Western Mountaineering The Company

[Stuart Allie]

1. Discriminatory pricing. As an Australian resident, WM do not *allow* their online retailers to sell to me. (Is such a contract even legal?) The only Austalian based retailer inflates the prices by over 100% (which they can do because WM have given them an effective monopoly in Australia). I guess this is one American company that doesn't really believe in the free market…

2. No contact email on their web site so I can't even send them these comments.

[Andrew Richard]

Enough Said.

[Keith Selbo]

Have two of their bags, but I can't rate a company high if it is in no way interested in talking to it's customers. No contact info on the web site gets them a 1.

[F. Thomas Matica]

I have a new WM Summerlite. I love the bag. Good quality. Good materials. I don't expect less and did not get less.
The lack of a phone number on the website is ridiculous, absurd, rude! I was told, on the phone, by an employee that they want customers to talk to the dealers for advice. Who? The kids that work at the local shop and have to know 100s of products???!!! What kind of run around is that. Pay premium $$$$ and I can't even talk to someone who I expect to give expert advice. Maybe if they would tack another $100 onto the prices they could hire someone to take calls!
Customer service communication = 2.

[Bob Bankhead]

WM products are a 5+

WM the company does not sell direct, only through dealers, ergo end-user contacts would not be expected. Their printed catalogues do list their address and FAX and telephone numbers (or you can get it by Goggling them); their website only gives their address. To me, it's no big deal.

I called WM to inquire about possible custom options. They were very polite and responsive, but I was informed that the only customizing they offer is over fill, and that must be arranged by the selling dealer. I was even given the owner's email address should I want to inquire further.

I took my WM Hooded Aspen (now called the Sycamore)to a local dealer to buy a second one for my wife so we could zip them together. We discovered that
the zippers across the bottom of the bag had changed sizes in the 10 years since I bought mine, and the two sizes were incompatible. The dealer called WM and they offered to immediately sew up a new Sycamore with the old size zipper for no charge.

Now that's customer service for you!
–
TEL: 408-287-8944
FAX: 408-287-8946

[Ronald Feltner]

I'd never consider buying any other brand.

[Adam Criswell]

I was puzzled about the lack of contact information but after about 5 minutes of searching online I found all I needed. I had a small tear in my summerlite that needed repairing. When I called them up they were very helpful and told me to send it to them for repair. A couple of days later I received an email asking if I wanted the entire baffle replaced or a patch put on. As it was a small tear I said a patch was fine. A few more days later and the bag arrives at my door, repaired and free of charge. I cannot find the patch anywhere, I dont know if they actually replaced the baffle or not but the repair job was perfect. WM gets a 5 from me.

[Ben]

As was previously said. I also live in Australia and they will not allow american retailers to sell to us. Ridiculous. I was surprised that I managed to purchase 2 sleeping bags from hermitshut which is why they get a 2. The bags were 384. Would have been just shy of 800 to purchase locally.
This is no reflection on their products which are clearly held in very high regard by most.

[Mark Primack]

As I head out to northern Canada for two months, I thought I should have down pants. But my time was short. Hermit's Hut didn't have them, but got Western Mountaineering to drop ship them second day air. I couldn't be more pleased with the pants and their willingness to ship directly to a customer in need was much appreciated.

[Peter Evans]

I just got warranty replacement on a gore-tex Antelope I bought in 1991 because of delamination. That's 22 years ago!
I had to pay the price difference between the current model and the price then.
Amazing service IMHO.
I have a brand new gore windstopper 850 fill winter bag. :D

I'd give them an 11 if I could.

[David Moreno]

2 years ago I purchased a Western Mountaineering Apache bag with the overfill option.

I've been nothing short of extremely happy with the bag.

The purchase options with the overfill left a lot to be desired. Western Mountaineering offers it, but retailers don't.

I'll say it again. Western Mountaineering does not sell direct to the public, and instead you have to order through a distributer. Most distributers will not sell a bag with the overfill option.

I have had negative experiences with Backcountrygear, and decided not to purchase from them again, but had to order the bag through them for lack of any other dealers offering the overfill option.

Western Mountaineering makes great products, but I found their customer service to be very pompous and unhelpful.

[Kevin Kingma]

The reviews here pretty much echo what I have heard when talking to backpackers about WM. There are people who are WM devotees, to whom WM can do no wrong, but few who give more than just an anecdotal evaluation. My evaluation: their products are well made and of great quality, but they are near the top in price also. Their sleeping bags are generally well designed, come in R/L zip, but not perfect. The hood design does not allow closing to a breathing hole in very cold temps. This is a significant feature when trying to avoid frostbite and it is reasonable to expect a better hood for the price. Pointing this out to customer service brings an abrupt end to the phone conversation. I prefer to purchase from a company that is looking for ways to improve their products, not resting on its laurels. A good company, but not great.

[taetum shelyn]

I wanted a new bag and after much reading decided to get a wm bag got the phone number and called on a friday afternoon the gentalman who answered the phone was direct but friendly and answered a couple of technical questions i had then when i asked about price he very politely explained that they did not sell direct to the public and encouraged me to call the hermitshut in redding ca !i fallowed his advice and only after a 30 min convo with BoB the owner of that shop did I learn that the gentalman who answered the phone at wm was actully the owner of the company! The info I got from the Hermitshut got me the right bag and made me a life long customer so thanks western mountaineering

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