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Blog post:
Boot Waterproofness: For Real???
and Gore-Tex Free Replacement of Used Boots!
Date:
this blog came out some time before year 2017. A facebook blog app
ceased to function, and MEDIC's back-up captured the content but not the date of
writing.
Short Story: Gore-Tex will buy you a new pair of boots if the Gore-Tex
waterproofness of the old ones have failed!
Full Story:
On one of my long-distance multi-night backpacking trips, it poured rain one day
and my hiking boots with Gore-Tex waterproof lining got soaked on the inside.
Since I wasn't wearing long waterproof pants or gaiters or similar (was just
wearing a GoLite poncho), I assumed that water must have run down my legs right
into my boots. It took a long time the next day to dry out the insides of
my boots by a fire.
A few months later, on a sunny local day hike I carefully crossed a stream and
was positive that the water level stayed well below the top of the waterproof
lining in the boot … yet my boots got wet inside.
Hmm … so at home, I took my boots, wedged them into a wash bin, weighed them
down so they would stay upright, and filled the bin with water up to a level
below the top of the waterproof lining. Sure enough, water entered in, one
boot right away and the other after about a half hour.
The boots were beyond their warranty period (I'm a weird size which Blue Ridge
Mountain Sports doesn't stock; had I been able to buy them at BRMS I could have
returned them anytime with receipt for a full refund!). I stuck the failed
boots in my closet.
I purchased a new pair of boots of a different brand name, with Gore-Tex lining,
directly from the manufacturer in case there were problems, and before ever
wearing them I did the water test. Fail! I was shocked. Brand
new un-touched boots. I returned them to the manufacturer, they offered
replacements but I figured any replacements would be a waste of my time and so I
opted for the full refund which they nicely offered.
Then I bought a different brand boot, tested them (for an hour) before wearing,
and *pass.* Hooray! These are the boots I now wear.
A few months later, I stumbled on the Gore-Tex website or maybe a product tag or
something and saw "lifetime guarantee." I called Gore-Tex, told them about
my now-3-year-old boots that started this whole story, and they said send them
in. I pulled them out of my closet, mailed them in, they tested them, and
agreed that the waterproofness had failed. They called me after their
testing, and said they'd either buy me a brand new pair of the same boots, or
use that value amount as a credit toward buying me any other boots out there.
Awesome! New boots are coming in the mail. Gore-Tex was a pleasure to deal
with, very nice on the phone, easy to work with, and their only caveat is that
the boots you mail in have life still in them (some useable tread left on them,
and no big tears or anything like that in the boot). Thank you Gore-Tex
for truly standing behind the waterproofness of products with your lining, for
life, no receipt required.
Bottom line:
> Test your boots for true waterproofness before you ever wear them, so you can
return them easily if needed.
> Buy your boots from Blue Ridge Mountain Sports (return any item with receipt,
any reason, any time, full refund), and/or consider requiring your boots to be
Gore-Tex, thanks to their also-excellent handling of failed waterproofness.
// Update 4/2017: I just went through the
mail-failed-boots-in-to-Gore-Tex cycle for the third or fourth time.
Success again! I went to Great Outdoor Provision Co., selected the desired
boots, called Gore-Tex, and they gave a charge card to GOPC over the phone.
Easy!
.
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