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A little over a year ago, I purchased my float tube, a Super Fat Cat from Outcast Boats. I bought it on eBay. One of the reasons I bought the Super Fat Cat over a less expensive tube, is their 5 year/10 year warranty.
On a recent tube session, I was negotiating in a tight spot and I jammed the side of the tube into a splintery dock board. There was no visible damage, but I noticed the tube was a little soft when I got out of the water and so when I got it home, I inflated it as usual for washing off and I decided to leave it inflated overnight to see if it was leaking air, and sure enough, it was.
I pulled the bladder out of the cover and tried to find the leak with soapy water but I wasn't able to track it down, so I called Outcast Boats return department and got a Return Goods Authorization and sent it back to Idaho. I used their UPS label service which emailed me a label that I saved to a flash drive and took with me to the UPS store. I had the original shipping box, so I loaded up the tube and shipped it off. Easy peasy. That was a Monday.
The maximum cost of repair for user damage is $50 which I consider very reasonable.
The tracking showed that it arrived in Idaho on Thursday afternoon and so I waited to hear back from Outcast. They called me on the following Tuesday to let me know they had found three small punctures along one side of the tube right next to a seam in the bladder and a small leak in the seam weld itself (also caused by a puncture). The punctures were "user damage" but the seam weld was technically covered by the warranty and since the weld was leaking, they decided to cover it all under warranty at no charge. I thanked them for the prompt service and I got the shipping notice late Wednesday evening and my tube arrived on Saturday. So a few days shy of two weeks total turn around and all I paid were the shipping costs.
I'm very happy with how it played out. Warranties and repairs are often given low priority at companies, especially at busy times like December, so I think them getting it done in a week was great and comping me on the repairs was cool.
Well done, Outcast Boats!
On a recent tube session, I was negotiating in a tight spot and I jammed the side of the tube into a splintery dock board. There was no visible damage, but I noticed the tube was a little soft when I got out of the water and so when I got it home, I inflated it as usual for washing off and I decided to leave it inflated overnight to see if it was leaking air, and sure enough, it was.
I pulled the bladder out of the cover and tried to find the leak with soapy water but I wasn't able to track it down, so I called Outcast Boats return department and got a Return Goods Authorization and sent it back to Idaho. I used their UPS label service which emailed me a label that I saved to a flash drive and took with me to the UPS store. I had the original shipping box, so I loaded up the tube and shipped it off. Easy peasy. That was a Monday.
The maximum cost of repair for user damage is $50 which I consider very reasonable.
The tracking showed that it arrived in Idaho on Thursday afternoon and so I waited to hear back from Outcast. They called me on the following Tuesday to let me know they had found three small punctures along one side of the tube right next to a seam in the bladder and a small leak in the seam weld itself (also caused by a puncture). The punctures were "user damage" but the seam weld was technically covered by the warranty and since the weld was leaking, they decided to cover it all under warranty at no charge. I thanked them for the prompt service and I got the shipping notice late Wednesday evening and my tube arrived on Saturday. So a few days shy of two weeks total turn around and all I paid were the shipping costs.
I'm very happy with how it played out. Warranties and repairs are often given low priority at companies, especially at busy times like December, so I think them getting it done in a week was great and comping me on the repairs was cool.
Well done, Outcast Boats!
