Bushwalk Australia

by **Ent** » Thu 27 Jun, 2013 4:15 pm

So you have done your research and spent a large amount of money on your purchase, say a pack and then through an act of clumsiness you tread on a waist buckle and break it with you new ultra expensive bushwalking boots. No problem cost wise as it at most a five dollar part. But can you get one in Launceston? I like the pull forward waist strap system and it appears that I am not alone as One Planet, Osprey, Mountain Design and even Kathmandu amongst many brands have adopted this system. So you would think getting a 38mm waist buckle should be straight forward in a city with at least seven bushwalking shops. Err? No!!!!!! Not one shop stocked this basic spare part.

It is ridiculous the claims of customer service when a basic part is stocked by not one shop in a city considered a gateway to bushwalking. Years ago Allgoods had an excellent collection along with Mountain Design of bits and pieces that get broken or lost. This is no longer the case. Probably got feed up with the likes of Kathmandu and MacPac sending their customers there for these troublesome bits, or more likely have just lost sight of being a service based business.

Sadly due to a series of events my three spares are all gone. Sure I can use a less than optimum designed buckle or at worst a carabiner but honestly why when you have shops prepared to liberate huge quantity of money on selling products and then not even stock the basic spare parts for them. And yes more than one shop did not even understand the different buckle configurations.

In my travels I also noticed that Mountain Design on an expensive pack have stitched the buckle on :shock:

So your new purchase has a heavy footed bus employee stand on it and you are in need of some major repair work for what should be a minute replacement job on a One Planet or dare I say a Kathmandu pack. We are heading into an environment of cheap and nasty customer service (at a corporate not a sales person level) along with terrible design. Now if I was in the USA I would go online and order a few spares along with some nice shiny new gadget but freight cost makes this rather expensive in Australia.

Are I am to expect that my mega expensive bushwalking boots will require me to order laces from the USA? O'well time to construct a USA order and not have any money to spend locally on stuff.

Regards

by **Lady McGuyver** » Thu 27 Jun, 2013 7:52 pm

I have one

It's yours if ya wannit

by **Ent** » Fri 28 Jun, 2013 10:38 pm

Lady McGuyver wrote:I have one
It's yours if ya wannit

Yeap, dead or alive. I catch up as sure as likely I will need it. I will also check out MD in Devonport in case they have a few spares for the One Planet packs they sell.

Cheers

by **neilmny** » Sat 29 Jun, 2013 11:45 am

Sounds like an opportunity Ent, don't order 1 order several aand you become the local supplier.

by **Ent** » Sat 29 Jun, 2013 12:58 pm

Hi

If my business was selling bushwalking gear I would. In Devonport today and same story.

What puzzles me is every shop (minus Macpac and Kathmandu) is selling a less than optimum buckle that is designed not to make anyone happy. One end is a stitch on (pull forward) and the other is the lock type. Err? So you have a lock type buckle then you need to buy a slide lock as well.

What the hell is going on? Looked at more than a few packs and it appears that everyone is going for a slightly different buckle design so you need to replace both the female and male end. Heck, a buckle is a buckle unless you come up with much better design or build. Yes they are even colour matched with the pack that tells you that the designer is more interested in the catwalk than the boardwalk.

And as for stitch on plastic buckles? It appears that the cafe Latta designers are confusing a city park with a national park! Honestly MD do your designers actually bushwalk themselves?

O'well probably do as normal and track down what I want from a USA store and construct an order with a couple of other walkers to blow my budget on a range of clothes and gear so have no money to spend locally. Big hint, loyalty works both ways.

Regards

by **Nuts** » Sat 29 Jun, 2013 5:33 pm

Did you try Allgoods (Devo)? I got one there for my WE pack. Guess there are not enough people breaking them?

by **Ent** » Sat 29 Jun, 2013 6:13 pm

Hi Nuts

They did not have any. Looks like all bits need to be shrinked wrapped and bar coded to be sold nowadays. This adds to the cost and more likely fails to meet computer set sales levels. This approach combined with multitude of colours and types means spare parts locally will become even rarer. Trouble we consumers are the losers. In my case it is just a frustration but for someone heading off for a big walk would be a headache.

While breaking waist buckles is not too common it is not unheard of. Bit like tent poles. Never broken one but without access to spares your tent not ideal. On my MSR Nook I broke a clip and not one spare was in Australia. Due to it been a weird size it was near impossible to get a replacement. Finally MSR shipped two after no luck with the local distributor. They were happy to flog the tent at huge markup but not stock a two dollar clip.

I now look long and hard at items and more inclined to avoid gear that uses unnecessary custom bits or things that are likely to break.

Too many bushwalking shops are going the way of Chickenfeed, actually that retail model ultimately failed. It is annoying that in the USA things are just a click away.

My suggestion before you shell out on items such as walking poles or packs asked to see the common spares you will likely need. Else you will be throwing away boots when the laces fail.

by **Nuts** » Sat 29 Jun, 2013 6:37 pm

Simon Taylor Whips (behind CSR) (horse whips that is..)?
D'port Saddlery, Formby Road?

by **Ent** » Sat 29 Jun, 2013 7:02 pm

Hi Nuts

Will give them a go but OP being typical OP is sending through a few. Just have to love One Planet's customer service. Dam shame MD when it went corporate dumped the brand along with a lot of other good names. Given the turn over of staff I think they are not happy losing brands that regular customers brought.

Real pity is the one brand approach. As I have frequently written one brand can not do everything well for every user. Their MD packs can be very good or terrible depending on the model.