Simms kudos

[MCourtney]

Last fall, I was wading in my pair of Simms Freestones when I realized my backside was damp. These waders are probably 10 years old, and I probably sat in something along the way that left a 'stain' on the waders that was the cause of the leak. At home, I tried cleaning and sealing without success.

I initiated a repair with Simms, sent in the waders and about a week later, got a phone call from Simms Repairs. "Your waders are past the warranty date, however, we've decided to sent you a new pair, no charge." Great news. While on the phone, I asked if I could upgrade to a zip front pair if I paid the difference. "Yes".

I've seen some chatter bashing Simms. This is a good news story. I'm going to assume they're working hard to regain trust and are doing the right thing.
Mike

 

[FishyJere]

I had a similar experience. They lost my waders I sent in for repair and replaced them with a new pair. Quality product, quality organization.

 

[_WW_]

Well...that's a start.

 

[Eastside]

I sent my 10+ G4Z waders in for repair because my feet were getting damp. They replaced the neoprene boots and repaired a few pinhole leaks. When the repair was complete, they promptly sent them back. There was frequent communication by them during the repair process. Very happy with their service. Edit: I did pay the normal $60 repair fee; that was a bargain compared to the price of new waders.

 

[M_D]

I'll let you all know.....but I submitted a claim after reading the stuff above.

The seals on my G3 booties leak but after 5+ years of hard use, I figured that's the life of the product.

Now I guess we'll see what Simms has to say.

Thanks for starting the thread

 

[Tallguy]

Several years ago, I had slowly leaking neoprene feet on a pair of patagonia waders, after several years of use. I sent them in, specifically asking them to repair the neoprene feet, but not just replace with new waders because I wanted to promote repair it culture over throw away and get a new one requests. They replaced the neoprene feet only, and I wore those waders for several more years warm and dry with no problems.. I might recommend asking for that if you think the rest of the waders are still solid.

 

[M_D]

Got my waders back this morning and I believe they were fair with me.

If anyone else is considering having theirs refurbished, here are the details.

5+ year old G3's. Heavily used with lots of self repaired pin holes and 2 or 3 tears. I sent them in because the booty heels and welded seams were leaking.

~$20 shipping to Simms
~$60 for a new pair of booties, a couple additional repairs to the GoreTex, and return shipping.
~ 20 day turn around.

So for about $80, I have another solid pair of waders in the rotation.....seems reasonable to me.

 

[M_D]

Another surprise from Simms….

My 5 year old boots had a stitching fail that was allowing sand & gravel in



I debated whether or not it was worth it to contact Simms, thinking it would be a 6 week turn around for some re-stitching and I’d have to get some replacement boots, anyhow.

Instead I was told to keep the boots and that a replacement pair would be shipped in the next couple days.

I was impressed….evidently they’re still trying to keep customers happy

 

[Blackdogfishing]

Ha. Bought a very expensive pair of simms bootfoot waders. They developed a leak in the part of the boot that flexed after two years of moderate use in summers only for beach fishing (before i retired)- I sent them in and was told the design was flawed and they had fixed this problem in newer model designs. They said they attempted to fix mine but couldn’t but still refused to send me a new pair. I had previous issues with simms regarding a broken zipper on a jacket and stocking foot waders. Always seemed to go out of their way to be hard to deal with. I have not bought anything from simms since the boot foot waders incident. A good life lesson for simms- you only have one reputation. Don’t ruin it.