It’s been a whirlwind the last few months.  New job, new hobbies, less time. I figure I write something about a good experience I recently had. I was in the market for a new pair of gloves for go kart racing.  A comfortable pair is very important to me.  Any pair of any type of gloves just won’t cut it.  Sorry, no garden gloves for me. Having something comfortable that fits my needs and purpose made lessens the distractions while on the track.  Few key things that I look for in its comfort is are:

• Does it fit well?
• Do the finger tips dig into your finger nails?
• Are they too tight? Too loose?
• Easy to put on and remove?
• Provide good grip on all steering wheel materials?

After digging through several different brands and styles, I chose a pair of Alpinestars Tech 1-K Race Gloves.  They easily met all my needs and the price point was right. Immediately used them at the next event I was able to attend and couldn’t be happier. Fast forward a few months later, the gloves had only around 40 minutes of total use.  I got a call from some friends to do a indoor go kart race at a local indoor track.  A 3 hour endurance race in teams of 3.  Couldn’t turn it down so I committed and participated.  After a rigorous drive and a good finish, I noticed something dangling on from my gloves.  The tacky material on the palms of my rather new gloves had come off.  I couldn’t believe it since they were still quite new.

I call up Alpinestars customer service the next day.  My expectation was that I would get your typical run around and investigation needed into how I used my gloves before they could do anything about it.  Not so.  4 minutes into the call, I was speaking with a rep and an RMA number + shipping instructions was immediately given to me.  The following day, they were in a bag on its way to Southern California.  Once again, I expected this to take several weeks to process before I hear anything back.  I was wrong.

Three days later, a kind gentleman rang my phone, notifying me that they have received my damaged gloves.  To make the story short, they did not have any Tech 1-K gloves in stock and apologized for the inconvenience.  To make things right, they decided to send me a brand new pair of a Tech 1-ZX Gloves as a replacement instead so that I do not have to wait for the same model to come in stock.  I couldn’t be happier.  Within 10 days, I had a new pair of gloves sent back to me, minimal questions asked.

So the answer is simply, no.  Good customer service is definitely not going away. We always hear the horror stories from your friends and family about how they were on hold for 30 minutes, got the run around, and nothing was actually solved.  There are companies out there that provide this great service, and it does show that these companies do care about their customers.  Alpinestars gave me that service level I didn’t expect, and only hoped for.  No doubt that this will make me a repeat customer.