Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Kuiu - never again

Had a very unfortunate experience with Kuiu and thought I'd pass along a bit of info that might help others in the future. If you purchase anything in the Outlet section, Kuiu will absolutely not stand behind the product. You have precisely zero warranty against defects and are simply SOL.

You'd think such an exclusion would be mentioned in the Terms & Conditions section, but it is not. I mentioned this to the Kuiu rep I was "working" with, but the company still hasn't bothered to update that section (it's been two weeks). In any case, wanted to give all of you a heads-up about the complete lack of warranty. Be careful.

In fairness and full disclosure, I was offered the option of shipping back the defective items on my dime for store credit. I was also very clearly told it was an exception being made and that Outlet items have ZERO WARRANTY. I declined the option because I was so disappointed in my experience with the products and the customer service that I had no interest in more Kuiu goods. Just the same, Kuiu did make the offer and it would be disingenuous of me to leave that out.

The belt is the only thing I haven't sent back. First Lite merino makes Kuiu look like Fruit of the Loom. Their sizes are all over the damn place and god forbid you have shoulders.

And the Ultra 6000 was happily replaced by a '90's Terraplane.

In all fairness, I've not tried any outerwear. Cool logo and pretty good marketing. If you like a decent case study.

But damn, stand by your schit....

The link shows the Terms and Conditions of Outlet purchases - one sentence and easy to understand.
Also note their items have lifetime warranty for the original owner if its used as intended.


http://store.kuiu.com/Articles.asp?ID=254

Not even fine print.

+1

I love First Lite. Not impressed with Kuiu

All outlet sales are final and not eligible for return or exchange.

That's precisely what it says, which is completely different from the Warranty section. When I brought this up to the Kuiu rep, he pulled out some other place (not in Terms & Conditions) where the exact same sentence added WARRANTY to the exclusion. Warranty is completely different from returns and exchanges.

I have a few Kuiu products that I own and like, the XXL Vais Guide jacket I have is the first generation *non-dcs* that actually fits a big man with actual shoulders.
I tried the later Chinese version and it is sewn for Taiwanese hunters I would guess.
The gear I own I have purchased USED but as new.
I WOULD NOT, AND WILL NOT patronize KUIU by buying new.

The company censors people who might criticize problem gear.
Gestapo-like business practices that I will not reward with one cent.

Also...you'll see here...they will pimp new gear and avoid addressing back ordered simple gear that any real company would stock...
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/9614332/Re:_KUIU_LIVE_EVENT!_2015_ICON#Post9614332
Of course ZERO response. It is the way they roll...

8snake,
The two terms are different because the intent Kuiu is to stipulate how they are each different. So on one had an originally purchased item is "good for life" and the Outlet item is literally buy at your own risk. Other manufacturers have "closeouts" "one of a kind" stuff that is an "all sales are final" proposition too.
Irregardless of the brand at issue here, you have no case.

I have no dog in the fight other than to correct a portion of this statement.
I have seen man posts critical of some aspect of a KUIU garment or backpack posted on their website.
Many times a staff member will enter in and explain the reason or why something is sewn.
This is why competition is a great thing for the consumer. Not only does it give them options but promotes competition. Its a win/win.

There is a definite difference between returns/exchanges and warranty. The Kuiu rep even said so, while digging up a reference to it in some obscure place that added WARRANTY to the exact sentence I quoted. Of course, that exclusion is not listed in the Terms & Conditions page. If it was, I wouldn't waste time telling people something that was plainly obvious.

If you want to throw money at Kuiu, have at it. I'm not trying a "case" here. I'm warning people who might have mistakenly thought, like me, that Kuiu would stand behind products that fall apart on the very first use. That's a piss-poor way to do business and I will never spend another dime at Kuiu. If you're cool with it, that is most certainly your prerogative.

Kuiu, started with a great hullabaloo and stressed how their gear was made here in Vancouver, BC to VERY high standards of QC.

Hairston, the guy behind it, went on a Stones Sheep hunt here and used this to show himself as one DUDE, man, he can hunt SHEEP in BC, WOW!!!

