Marker warranty/new binding replacement

FroesenSkeeze

FroesenSkeeze

Member
So, I bought new skis and bindings last November (2012) and last weekend, my binding snapped.

I have the Marker Squires (Ya, I know, bad choice) and half way through my run in comp, I landed switch off a rail, the brake and heel piece broke off, and my ski bombed down the hill. I'm barely 150 lbs, and the bindings have only had about 15 days on them. I don't ride my stuff hard either. The biggest jumps I've hit on these skis were just over 20 feet, and I never landed switch on a jump much more than 15 feet (Therefore, the ski brake wouldn't be bending unnaturally if my ski released).

I took the skis back to my local shop immediately on the same Saturday and they said they would send them back in Monday. I returned Monday, and they said it would be a while until Marker contacted them with their decision for the warranty.

My problem is that the season is ending, and there is a competition this weekend (March 16) that I have been looking forward to for a while now. The kid at the shop said that if I wanted to ride this weekend, I could buy new bindings (same ones) and get them mounted this week. THEN, if Marker does warranty my bindings, the store would get credited, and I would be reimbursed.

HERE'S MY QUESTION:

Would Marker normally warranty something like this, and if they do, would they fix the binding or give me new ones? Would it be considered "user error" even though it hasn't been a season and I've been riding fairly easily? I really don't want to be out another $200 (What the shop charges) and have 3 good bindings and 1 broken one that I have no use for. Would it be a good idea to buy the new bindings in the hope that I will get warranty, or should I just wait it out and skip the competition?
 
No idea about this but I hope you get lucky, also the Griffons are slightly higher quality than the squires so if you can fork out something extra then that would be a better choice!
 
I have had a kid in this exact situation.

He got his bindings warrantied no problem. Marker is really good about making sure that their stuff gets warranties. I mean this kid snapped the binding housing in half for his griffon and they replaced it no problem.

However, if you can find a ski to use in the mean time for the competition do it in the rare chance they don't warranty it.

But I mean Marker is pretty good of making sure that they do replace stuff. If I had pictures of the binding I could tell you wither or not if they would deem it as defect or user error.
 
Thank you so much. I haven't dealt with marker at all before, so I had no idea what they were like.

On my binding, the whole brake and the plate snapped off the heel piece, and part of the plastic near the mounting screw busted as well. So, not only did my brake bust off, but the heel piece would move back and forth with the more pressure I put on it.

I was leaning towards getting the new pair and mounting them anyway because I really reaaaally don't want to miss this competition. Also, this is a pretty stupid question, but I have to make sure:

Because they don't sell bindings separately, if I bought two new ones, would they give the store the full 200 dollar credit or just say 100 for the one binding that was broken? I obviously can't just buy one to replace the broken one, so if I buy two, will I eventually get credit for two?

Again, thanks a lot for your response!
 
Typically if you shipped back both bindings you'll get both bindings back. However, if you only sent one of the bindings back chances are you'll only get replaced what was broken.

I always ship back both the broken and not broken binding when I do warrenties just because you will get a whole new binding setup when they do warrenty it.

Shops will not sell you one binding or what not. they could do a swap if the product was still in box but I would be very dubious if they do do that.
 
Well, my shop sent them back, so hopefully they sent both bindings back. Now comes the fun part when the mounting screws begin to strip from all the remounting haha.
 
They typically won't. When I've remounted a ski from the same drill pattern they did just fine. if they did strip out all I did was hele coil it. Its not a big deal at all. Just make sure you to use a mounting glue to seal out the holes and don't use too much torque when you drill in.

I recommend like a 15 Torque on the drill setting, and then hand tighten it in with a posy drive. But don't crank on it, I like to use the expression of tighten it just as much force as it takes to open a beer bottle. Also remember to screw them in going in a diagonal pattern so they don't set in crooked.

if you are super concerned ask the shop if they'll do it for you. I mean the holes are already drill it'll take them like 4 to 7 mins tops. Its super easy.
 
You, sir, are a life saver. I should be paying you for this information. I'm most likely going to go back to the shop tomorrow and buying the bindings and getting them remounted there. The winter season is way too precious to be giving up now haha. I'll accept the risk and take the nestea plunge.
 
No sweat man. I work in a shop so I get this knowledge over time. I figure a lot of kids on NS could use some help on this information because its kind of an untapped source of information.

Kids on NS are going to try to give out information I might as well give out the right information so that people don't fuck up their stuff and save money. I know how difficult it can be. Best of luck to you. PM if you have any more questions about it. If you do strip a hole you will have to get a shop to do it because a heli coil requires a tap to be put in to the existing hole.

This basically means they re-thread the whole put a metal thread in the hole that's stripped and then put the screw in. So its best to leave that up to the shop. Depending on the shop they may charge a little to alot to do that. I mean I would do it at my shop for like 5 bucks but it all depends.
 
UPDATE:

So I went for it and bought the bindings. The guy gave me a discount, so they were only $150, and they are going to mount them for no extra charge. Marker hasn't responded to anything yet, but here's what the guy at my local shop told me:

Marker will most likely send a new heel piece with the return instead of sending completely new bindings. The shop will get these bindings, box them up, and put them into their stock. If this does happen, the store will reimburse me fully.

I will be riding this weekend (friday/saturday), and I am absolutely stoked!
 
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