Will shoddy be made good?

A few months back, I was passing through the city and went past a Rebel Sport store that was closing down. I popped in to have a look, and picked up a pair of Netti fingerless gloves for $20. I bought them specifically for the colour - when I indicate that I am turning, I want the car behind me to see my hand. I figured that bright yellow gloves should do the trick.



The amazing thing is how hard it is to find brightly coloured gloves. Most of the time, you have a choice of dark grey, dark blue or black. Bright colours, or neon colours, and almost impossible to find, which is why I snapped this pair up as soon as I saw them.

It was winter at the time, so I was still wearing my long gloves when I bought them. However, the sun came out this week, so it was time to try out the new gloves.

They lasted four days before a seam gave way and the whole glove split across the palm. The seam in question is not stitched - it is simply glued in place. The glue gave way, and that was that. Four rides was all I got out of them.



I sent Netti an email today, including the above photos, and got a very quick response saying that they will replace the gloves if I send them in, and that they are very sorry etc etc. I like the fact that they responded so quickly, so I have just returned from a trip to the Post Office - the gloves are in the mail.

The question is this - will the replacement set be any better than the originals? My assumption is that these are all made in China or Sri Lanka, and it looks like either the factories are skimping on the manufacturing process or the specification for the gloves is not very good or the design is simply rubbish. My old gloves are now three years old, and they've been through two crashes where they got rubbed into the asphalt and they've done about 8000km worth of being pressed up against the handlebars. They are hardly worn. I only decided to get a new set as the old ones are dark blue, and I want some brighter gloves for safety reasons.

Ah well, it's all in the hands of Netti now. Maybe I'll be responsible for the recall of an entire range of gloves - who knows.

I do know this. The gloves cost me $20. An envelope to post them back cost me $1, and the postage was $3.85. So far, replacing them has cost me nearly 25% of the original cost of the gloves. I hope they give me a free shirt as well, or at least a better pair of gloves.