Shortly after this, he quietly moved all his manufacturing to ASIA, but, some items made there seemed advertised as made in BC, THE sheep country.

This, IMO, was a phony way of promoting just another line of trendy, mediocre gear made in Asia and such behaviour sucks. I know several serious mountain hunters who had Kuiu stuff at the beginning and were NOT impressed.

The finest mountain wear made anywhere is made here in Vancity, it is Westcomb and it is so far beyond Kuiu that no valid comparison can be made.

Soooo, I would never buy Kuiu stuff.

So a fella that buys at full retail the day before it goes on clearance is good to go? Kuiu is a boutique shop with Walmart service....lose/lose.

A warranty isn't about replacing broken schit, it's about making schit you know won't break.

In theory, I suppose. Wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that wearing the product voids warranty. I know that my chit couldn't hold up for a whole day of mild use without falling apart.

I've never used any KUIU products, but some people seem to be big fans. I have used First Lite products a lot and I think they are good products and good people to deal with.

Kuiu could take a lot of notes from your customer service, Kevin. You've exceeded my expectations more than once and I will happily do more business with you in the future.

Edit: My customer service with Kevin had absolutely nothing to do with product defects, either. I want to clarify that.

True....they are an incredible bunch of guys.

I reckon you guys got the 30% off First Lite Kanab pants email??

Yes sir.....

Easy there, I happen to think Walmart has far better service that KUIU...never had a problem returning anything from Walmart and always have been treated kindly and fairly.
And Walmart isn't built on back-ordered merchandise.

Winner!

snake, sorry to hear about your troubles, for me I've been very happy with my kuiu gear and only used there CS 1x, with no problems at all.

I know there's a joke somewhere in there about a dude wearing Kuiu 'oughtta be using a Vortex..... but.....

Yeah, it's sad cuz it seemed like they were gonna be a great company right out of the gate...

I have the same jacket Broomed, other than a ball cap it's the only KUIU piece I own. I actually bought 2 of them second hand as I picked up a x-large after realizing the large wouldn't allow much layering underneath.

Anyway, what do you guys think is the best product to apply to the jacket to help repel water. I know it's not a rain coat, but would like to enhance it's water repellent abilities.

Hello Everyone,

We're surprised to see this conversation here as we feel that our warranty department went above in beyond to satisfy the customer, given these circumstances:

The customer contacted the warranty department with photos of two Merino items that he purchased from the Outlet section on 9/6/2013 (560 days ago) and 3/19/2014 (366 days ago). The items clearly showed very little signs of wear, save for a few small round holes in each. By our estimation, these holes were very likely due to moths eating the fabric in storage (a common issue with Merino). Moth damage is very easy to identify- small holes close together with missing fabric. It looks just like an ember burn without the burn marks around the edges. The fact that the items spent the better part of up to a year and a half stationary in storage further supported our moth damage assumption. This was not a fabric issue.





These items did not qualify for warranty coverage for two reasons: Wear and tear/ misuse/ abuse does not fall under warranty, nor do Outlet purchases (More on Outlet Items below).

Even though the items did not technically qualify for return or exchange due to the guidelines above, our Warranty rep made the decision to go outside of policy and make an exception out of courtesy. The exception was to take both items with holes back (plus another piece bought at the same time without holes) for store credit which would have totaled $140.98. A prepaid shipping label was not part of the offer, as this service is reserved for true within-policy warranty claims.

Outlet Items are typically discontinued pieces that are sold at or below manufacturing cost. They are priced to move, and the buyer must decide before purchasing if the savings are worth the loss of warranty/exchange/return. These are all factors that are build into the final cost of a product for pretty much every company that sells anything. Our outlet items sell very quickly and almost everyone who buys them is happy to get a deal, regardless of the conditions.

Regarding the Outlet Policy statement on the Terms and Conditions page, we have realized there was a mistake: The full policy has always been posted in these terms under the Customer Service tab on our website. What we recently realized is that there's another link to what we thought was the same identical page (Terms & Conditions), but there were some discrepancies in the verbiage. This has been updated and we apologize for not catching it sooner.

