UKC

Wild Country Ltd. Helium Karabiner Recall

New Topic
Please Register as a New User in order to reply to this topic.
Martin Atkinson 19 Jul 2004
[Wild Country Ltd. Helium Karabiner Recall, 3 kb]Tideswell, Derbyshire (July 15th 2004) – Wild Country Ltd announce the recall of all Helium karabiners supplied to retail stores between April and July 2004.

In-process testing has identified a problem with a limited number of karabiners concerning the location of the gate on the nose of the karabiner under load. Should this problem occur in use the minimum breaking strength of the karabiner would be the "Gate Open" strength of 10kN.

Please arrange for the immediate return of all Helium karabiners to;

Wild Country Ltd, Meverill Rd, Tideswell, nr Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 8PY.

The products concerned are;

HELIUM - CLEAN WIRE - RED or SILVER
HELIUM 10MM DYNEEMA Quickdraw 13 or 18cm
OXYGEN-HELIUM 12mm Quickdraw 10 or 15 cm

The karabiners are marked with Batch Codes; AAA, AAB, AAC, AAD, AAE and AAF

All karabiners returned will be inspected and further testing will be undertaken.

We will be posting on web-sites and in forums as more information becomes available.

For help with identifying the product or for further information on the recall please contact us at; info@wildcountry.co.uk or by telephone on; 01298 871010.

Thank you for your co-operation and I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused, we will be making every effort to get your karabiners back to you as soon as possible.


Yours sincerely

Martin Atkinson
Managing Director


Tel: +44 (0)1298 871010, Fax: +44(0)1298 872077

Wild Country Ltd, Meverill Road, Tideswell,Buxton,Derbyshire,SK17 8PY

www.wildcountry.co.uk

dark_star 25 Jul 2004
In reply to Martin Atkinson: Things don't always work out, I'll still be buying your gear. Which is likely to break the wire or the nose & if you don't mind me asking, why? I've noticed the wire doesn't sit symetrically.
 johnt 25 Jul 2004
In reply to dark_star:I doubt if either would break - i believe the fault is in the casting of the internal angle of the nose which would result in the wire 'slipping off' instead of being held captive and providing the full strength of the karabiner.
In reply to Martin Atkinson: Any chance that they will be back in the shops by the beginning of September? I'm hoping to buy a set for a sport climbing trip.
dark_star 26 Jul 2004
In reply to Nick Smith: Have you tried Petzl's 'Spirits'? Sweetest clipping draw on the market.
Arthur 27 Jul 2004
In reply to Martin Atkinson:

Thanks Martin

I have a few (10) all AAB batch.

Pretty shoddy product verification and quality control on behalf of Wild Country on what on the face of it is a fairly straight forward issue. IE does the gate 'hold' under load.

Not impressed. Just glad we didn't take a whipper on one last week in the Dolomites.
stu mac 28 Jul 2004
WC made everything clear to us as soon as they knew. Dont let this put you off buying their gear, its still great.
In reply to dark_star: No, I hadn't heard of them. Just looked them up on a website...

Can't say I fancy them - I particularly want superlight wire gates. The WC Heliums look great - I hope they sort out the glitch and get them back in the shops soon!
dark_star 29 Jul 2004
In reply to Nick Smith: try 'em once, believe me you'll try 'em twice
OP tifa 30 Jul 2004
In reply to stew the bean:
You are one rude hormone, that should think in a wider visions about life. You must be very young and immature, or just that person that no one what’s to be associated with. Do your friends use you for your gear? Couldn’t be your personality or manors? Are you that person that every one frowns at, when at the crag? The person that’s really loud about all the wrong stuff, that knows everything about nothing? Has all the gear, but no idea!!
stu mac 31 Jul 2004
well said tifa, didnt want to be so cutting myself, but what a fool...
 John Alcock 05 Aug 2004
In reply to Martin Atkinson:
Martin, any idea when customers are going to get their heliums back/new ones sent out?
dark_star 06 Aug 2004
In reply to stew the bean: hombre possibly?
danukclimb 08 Aug 2004
In reply to stew the bean:
> (In reply to Martin Atkinson)
>
> What a load of toss.
>
> A disgrace on the part of WC
>
> I will never buy any WC stuff again and neither will my any of my mates.
>
> I hope you all go bust and loose your jobs :0)

Kk then i'll buy all your wild country gear of you for 99p you hate em so much!

