UKC

Hello,

This topic might have been covered previously but let's see if anyone has specific advice for me.

I have a Mountain Equipment Lhotse jacket purchased around 18 months ago. It has been nikwaxed regularly. After roughly half a year I noticed that the fabric wasn't smooth as when new and there's now some delamination happening. It's all on the 40D sections whereas the 80D fabric is as good as new.

Here are some photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xRNdizfYACG5r9GfA

Is this normal for Goretex pro fabric or worth investigating? Does one need to accept that these jackets need replacing every so many years to avoid waterlogging and maintain fabric performance?

Emailed the shop where I purchased the jacket and they're advising to send the jacket in for testing. However I'll be expected to cover insured postage both ways, should ME decide it's not a technical fault. 

Any experience with this? Many thanks.

Mattia

That's delamination. I'd ask to return it for a refund. They probably won't just like that, but they should return it to ME or Gore, because that's faulty.

After 18 months I don't think you've much chance of compensation or replacement under the Sale Of Goods Act.

Not sure the SOGA has much to do with it. The ME warranty is for the useful life of the product, so more than 12 months in most instances. This is from the FAQ from the ME website...

I have a faulty product that I think should be fixed under guarantee?

Take it back to the retailer where you bought the product, most will require a proof of purchase of some sort. The products should be completely clean when you return them. The retailer will decide whether it is a warranty claim and if so will arrange for the item to be repaired or replaced.

In the last couple of years Black Diamond has replaced two items for me that were two to three years old, and did so on the strength of photo evidence and email. Excellent service, and I'd be surprised if ME were not as good.

Best of luck, David

Hi, 

I've had a haglofs jacket returned to see if they could repair a damaged hood...whilst inspecting they noticed a small area that had delaminated on the body...returned to gore for inspection and gore replaced the jacket....even tho it was 4years old and had been heavily used.

I wasn't after a new jacket or even a warranty so was very surprised but not at all unhappy.

In short probably worth sending it in!

Hope you helps P

Hello there, 

thanks for the replies. With regards to the delamination, the bubbling is most likely just that. Not much, but happening nevertheless. More interestingly, there seems to be some micro delamination across most of the front of the jacket on the thinner 40D fabric, whereas the 80D sections are totally fine. This makes me wonder if the 40D hasn't been manufactured quite as reliably?

I am in touch with the shop where the jacket was purchased and am being advised to send it in. Can't say I'm thrilled by the fact that I'm expected to pay for 2 way recorded delivery to the shop and back; this will be refunded IF the manufacturer accepts a fault. 

Anecdotally, I have previously dealt with Mountain Equipment in relation to leaking Drilite waterproof trousers, with frustrating results. ME insisted I sent the item back to the shop, the shop messed up and didn't communicate with ME. In the end the whole returns process took close to 2 months until the shop issued a refund while ME stated they had nothing to do with this specific returns process. Additionally, I never found out from ME whether the leaking trousers were faulty or just a badly designed product.

Okay, rant over. Let's see how it goes with the Jacket. 

My experiences of dealing with Gore returns back when I worked in retail was very positive - as others have said it sounds like delamination and, unless you've abused the bejesus out of it, will be covered.

My experiences of  Mountain Equipment (as a customer this time) is that their after sales is excellent. 

It is a ball ache having to shell out for postage costs and for the delay in returning stuff to the shop and them sending it on to the manufacturer but a significant number of returns are due to jackets wetting out / folk not washing jackets (retail experience again and no aspersions on you) so it is understandable that the manufacturer wants to test the jacket before a refund/replacement is made.

As you mentioned, you will get the postage refunded.

Hope it resolves itself quickly for you!

Hey I'm having the same problem on a Lhotse and a guy I know had similar problems on a older tupilak with the 40 denier patches any coincidence ME are moving all their gore pro stuff to 80 denier hmm I think not I haven't sent mine back mine is fairly old now and has had fairly alright usage so I will not be buying light fabrics again 75 denier + from now on 

I've sent the jacket off to the shop. They'll send it to ME for some testing. Let's see what they come back with. 

I'm expecting some sort of fix at the very least, as the 40D fabric looks nowhere near how it looked when the jacket was new. 

Will post a progress update when I know more

Considering the SOG Act was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act in 2015 I'd imagine not. 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents/enacted

Don't stress about it. I work for a major online outdoor retailer and we have a two year warranty as standard so the 18 months will make no difference to ME. Delamination is a commonly known Goretex fault and you'll be getting a new jacket or a full refund - I've never seen any manufacturer do a repair except Patagonia and even they don't play around with re-building Goretex. 

The best advice I can give is just to be polite, persistent and try not to sceptical - it's easy to feel like you're being messed around when you can't see the process going on in the background but realistically things like warranty claims take time to process (loads of logistics and paperwork plus the scale of the operation). 

Legally speaking the shop is allowed 30 days to handle it with the manufacturer so if they don't handle it in that time then feel free to push for some compensation in terms of vouchers etc - but bear in mind that you aren't entitled to it legally and that being nice about it (frustrating though it may be) is going to work a hell of a lot better than getting wriled up.

Hello,

So I've already heard back from the shop. They have received my jacket, been in touch with Mountain Equipment. They in turn have confirmed that there is a fault.

The shop have offered to send out a new jacket straight away rather than wait for ME to come back with any specific findings.

So overall I think this quality issue has been handled excellently, especially by the shop I have been dealing with.

Now, going forward i'd be happy usong a functioning Lhotse jacket, as it fits me well and has the features I need. An all-round great jacket. My only reservation concerns the quality of the 40D Goretex pro fabric. I am wondering if I might be better off paying some extra to acquire a jacket that doesn't use that specific fabric. As mentioned by a previous poster on this thread, ME aren't currently selling any models with 40D Goretex, leading me to believe that they've encountered problems with it in recent times and might have stopped that.

Any thoughts? Cheers.