UKH

Are absolutely fantastic. I've a feeling somebody might have trodden on a waist buckle on a back pack and crushed it. Got home last night about 11PM wondering where to get another and just emailed their customer services via a fill in form on the Montane website. By the time I got up this morning I get an email telling me that one is in the post already.

Aside from finding their kit wonderful, it's back up like this that makes consumers consider their range first. If anyone from the brand reads these threads then thanks very much.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

I've had similar excellent service from Montane. I lost a stuff sac for a lightweight jacket and enquired whether it was possible to purchase a replacement, and by return I had an email asking for my postal address and a free replacement was in the post the next day. Couldn't ask for better. 

In reply to olddirtydoggy: similarly good experience of customer service here - so far they've replaced about 6 waist belt buckles free of charge.  

I only wish they'd stop putting shit buckles on their kit instead.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Great post. Nice to see credit where it is due. We are all so quick to criticise so its nice to recognise and praise companies that do the 'righ thing'.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Good on you for highlighting this, would certainly make me consider buying Montane stuff in the future, never heard anything negative about their gear.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

I've got 2 pairs of their Dyno shorts, which are very good - if they could sort out the belt loop spacing and make the back pocket bigger, they'd be unbeatable.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Excellent customer service, good innovation, limited fashion clothing line (looking at you, Rab, TNF and others!), brilliant quality and nice ethos. Throw in some races they organise and BMC partnership... 

I am Montane fanboy these days. 

In reply to PPP:

I'm reviewing three Montane items at the moment for UKC, two pieces of clothing and a pack. The pack was supplied with a faulty cord lock on the main drawcord - so the pack wouldn't close. I've since had a look at some in a shop and notice 3 out of the 5 they had on the shelf all had the same broken cordlock as the review one has. On both the items of clothing plastic press studs failed - pulling out of the material - within a few days of use. 

I'm waiting to hear back from Montane what they would do in these cases had I been a 'normal customer'. I can't imagine any are complicated fixes, but with manufacturing all being done overseas, I wonder if they have any workshop facilities and staff who can fix things here in the UK. Although I'm sure customers really appreciate getting a brand new replacement item, from an environmental perspective the worst case scenario would be an otherwise great jacket or pair of troos getting sent to landfill because of one faulty press stud.

In reply to TobyA:

I believe they do, as I have had several worn out zip sliders replaced with the above mentioned excellent service, rather than perfectly good gear going in the bin.

In reply to TobyA:

Shame to hear bits falling off, other than the ultra alpine sack I've always found the kit great. On the website they offer repairs so I would say it's safe to assume they are doing that here. Looking forward to your write up.

In reply to TobyA:

That's really worrying, 3 items and each item having a failure. Ok, maybe it's only a cordlock or popper, still shouldn't happen, on a brand of this stature!

I like Montane, have recently bought a Northstar Lite down jacket, amazing value for £100 (Trekitt). Did notice a few loose threads around zip, hem drawcord does seem a bit lightweight, time will tell once I start wearing it! On the surface thought, does strike me as a 'proper duvet', light enough to carry on hill.

Stuart

In reply to TobyA:

I gave up on Montane a long time ago due to poor quality issues. Sounds like things have not changed

In reply to 9WS9c3jps92HFTEp:

Can you be more specific what sort of issues you had? And did you/they try to get the resolved? I reviewed a pair of Terras a decade ago https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/clothing/legwear/montane__terra_pant-1970 and they are still going strong - including the plastic poppers, so I know that they do make great quality kit, I'm just worried the press studs they are using this year have a design or manufacturing problem.

But interested to hear others' experiences positive and negative.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Personally I've not had any issues with Montane kit (since 2009) from packs to tops and have found the repair team very helpful for in and out of warranty repairs. The odd small issue here and there like with any company but nothing serious thankfully!

In reply to TobyA:

I bought an Extreme smock over the winter and the underarm stitching went after a few hillwalking outings...retailer gave me a refund under warranty, Not great for something sold as 'built without compromise'. Also have a Fang running vest (pack) which I managed to rip on its first outing...I had some keys in the front pocket which must have pressed through the material. So my own fault but surprised how easily it happened...

Older kit has lasted better - various pairs of Terra trousers which are years old are still going strong...

In reply to TobyA:

Interesting, because most of my stuff is now Montane and never had an issue! The only time the Terra's popper failed, they fixed it free of charge, without asking for a receipt. Proves a point that it's really personal experience when we say "quality stuff from brand X". 

I had 2 Mountain Equipment garments (Janak jacket and gaiters) which had drawcords fail within half a year. Both times I got my money back, but it didn't feel right to throw away things that were perfectly fine otherwise.

In reply to TobyA:

Terra Pants - I am guessing 10 years ago - zips failed within months

and something windproof (again guessing 8 - 10 years ago) - poor stitching 

And no, I didn't bother trying to get either sorted as I had lost faith in them by that point

Plus

Waterproof Jackets (2013/14 ish?) - Best described as a sieve, we had quite a few for a group. Pretty much all the same - leaky. I was not decision making purchaser as I was already unconvinced about the brand

I know lots of people rave about it but I have always considered it cheap kit at not cheap prices

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Don’t have any Montane gear, but from this thread it seems to be a case of great customer service, good design and poor quality materials and manufacturing?

In reply to JSTaylor:

I think that's too harsh or two black and white. Threads like this on UKC have a major selection bias, we all tend to remember the things that break and don't work well and almost forget all the gear we have that works perfectly for a long time. So threads like this tend to attract comments from people who have had a bad experience with a certain product or brand. As I said I have a pair of montane trousers which are decade old now and still work like new. I'm wearing some North Face shorts right now, that I've probably had for 12 years and they still look like new. The completely great, I've obviously had my money's worth out of them but they just some shorts that I wear in the summer when the weather is nice so I probably wouldn't even remember them when I was thinking about the quality of North Face is manufacturing on hardshells or whatever gets discussed here.

In the case of the montane equipment that I'm reviewing it's just small components that have failed, the material and the quality of the stitching all looks very good. If I was a customer what I'd really want is just to be able to send those items back to have the press studs replaced and then get the item back once fixed. This is for environmental reasons as much as anything else, the jacket is really brilliant otherwise - there's absolutely no point in binning it because of one faulty press stud. And positively, it sounds like Montane can do this.

In reply to TobyA:

Have got a pair of Montane Super Terra trousers that I've had for about 4-5 years and they're bombproof. I love them so much I prefer them to the Terra's even when it gets warmer, due to the material, construction and pockets/storage.

In reply to JSTaylor:

To balance this, I've been buying their stuff for 20 years and never had the need to find out what their customer service is like as the quality is so high.

Obviously if you go for something like the Minimus waterproofs, supper light weight, they're not going to last anything like as long as the full weight equivalents. But that's not why you buy them.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Just to add I've been in contact with Montane about a pertex outer jacket which has about 5 rips in it. I was able to send and receive back for free, they advised they couldn't repair to their high standards but advised me on how to effect a repair and included some equivalent material for free to help me fix it. Really good service and much appreciated - and I've got no links to Montane either!