Ok, I just bought a 2004 Liquid Force Watson Handle from my local board shop. The plastic piece that covers the rope where the rope meets the bar completely tore and the EVA foam is tearing apart. I have used the handle about 5 times and it is already tearing. I talked to the owner and he said he would send it back no problem. Well my mom lives close to the store so I asked her to return it for me since I was leaving sunday night (the store is closed sunday). Well I get a phone call and they want me to pay shipping for the handle to be repaired. Should I be responsible for an $85 handle that lasted 2 and 1/2 weekends. I paid $85 expecting that I would be recieving good service and a warranty. He promised to fix have it returned at my expense. This doesnt make sense because I could have sent it back myself and paid shipping. I was hoping for better service on such a high priced item.

Read LF's warranty policy that came on the handle. As a LF dealer I would have to do the same thing as your local dealer. I might give you a handle to use until yours is fixed though (not new of course).

thats not too cool. hyperlite didnt charge me for shipping when my 3060s broke. and the bindings were 2001, over 2 years out of waranty.

I've had two handles completley brake, one set of byerly bindings, and a 03 byerly board brake in half. All of this was warranty, and I didn't pay a dime, even on shipping. All of these things were also replaced with the newer model, even the wakeboard. I would say that since you paid that much for the handle, the dealer should pay for the shipping, thats just being a good dealer even if LF doesn't cover it the dealer should pay it, in my opinion.

thats what i said. If the dealer is going to make me pay for shipping then he should have just given me Liquid Force's address. He would only waste my time because I would have to drive 30 minutes out of my way just to pay him $10 for shipping and then drive back to pick it up 2 weeks later.

My local boardshop (read one and only) just went out of business. While I symphatize with your plight, ten bucks for shipping seems reasonable. And I'm not sure what your mom has to do with it, but happy you included her with your story. Maybe she could help you out.

she bought it for me for my bday and lives 10 minutes from the boardshop. While i Live 30 minutes away with my dad. It was Sunday Night and I would not be in her area for another week. She could save me a lot of traveling by her returning it for me. Otherwise she has nothing to do with anything.

the shop should've given you a new one to keep, while they returned the defective product and kept the new one that lf returned. <BR> <BR>that's how the shops i've dealt with handled warranty situations.

that sounds like the best plan so far. I dont think I should be liable for the warranty if the product is defective. I paid $85 for a handle I could have bought on ebay for $40, But I wanted to support my local shop and get service with the handle in case something like this happened. I end up getting tagged with another $10 shipping charge.

While my bindings and board were gone, the boar shop I use let me have bindings and a board until mine got back. This would not happen if I used my local board shops either. I use Memphis Boat center, in memphis which is almost 5 hours from me, but I'm from there. I also have friends that go back and forth from there so its not a big deal to get something to there and back. Mayube you could find another shop that would take care of you like that, maybe a little farther away. I don't mind driving a little further especially if they take care of me really good. The amount of money that wakeboarding stuff costs now, they need to take care of there customers.

I agree with Joe, they should gve you a new one &amp; handle the warranty situation themselves. That's how any shop I worked at handled things. Plus they have a massive shipping account &amp; costs them next to nothing. They have the defective product, not you, it is no way your responsibility to cover their ass for crappy work. Stickto your guns &amp; refuse then demand a refund &amp; then ask the owner to explain how his/her defective product should cost you $, just have him explain then tear his reason apart with logical arguements, it's really quite easy to get your way...

WEAK WEAK WEAK. I also agree with Joe. My shop would have handed me a brand new handle on the spot. That shipping charge thing is crap.

A Good board shop wouldn't charge you for a replacement if they want to keep you as a customer. I would go somewhere else next time.