Nitro 6 with manufacturing mistake

gtalpo · Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:12 pm

Hello! I'm writing here because I've spotted a manufacturing mistake in my 12m nitro 6, and Switchkite gave me an evasive answer, claiming that I was the one who ruined the wing.
I state that since 2014 I've purchased 6 Switch Kites. I've been pretty happy with all of them until this last nitro 6 I bought.
I used it for the first time on the 4th of November 2017 and it hasn't been used more than 15 to 20 times up to now. (I live in Switzerland and I use kites twice a year !!).
One day, putting it away I noticed it had a little hole on the canopy right on top of the leading edge and when I look closer I realise there where a lot of tiny holes all along the leading edge on BOTH sides of the kite and the cause of this is the stiches on the leading edge that are causing friction and tension on the kites fabric. If you look at the attached pictures and zoom in on them you can see the line of damage all along the leading edge, it clearly won't be long until it rips open.
Besides being practically new, the kite has never been hit on the water, it was never dragged and is always put away nice and tidy without sand.
The leading edge has "crawled" the sand just to put it in c, as is normally done with all kites! (and I repeat, very few times, within three weeks).
Since I did not have an honest and sincere response from switchkite, I make sure who should buy a new wing.
Look at yourself and judge.I'm honest, the wing is practically new and I've never dragged it or started it alone.
The person who fixed it claims that it is a design flaw, and that the seam should not be made in that place.
However, the conclusion is that I will never buy a switchkite wing again.

jakoblondal · Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:56 pm

Its seems a little crazy that sand and stiches have done this. Sorry to be honest. Im not saying you are lying.
But as seen on the two photos, it seems like some pretty hard damages that should have come by itself?

Faxie · Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:27 pm

Doesn't look like a manufacturing defect to me... looks like something rubbed numerous times along the LE. Bag maybe?

DIALS · Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:40 pm

: Photo0206.jpg (302.75 KiB) Viewed 5830 times

I agree thats not good but trying to prove that to Switch will be hard. The stitching do look weak for sure....I also purchased a kite recently from Switch and on the first outing the line deflector stitching came loose....When I contacted Switch they said just stitch it back on myself....They were very helpful (NOT) indeed...Then I said that I could not stitch myself so they said get some sewing shop to do it and we will give you a 20 of my next purchase....Needless to say I did not purchase from Switch again...Now I am quite please at the rest of the kit that I got but they way they advised me to fix the problem ,I was just not satisfied at all....

Faxie · Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:30 pm

Well, you can't expect a brand new kite for something like that... it's stated in the warranty section that they can also offer to refund a repair btw.

DIALS · Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:45 pm

Faxie wrote:Well, you can't expect a brand new kite for something like that... it's stated in the warranty section that they can also offer to refund a repair btw.

I was not expecting a new kite ....Some refund towards the fix would have been acceptable not some money off my next purchase....Well in the end Switch just said I should just stitch it myself....its so easy to do...Shouldnt happen on brand new kite first time out anyway....

huili88 · Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:19 am

GTalpo, sorry to hear this. Did you get the kites new? I had an issue with that took some time to resolve with Switch but ultimately they lived up to the terms. It took some back and forth but if you have all the evidence the customer service team will listen.
Having said this photo1 and 3 make me second guess your point. The fraying on the green LE material in photo1 an the way the stitching is frayed in photo3 are indicative of prolonged wear. I have a 12m nitro 6 that use about 2x a week on for the past season that do not show this. On top of that the sand here in the PNW is super harsh and gritty not to mention I almost always have to pack my kites wet due to the weather we have here.

felix · Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:48 am

Hello Dials.
I did some looking back at your inquiry.
Please contact info@switchkites.com
It appears you did not get our final email to you .
Sorry you had to go to the forum with this for us to see you did not get your final reply. As during your time of request there were some issues with our email system.
Regards
Felix.

fluidity · Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:52 am

You're trying to blame post-sales abrasions from rubbing on rough surfaces on Switch??
Check the surfaces you've been letting your kite rub against and learn from your mistake!

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DIALS · Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:00 pm

felix wrote:Hello Dials.
I did some looking back at your inquiry.
Please contact info@switchkites.com
It appears you did not get our final email to you .
Sorry you had to go to the forum with this for us to see you did not get your final reply. As during your time of request there were some issues with our email system.
Regards
Felix.

I have emailed you on the above e-address ....Interesting to see the reply...Cheers..