Kudos to Osprey and Gregory

[Kevin Rooney]

Recently a thread mentioned Osprey's excellent warranty -Osprey will repair for any reason, free of charge, any damage or defect in our product – whether it was purchased in 1974 or yesterday. I have a Stratos 24 which hasn't held up too well, so I contacted them, and soon the pack was on its way to them for repairs. Their warranty says they'll repair/replace the pack at their discretion, and it occurred to me that in the event they decided to replace it, I'd rather have a different Osprey model. I inquired, and was told they'd contact me in the event the pack was beyond repair to make arrangements. So, thought I'd pass this tidbit along.

My summer daypack of choice for the past 2-3 years has been a Gregory Z30. About a month ago the right shoulder strap stitching failed, and the only way I could repair it was with metal rivets (3/8"). About 10 days ago the lift shoulder strap began to separate as well, so I sent an email to Gregory, inquiring about repairs. A day later I got an email telling me a replacement Z30 was on its way and to keep the old pack. So, kudos to Gregory as well.

It's great to see that some companies stand behind their products.

 

[NH Tramper]

Awesome for them, especially since one of my packs, my three-season day pack, is a Gregory Z40.

 

[LRiz]

I've had the same, wonderful experience with Gregory - they repaired two of my winter packs free of charge. Excellent company with fantastic customer service.

 

[Chip]

Recently a thread mentioned Osprey's excellent warranty -Osprey will repair for any reason, free of charge, any damage or defect in our product – whether it was purchased in 1974 or yesterday.

That's a pretty clear statement. I have a well used 6 year old Osprey Daylite that needs a couple things repaired. Wasn't too expensive to begin with and it's always overstuffed . I guess I'll send it in. I'd certainly understand if there was some time limit on their guarantee.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

They fixed my worn and over-stuffed pack for the cost of my shipping it to them

Tim

 

[Kevin Rooney]

An update - just got a call from Osprey. Pack is beyond repair, so they're going to replace it with an Osprey Variant 52. I just paid the difference between that and my Stratos.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Exactly how old was that Stratos-24, Kevin? I owned a Stratos-32, and upgraded it to the Stratos-40 so I could use it in winter, and then got a Talon-22 for summer--they were not making the Stratos-24 at that time, but I like the Stratos-XX style better than the Talon.

Warranty support is great and all, but at some point one starts to wonder how long a pack should last. Like most things these days, they probably aren't designed for 10s of years of use.

Tim

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Exactly how old was that Stratos-24, Kevin? I owned a Stratos-32, and upgraded it to the Stratos-40 so I could use it in winter, and then got a Talon-22 for summer--they were not making the Stratos-24 at that time, but I like the Stratos-XX style better than the Talon.

Warranty support is great and all, but at some point one starts to wonder how long a pack should last. Like most things these days, they probably aren't designed for 10s of years of use.

Tim

Tim - I think it's about 6 years old, and I haven't used it much since I got the Gregory Z30 a couple of years ago as it (the Stratos) was in sad shape. Overall, I really like the pack, notably the suspension, but the fabric didn't hold up. Within a year or two it tore near one of the zippers. I was able to fix it by using a patch of Cordura 1000d, but it should have held up better. The bottom was wearing out as well - more than it should have. I think after a reasonable period of time it's unethical to ask for repairs/replacement, but with both of these packs they failed where other packs haven't. So, I felt it reasonable to request warranty repairs.

 

[bignslow]

An update - just got a call from Osprey. Pack is beyond repair, so they're going to replace it with an Osprey Variant 52. I just paid the difference between that and my Stratos.

Nice choice, I had the variant 37 (which seems to fit a lot more stuff than my Atmos 50) and decided to add a variant 52 if I ever decide to do (light) winter overnights (I might have a bit of pack addiction).