VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

i found this interesting application of NP warranty posted at the mauisails forum, sounds like they are saying if it lasts 6 to 8 hrs it is considered fair performance. just something mast shoppers might want to be aware of...


http://www.mauisails.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1813

Hi guys, apologies for the off topic.

I just wanted to share this experience on Neilpryde's mast warranty policy.

This was my earlier post on this forum in searching for an alternative mast to my RSR. http://www.mauisails.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1803

Below is the reply from Neilpryde

Many thanks for your e-mail explaining the dates in relation to claim ID # 5394. I have reviewed the case and regret that we have still declined this warranty. The reasons are as follows.

The warranty period is for six months on X9 masts and this covers faults in materials and workmanship in that time. Unfortunately it is widely believed that a 6 month warranty covers breakage in that period no matter what happens to the mast but in fact, this is not the case. As stated above, the mast needs to have a materials or workmanship fault in order to qualify as a warranty. The only sure way to judge this is to review the usage by qty of total hours of use on each mast. The following is a quote from our warranty policy of Dec 2006,

Our experience has shown that, given the intense loads placed on a mast by modern windsurfing sails, any material or manufacturing defect will almost certainly result in breakage within the first six to eight hours of sailing. If a mast breaks after an initial period of trouble free use, our research has shown it is typically due to mishandling or misadventure rather than material defect. This is not a warranty.

With carbon structures such as an X9 mast the quality of the construction can be established very early in the life of the product. Masts therefore tend to have a problem in the first few hours of use and fail, which would indicate a warranty, or they survive the first hours intact, as this mast has done. With 18 hours of use on the water, the mast was clearly delivered to the customer in the correct structural condition.

If a mast breaks subsequent to this, it is likely that the failure has been caused by misadventure or mishandling and not from there being a problem with the mast construction. This is the basis on which we judge X9 mast failures and is similar to that used in other industry's that sell carbon / glass structures.

Please feel free to contact me if there is anything unclear in the above.


regards,

David Mead
Production Manager
Neil Pryde Windsurfing

The manager may have a point but just from a customer service perspective, I doubt people go out there and try to break their masts before the warranty is up to get a new one. Also you can tell if there was misadventure on the mast!! A one year warranty is a one year warranty, don't dicker!
I used to like NP sails but their battens kept breaking....I never got one sent to me despite their promises and then Northshore Board helped out and gave me a couple. I have experienced similar bullshit with a neil pryde boom, brand new and the clamp broke, after that corrosion ate the insides of it after I stored it for two months waiting for a warranty response......I didn't rinse it and it was a huge white foamy mess thereafter, confirming I was had and "I must always rinse the boom of salt water" That was my last Alu boom!
Windsurfing Direct was involved here too and they passed me on to the NP rep, who gave no response other than: "buy carbon next time and a more expensive boom and this won't happen", so went back to WSDirect who declined to give me a new one, then put me on their spam list so they wouldn't have to respond to any more of my emails (they told me this in their last response and indeed I got no other comms thereafter).

So, no more NP or WDirect for this guy. Yes, I hold a grudge Windance would never do anything like that (neither would I through KA)! We'll have to wait and see on the new owners.

What a contrast to Excel, where they just handed me a new boom over the counter when an old one broke, when it was just over a year old! I was fully expecting to pay full price, I hadn't even asked for a warranty!

Being a tightwad, issues involving warranties don’t concern me much - I typically buy used gear outside of any warranty period, accepting sort of a pay as I go approach (the exception being my UJs and harness lines from Excel). On the other hand though, I think how a company stands behind its product says volumes about the confidence I too can have in that product.

I have a similar bad taste in mouth with NP - I had a boom clamp lever fail, and got tossed around by various depts for months, finally telling me I was not warranty covered. So I reluctantly bought one ($40 US + shipping). About a month later, I got a package from NP Hong Kong with 3 free boom clamp levers and a bunch of stickers..... Great organization!! Anyone wanna buy a boom clamp lever for a NP boom?

It only took 8 months and a million emails to WSDirect for them to replace a cracked NP mast!! NP no longer has a Canadian distributer as of summer 07 according to WSDirect, everything warranty related gets handled out of the the US....just imagine the hassle this will cause. I caution anyone considering a NP purchase, should anything fail, be prepared for the ultimate screw around. Ultimately WSDirect came through and replaced it with the equivalent mast from Fibrespar free of charge.