Simms Customer Service

[asherman]

Last summer, I sent my well used Simms Guide weight waders to Simms because the seam between the neoprene booties and the Gore Tex legs was leaking. The waders were pretty old, but Simms waders are supposed to have a lifetime guarantee on the workmanship. I sent the waders to Simms and their response was to charge me forty four dollars for replacing the neoprene feet. My waders were pretty old, but I figured that it was worth it to have the waders repaired so I could use them as spares.

 

I didn’t wear the repaired waders last year (I used my spare pair), but wore them twice this year to make sure that the repair was OK. Both times, I noticed that the repaired neoprene boot seam area was stiff and had some spots where the material was bunched up. The bunched up areas caused the waders to dig uncomfortably into my shin due the pressure from my gravel guards. The second time that I wore the waters this year, I noticed that the neoprene foot seam was leaking in pretty much the same spot where it was leaking the first time that I sent them in.

I called Simms repair department to find out how they were going to handle this, because I didn’t want to send the waders in a second time. The response from the person in the repair department was that I should use Simms web site to get another return authorization number and I should send the waders in again to have the feet repaired again.

 

I was not .pleased with that response. First of all, I did not want to pay to ship my waders to Simms a second time because this time it was Simms fault that the repair did not work. I also did not have a warm and fuzzy feeling that my waders would be any better the second time around. I figured that I might have wasted fifty dollars or so on getting my old waders repaired. I started thinking about buying a different brand of waders.

 

Before I pulled the trigger on buying some different waders, I decided that it might be worth sending Simms customer service an email that detailed what had happened. I sent the email to Simms in the morning, and during my lunch break the same day, I received a call from the head of customer service at Simms. He told me that he was not happy with the response of the repair person that I had spoken to and he apologized for what had happened. I was given the opportunity to buy a new pair of wader at a significant discount. I jumped at the offer and ordered a pair of G3 waders. I was pleased that Simms had made this offer and I told the customer service manager that I was happy that they had done what they needed to do to keep a satisfied customer.

 

I guess the moral of this story is that if you have a bad customer service experience with one person at a company, don’t make the assumption that the whole company is like that.. It is worth your time to contact someone else that might have a different approach on what it takes to properly take care of a customer’s problem.

[Gary L]

One guy who didn't have the authority to state policy on how they were going to handle this gave bad advise. You could have been soured on Simms and told all your friends about the poor Customer Service and they could have lost customers because of this one incident. The management should tell people in all departments to refer the customer to customer service. Sure glad the took good care of you.

[Fredmo]

I've had no repair experience with Simms, but when I bought a discount certificate for waders at the Blowout a couple of years ago, I called them to get an idea of exactly how to size me. They were very helpful, and the waders were as close as I ever hoped they'd be. Whoever I spoke with seemed to know what she was talking about, and made a happy customer out of me. They are pricey, but well worth it.