Maintaining skates

[IniNew 53]

It's not about the legitimacy of the claims. It's about the volume of them. The logistics and labor to handle them. They set a reasonable time frame for reporting manufacture defects, no sense in destroying it.

[Vet88 674]

And that logic is exactly why the government in NZ passed the consumer guarantee act. Manufacturers and retailers can't hide behind a arbitrary time period (Graf 90 days, Alkali 1 year - which is reasonable?), either the product was properly made, free from defects and fit for purpose or it wasn't. It is irrelevant if the warranty was 90 days from date of sale and the failure happened / was discovered 100, 200 etc days after date of sale.

Did manufacturers / retailers stop selling in NZ when it was passed, no. Did warranty claims go through the roof, no. Life carried on as usual except the consumer now had a degree of protection from faulty manufacturing processes.

And yes, I own a manufacturing business that sells product into the retail market and we deal with this on a daily basis as part of quality control so I believe I can offer a reasonably objective viewpoint from both sides of the fence.

Is the US consumer getting short changed? you decide.

[flip12 729]

Is the US consumer getting short changed? you decide.

The scale of the market and politics in the US and New Zealand don't compare that well, in general. It's not that simple. That said, in a lot of cases, I do think the US consumer gets screwed.

[beedee 227]

I remove the insoles and hang mine in my garage after every use. (Graf Ultra G5)

[jsykes 35]

Vet, you should follow up with Monkey then if the international thing is not an issue. As I said, dont get mad at Graf yet as they probably have no idea what is going on (email is not a good way to get to these companies right or wrong, its just fact). The dealer should be doing the work for you and as I said, the steel and holders are still under warranty so HM should be taking care of that at least.

If HM wont do anything for you CALL Graf and speak with someone. As I've said, I've had ver good luck with them wanting to make things right for the customer.

[Stewie 721]

whenever i buy skates, i make sure to get them on the ice within a week, if even only for an open skate session. Know what your buying and how long its covered, then make sure you can test it enough within that time frame.

[Vet88 674]

Vet, you should follow up with Monkey then if the international thing is not an issue. As I said, dont get mad at Graf yet as they probably have no idea what is going on (email is not a good way to get to these companies right or wrong, its just fact). The dealer should be doing the work for you and as I said, the steel and holders are still under warranty so HM should be taking care of that at least.

If HM wont do anything for you CALL Graf and speak with someone. As I've said, I've had ver good luck with them wanting to make things right for the customer.

Took your advice and called Graf, explained the situation and after a lengthy but very pleasant discussion with the customer service person, they told me to contact the dealer and deal with them, Graf will not help me directly. You must have struck a kindhearted person if they helped you directly. I then called HM again for one last try, their position is unchanged (yes, the steels and holders are covered but this doesn't deal with the unwearable issues of the boots).

So I've gone the full circle and am resigned to my fate. I've gone back to my truly beaten up SE16's and am now thinking about some one100's (I can get a lightly used pair at an ok price) or go the whole way and get some Mako's. I wish Alkali made an ice boot.

The grafs won't be a total loss, I can hang them in my goal and fire pucks at them....