CaveGimp wrote:Let me set this straight so we can get back on topic. I wouldn't expect a new pair of boots after using them for quite a while, but if on my first trip, be it a hike or a cave, and the boot blew out I would expect new boots.
I'm sorry, but this is not setting the record straight. I'll remind you what you originally posted:
CaveGimp wrote:The X-marts and other box stores, REI, etc offer something the caver stores just couldn't afford. And that is returning stuff when it "falis to work properly" after a long cave trip. Heck, REI will take back my hiking boots after several years of hard use and give me a new pair. My wife bought climbing shoes, 6 months later we were pregnant with our first. Now her shoes no longer fit, so off to REI for a new pair. As we were talking to the guy he told us to bring in the old ones and they will exhcnage them for the bigger size.
You cannot say that returning a defective PT Apex, which was defective before even being used, and returning a pair of boots "after several years of hard use" are the same thing. The former is in the spirit of a retailer's warranty, the latter is abuse of that warranty.
Your first post seems to advocate abusing the warranty of large retailers, on the justification that they can "afford" the loss. I have news for you - large retailers post profits every single quarter; they pass those losses on to the consumer (you and me) as higher prices as well as on to the manufacturer who must raise prices (which means it gets passed on to consumers from every retailer).
Worse yet, if people like you continue to abuse these warranties, retailers and manufacturers will start to restrict them further, meaning that people with legitimate issues may not get replacements or refunds.