Naish Makani Paddle Review - SNAP!!!

[stoneaxe]

Sorry to sound so critical...I somehow missed that it was 3 weeks with little response. Silly to let things like this fester even if I do think they don't really have any obligation when you're outside he warranty. They should at least be talking and curious to see it.

Sorry for the confusion Quick...no idea why I use that figure of speech....other than being called a horse's ass on occasion I am not a horseman...

[supsurf-tw]

So every time a Channel Islands shortboard that breaks due to normal conditions Al Merrick is supposed to replace the board or offer another at a wholesale price? Let's be realistic. You buy something that is meant for sport and you want it light and to perform well. You use it for a year and it breaks. So every broken paddle now warrants a replacement because nobody did anything but just used it normally.

Naish should have responded in a timely manner, however many times the non response can be due to the attitude of the customer. Either way there should have been at least a response. Even if there was a response that said "Sorry but paddles break" that would at least have been something. At that point would OP come on the forum and whine until he got a new paddle? Does every manufacturer need to replace every broken paddle? I broke one and came on the forum and simply asked if there were opinions on a stronger paddle, no shaming the manufacturer. These are the guy building things for our pleasure. No paddles, no SUPing,

Maybe receipts for all paddles need to come with a signature line to be signed by the buyer acknowledging that paddles are susceptible to breakage and no guarantees are expressed of implied. 

Ultimately, I'm happy for the OP to have gotten a new paddle. Hopefully it was worth all the hassle.

[SaMoSUP]

I suggest we have a better filter system on the zone where new members can't just come on here and rant or promote something on their first few posts. I know of other forums that have a policy of screening the first few posts of new members. That would of course put more burden on Admin. But just a thought to chew on to minimize on trolling.

As this thread is now 4 pages, we have positively reinforced that anyone can go on the zone, shame a brand, and get new product after warranty expires. Social media at its finest. 

[supsurf-tw]

I suggest we have a better filter system on the zone where new members can't just come on here and rant or promote something on their first few posts. I know of other forums that have a policy of screening the first few posts of new members. That would of course put more burden on Admin. But just a thought to chew on to minimize on trolling.

As this thread is now 4 pages, we have positively reinforced that anyone can go on the zone, shame a brand, and get new product after warranty expires.

Agreed

[PonoBill]

I use "rode hard and put away wet" all the time, mainly because everything I own gets rode hard and put away wet. Good thing I don't have horses. 

Unless Admin is prepared to spend all his time policing the zone, the kind of discussion we've had here is the best antidote to social blackmail. I hope Naish reads this thread and understand that most of the folks here consider their solution to this incident to be above and beyond what anyone should expect. We all want our sporting equipment to be light, strong, and reasonably priced.

[Area 10]

If I broke a paddle out of warranty it would never occur to me to complain about it.

Someone I know backed his car over the shaft of his paddle. Soon afterwards it broke. He took it back to the retailer he'd bought it from about 6 months before and complained that it broke under use (leaving out the car incident). The retailer took a good look at it and then told him in no uncertain terms to go f£&k himself (this is the UK not the US, and we can be a bit robust in expressing our opinions). The customer told me about the retailer's response with incredulity. I asked him if he thought it was reasonable of him to complain about the breakage when he had previously run the paddle over. But he saw nothing wrong with his behaviour. He didn't even seem to understand that it might be considered morally dodgy to have deliberately not mentioned the vehicular incident to the retailer. As far as he was concerned, if he could get away with it, then it was right.

People are a bottomless pit of disappointment.

[Eagle]

I asked him if he thought it was reasonable of him to complain about the breakage when he had previously run the paddle over. But he saw nothing wrong with his behaviour. He didn't even seem to understand that it might be considered morally dodgy to have deliberately not mentioned the vehicular incident to the retailer. As far as he was concerned, if he could get away with it, then it was right.

People are a bottomless pit of disappointment.

That is very lame and very shameful.

[Eagle]

This is the amount of point load you normally require for failure of your blade for a single oscillation.  Our paddles all insert into a frog - and so would have a similar point load snap as shown if over stressed.  As expected that is precisely where our carbon fiber stress crack is on our old R8.5 - the max insertion point of the shaft.

The QB blade snaps in a different location down into the blade as Jim demonstrates.  Would think Naish also knows where their blades normally break just from warranty returns.  So it probably was a manufacturing defect or a user stress fracture caused from an impact if lightly loaded and used.  But being outside the warranty - Naish probs took action to make good for their non-response.  Making a customer so frustrated to post and rant is never good for business.  But do agree that posting does elucidate problems generally unknown.  And that is often useful information to those unaware.