Nothing wrong with them, there a very honest company, as you can see.
dark_star 11 Aug 2004
In reply to stew the bean: Hey Stew, I've just found a WC sticker while looking for my cheque book, you can have it for a fiver. No offers. J
graeme alderson 12 Aug 2004
In reply to Anonymous: http://www.bdel.com/about/ and look at the top left
danukclimb 12 Aug 2004
In reply to graeme alderson:
> http://www.bdel.com/about/ and look at the top left

you know how to put a smile on a face lol.
Dan
dark_star 12 Aug 2004
In reply to graeme alderson: Aint that just the funniest? Not one but two.
 John Alcock 16 Aug 2004
In reply to dark_star:
Come on Martin. What's happening?
I paid a load of money for new draws...now I don't have my draws or my money.
Dave Hunter, Rock + Run 17 Aug 2004
In reply to John Alcock:

Why don't you ask the shop you got them from for a refund, John? Then at least you'll have your money back.

As far as I'm aware (as of last week) WC are pretty sure they've got a solution but they need to re-tool their machinery. This unfortunately takes time.

It's unfortunate, but these things happen from time to time. WC acted promptly (FAR more promptly than legally obliged to) and are actively seeking a solution.

This kind of thing crops up with hardware sporadically. In this case, it's made worse because the product is so good, and was (rightly) heavily promoted so folk (rightly) feel frustrated.

Nobody wins.

But get a refund in the meantime.
The Voice of Reason 18 Aug 2004
In reply to Martin Atkinson: Ooh, there's been a zap, I was wondering when that might happen!
BONG 18 Aug 2004
In reply to The Voice of Reason:

can someone tell me what that was all about, what was the zap? I'm so confused reading the disjointed thread. I'm VERY nosey
The Voice of Reason 18 Aug 2004
In reply to BONG: Someone slagged of Wild Country products and said BD were better.

BD haven't paid for a PP, so the mods zapped it as WC have!
 John Alcock 20 Aug 2004
In reply to The Voice of Reason:
The shop I sent the draws back to have just told me I should get new ones in around two weeks.
Matt Jones 21 Aug 2004
In reply to Martin Atkinson: ha de bloody ha
This serves right all those gear freks who just bought them cos they were the lightest- should've stuck with DMM etc
bloody 'cans!
OP Anonymous 21 Aug 2004
In reply to Matt Jones:

> bloody 'cans!

Errm; aren't WC a British company?
The Voice of Reason 21 Aug 2004
In reply to Matt Jones: Of course WC krabs are made in the DMM factory, so that would make all the difference!
uyasusyagugyacascacac 23 Aug 2004
In reply to Matt Jones: oh dear.....Wild Country are british...and the product in question are made by DMM in the land of...Wales.


Wouldent it be funny if Mr Jones were welsh.....?
dark_star 26 Aug 2004
In reply to uyasusyagugyacascacac:
> Wouldent it be funny if Mr Jones were welsh.....?


Absolutely hilarious, we'd be buckled over laughing for days, might give us something to do while we await our quickdraws.
 Wilbur 27 Aug 2004
In reply to Martin Atkinson:

bugger - i'm sure i've got two of these.

i've looked at them a few times thinking they're not right and i'm sure i've taken falls on them over the last few months
 John Alcock 27 Aug 2004
In reply to Wilbur:
I took quite a few falls on mine before they were recalled.
I understand (very second hand)that the problem was that the prototypes (which were thoroughly tested) were individually milled.
Wild Country switched to a mould for mass production and the mould produced noses which were thinner at a vital point, so they're presumably having to remake the moulds. Oops.
 Wilbur 27 Aug 2004
In reply to John Alcock:

not good eh,

maybe i'll just take them back to the climbing shop instead of posting...
Dave Hunter, Rock + Run 28 Aug 2004
In reply to Wilbur:

Wild Country have just restocked us with the Heliums that we returned.
 sandy 28 Aug 2004
In reply to Dave Hunter, Rock + Run:
Just got a new set of quickdraws in the post. They are not the same ones I sent off "reworked" a new serial number "AAD T" rather than my old set which was AAB. Glad to have them back!

Andy
Dave Hunter, Rock + Run 28 Aug 2004
In reply to sandy:

I should clarify my post, which now seems ambiguous. We have not necessarily had the same krabs back. But they are the 'old' Helium's reworked, as yours are.

AAD was a recalled batch. The T designates them as retested.

Anyway, Heliums are now up and running again which is good news.
New Topic
Please Register as a New User in order to reply to this topic.
Loading Notifications...