I hope this explanation helps clear the air moving forward.

Glad to hear that you finally updated the policy. You should not be surprised at my disappointment, because I made it abundantly clear at the time of my conversations with the rep.

If you think those items were subject to wear and tear/misuse/abuse, that's absolutely pathetic. Those items were stored perfectly and used exactly ONE time for about six hours. The same way I treat literally dozens of other pieces of merino, yet yours is the only one that began falling apart with a single use. You most certainly have a merino problem, though I believe your rep claimed it has been improved some. I'll never know.

You claim to have a LIFETIME WARRANTY for your products, but you want to throw out the purchase date as an issue? Another load of crap. Just come out and say what's true. Kuiu will shirk responsibility any way it can.

You screwed up the terms and conditions page, KNEW IT for at least two or three weeks from me (and who knows how many others before that) and still didn't do anything to remedy an obvious & misleading problem. Let's not call it a discrepancy in verbiage. You had a problem and knew it, but shirked responsibility in a way that few other companies would.

People can vote with their dollars however they see fit. I hope many see your company for what it is and remember as much when they reach for their wallets. You'll certainly never see a dime from me again.

Other issues aside, I think you missed this part

Dude... They offered you your money back on old items that sat at your house for years and got eaten by moths! How is that shirking responsibility?

They were not eaten by moths. Those wear holes were not in the clothes prior to me wearing them and are not present in the other pair of merino bottoms that I bought and stored in the exact same way at the exact same time. This Kuiu merino is less durable than a wet Kleenex and simply fails when used.

I have a lot of merino wool. I store it all the exact same way and use it all a lot more than the Kuiu that I tried out exactly once. There are no holes or defects in any of my other merino products. If you think some magic moth sought out those two garments and chewed holes in them while I was wearing the wool, so be it. I know with absolute certainty that it didn't happen and that the holes resulted from wearing the products one time.

I'll also add that Kuiu said absolutely NOTHING to me about a moth issue when I came to them. The entire conversation was about Outlet items not being covered by warranty. My contention all along has been that Kuiu never stated as much in the Terms and Conditions page. Patrick supported this by admitting the same thing and then lamely calling it an error in verbiage. That "error in verbiage" is the difference between voiding warranty and honoring it.

Maybe it's just me, but if I bought underwear and held onto it for a year or more, I wouldn't expect the vendor to take it back for a full refund. Even without the holes.

I've got a couple pieces of their gear that I like, pants, and waterproof shell gloves. Also, a lightweight pack cover. I think I may have a softshell hoodie too.

And no, none of my rifles wear a Vortex.

Had not seen that, got a pair of them on order now, thanks for the heads up.

I'm a fan of the Kuiu outerwear, like guide and attack garments, and their rainwear. Prefer FirstLite merino base layers.

Got completely stiffed on a pair of Merino glove inserts last year during Kuiu's back order issues, but will chalk that up to a newbie CS rep. (Backordered, charged but not shipped, promised credit, never received after calls, etc.). I'll likely continue to be a customer, but will be very careful not to order unless it's in stock. Have had no issues with their products, so can't comment on how they handle warranty claims.

Am I following this correctly?

A year and a half later, Insects, and a demand for full refund, from a close out item?

For real?

That would be moth damage.

Nope nope nope.......

The clothing was destroyed in a single day of use, but then he stored it for a few years before bitching,,,,,,

or, he also said,

during storage, the fabric was damaged, again Kuiu's fault.

No Moths anywhere, just ask him.

This stuff blows my mind! A year and a half?

Are you even paying attention here?

The clothing was "used exactly ONE time for about six hours".

try to keep up Skippy.

Ahhhhh the internet.....

Will KUIU warranty replace other brands of moth damaged wool items?

I own 8 year old Cabela Microtex pants that have developed a hole in the backside after years of hard use. Will KUIU warranty this gear?

I'm sure there are some that have had issues with kuiu as with most any brand. I have had nothing but great service from them and will continue to support them. The attack and tiburon pants are IMO the best hunting pants I've used.

8Snake,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but......
This be moths. 100%. Moths.