I had a friend break one of the swivel clips on my portapad e i bought a month or 3 ago. I filled out their form online and several days (close to a week) they answered it and then ups'ed a whole new pad to me - was just expecting the one piece I needed sent usps - I was quite amazed
Yeah, I've been impressed by Estes customer service years ago... bought a "Maniac" and on the second flight, the "rubber band" shock cord broke at deployment and dropped the thing straight down from about 1000 feet onto fairly hard clay-- the tube end sealed off when it hit the ground (core sampled about 1/2 inch deep, then accordioned, compressing air in the tube, until it blew out with a loud "BANG" splitting the tube to within about 2 inches of the plastic fin can. Well, "stuff happens" in rocketry and I never bothered getting upset about it before, but on the SECOND FLIGHT I felt like it was the shoddy rubber band shock cord that caused the problem, so I called Estes customer service. A week or so later I got a completely new Maniac kit in the mail. Of course on the new one, first thing I replaced was the rubber band shock cord. Still have that rocket (20 years later). I did manage to salvage the other one by cutting the tube off and making it into a first stage for the new Maniac...
It's good that Estes stands behind their stuff as well as they do. I had my oxygen regulator on my blowtorch rupture the needle valve seat, and when I tried to get one a couple weeks ago when my buddy's oxygen regulator needle seat dropped in his regulator, I was told by the welding supply they "no longer sell parts due to liability"... Hogwash... I've replaced needle valves several times before, in my own stuff and for other people... Unscrew the outer casing with the adjuster screw from the rest of the regulator, pop the diaphragm out carefully, uncrew the needle seat from the regulator body, lift the needle and spring out, clean out any remaining bits of seat, put the needle and spring/seat back in, screw the needle seat back into the regulator body, reinsert and align the diaphragm, and screw the outer adjusting screw body back onto the regulator. Do it with clean hands and don't get ANY OIL WHATSOEVER in the regulator. No problem-- easy as pie! Liability, what a crock! They just want to sell a brand new regulator, which my buddy bought for his backpack torch, for $90. My regulator for my mid-size torch setup would be over $150, probably $175... I'm having a devil of a time finding the parts though... but I'll buy a regulator off Ebay for $10 before I drop close to $200 with those robbers at the welding shop!
Later! OL JR