Issue with Burton Custom FV

hahaha! I don’t think I could do that Mizu. But interesting idea nonetheless.

Talked with the manager today. He offered to send it to Burton for me. But as he could not make a call on whether Burton would accept the defect or say its within the ‘acceptable tolerance level’, he was not going to give me a replacement from the shop. As I don’t have a second board this is not an option for me anyway. He recommended just riding it and if it gets significantly worse he’ll look at it again. But basically he wants the channel sticking through to be certain. I reckon it’s gonna get worse so I’ll just keep riding it and keep showing them as it starts sticking out more. Hardly a good outcome but I think I’ll get a replacement eventually…

just ride it (but carefully! if you hit anything they might claim impact damage is the cause), do lots of tail and nose presses to make the problem worse.

Yeah good point Gamblor. Don’t want to ruin my chance of claiming.

Yeah to be honest I think butters are what has the biggest impact. The tail end (where I butter more) is much worse.

butter in your living room?

well, in Showcase’s defence, since they were screwed last year by B on the same issue, no wonder they are taking the wait and see approach. They know it will develop into a definite warranty, but they can’t touch it yet.

Showcase warrantied a board for me back in the day and it was hassle-free.

not all warranties are black and white. In this case, this seems to be a new type of failure and Burton were reluctant last year to warranty it. Nobody knows if B will warranty it until B sees it with their own eyes, so even Showcase calling up B and describing the board won’t cut it. That’s why Showcase won’t touch it until it gets worse.

They should at least offer to send the board back for him, of course with no guarantees of a new board until Burton inspects the damage. But they should send it back and get him on a demo board until it’s worked out. That’s customer service. That’s why you buy from your local store. That’s what keeps customers coming back and supporting their local store. The store should go into bat for him and do whatever they can to ensure he gets a new board, if they believe it’s a manufacturing fault. That’s obviously not a concern for Showcase. I honestly think the situation would have been handled differently if Dan bought his board from one of the independent stores.

Well said Jeremy!

Thanks for all the interest and suggestions guys.

I’ll let you know how the board holds up and what the final outcome is with the warranty.

I’ve been in contact with Burton and they’ve agreed to replace the board. The rider rep said she can have a chat to Showcase and verify that they can give me a board off the rack. So that’s great news!

Last hurdle is Showcase though… Just passed the rider rep details on to Mike. Will see what happens. Could have a new board today!

EDIT: no goer atm. Mike called and there still seems to be uncertainty… He’s awaiting a call from the warranty dept, but he’s not expecting them to guarantee a replacement without seeing the board etc etc etc.

Anyhow, kinda sux but I’m just gonna keep riding it for now.

Yeah it blows.

Showcase rang the rep. Then showcase rang me saying that he was waiting on a call from B’s warranty department. Based on what he heard from the rep, and was expecting from the warranty dep, he didn’t expect B to guarantee him a board without seeing mine (ie having it sent to them). I just emailed B asking what happened.

I’ve got emails from the rider rep stating they’ll swap my board. But when push came to shove, B buckled.

Anyhow, atm the problem is not really noticeable when riding and the showcase guy said any replacement with B later in the season (ie directly with B, not showcase) would be next years Custom. So as gay as it all has been dealing with this, and I’m still stuck with a defective board, I still think it may work out alright in the end. Would be cool if by the end of the season I get next years board, but after this debacle I’m not holding my breath.

By the look of your board it looks like your base has been pulled inwards from the binding screws…. does this sound correct?  I find this happens with binding systems that have a lot of metal at point of contact to the board.  I think it has something to do with the metal shrinking and tightening at cold temps causing tightness on the board and forcing the base to pull inwards (collapse inwards).  I am thinking that the EST system could be performing in the same manner….

does that make sense and do you think that could explain it?

Rider is bang on the money about customer service and Mizu is right about the management side of things too. I do, however, also agree with Gamblor to a certain extent. Having worked in retail for a number of years (and specifically in warranty and returns for one of the major retailers in Oz) I can honestly say that word of mouth is probably one of the most successful forms of advertising that a retailer can have. Obviously, if they advertise the shit out of themselves then they will bring customers in but the reputation and sales of any particular store can very easily be measured by their customer service. And not the kind that is just measured by mystery shoppers ticking phrases off a list, but genuine interest in the customers needs.

When dealing with warranties and returns their absolute priority should be to make sure the customer is looked after. Having said that, if the customer is a dousche and has broken something themselves and is trying to claim it under warranty then they should be given a slap around the ears and re-taught how to respect their own property. But seriously, if a customer comes in and says “This isn’t working, it is broken” the attitude they should be taking is not one of “Shit, we got screwed on this one last time so I’m gonna look after my own arse first” because that is only a short term solution. It should be more along the lines of “OK, how can I help this customer out so that next time they see someone with a problem or need something else they want to come back here because they know I’ll help them”. It is amazing how many people came through to our tech bay on the recommendation of one of our customers even though they had bought their laptop from another store.

Showcase, in this instance, should recognise that the board is faulty. The first step for them is to work out how they can solve the customers problem so that the situation is as good as it can be for all (let’s face it, if you are returning something due to fault then it’s never going to be a peachy situation, but like Mizu says, it should never be a hassle either). So, they wore a couple on the chin from Burton last season, that’s the price you pay. Any money says that the guys who got the replacement from them will probably go there for any little bits and pieces they need, or even potentially their next board, simply because of the service. So Showcase lost 2 boards revenue but easily brought in that again with return business plus any word of mouth advertising that gets done because of it. If you look after your customers, your customers will look after you. Yes, I understand it is getting harder and harder these days with the prevalence of internet shopping but that only makes it so much more important to excel with what you can provide that the net can not - Face Time.

Anyway, hope it is going well for you Dan.

Remember that Showcase is in Whistler - a resort town. Most of what they sell is to people on vacation or seasonaires. I know it’s not an excuse for lack of customer service ( but I’m not convinced that there is a lack of c.service in this case) but the argument that taking one on the chin in the hopes Dan will be a repeat customer is not that strong. I’ve had warranties that went through no problem, others that took time, and then others where I got jerked around for a while, made to pay to send it in and then been denied. From the pics it looks like a definite warranty, so just go out there and stay away from trees while buttering the crap out of it.

hehe anyone seen the new Custom flying V “squeezebox”???

They’ve released a new version of the FV (they still have the normal FV too) which is still the same price, but the one difference is this new tech called “squeezebox”. You can check out what its meant to do on the burton website at
http://www.burton.com/mens-boards-custom-flying-v-squeezebox-snowboard/245744,default,pd.html?start=11&cgid=mens-boards

Basically the board is now thicker/stronger either side of your boots ie towards the tip & tail and in between the bindings. Can anyone guess why they may have introduced this new tech to the FV????  The end of the channel (ie where the channel bump is) is located an inch or two in towards the centre of the board from the bindings… Coincidence? Maybe I’m just being presumptuous??