I bought a pair of Columbia Ice Crushers (or Ice Dragons, not sure) winter hiking boots in 2006. This past winter the upper leather ripped away from the rubber rand.
Although these boots were 8 years old, I had only done about 15-20 winter hikes (real life always gets in the way of winter hiking), so they were still
in great shape (aside from the failure of course). So I called Columbia simply to ask if this was common, have they ever seen this before, did I do something
wrong (storage area too hot, cold, dry, humid)?, etc. The call was intended strictly for my own education. The Columbia rep said send them back and we'll
check them out and see what happened.....worst case outcome was that they'd just send them back to me with an explanation of the problem. No harm, no foul.
I fully expected to get a follow-up email a few weeks later saying sorry, but the boots are 8 years old and stuff wears out after that long, etc.
Well, what actually happened was that they informed me that the boots experienced a "shell failure" and that they would send me a new comparable pair of boots.
This blew me away. I had told the rep up front my feeling about people who beat the hell out of their gear year in and year out and then expect free replacements
when their gear experiences normal wear and tear. She said yes she's dealt with those types, but if the problem is Columbia's responsibility, then they'll replace them. Amazing.
Anyway, the Ice Crushers and Ice Dragons models are discontinued, so we agreed on a pair of Sorel Conquests (apparently Columbia bought Sorel). The Sorels arrived at
my house today. I've bought several Columbia products (fleece jackets, hiking pants, rain/wind jackets, boots), and I've always been satisfied with the quality of their stuff,
and this experience reinforced my feeling about this company.
Some pix of the boots I sent back (the carabiner is just to show the extent of the separation of the shell from the rand). By the way, I LOVED these boots. Super comfortable, super warm and dry.
Although these boots were 8 years old, I had only done about 15-20 winter hikes (real life always gets in the way of winter hiking), so they were still
in great shape (aside from the failure of course). So I called Columbia simply to ask if this was common, have they ever seen this before, did I do something
wrong (storage area too hot, cold, dry, humid)?, etc. The call was intended strictly for my own education. The Columbia rep said send them back and we'll
check them out and see what happened.....worst case outcome was that they'd just send them back to me with an explanation of the problem. No harm, no foul.
I fully expected to get a follow-up email a few weeks later saying sorry, but the boots are 8 years old and stuff wears out after that long, etc.
Well, what actually happened was that they informed me that the boots experienced a "shell failure" and that they would send me a new comparable pair of boots.
This blew me away. I had told the rep up front my feeling about people who beat the hell out of their gear year in and year out and then expect free replacements
when their gear experiences normal wear and tear. She said yes she's dealt with those types, but if the problem is Columbia's responsibility, then they'll replace them. Amazing.
Anyway, the Ice Crushers and Ice Dragons models are discontinued, so we agreed on a pair of Sorel Conquests (apparently Columbia bought Sorel). The Sorels arrived at
my house today. I've bought several Columbia products (fleece jackets, hiking pants, rain/wind jackets, boots), and I've always been satisfied with the quality of their stuff,
and this experience reinforced my feeling about this company.
Some pix of the boots I sent back (the carabiner is just to show the extent of the separation of the shell from the rand). By the way, I LOVED these boots. Super comfortable, super warm and dry.
