By now you probably know that both Motodisiac and I really like Rev’it. We both own various Rev’it gear. And despite the very underrepresented nature of this brand we still somewhat stand by our gear preferences. Well, at least till a couple of weeks ago.

About 2-3 weeks ago I had noticed that one of the top pocket zippers on my Airforce jacket no longer operates properly. Not a big deal. Except the jacket is not even one year old. So this was clearly a warranty issue. Although not a show stopper I still thought it would have been nice if all zippers worked. So I decided to call Rev’it and ask if they could either fix it or replace my jacket all together. With this exactly 2 weeks ago I called the Rev’it corporate office in New York. Aron, the person I’d spoken to had agreed to replace the jacket. He said they had my size and color (M52 in silver) and the moment I ship out my jacket he’d reciprocate without actually waiting for my jacket to arrive. Excellent plan. However the reality was very different.

On Wednesday, June 11 I had sent a formal email with the description of my problem and my home address per Aron’s request so he could have a paper or rather e-trail. There had been no reply till next Tue, June 17. On that day a very apologetic Aron had sent me the return order number along with the prepaid UPS call tag. All I had to do was put my Airforce jacket in the box, print the UPS label, slap it on the box, drop it off at any UPS facility and let Aron know of this so he could send me the replacement jacket. That was promptly done by yours truly on Thur, June 19. On the morning of Fri, June 20 I had notified Aron of the above said event via email requesting the UPS tracking number for the new jacket he’d supposedly sent out as he’d promised.

Came the afternoon of Mon, Jun 23 and still no word from Aron. So I decided to press the action and call Rev’it. After speaking with Ally (hopefully the correct spelling) it had been established that not only Aron was out of the office and that him and the rest of the team were going to go to Holland for a week to come back on Jul 1 but also the fact that they were backordered on the silver Airforce jackets till at least Jun 30. Something Aron failed to mention to me.

At that point I became really frustrated and angry. Not only I was misled and tricked into giving up my jacket with no exact date of when I’d get the replacement. I was forced to ride in the 80-90 degree weather wearing a winter jacket that I don’t particularly enjoy to begin with.

Ally apologized for the inconvenience and had offered a very viable solution. Per her they did have the black Airforce jackets in stock and she could send one to me instead of the silver one as early as that same day (yesterday, Monday, Jun 23). She’d promised to email me the tracking number later that day. Great news. I was ecstatic.

Come today’s morning there was no email from Ally. I decided to check in with her in the early afternoon. Guess what? She made a mistake. They are actually back ordered on both black and silver Airforce jackets till at least Jun 30th. And as she’d forgotten to ask for my phone number she could not let me know of this unfortunate mistake. Well, it is 21st century, emails are a something of a useful commodity as well. I was getting increasingly pissed. So now the whole Rev’it team goes to Holland for a week to visit their head office while I am boiling in my winter Fieldsheer jacket out here in Southern California. On top of that there is no guarantee that the jackets will actually be available on Jun 30. Ally had promised to overnight me the replacement jacket the moment they become available. Though at this point I am not sure if I can take her word.

Currently I am really frustrated with the way Rev’it goes about their business over here in the US. Had I not called the first time (yesterday, Mon, Jun 23) I would have been patiently waiting for the news to come probably for one more week only to find out about their little field trip to Holland. Had I not called today, Tue, Jun 24 I as well would have probably been patiently waiting for the email from Ally to arrive in my inbox to no avail. And it seems that at this point there is no set date as to when I am going to get my replacement jacket.

So let’s review the overall timeline of this affair:

• Jun 11 - first contact made, replacement requested.
• Jun 17- prepaid UPS label received from Rev’it
• Jun 19 - my jacket shipped to Rev’it, replacement requested per agreement with Aron Ahlstrom
• Jun 20 - notification of my shipment is promptly ignored, replacement jacket not shipped
• Jun 23 - silver jackets are backordered, per Ally black Airforce jacket is to be shipped the same day or the next day at the latest with UPS tracking be emailed to me
• Jun 24 - after me calling Rev’it turns out that all Airforce jackets are backordered till Jun 30 at least as that is when they EXPECT them to come in. They are back from their trip to head office in Holland on Jul 1 which is when Ally had promised to call me with an update.

Almost 2 weeks into this affair and not only I don’t have the replacement jacket I don’t even have my own jacket. That is really bad. Kind of reminds of the Stoafer’s Alpinestars experience. Although the principle difference is that I am actually not talking to a middle man here. This is a perfect example of how a brand can easily loose a loyal customer. Updates on my Rev’it affair will be posted promptly.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Motorcycles, Street, Riding, Gear, Life, Learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.