Cabrinha....Worst Customer Service?

[klimber]

sorry windyboy, but this is BS

This just pisses me off to some thing happened to my 05 nitro 7.5m it was almost new until bam the canopy split and then I sewed it together and another panel ripped. Cabrinha has the lowest quility of all brands best is 100x better I know 3 people that have cabrinhas and bests they all say best is a much better quality kite then cabrinha. Cabrinha uses thin decron on the leading edge and struts also the canopy is much thinner then best or other brands. I have a 05 16m naish torch, 06 best yarga pro 11m, 05 7.5m nitro, 9m fuel 05 they all are much better in the built quality then the nitro. Also the best built was my fuel then torch then yarga and nitro at the end and the nitro I have only used like 15 times when it ripped. Also what pisses me off everyone attacks best for cheap ass matereils that are used but that is not true it is the over priced cabrinhas that use cheap assed materail.

now read another post!

http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/kiteb ... php?t=2244

I got some very good gear for you a whole package. The 2004 7.5m Nitro is from Cabrinha it is equipped with Recon which make it very easy to relaunch. The Nitro shoots upwind with little or almost no downwind pull. The best days were on this kite because it is very fun to fly and is very fast and has almost no bar pressure. The kite was ripped in half because of one windy day when there was a squall I pulled my quick release and the leash ripped because I used a suicide leash by hooking the leash on to the chicken loop so it ended up being ripped in a fence that is the only damage done to the kite. But also the black thing on the leading edge ripped off but it can be easily sewwed back on not very hard. I fixxed the rip with kite tape and it holding strong. I'm also selling a Best bar and 27m lines with the kite. The bar is in good condition. The lines are too but exept that I made knots at the end because I had 2 pairs of lines from different kites and some a bit longer because of streching but now they are exactly the same lenght. The lines are in very good condition. I'm also including a board in this auction it is a liquid Force board it is 138X like 42 or 43 cm. It planes very early. I'm sorry but the are no fins included with the board. The board is bad condition it has two big dings that have been fixed with epoxy it is still holding strong just doesn't look very good. It doesn't affect the proformance in any way it is just bad looking. This board has great pop. This board was used as a wake board and a kite board for doing unhooked tricks. In a couple of places I filled up the fin holes with epoxy because I wasn't going to use them. The board comes with pads and straps but no fins. THe wind range for a 170 pound person with this board and kite is from 18-34/35 knots it has a big wind range. This kite is good for begginers-pros it depends in what kind of wind you use it. Also will include pump. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me them. My auction link here

http://cgi.ebay.com/2004-Cabrinha-7-5m- ... dZViewItem

I can give you this whole package for $300. Please contact me at sankiteboarding2005@yahoo.com

your nitro fallin aprt was YOUR fault , crashin it into a fence boy...best days of your life!!!!


Personally I have been very happy with my crossbows , their durability and the customer service I have gotten from cabrinha. I have also been happy with my waroo and Yargas , their durability and customer service I got from BEST.

I'm not sure what connection you now have with BEST, must have something to do with FatBloke giving you a ride in their bus and staying the night at your house. I do see your selling all your brand new 14 and 16 waroos. what brand you guuna hype up this month Windy!

S T F U

(i suppose you don't want that plywood board anymore?)

[gordonway]

HI All

First I apologise – this is going to be a long reply but I think it is important that I explain who I am, how we handle warranties and what we have done in this case.

My name is Gordon Way, I am the MD of Ultra Sport Europe – we handle the distribution of Cabrinha in the UK. So I am not unbiased - but I am, above all else, interested in customer service. We’ve been here for 30
years and I hope to be around for another 30 or so (doubt it at my age!) – customer service is what we live on… and what we die on if we don’t take care..

I thought it may help if we let you know how we handle warranties – and by going through this particular case will help you all understand how it works.

When we first received notification of this warranty it was difficult to assess from the photos sent in. Chris Martin (UK Brand Manager) consulted Cabrinha HQ who also agreed that it was difficult to tell. We arranged for the kite to be sent back to Cygnus Sails in Kettering. They are completely independent and have nothing to do with Ultra Sport - apart from the fact that they are our authorised Cabrinha (and many other brands) repair centre. In this situation, as we were not clear (and had not seen the kite), we left the decision to Cygnus. It was their decision that the kite was not warranty although they acknowledged that it had had very little use. Their assessment was that the damage had been caused by an impact!

So it was not warranty – in the opinion of an independent and specialist repair centre. In spite of this we agreed that we would cover the costs of the repairs (Cygnus said that they could get the kite “like newâ€Â

[graphicsguy]

Hi Gordon,

Thankyou for your reply. I appreciate the effort put in to your response and the generous offer. When time allows I shall be in contact.

Thankyou again.

Regards,

Tony

[kitesurf-ripper]

[quote="gordonway"]HI All

First I apologise – this is going to be a long reply but I think it is important that I explain who I am, how we handle warranties and what we have done in this case.

