How is that unusual? Sometimes, prolly more often than not, gear can be repaired...particularly fair when UL/SUL gear has obviously been used, purchased more than ?? days ago or date purchased can't be verified, and has who knows how many days on it but still has useful life once repairs have been completed. It's unfair to
always expect a free to the customer replacement under this scenario. I don't think cottage industry manufacturers should always stop the presses making a repair a priority because one is on trail either although most do try to accommodate those in such situations. Free to the customer loaner gear is also an unreasonable expectation considering manufacturers like Zpacks are vending UL and SUL gear.
One of the primary reasons why customers specifically purchase UL/SUL cottage gear is because it is of not the same standards of product quality as conventional heavier gear. Again and again UL cottage gear manufacturers specifically alert their markets of the limitations of use of their products. If this is going to be ignored by the consumer how does that not reflect more on the consumer and less on the manufacturer?
Yeah, they could have made it "better",
, (perfect?), what ever that means, but can't we say that about the releases of various Windows Versions Microsoft released knowing there were still bugs to be figured out which were improved upon and rectified as needed after the release or an infinite other examples?
Since when do larger outdoor gear manufacturers and retailers always freely replace stuff? That has not been my experiences.
Definitely not an apologists for the UL cottage gear manufacturers. No need to make excuses for anyone but will try to understand various situations that lead to fair resolutions.