A moment of praise for Osprey’s lifetime warranty
I complain about bad customer service a lot so I feel I also need to call out the wins when they occur. I’ve had an Osprey backpack for… a really long time, on the order of several decades. I really really love it, it has lots of pockets that are exactly where I want them to be, while it’s not designed for a camelbak it has a slot that’s perfect for one, and it has a sleeve that’s intended for a bicycle U-lock but which also fits my mirrorless camera perfectly. I used it hard for a long time.
I ignored a broken buckle.
Or two
and patched a bunch of holes as best I could
(sugru is a weird and somewhat ugly choice but works surprisingly well for patching mesh fabric).
Finally the main zipper broke and it was unusable.
I needed to send it out for repair service.
Osprey has a lifetime repair warranty on their bags, but I was terrified — none of the current line seem quite as perfectly fit for my needs as this model is, and if they can’t repair the bag, the warranty says they’ll replace it. But then I discovered that they have a checkbox on the repair form that lets you specify that a bag has sentimental value, so they’ll return it to you if for some reason they couldn’t repair it.
Great! So I prepared to be without it for 6–8 weeks (itself a bit of a struggle), put all of the stuff that was in it into a bin, sent it in, and waited.
Today, I received it back, barely three weeks since they received it, with an absolutely beautiful repair job. They replaced the mesh panels and the broken buckles and zipper, and everything looks great.
Yes, it has a few scars to show for it, but that’s just character.
So a big thank you to Osprey customer service, hopefully I’ll see you again in another 20 years.