My name is Gordon Way, I am the MD of Ultra Sport Europe – we handle the distribution of Cabrinha in the UK. So I am not unbiased - but I am, above all else, interested in customer service. We’ve been here for 30
years and I hope to be around for another 30 or so (doubt it at my age!) – customer service is what we live on… and what we die on if we don’t take care..

I thought it may help if we let you know how we handle warranties – and by going through this particular case will help you all understand how it works.

When we first received notification of this warranty it was difficult to assess from the photos sent in. Chris Martin (UK Brand Manager) consulted Cabrinha HQ who also agreed that it was difficult to tell. We arranged for the kite to be sent back to Cygnus Sails in Kettering. They are completely independent and have nothing to do with Ultra Sport - apart from the fact that they are our authorised Cabrinha (and many other brands) repair centre. In this situation, as we were not clear (and had not seen the kite), we left the decision to Cygnus. It was their decision that the kite was not warranty although they acknowledged that it had had very little use. Their assessment was that the damage had been caused by an impact!

So it was not warranty – in the opinion of an independent and specialist repair centre. In spite of this we agreed that we would cover the costs of the repairs (Cygnus said that they could get the kite “like newâ€Â

[efvrvo]

Dear gordonway

I found it quite funny that you say that customer support is a number 1 issue to you, when clearly from your e-mail you show completely the opposite.

Firstly I found it appalling that you wash your hand of any responsibility by passing a warranty decision to a third party company (Cygnus). If customer support is important to you and your company then take responsibility and decide YOURESELF about issues which have such a major impact to your company.

Second of all if a kite has a very little use and probably been damaged by a by an impact (That was the sails masters Cygnus said) then it is more than clear that the kite should have been replaced. I kite is build to take an impact you know it is not a car. I say that because probably you have never kited before.

So bottom line is that with your e-mail you verified that the customer support culture in your company is terrible, and because you are the MD of the company you have a major part to that problem. By doing what you did you now have a bad name and you also lost quite a few customers as well. The kitesurf business is small and be cause of that you should be careful about decisions and think twice, as the impact can be very big.

Regards,

kitesurf-ripper

This must be the most brain dead response I have ever read. With a response like this I can see why you can't keep your kites in one piece.

P.S. Naish is a good brand for kiters that can't keep their kite in the air

[gordonway]

HI - I think you miss the point of my reply. Amazing how things can be taken out of context here. We allow Cygnus to take the decisions on kites (and sails) as they are independent and they are certainly 'experts'. Of course we can take decisions but we found out many years ago that, as Cygnus are going to undertake the repair, it is far easier for them to make the judgement. We trust them. In the same way that we have third parties make a judgement call (and repair) on boards, wetsuits, sails, snowboards. Of course we could get all the repair facilities in house - but that would cost a fortune and the prices would have to go up. EVERY distributor in the UK uses third party repair centres - I cannot comment whether they allow those third party repair centres to make the calls on warranty/no warranty - but I am sure that some do. Maybe all do.
I think you need to 'calm down dear" (sorry that's supposed to be a joke and lightheareted - please don't jump down my throat again).
So - we are not trying to 'pass the buck" - we do accept responsibility but we are happy to allow third party experts to make that call on our and the customer behalf - I don't think that's a bad thing.
I am surprised by the vitriol of your reply - is there someway I can try and make your day better (hey - again - it's supposed to be said with a smile so please don't jump down my throat).

Take care
G

[Trant]

Good on you Gordon for keeping your cool and sense of humour!

[mickpilch]

The guys at Cygnus have been a working sail loft since 1975, they were into kitesurfing and as a result repairing kites since day 1.

They are pretty much acknowledged as one, if not the best in the industry, they are usually the first to know if there are issues with kit and are often instrumental in finding solutions to problems or faults.

Repairing this stuff is an art, especially when you see the things fly like new when they've been ripped to shreads.

I can't think of many people more qualified to assess kites for warranty issues - they've seen it all and put it back together again!

[murdoc]

it looks like there's ab bit of a mixup between the SB and the SBII .
judging from the pics of the original post, it looks like a SB.
i've used this kite in courses in the 06 season.
and broke quite a few in a quite similar manner.
they were sewn in a wrong manner, holes too close to each other, thus perforating the material.
but actually, we had no problems with the service of cabrinha germany.

[whipPed]

I have had a Cabrinha Switchblade and I have smashed it hard on water before many times when stuffing up a trick and have never had any problem. I also know that Cabrinha has improved the material used on all new kites, including the Contra, Crossbow 2 and Switchblade 2. How ever I recently witnessed a Crossbow 2 being torn in half(not through bladder) when it was smashed into the water by a beginner in 20 or knots.

Only problem that I have found on my SB is the lines running through the pulleys wearing out, but have seen the same thing happen to many other bow kites, NOT made by Cabrinha.

Regards.Lewis