[Quickbeam]

Sorry for the confusion Quick...no idea why I use that figure of speech....other than being called a horse's ass on occasion I am not a horseman...

Hey Stoneaxe,
No problem. I hadn't heard the expression and it just didn't make sense to me. I get it now.

[lucabrasi]

I asked him if he thought it was reasonable of him to complain about the breakage when he had previously run the paddle over. But he saw nothing wrong with his behaviour. He didn't even seem to understand that it might be considered morally dodgy to have deliberately not mentioned the vehicular incident to the retailer. As far as he was concerned, if he could get away with it, then it was right.

People are a bottomless pit of disappointment.

That is very lame and very shameful.

I liked this part as well.

If I broke a paddle out of warranty it would never occur to me to complain about it.

[PonoBill]

Eagle--actually Ke Nalu paddles do not insert a shaft into a frog. The blade has a stepped neck and inside the neck at right angles to force there's an I-beam that runs the length of the neck.  The lower end of the tapered shaft has several additional wraps of carbon for the last six inches, which is why I used to caution people about shortening the paddle by cutting the blade end--you can do it, you just can't take more than two inches off that end.

The paddles still break in the same place--at the junction where the stress riser is--but it's usually the shaft that breaks, not the blade, and shafts are relatively inexpensive and easier for an owner to repair. Heat up the broken shaft and take it off the blade, trim the broken end, hot glue back together.  Or just buy a new shaft and save the busted one for surf or whitewater.

For established businesses doing business in traditional fashion, warranty is an expense and it needs to be carefully managed to maintain profit. For startups and non-traditional businesses looking to grab market share, warranty is a marketing expense and a marketing issue. that's why Tesla is extraordinarily responsive and lenient about warranty stuff. Costco uses warranty as a marketing and cost management tool--they take it mostly out of the hide of their suppliers. When they're negotiating contracts they use prior warranty issues as a bludgeon.

Average consumer's think Costco, Nordstroms and Tesla are the appropriate model, failing to understand that one way or another, they pay for warranties for any company outside the startup model, where investors pay. You might think it's swell to be able to take anything back to Nordstroms, but it's one reason you're paying $200 for a shirt you'll find at K-mart in six months selling for $19.95.

[Eagle]

Yep - was aware of the Ke Nalu non-frog design.

MEC has a really good return policy as well.  And when I think of it - have probably spent many thousands extra dollars there because of it.  In relation to my very few warranty returns - the total amount spent is hugely greater and pays off handsomely for the coop.  It has pretty decent buying power now.  I get "dividend" cheques all the time because I spend so much there.  Haha.

MEC is doing fantastic in part because of its rock solid guarantee and loyalty of its members.  We buy pretty much whatever we can from there because of our confidence in the warranty.  And yes that cost is built in.  But some business models like MEC work really well selling items for a reasonable cost.  Something similar down there would be REI.

[Quickbeam]

MEC is a good example Eagle. They have a great return policy and their prices are usually in line with or better than competitors. I believe they do however have an advantage in that because they are a co-op they are not taxed at the same rate as regular brick and mortar stores. Not sure how it all works, but I remember one retailer quite some time ago complaining to me about the advantage MEC had.

All that aside though, a great store with good quality gear, competitive prices and basically a take it back whenever policy.

[mik911]

I hope Naish reads this thread and understand that most of the folks here consider their solution to this incident to be above and beyond what anyone should expect.

What.....lack of a response (for 3 wks)?

[Area 10]

I hope Naish reads this thread and understand that most of the folks here consider their solution to this incident to be above and beyond what anyone should expect.

What.....lack of a response (for 3 wks)?

Firstly, 3 weeks is nothing. These are not big companies personnel-wise and they will receive a huge volume of communications which have to be prioritised. I think people imagine that these brands are substantial corporations but they are actually pretty small outfits.

Second, the paddle was more than a year old and was out of warranty. I don't see that they needed to engage with this at all. They could have just told the retailers to say "sorry, it is out of warranty".

Perhaps the reason they didn't is because this isn't the first time we've heard about Naish paddles snapping. So they might be sensitive to the power of social media on this particular matter for them. Of course, this may reflect the typical user rather than the construction, however. For instance it may just be that these paddles are sold more frequently to beginners, and beginners have not yet learnt to take care of their gear. I have many paddles by many brands and paddle a lot. I have never broken one (although one did chip that was actually a manufacturing error admitted by the brand). I have friends who have the same paddles who paddle less, and who have broken many. Draw your own conclusions.

We don't know what the reality is here, so it would be wrong to cast judgement on either the OP or the brand. It looks like the issue was resolved in the end, quite generously. Breaks do happen, and it is probably more often a consequence of accidental (and sometimes unknowing) damage than manufacturing error. So, what's the beef?