@Bruce. Your reporting of the “basic fact” is incorrect. While I did inquire about the possibility of making a deferred return exchange on a trip to the US in early January, I also mentioned that I would try to sell them here in Europe and that “the main thing” for me was to get pieces that fit right, for which I was willing to pay, all at a time when Senchi has changed its policy and no longer accepts orders from Europe. That change in ordering policy is also why I mentioned health issues among family back in the States so that Ryan could understand why I couldn’t just ask family to help me forward packages. @Dan: Unbelievably, that mention of family health issues in relation to the inability to have packages forwarded was misconstrued, rather deliberately, as a crude ploy to unscrupulously gain sympathy to feed an avaricious gear acquisition syndrome. It’s pertinent in this context to mention that while I did contact Ryan after the 30-day return window, it was preceded by a massive delay on Ryan’s own part in posting the order (as opposed to a delay in the actual shipping by USPS) that was double the lead time announced at the time of placing the order. During that long delay, Ryan made no effort to contact me. I think he might have even been unaware, because he only put the order into the shipping queue after I contacted him to remind him at the beginning of September, two months after the announced lead time (July). I didn’t make an issue out of this at any point in my correspondence with Ryan either before or after receiving the order. The only thing that I expressed about shipping, in fact, was my sympathy with the challenges that Ryan and others have had to face in the face of COVID delays and logistical issues. Not even one iota of pressure or dissatisfaction or even worry or concern about the unannounced extra long delay and subsequent radio silence was raised on my part at any point after placing the order. So from my perspective it looks like Ryan’s insistence on the one hand on a strict 30-day limit for returns while taking the liberty on the other hand of doubling the lead time opens up the question of double standards. Even after Ryan personally insulted me, I told him that all that was needed on his part was to be honest about the sizing issue, the other challenges he has faced, and apologize for that — while explicitly giving him the leeway to refuse, were he to choose to do so, to handle my request any further. Your characterization of “the whole thread devolv[ing] into inappropriateness” suggests a tit-for-tat equivalence. Not true.
Inevitably, these kinds of claims, counter-claims, and interpretations arise when people cannot read and re-read the original email exchange, which is why I invite Ryan to show up here and agree to that. At that point, if the mails were public, there would be no need for further commentary from either Mr Windus or Mr Solomon and everybody could come to their own conclusions.
@S Long. I’m 5’7″ and 152lbs. I have a thick frame/bones and well-developed muscles. The arms, especially the forearms, were wayyy too tight, almost impossible to get on/off without risk of tearing the Alpha. Also, the shoulders were constrictive to the point of preventing movement. The hood gave a nice tight fit at the face opening but the neck was stretched, did not follow the contours of the body, and fit very poorly. For info, in North American sizing, with brands like Patagonia, my size lies between a men’s S and M. A lot of companies basically outsource product development to the consumer these days, which is what Senchi seems to be doing unfortunately. No doubt Senchi will revise their sizing system, but will they revise their attitude?
@baja bob I didn’t read the posts on Reddit before ordering.
@everyone In general, with cottage manufacturers, especially new start-ups, one has to be prepared for a certain amount of risk in ordering. For instance, about ten years ago I ordered a pack from a new cottage maker who won early praise for his designs. A year later when my pack had sustained user-induced damage, there was no way to contact the original maker/seller about repairs because he had completely closed shop and wasn’t answering emails. Never occurred to me at that point to complain in public. If you want an “Iron-clad guarantee” (wink at Patagonia), you need to look elsewhere. I could go on with a long list of happy and unhappy experiences with cottage manufacturers but in each case up until now I’ve never ever even once taken any of the unhappy stuff public. Certainly wouldn’t have done so in this case, either, if the seller could have just been up front in admitting that the sizing information was misleading and that he was making an honest effort to correct that in the future instead of deflecting, denying, and then hurling insulting innuendo at me.
.
