Bauer X900 shin guards failed in less than 90 days

[VegasHockey 1283]

4 hours ago, canard said:

I just got rid of a pair of X900's, they were made very poorly and have basically no protection to block shots.  The plastic shell would actually twist on my leg.   My knee would stay in the pocket, but the shell would twist about an inch to the center just above my skate.  No structural strength.

I got a pair of the CCM Ultra Tacks..it's a great pad and seems to be the next generation of the Reebok 20K

 

I feel like Bauer has not been making quality shin guards, elbow pads, and pants for a the past few years. Currently, their other gear is as good as other, but not any better. Their gloves, helmets, and skates are good, but so are most others when you get into the upper level of equipment. 

For being such a big company that has soaked up every other company and monopolized the hockey industry they really are taking a back seat in both technology, quality and customer service. 

[VegasHockey 1283]

So, Bauer made my shop fill out the RA and send the shins back to them. They said when they get them they will evaluate the damage and determine if they will repair, replace, credit me or determine it was not a defective product. What kind of BS is that? Does anyone have contact information for someone at Bauer that I can talk with to perhaps help them get their head out of their butt? 

[Gswift 33]

4 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

So, Bauer made my shop fill out the RA and send the shins back to them. They said when they get them they will evaluate the damage and determine if they will repair, replace, credit me or determine it was not a defective product. What kind of BS is that? Does anyone have contact information for someone at Bauer that I can talk with to perhaps help them get their head out of their butt? 

Ummm, I'm not sure where the "BS" is? What are you looking for??

[kmfdm86 112]

I think he's worried about them getting them and going "You abused the product, warranty claim denied'. Which seems like I've heard a lot of coming from Bauer on legit warranty returns. He's also still without shin guards in the meantime.

[adam14 182]

Not to mention the fact that this shop seems to be handling this very poorly from their side.

[specs78 33]

Gotta agree this is BS. Short of there being a bullet hole through the shinguard, how could this not be covered under warranty? Are they going to argue that the shinguard cracked because it was hit too hard by a high speed flying solid object that caused it to break, like say...a puck? If this doesn't fall under immediate warranty replacement based on the picture...yikes.

[ginjaninja 19]

What a horrible experience. For what it's worth I wear a pair of two year old Nexus 8000's that have been very good. Last summer I was shopping pads for a family member and was disappointed in a lot of current Bauer pads. Quality, fit, and finish seems to be lacking.

I don't want to jump on the bash Bauer wagon since I have a lot of their stuff. Just nothing newer than 2 years ago.

[VegasHockey 1283]

I emailed all of the executives from Performance Sports Group and didn't get a single reply. I then blasted them on twitter and they replied and are "looking into it" and said the shop should've offered a replacement IMMEDIATELY. Poor handling by everyone involved. The shop is saying the DM for Bauer told them not to offer an "on the spot" replacement and that they needed to be evaluated. Bauer is saying otherwise. They are all blameshifting. Such BS. I have never had an experience like this with ANY hockey gear. In fact, I have had sticks that failed outside of their warranty and contacted the manufacturer and they replaced them or at least offered a substantial discount offering to sell me a replacement at cost. That's good customer service. A company that cares about its customers. 

 

Anyways, instead of whining about it, even more, I like to see what they come up with. At this point, I think they should reimburse me the cost and offer me a new pair of shins for free. That would be the right thing to do after all of the nonsense they have put me through. 

I don't think they understand that negative feedback about experiences like this hurts a brands reputation. Though I am sure they don't give a crap since they basically own every company now, which is sad for people who are forced to experience the same issues as myself. 

Pretty sure I am going to become a CCM customer moving forward. They seem to care about the sport and players. 

 

[boo10 323]

I think your suggestion of your money back plus a free pair is a bit excessive. Maybe upgrading your warranty replacement to the top of the line would be a reasonable good faith gesture.  Honestly though, they haven't done anything outside the realm of reasonability in wanting to inspect the product before providing a warranty replacement.

I'm no Bauer fanboy, and own mostly CCM and pre-PSG Easton gear.  I think Bauer's customer service is garbage, but until they deny your warranty claim, I don't see why you're so upset.

Edit: just reread the thread and see that this is taking way too long to resolve.  The retailer needs to fight for you on this one, to get a timely resolution. 

[VegasHockey 1283]

19 hours ago, boo10 said:

I think your suggestion of your money back plus a free pair is a bit excessive. Maybe upgrading your warranty replacement to the top of the line would be a reasonable good faith gesture.  Honestly though, they haven't done anything outside the realm of reasonability in wanting to inspect the product before providing a warranty replacement.

I'm no Bauer fanboy, and own mostly CCM and pre-PSG Easton gear.  I think Bauer's customer service is garbage, but until they deny your warranty claim, I don't see why you're so upset.

Edit: just reread the thread and see that this is taking way too long to resolve.  The retailer needs to fight for you on this one, to get a timely resolution. 

 

My only justification asking for such an excessive reimbursement amounts to the time I have spent dealing with the retailer, Bauer, and the skate time I lost while still having to pay league dues for skating and not being able to play. Plus the added stress ;)

Yes, I know. I am extreme in my expectations but dealing with this for such a long period of time and having no resolution or even a promised resolution is ridiculous. 

Not to mention I had to buy another pair of shins to keep skating in the interim. 

[VegasHockey 1283]

Finally, have a resolution. Bauer had the shop refund my money and I just got my Reebok 20K shin guards in the mail today. 

 

[Monty22 833]

Nice choice.

[DarkStar50 679]

At the end of the day, the shop is the one who failed you the most. The simple solution to keeping you as a happy customer would have been to immediately offer you a replacement pair or store credit. The store's objective should have been to keep you satisfied with the STORE'S CUSTOMER SERVICE, not Bauer's. The defective shin pads was a problem between the store and Bauer to get resolution on. The store can recognize those shin pads could not be repaired. The Bauer chain of events on returns is 1. repair, 2. replace, 3. credit store. Bauer's first option was not going to happen so at worst the store would have the new replacement shin pads to put in their inventory while you would have a new pair of shin pads at once. You never would have missed a league game. Bottom line, while you may think that Bauer doesn't care about you and all you went through with email, twitter, and the rest, your store cared about you even less. Find another shop for your hockey business.

[VegasHockey 1283]

5 hours ago, DarkStar50 said:

At the end of the day, the shop is the one who failed you the most. The simple solution to keeping you as a happy customer would have been to immediately offer you a replacement pair or store credit. The store's objective should have been to keep you satisfied with the STORE'S CUSTOMER SERVICE, not Bauer's. The defective shin pads was a problem between the store and Bauer to get resolution on. The store can recognize those shin pads could not be repaired. The Bauer chain of events on returns is 1. repair, 2. replace, 3. credit store. Bauer's first option was not going to happen so at worst the store would have the new replacement shin pads to put in their inventory while you would have a new pair of shin pads at once. You never would have missed a league game. Bottom line, while you may think that Bauer doesn't care about you and all you went through with email, twitter, and the rest, your store cared about you even less. Find another shop for your hockey business.

 

Agreed. Unfortunately, there are not many stores in the area. That being said, I usually order online now anyway since prices are drastically cheaper. I wonder though if that would make the situation even more complicated if you buy protective equipment and it fails. I would imagine you would need to work directly with the manufacturer as the online seller probably won't want to be involved. This is just speculation, though. I have only had sticks fail that I ordered online and when they did I talked to the manufacturer and it was simple to handle.