Lifetime Guarantees

07/01/2024

Today I received store credit from Eagle Creek due to their lifetime warranty.

Two of my Pack-Its stopped working: one due to a massive tear; the other due to the non-YKK (!) zippers running off the rails.

It took a little while to navigate the process (I started it at a time they may have been undergoing an acquisition/change of control).

But once I picked it back up and emailed them, it was fairly straightforward.

I needed to mark-up the items with "Warranty Void" across them. Which would have been a bad outcome had I done that before contacting them.

But it also made me assess which items do I have that have such a warranty (and value those).

According to the list here: 51 Companies With Lifetime Warranties: If It Breaks, They’ll Fix It

These are the items that I already have (or perhaps will purchase from soon, now that I know there's a warranty):

  1. Osprey
  2. Darn Tough Socks
  3. Zippo
  4. Davek Commuter Umbrella | High Quality Compact Umbrella | Top Umbrella (I'm going to consider getting this)
  5. Warranty | CRAFTSMAN next time I need tools....

This is different from warranties against defects, and those are definitely good, too. But the items above are for any kind of problems.

Does this incline me to purchase a product instead?

Yes.

Mostly.

For example, the CRAFTSMAN tools, I have picked from tools that got higher ratings from Wirecutter in the past; but after I had to throw away a drill which stopped working (A Makita), I've now reconsidered.