Zipper on my 852 tacks bag broke.

[BK 0]

Has anybody had any repairs done on their hockey bag?

I had about 7 teeth on my hockey bag come off and now its impossible to zip it. I don't mind lugging around my gear with an open zipper, but my gear gets all over the car on the way to the rink.

Has anybody ever had a bag repaired? Who would do it? I was checking out the yellowpages and found a few shoe repair places, but none of them said they do this kind of repair (replacing a zipper).

[All Torhs Team 0]

Take it to your LHS. Chances are he'll know who could fix it. My lhs has a guy do it, Im not sure who really but he always charges like $15 to get it done.

[Chadd 916]

Just get a cheap bag on closeout somewhere. I had bad luck with a CCM bag and will not buy another one unless I see drastic changes in the construction.

[BK 0]

Just get a cheap bag on closeout somewhere. I had bad luck with a CCM bag and will not buy another one unless I see drastic changes in the construction.

Thats exactly what I did. I went in and showed him the bag. He said it started out a like $17 then it was like $10 per yard because of the type of zipper. I said screw it and bought a bigger itech.

I don't think I will buy another ccm bag again either.. I mean, I have only had it for like 4 months. Its practically mint and all of a sudden the zipper teeth start falling out?..

[djinferno 2]

break the other one and play like that...

[All Torhs Team 0]

break the other one and play like that...

I dont get it

[fluggles 0]

break the other one and play like that...

I dont get it

He might have been thinking of pants...

[Chadd 916]

Just get a cheap bag on closeout somewhere. I had bad luck with a CCM bag and will not buy another one unless I see drastic changes in the construction.

Thats exactly what I did. I went in and showed him the bag. He said it started out a like $17 then it was like $10 per yard because of the type of zipper. I said screw it and bought a bigger itech.

I don't think I will buy another ccm bag again either.. I mean, I have only had it for like 4 months. Its practically mint and all of a sudden the zipper teeth start falling out?..

Mine didn't last a month.

[DarkStar50 679]

BK and Chadd,

If one bag lasted 4 months and Chadd, yours only a month, why not take it back to your place of purchase as a defective item? I have had customers bring back bags with the same problem within the same time frame. I have had no problem getting a defective credit return and a replacement. Chadd, CCM sells tens of thousands of bags. There will be a per cent with defective/broken zippers. They will stand behind the product. Its not fair to bash the entire CCM bag line because your zipper broke and you didn't try to get a replacement that was well within your rights as a customer. Some, not all, MSHers take your word as gospel. Given your knowledge in the industry I am surprised you didn't try to get a defective replacement. Its pretty easy.

Unless you bought it online.

[jimmy 194]

I've found that most zipperage breakage is the result of the user, and the design of the bag. Impatient people who have bages with the U shaped zipper systems and the railroad trach systems tend to break them more. People who stuff the bag incorrectly and then try to use the zipper as leverage to close it tend to break the zippers more. Patient people who pack the bag correctly and zip/unzip it all the way rarely have problems. If you are one of the impatient people, the best bag for you (any brand) is one with a single zipper straight across the top.

[BK 0]

BK and Chadd,

If one bag lasted 4 months and Chadd, yours only a month, why not take it back to your place of purchase as a defective item? I have had customers bring back bags with the same problem within the same time frame. I have had no problem getting a defective credit return and a replacement. Chadd, CCM sells tens of thousands of bags. There will be a per cent with defective/broken zippers. They will stand behind the product. Its not fair to bash the entire CCM bag line because your zipper broke and you didn't try to get a replacement that was well within your rights as a customer. Some, not all, MSHers take your word as gospel. Given your knowledge in the industry I am surprised you didn't try to get a defective replacement. Its pretty easy.

Unless you bought it online.

I actually did take it back to the shop that I got it from and according to the guy I talked to, the warranty doesn't cover the zipper (or wheels in my case). He refered me to the repair guy. :(

[hockeymom 2]

I had the zipper on an Itech bag go within a month of purchase - but fortunately it was the teeth near the end of the bag, so we lived with it for a year. DS, it never occured to me to try to return it!! But I got tired of the constant worry something would fall out of it in a parking lot and when the bottom looked like it was starting to go near the end of the season (it was a wheelie bag) I was done with it.

Bought an Easton wheelie bag to replace it . This time I really paid attention to the zippers used and the protective material on the bottom of the bag. The Easton bag stood up really well for a season (still looks new) but has been replaced (temporarily?) with a non-wheeled team bag. Have no idea who makes it because it has no badging, but that sucker is a tank... in it's second season.

Zippers are out-sourced and probably ALL manufacturers have some quality control issues with them. Even so, it burns me when something like a zipper ruins an expensive bag.

[Chadd 916]

BK and Chadd,

If one bag lasted 4 months and Chadd, yours only a month, why not take it back to your place of purchase as a defective item? I have had customers bring back bags with the same problem within the same time frame. I have had no problem getting a defective credit return and a replacement. Chadd, CCM sells tens of thousands of bags. There will be a per cent with defective/broken zippers. They will stand behind the product. Its not fair to bash the entire CCM bag line because your zipper broke and you didn't try to get a replacement that was well within your rights as a customer. Some, not all, MSHers take your word as gospel. Given your knowledge in the industry I am surprised you didn't try to get a defective replacement. Its pretty easy.

Unless you bought it online.

Actually I did try to get mine replaced and the customer service at the time was pretty rude.

Mine was an x-mas present a few years ago and it was purchased online. I called both the shop and CCM and was told by each of them that I would have to pay shipping both ways, it would take 4-6 weeks and there would be no warranty on the replacement.

I also know several other people who had similar problems and were blown off in a very similar manner by CCM. There were a lot of problems with the bags a few years ago, I have no idea if that has changed or not. I would hope that their policies have changed but things like that turned me off to CCM for a while.

