Hi, new to kayaking… ordered the Recon 120 directly from Wilderness Systems and it showed up gashed (see photos) Looks to be about 3mm deep in 2 of the gashes. The seat strap was also missing a washer and nut.
I contacted Confluence (Wilderness Systems) filled out the Warranty form last Monday but no word back yet. My question is should I reject this Kayak? Is 3mm deep for a kayak and is that going to crack through at some point?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
Unfortunately I have more photos but as a new user I can only embed one.
Coincidentally I am expecting a new kayak by truck in about an hour. If it shows up with that kind of damage I will definitely reject it. Good luck with yours.
I would reject it, however your statement indicates you already accepted the delivery.
Let’s hope they are stand up and will take it back……on their dime
I guess it depends on how picky you are about appearances. Based on the pic, and for a poly boat, it doesn’t look like a deal-breaker to me. I once received a plastic touring boat from a major retailer with similar scratches/gouges. They offered ~25% of the purchase price as a discount, which I thought was generous, so I accepted. After a couple of outings, I never noticed them again.
I would call them on Monday plus send them what pictures you have by email. The scratches are likely cosmetic at worse for a rotomolded boat. Rotomolded boats are fairly indestructible in most cases. See if they will offer a substantial discount. It’s not in their best interest to pay return shipping and then shipping to send you a new boat, and then have to repair or sell the damaged boat at a discount themselves.
It’s up to you to determine what’s acceptable. See if they will still warranty the boat. That will tell you if they feel that the damage might create future problems.
Any clue whether the damage was done in shipping? If so, the shipping company pays the damages and WS will likely just exchange the boat. WS might want pictures of what it was shipped in.
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Individual boats shipped have high rates of damage - I’ve heard anecdotally like 1/4 to 1/3rd. Forklift damage (likely what you have there) seems the most common. The one boat I have had shipped direct to me also came like this.
The manufacturer will cover this. Generally they should offer to send you a replacement at no cost (which hopefully won;t also arrive damaged) or will give you a discount on the one you have there. So going to be your choice. Do you want to wait for a new boat that hopefully will come in without damage, or take a discount on this which what looks like cosmetic damage?
Doesn’t happen as often with boats sold to dealers as they buy by the container or truckload. And higher end composite boats also are generally sent in more substantial crates, protecting them when shipped.
We went through this with a 16’ touring boat I bought for my wife a few years ago. We finally received an acceptable (if not perfect) boat on the 4th try. Not an overly fun experience.
problem is that in my experience, the driver isn’t going to wait while you un-wrap your boat and check for damages. Unless the outer bag was torn, you probably would not notice it until later.
Send it back. Always inspect big deliveries before accepting them.
I ordered one new canoe in my life from Wenonah. The hull was really wavy. I sent it back and went back to used canoes.
HI everyone, thank you for the valuable responses… I’ll be contacting CitiBank on Tuesday to dispute the charges on my credit card. Wilderness systems terms do not allow refusal of deliver. I filled out the Warranty claim as instructed, twice. No Response. Emailed back to the customer service email which included the warranty link… no response. Called this past Monday and was told the warranty claim page of the website is not working so my claim was never received. He sent me an email with a link to submit my claim. A few minutes later, a different Rep emailed me back stating that I need to file through the warranty claim page. WTF.
