If you live in Oklahoma, then you know it’s been bone chilling cold lately. I pulled out every piece of cold weather hunting gear that I owned, including some of my Arctic Shield Clothing. Unfortunately, I found that my Arctic Shield bibs had a broken leg zipper. This is the zipper that runs from the bottom of the leg all the way up to the hip area.
I’ve had these bibs for about 4 years. I believe I bought them from Cabela’s and to be honest, I loved them. They were great for late season bowhunting or catfishing.
I tried taking them to several alteration places, but they said they could not get the metal zippers. Finally, after thinking about it, I Googled Arctic Shield and found they were located in Tulsa. So I gave them a call and talked to a woman (I believe her name was Bridgett).
I told Bridgett what my problem was. I had a pair of Arctic Shield Bibs with a broken leg zipper.
I was a little more than surprised that she wasn’t as helpful as I thought she should have been. In fact, I felt she was only be “nice” because she had to be (I could here a man’s voice in the background). In all honestly, I did call right before closing, but that shouldn’t have mattered. I also didn’t tell her that I own a Deer Hunting blog that gets visited by 20 to 30 thousands Sportsmen every month, but again, that shouldn’t have mattered.
Basically she told me that there wasn’t nothing they would do. I thought perhaps she didn’t understand me, so I made 3 attempts to get her to help me. I even offered to pay for the fix to my bibs.
Still no help from Bridgett. About all she could say is “Sorry, we don’t do that“. I asked if she knew an alteration company locally who could fix them. “No, I’m sorry, that’s not something we do“.
So finally I said, “So I have a pair of Arctic Shield Bibs with a busted zipper and you can’t help me get them fixed?”
“Sorry, we just can’t help with that” she said
If these had been some cheap old bibs I found at a flea market or bought at a discount store, I wouldn’t be so upset.
If you’ve bought Arctic Shield clothes lately, you know they’re not cheap. Obviously I don’t mind paying for good equipment.
My problem is that if I buy supposedly top of the line equipment, I expect the company to stand behind their products. It seems from my experience that Arctic Shield feels their commitment ends when the warranty ends. I have a feeling that if I’d called Cabela’s, they would have bent over backwards to help me. That’s just the kind of folks they are. Cabela’s has always stood behind what they sell.
So just be aware that they probably will not fix or help you get your Arctic Shield clothing fixed if it breaks after the warranty runs out (and I honestly don’t remember how long the warrnty is, if any, so you’d probably better check that also). I personally will not buy another piece. This just really sucks because I have some other Arctic Shield clothes and now I know that if something happens to my jacket or or other piece of their clothing, they’re not going to help me. Even if I offer to pay for the repairs! Fortunately, there are other companies that make excellent cold weather hunting gear.