[kovalchuk71 212]

Couldnt you find a new zipper and take it to a tailor? THats what I did when my zipper broke (it was my jacket though, so it may be different)

[hockeymom 2]

Couldnt you find a new zipper and take it to a tailor? THats what I did when my zipper broke (it was my jacket though, so it may be different)

It would require a very heavy needle to sew through a bag - the only shops that would possibly consider it would be people who do leather repairs. I considered having this one repaired at a saddle shop - but I couldn't locate a proper replacement zipper. It started to look like WAY too much effort and the expense was going to be significant enough that you are already a good way towards buying a new bag. I guess we live in a disposable society.

[notquitedeadyet 13]

Just get a cheap bag on closeout somewhere. I had bad luck with a CCM bag and will not buy another one unless I see drastic changes in the construction.

Does that go for RBK bags too?

[Chadd 916]

I never owned one, my bag was from before RBK owned CCM.

[DarkStar50 679]

BK, I think your shop guy blew it. He didn't even bother to try to return it if thats the line he gave you. I see you are in Utah so I guess there aren't many options for LHSs. Still, I think you have a legitimate gripe.

As far as calling CCM/RBK, that never does any good fellas. Those customer service people are just not into dealing with the public. Most of them don't know how to deal with the public gracefully, I'm sorry to say. They know how to treat the LHS guy on the phone with an order, though. They should do a better job with the public when they get through. But you have to be nice. Yelling, screaming, and getting pissed off gets you nowhere fast.

[TBLfan 25]

all I can say is Fury bag from eastwesthockey FTW. Seriously, great bag.

[BK 0]

BK, I think your shop guy blew it. He didn't even bother to try to return it if thats the line he gave you. I see you are in Utah so I guess there aren't many options for LHSs. Still, I think you have a legitimate gripe.

Yeah. Utah doesn't have a big base of hockey players. We do have a nice shop (its the one that I frequent) but its nothing like back in Minnesota.

all I can say is Fury bag from eastwesthockey FTW. Seriously, great bag.

Too bad that they aren't around here. :(

I honestly try to buy everything I can from the local shop here. If it goes under, then I'm screwed. They do a good job with what they can.

[jimmy 194]

BK, I think your shop guy blew it. He didn't even bother to try to return it if thats the line he gave you. I see you are in Utah so I guess there aren't many options for LHSs. Still, I think you have a legitimate gripe.

As far as calling CCM/RBK, that never does any good fellas. Those customer service people are just not into dealing with the public. Most of them don't know how to deal with the public gracefully, I'm sorry to say. They know how to treat the LHS guy on the phone with an order, though. They should do a better job with the public when they get through. But you have to be nice. Yelling, screaming, and getting pissed off gets you nowhere fast.

Sorry, you are totally wrong. I've had many customers call CCM/RBK with issues and they simply told them to return the item to their LHS. Even items way out of warranty. I gave the customer a new/replacement item, and was easily credited for the return, no questions asked. IMO, that company has one of the easiest return policies, even for items out of the warranty period. As a retailer, they are excellent in dealing with complaints or issues.

[DarkStar50 679]

Well, here's one for you jimmy(mr.ihateonlinehockeyshops): A customer calls CCM to complain that a shoulder pad they bought is defective. CCM tells them to take it their LHS. He walks into our shop and demands to have me return and replace the CCM shoulder pad. There is one big problem. Its a special make up from one of the online dealers of "The Hockey Group". When I kindly explain to the customer that his problem is with the online shop and he should call them to return the pads to them, that is not the answer he wants to hear. I get the standard "CCM told me to take it to any authorized dealer to have it returned and replaced." Well, thank you, CCM. I explain that this pad is not even a catalog item and I cannot replace it. I would also charge the customer to ship the product back, if I were to do it, and the customer doesn't want to pay for shipping. Why should this return cost our shop money when I had nothing to do with the original sale? The rest of the story is not important. My point is that by calling CCM, our shop was put in the middle of a problem we had nothing to do with. I am not calling out CCM on this. My point was that most of the vendors do not want to deal with customers directly over the phone. For all the time that CCM has helped you and that is great, there will be a fair number of instances where the vendor has created a larger problem for the dealer in their direct communication with the customer, not solved the problem. My favorite line from the consumer being "XYZ hockey company told me to bring the broken equipment to you and you would replace it immediately." Sound familiar? Ever hear that before, jimmy? You can feel free to do it with your shop. You own it. I have management above me who would ask questions about free replacement equipment walking out the door and then XYZ not giving me credit for a product they consider a non-defective return.

So, excuse me, I am not totally wrong. I was not singling out CCM/RBK. I was pointing out that it is not wise to expect 100% satisfaction if you call the vendors direct with your problem. In the future, if any of my customers have a problem with their CCM/RBK product, jimmy, I will send them to you for a free replacement.

[jimmy 194]

Well I seriously doubt that CCM told a customer to take an item back to a dealer who does not sell that product, unless the customer was not upfront with them on what model the product was, or the customer was not upfront with you as to what they said. If someone came into my store with a SMU, there is no way I could replace it and I would tell them to go to their original dealer for a relacement. I have no obligation to accept returns on items I don't sell. However, if the customer want to return the item directly to them for replacement, I will gladly give them the shipping information and act as a go between. I have a great sales rep who picks up any defective items I may have at the end of the season. He sends in the RA and I get credit. Easiest return process ever.

All I can say is that in EVERY instance of a customer unhappy with a defective product that was in or out of warranty, CCM has been very receptive. Perhaps they are not to other dealers but for me I've had ZERO problems. From a retailer perspective, I think they are one of the best companies to deal with.