Re: [pct-l] RE: [CDT-L] Pur Hiker water filter

[Owen <jim_ginny_o@attglobal.net>]

Bighummel@aol.com wrote:
> 
> It has been my experience that you will get a much better response if you
> just play this little trick when sending a complaint into a company:
> 
> Compliment them or their product first, then put your compliant or demands
> afterward.
> 
> Ego is a great motivator.


Greg - 
I agree with you - but in this case, I neither wanted nor expected
anything from them.  The only thing I care about is that they pay more
attention to long distance hikers in the future. The original post went
out to about 1500 people - mostly in the long distance hiking community.
That's not the kind of publicity any manufacturer wants.  I didn't have
the time or energy to mess with them while I was on the trail - but I
don't "ignore" well. I tend to do nasty things to people who ignore me. 
It's a personal problem - maybe I'll work on it someday  :-)

It's been suggested, by Pur as well as by others, that I should have
called them. Maybe, but the fact is that I had to order a number of
filters - from the trail - from towns that had one public phone complete
with heat, wind and mosquitoes. That, plus the irritation of (several
times) taking an hour to pump 3 liters of water sometimes put me in a
mood such that they really wouldn't have wanted to talk to me. And it
didn't help that some of those cartridges were ordered long after I
expected a response from them.  I followed the directions in their
instructions for sending the cartridges to Pur - with the exception that
I didn't (and still don't) have "cash register receipts" for those
filters. It would be ridiculous to think that I would have a receipt
under the circumstances (in the middle of a thruhike) - and the
circumstances WERE explained in the letters I sent with the cartridges. 
The lack of receipts may be the reason I was ignored.  If so, they need
to rethink their return "policy" with respect to long distance hikers. 
I'd rather know that there was no support for the equipment I'm carrying
than to have someone tell me it carries a guarantee - and then fail to
honor that "guarantee" when I need it the most.  

Hmm - I was gonna just send this to pct-l, but I think it'll go out to
Pur as well.  

Walk softly,
Jim

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