Review: Arc'teryx Repair/Warranty Service in Europe

After getting a new Alpha Fl for a great deal it suffered several burns while in my trunk. The brake light housing came loose and popped out, exposing my the brake light bulb. The bulb then burned through my cilogear backpack and left several burn marks on my jacket! The horror! The horror!

The problem are two quarter sized burns (but not holes! didnt go all the way through) and two small brown marks from the heat I guess, but not burns.

To be clear, I realize and noted that this counts as my fault and will not be covered by the warranty. So I was expecting to pay for repairs. No problem.

I contacted Arc'teryx re repair options who responded in less than day. They sent me instructions on packaging and custom forms for sending the jacket to Switzerland where their European repair shop is.

But having it in Switzerland makes no sense for 3 reasons:

• Switzerland isn't in the EU, which means you have customs, potential fees and stuff getting held up at the border in both directions.
• They don't use the EURO.
• Very high labor costs.

I mailed my jacket Friday evening Sept 30th and got an email confirming receipt on Tue. Oct 4th. Less than 24hrs later, I got a quote, for 190 EUR to do four patches.

The average price here in Germany for the Alpha FL is 350 EUR. I paid 260 EUR on sale. I was shocked at the absurd price quoted. I can throw some gear tape on it for less than a buck or for 5 bucks use a goretex patch myself.

So in short, the communication was great, the speed has been great and overall the help and information was fantastic. But the pricing is absurd.

If It was an 800 EURO Alpha SV or something, ok, then that makes sense. I don't know if I can blame them because the Swiss Frank is strong and labor costs in Switzerland are high. Then there's the small materials cost for patches and someone to cut em, heat seal them ona nd then seam seal the inside. But these are very tiny repairs.

Just wanted to share the experience.