Hi crew, recently bought a SUP for an interstate company, paid the 200 bones for freight, no problems with that. Got board home, unwrapped from the 3 boxes and foam it was carefully wrapped in and ran my hands along the rails, beautiful looking board and super light - stoked.

Ran hand down the other rail and discovered a crack on the rail oh oh

Emailed the company a couple of times and then messaged on face book, a few days later got reply saying I needed to fill out a warranty claim form and send them a couple of pics - no problem, took a few photos as best I could to show the crack, wait a few more days, send a few more emails and Facebook messages.

Get a reply back saying my claim had passed the provisionary approval and I would hear from someone in the next few working days, in the meantime they asked me follow the link to the warranty details, flicking through it all seemed legit until something caught my eye. When there is a warranty claim the purchaser is to pay the freight to get the board back to them and the freight to get it back to me - oh oh

Yes the board was a bargain for the quality of board it promised, yes the board indeed does look awesome and I have no doubt the issue with mine is an anomaly but am I really expected to pay $400 to get a new board back to them then back to me to sort out a construction issue? Hoping I have read it wrong or they have this clause in to cover themselves against people pulling a shonky.

Waiting on bated breath to see what they say, I had a gut instinct about getting a board from interstate could lead to long delays if any issues but took a punt, still an Oz company so hope they do the righty. Would hate to regret the decision to not get a board from a local.

Anyone else had a similar issue and how did it turn out?

At the very least I am missing out on some cracking SUP conditions at the moment, was really looking forward to using the board and keeping up the progress I was making.

I would think the shipping cost will be on you.
If a company states it which seems like they have that is their out. It sucks but If they state it they have themselves covered

How far interstate is it? $400 return seems expensive should be able to find a far better deal than that.

How could you know this crack was not done in freight? I have never seen a board come new from a factory with any damage like cracks. All the damage i have ever seen has nearly been from freight and the way it's going its pretty much freight at buyers own risk i know when we ship boards we tell the customer that yes we can do it but take no responsibility for any damage. One good reason to support you local shop i guess.

Who do you think should pay for the freight of the returned board? Maybe best to just ask for a small discount or ask for the repair to be paid for if its only small and repaired from someone good you will never notice it and it will get you on the water quicker.

Good luck with it all.

That is totally standard. Consumer pays freight back for warranty claim. Pretty much any product though can't comment on SUP market.

Agree the norm on anything is return to base for warranty claims, hence using local supplier / shop has some advantages

Shipping the board back & forth for a simple ding is insane. Especially if you consider the risk of other damages each time... It can go on forever...

What is often done is having you make it repaired professionally locally and refund the bill, or give you some money to do it yourself (covering the materials & loss of resale value)

Transport dings are (usually) nothing: as long as no water has entered the foam, a repair can be done as good as new.

Thanks for all the info guys, helpful as always. I have offered to get it fixed and if possible they foot the bill so will see. The crack on the rail has a bit of a deformity next to it. The packaging was in good nic, board was wrapped in 3 boxes and foam but I understand what is being said about freight damage occurring, first time I have bought interstate (from QLD to WA). I probably should have read the fine print it asked more Q's. Hope for a good outcome but probably would buy local next time.

I have had 3 boards shipped interstate without a problem but guess it is luck of the draw. We just had some racking delivered at work and the ends of one beam were pretty badly bashed around and warped. Had to have been while the load was on a forklift or it had a fork run into it. Hate to see what would have happened to a board if that occurred.

Hey souwester I think I bought my starboard from the same guys, interstate QLD to NSW I was lucky and they chucked in freight for $80.
It was suppose to cost 250 ish.
Mine was packed really good too. However I think my board originated from another state. I hope yours was not a starboard as the importers are in WA so your board would be shipped to QLD to check the crack, sent back to WA to the factory, then sent back to QLD and then returned back to you in WA.
Can see why postage is $400 bucks. The importers are probably just down the road from your house.
Pump.