A little over two weeks ago, I did the most remarkable dance in the middle of the Skykomish River. It lasted about five minutes, and ended, happily for me, with me on my feet. The reason for the dance was a Simms wading staff that collapsed on me at a critical moment. I am 70 years old and less steady on my feet in the river than I once was. Last March, I finally gave in and purchased what I thought was the top of the line wading staff. On paper, and in the shop, it was really great. It folded into a sheath and self assembled simply by pulling on the top segment. The staff was maintained assembled by a small pin that extended through a hole in the top segment.
After my super Simms staff collapsed, and my dance was over, I made my way to shore and examined it. Examination of the locking pin revealed that it was stuck in the tube and never really went through the hole. Thus, it was never locked and came apart easily. When I tried to get the pin to extend completely, it fell off into the tube.
Needless to say, the next day I fumed into the shop where I had purchased the staff, intent on doing some harm. The shop owner replaced the staff with another brand, which is less “perfected” and certainly more reliable. After that, I began to do a little research. This was two weeks ago. The first thing I did was go to the Simms web site. In very small print at the bottom of the home page there are simply the words “recall information”. Now, before the staff collapsed, I would have had to go to the Simms site, and then to the recall information page. However, having purchased the top of the line staff, I had absolutely no reason to go there before the collapse. Between the time I purchased the staff and the time it failed on me, I visited two shops that sell Simms products, but there was absolutely no indication that the staffs were defective. Furthermore, the shops were simply informed that the staffs were being recalled, but not why. As a result, they only returned unsold stock. So, what I am trying to say is that there wasno way that I could have known that the staff was defective. This is like selling a car with no brakes and failing to tell the buyer. It is dangerous and irresponsible. It demonstrates a complete and total callousness on the part of Simms as well as its vendors.
After my experience, I did go to the Simms web page and made my way to the “contact us” page. I wrote to them describing the incident etc and to date have not even received a reply.
Simms is an irresponsible company, incapable of dealing with faulty material even if failure of the material in question is life threatening. I wonder how their other products are.
After my super Simms staff collapsed, and my dance was over, I made my way to shore and examined it. Examination of the locking pin revealed that it was stuck in the tube and never really went through the hole. Thus, it was never locked and came apart easily. When I tried to get the pin to extend completely, it fell off into the tube.
Needless to say, the next day I fumed into the shop where I had purchased the staff, intent on doing some harm. The shop owner replaced the staff with another brand, which is less “perfected” and certainly more reliable. After that, I began to do a little research. This was two weeks ago. The first thing I did was go to the Simms web site. In very small print at the bottom of the home page there are simply the words “recall information”. Now, before the staff collapsed, I would have had to go to the Simms site, and then to the recall information page. However, having purchased the top of the line staff, I had absolutely no reason to go there before the collapse. Between the time I purchased the staff and the time it failed on me, I visited two shops that sell Simms products, but there was absolutely no indication that the staffs were defective. Furthermore, the shops were simply informed that the staffs were being recalled, but not why. As a result, they only returned unsold stock. So, what I am trying to say is that there wasno way that I could have known that the staff was defective. This is like selling a car with no brakes and failing to tell the buyer. It is dangerous and irresponsible. It demonstrates a complete and total callousness on the part of Simms as well as its vendors.
After my experience, I did go to the Simms web page and made my way to the “contact us” page. I wrote to them describing the incident etc and to date have not even received a reply.
Simms is an irresponsible company, incapable of dealing with faulty material even if failure of the material in question is life threatening. I wonder how their other products are.