Postby Jamie-NYC » Wed Jun 14, 2017 2:38 pm
It's hard to imagine that the dealer system will survive for kites, for the most part. Keeping a shop open near the water is an expensive prospect, and there just aren't huge volumes of kites sold. Indeed, sales volumes almost certainly go up when made direct online. Sure would be great to try all kites before you buy - that's very expensive too for shops and manufacturers. Is it worth it to pay 2x the price to have a chance to test a couple of kites? Opinions on that question will vary, but my guess is that the votes will be cast with dollars, and those will go to online sales. If online sales win, might as well be direct from the manufacturer, since kites will be much cheaper.
As far as Best, I have had zero issues with my kites, but have a friend who had strut separate from the leading edge in a crash (and exploded bladder to match), Best fixed no charge, no hassle. Personally I thought this remarkable because the trauma was so obviously from user error. I suspect that sometimes these cases of user-error get turned away, and from there comes some of the contention Best isn't the best with warranties. Anyway, I have read complaints about virtually every company on this site over the years - for manufacturers, trying to figure out a reasonable approach to "Lifetime Warranty" (which is madness IMHO) is a universal issue.
Tried to order a Roca 17m from the Best site yesterday paying with PayPal Express, and got message that the vendor could not be authenticated. Not good. Emailed to find out what's going on, awaiting response.