Used gear and manufacturer support.

[AlexCrowley 0]

My apologies if someone has asked this question previously.

I'm a first time buyer, hoping to buy used. What are vendors and manufacturers approaches to customer support if you're not the original purchaser.

The rig I'm hoping for is recent, barely used and includes: infinity container, performance designs canopies, cypres AAD.

Coming from less customer friendly industries (music and technology) it is somewhat of a concern over the long term.

Thanks in advance.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[hookitt 1]

The manufacturers listed have great customer support for the life of the equipment regardless of who owns it.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Guest]

[newbie response]

I've spoken and traded emails with several manufacturers regarding their products. If you have a serial number, best/easiest is to email them the rig/canopy serial number with your questions (Freefly friendly, mods needed from the original release, originally sized for what canopies & jumper, etc) and phone number, you'll usually get an email back same or next day. I've only bothered companies when I plan to go ahead and buy the rig if all the sizes etc are okay, just haven't found my rig yet.

(Obviously) Also talk to your AFF/Is and riggers about all your gear purchases and contemplations.
.02

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.

[bob.dino 1]

Quote

Coming from less customer friendly industries (music and technology) it is somewhat of a concern over the long term.

There's a huge amount of second-hand gear in skydiving. Many (most?) people's first set of gear is bought used. In my relatively short time in the sport, I've never heard of a service issue attributed to the equipment not having been bought new.

[AlexCrowley 0]

Thanks for the responses. It's a nice change from tech gear being out of service the second you resell it.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[riggerrob 643]

Most of the manufacturers are great about providing after-market support for second-hand gear.
For example: PD, Icarus and Strong have all sent me line kits this year.
We recently got several tandem rigs back from Strong Enterprises after their 8-year inspections.
SSK always turns around 8-year-checks on Cypres quickly.
Sun Path sent me harness dimensions for the recent service bulletin on adjustable harnesses. Last week they sent me dimensions for re-sizing a second-hand Javelin. And they are waiting for me to tell them what color to cut some webbing for re-sizing another harness.

Relative Workshop is currently sewing up a replacement flap for another of my customers.

Oh, and during the 3 years that I ran Rigging Innovations' Repair Department, I rarely knew - or cared - whether the first or second owner sent it in. I also did a lot of repairs and updates for free, because the paperwork would have taken longer than the sewing.