any business, not just businesses that sponsor the site. [/i]



... and this topic is running pretty true to the above formula.

Sorry andyextreme, hope you can continue to negotiate with the shop/Naish by phone/meetings and hopefully you can work it out ... or take options as others have suggested.

Thanks