Hipbelts on Ghosts….

I purchased a bronze Ghost in 2005, and it did include a hipbelt extension.

Ben saved my butt. He contacted MtSmith, and they are sending me an extender. So happy! And ben, you rock!

I just bought a bronze ghost off ebay – but no belt extender came with it and the standard hip-belt's a tad short for me.

In case I can't get one off Mountainsmith, does anyone have a photo of the extender so that I can copy it?

Thanks

If they don't have one for you (mine came in a week!). let me know, it would be very easy to make you one!

Speaking of Ghosts, Sarah, were you able to repair the mesh side pocket on yours?

Thanks Sarah, that's very kind of you. Who did you get the belt from? I emailed Mountainsmith's customer service department and got a response from Summit Hut (who do their customer service) who directed me to their Dealer Service Department.

Hmmmmm…Ben called MtSmith for me. Maybe he would know what department?

Ben, It will take me a whopping 5 minutes to repair the pocket. I just need to sit down and do it ;-)

Sarah: OK, good to know.

D.W. – Call Mountainsmith's warranty folks at 800.426.4075 and ask for a "hipbelt extender".

I always thought that Ben was working for Mountainsmith, (the Ghost special squad division)
Here in Aussie a few months ago Anaconda had the imitation gold version Ghost for $129, maybe they still have them. (they are out in the far burbs and I don't drive)
Franco
Outside a dog a book is men's best friend, and inside a dog it is too dark to read. ( Groucho)

Anaconda … never heard of them, sounds like there's been some changes while I've been away … but I'm moving back to Melbourne next month so there'll be lots to catch up with

Ok, I edited my remarks, since you edited yours. One might want to think out one's comments though before writing them. It wasn't very nice, even if you didn't mean it the way it came across.

Franco,that was out of line. I think Sarah looks just fine. Most men do not want a gross Nicole Richie skeleton type woman anyway.

Oh dear
Sarah I am sorry if I offended you, it usually takes a lot more to offend me.
That silly remark was just an attempt of humor and had really nothing to do with what you look like, mostly because I don't know and why would that matter to me ?
Franco

He who lives by edgy humor, dies by edgy humor. Condolences, Franco. I'll probably have my moment of infamy, too (that is if I haven't had or am having it already).
Sarah, you are no doubt the BPL "It" girl (woman, matron, whatever) and your avatar should grace the cover of the next BPL Print Magazine. :-P

P.S. I think Nicole Richie looks pretty hot. >:) I thought this site was all about light being right….

No problem. I changed my remarks as well. I know you were trying to be humorous, it just didn't come across well.

Girls just don't like comments like that, guys ;-)

Life with wife is an oxymoron that rhymes.

Listen to Nancy Reagan — JUST SAY NO!

Then there's the lower class east end of London* rhyming slang

However–"love and kisses that's my missus".

* the bowdlerizer profanity filter would not let me use "Coc-kney" –hyphen added to defeat it.

AND I'm really glad everyone got the hipbelts of their Ghosts taken care of and let's just move right along…

Maybe it's the Contrail or maybe it's just cause Sarah looks hot, but I agree with Kevin – and vote for Sarah on the next issue

Wow, seems like I missed some fireworks; but Franco, I too have let my fingers post something before thinking about it enough. At least we can edit our posts and apologize on this civil site.
But really Im posting to say I had a similar experience with my Mountainsmith Sting 45; the shoulder straps were way to short to be used when wearing bulky winter layers; and thats an alpine pack! And unlike a waist strap, you cant extend shoulder straps as far as I know. I ended up returning it where I bought it, and will probably never take the risk of ordering MS over the internet again.

It is cheap and not so heavy to include LONG straps, which the user can then cut down to size, so why don't they do it?! Granite Gear does just that,
MS never replied to my request for an RMA, nor my comments about straps. Poor customer service, poor design, poor quality control. IME.

Brett, you might say that Mountainsmith is a "Ghost" of it's former glory. They once had good customer service but I haven't dealt with them in many years.

True, true on the MS stuff. There was a time they were so very good. And they had great customer service back in that time.

Yet, when I saw a chance to pick up a Ghost and a Seraph before they disappeared, I couldn't pass it up ;-)

Sorry to read about your experience, Brett.

Not to excuse MS or anyone else, but when it comes to asking direct questions or making requests, I get much better response from picking up the old-fashioned telephone than typing out emails — small consolation to folks living halfway around the world, I know.

As most people know, MS discontinued the Ghost pack two years ago. When I called MS customer service for a hip belt extender for Sarah, the service rep no longer had any of those around. She took down my phone number, saying she would check with their warranty dept. and warehouse and get back to me. And she did — within the hour. I thought that was pretty good service.

I know the rap is that MS discontinued the Mountainlight series because they had too many complaints about the durability of the line…but that's obvious BS. As far as I'm concerned they shot themselves in the foot when they decided they 'needed' to stop making a line of products that was well received by a large portion of the hiking community and, at one time, seemed to be on the back of every other AT thruhiker. I wonder what their reasoning will be in a when, in a few years, they discontinue their current line of packs?

I know what the reasoning is behind this type of product management and marketing but at a certain point corporations need to let go of these stale business ideas that everything we buy soon needs to be replaced with newer, faster, better, more. Start focusing on sustainability. If any MS reps follow this board, and I'm sure some do, let me just say that this decision was a bad move.

"AND I'm really glad everyone got the hipbelts of their Ghosts taken care of and let's just move right along…"

HOLD ON A TICK, MY HIPBELT HADN'T BEEN TAKEN CARE OF – but I just got an email from Mountainsmith saying that they were sending an extender to London for me gratis.

Great customer service for a pack that's out of production.

And I finally worked out the avatar thingy …