For anyone that doesn’t know already, an ABS bag for skiing has airbags on the side inflated from a small cylinder in the rucksack and fired using a small pyrotechnic in a trigger on the rucksack. I’ve had one for a few years and it’s something I don’t use a lot but from time to time skiing alone in certain conditions it seems a good thing to carry.
Monday 10th March 2009
So it was back on the 10th March that I was skiing with the rucksack over in Grimentz on a stormy day with a lot of fresh snow. When I’d finished for the day I was sat at the bus stop and tried to remove the trigger from the sack and could tell immediately it was a little stuck, I didn’t want to pull it sharply off as that would inflate the airbags so I removed the gas cylinder to stop that happening. But, I still managed to fire the trigger which is a nuisance as you can only fire them once before needing them recharged. Still, I live in a ski station in the Valais, how hard could it be to get a new trigger?
First, I discover according to the manufacturer there’s basically no local dealer I can go to. I’d bought the bag in Neuchâtel so it was out of the question that I go there. At this point I’m still thinking, “how hard could it be to get a new trigger”?
The best route seems to be to send an email to the manufacturer, afterall, it’s after working hours but someone will see it first thing in the morning and get back to me, I’ll pick the mail up when I’m out skiing on my iPhone and we’ll sort out how to get the trigger fixed.
Friday 13th March 2009
Wrong! Three days later I get a response from the manufacturer telling me the bag needs checking and the importer needs to get it back. This is bit irritating, it shouldn’t take three days to reply to a customer support request for some safety gear and I only want a new trigger, really after three days I ought to have that by now.
So, I contact the importer by email copied to the manufacturer and the first reply I get is from the manufacturer telling me the importer’s not available until the next week. Obviously, this isn’t really good enough and I tell the manufacturer this, to which I get this bizzare response:
We understand that you need your pack but please keep in mind that it was you who pulled the trigger without cartridge inside.
Funnily enough, I do recall it was me that pulled the trigger, I was there at the time.
Then it seems there’s a stroke of luck, the importer is available and sends me a mail apologising for not helping me faster saying the service from the manufacturer is sometimes a problem. Even better, he says if I send them the bag they’ll send it back the same day, or if there’s a problem send me another to use. That sounds great, it’s just the sort of service I expect.
Monday 16th March 2009 - Thursday 19th March 2009
So, first thing Monday morning I go to the post office and send the bag by priority post to them, they’ll have it by Tuesday so I think there’s no reason I’ll not get it back by Wednesday or Thursday. But, it gets to Thursday (19 March) and there’s no contact from them, so I email them again asking if they’d actually received it. This doesn’t get any response at all.
Tuesday 24th March 2009 – Thursday 26th March 2009
On Tuesday 24th March, by now two weeks since I’d tried to get this sorted out, I emailed them again and got a response on Wednesday 25th. There was no explanation about why they’d not contacted me earlier or where this promise to send it in 24 hours had disappeared to simply a demand for my postal address to give to DHL as they won’t deliver to a “postbox”, in fact I’d not asked them to, I’d given them my “PickPost” address. Pickpost is a thing we have here in Switzerland that allows you to get things delivered to any main post office and get a text or email telling you they’re available for pick up.
Why do I use “pickpost”? It’s quick and easy and they keep things for a couple of weeks, it’s really handy as couriers struggle to find our main house, the chalet has no post box and it’s much easier than waiting for the delivery people to arrive. This is a case in point, I know I’m certainly not going to be around for a couple of days so a courier will just end returning the rucksack to the sender. I explain all this to the importer and by Thursday 26th I’ve a response from them saying it’s not a problem, they can still send via the post service but they need an address and won’t send it to a postbox. Assuming this is some of billing address I send them my home address.
Of course then I realise they’re proposing to mail it my main address which is exactly what I don’t want to happen so I ring them and vent some of my irritation with them. It’s the afternoon of Thursday 26th March by now, I’d fired the trigger on the 10th of March, the importer had promised 24 hour return from the 16th but I’m beginning to give up hope of seeing my rucksack again.
But, apparently it’s all OK now, they’re going to send it by post to the address I’d given them originally, there’s no explanation given about why they’d not bothered to contact me between the 16th and 24th of March but at least the rucksack is on the way back.
Wednesday 1st April 2009
Only it’s now Wednesday 1st of April and I still don’t have my rucksack. I emailed them yesterday and asked where it was. I got this helpful response :
The Swisspost informed me, that the Postfach address you sent me is not authorised to take packets. Anyway, they are so kind to keep the packet till you pick it up. It is really a nightmare and don’t tell me that this is our mistake. Please call the Post where your Postfach is
This of course is nonsense, I’ve given my Pickpost address , the Pickpost service exists only to receive parcels but it doesn’t explain why Pickpost haven’t contacted me so I ask the importer what address it’s been sent to and, of course, the answer comes back with the wrong address. It’s been sent to a local Post Office but without my Pickpost account details so they’ve no idea what to do with it.
I think this is some of the most appalling customer service I’ve ever experienced. This is safety equipment and it’s not cheap to buy, if you need support then you expect it to be quick and efficient, there’s really no way that I should have been left for three weeks without my rucksack or had to chase the importer to even get a response at all. The importer acts like they’re doing me a favour and tells me normally they only deal with shops, that’s absolutely super but it was the manufacturer who told me to contact the importer so they’re not doing me any special favour at all. I wouldn’t need to deal with the importer or manufacturer at all if they’d a dealer and service network of any size, I’d contacted the nearest dealer, who was miles away, and they’d not bothered to respond.
My very strongest advice is anyone is think of getting an ABS rucksack is not to bother, it’s vital that there’s a good support network for this type of gear and my experience is that the support isn’t up to an acceptable standard, at least here in Switzerland. There’s a new Swiss product called SnowPulse which cannot fail to be better, all they need to do is actually have some dealers in sensible places like ski stations and they’ll be a lot better.
Do I have the sack even now (Wednesday April 1st) ? No, I don’t. I’m just going to the post office to see if they can find it. Of course, by this time I could have hopped backwards to and from the original dealer in Neuchâtel who was Défi Montagne who are fantastically helpful and would have sorted this out quickly.
