Earlier quoted context omitted.
With the old returns policy, people were buying boots, wearing them out on the Appalachian Trail, and then returning them. Or buying a whole touring bike (REI sold their own fairly respectable model called the Novara), riding coast-to-coast, and then returning it. Once the internet era arrived and customers learned just what behavior they could get away with, the community was saying it was only a matter of time befo…
I don’t know how frequently those things happened. But I had the zipper break on my duffel bag after about 5 years and they told me they wouldn’t help. This wasn’t a crazy drop or mishandled, it was just some defect that caused the zipper to pop off one side when it shouldn’t. I’m never buying anything from their line again. Had I gotten a Patagonia duffel, they would fix a zipper decades later.
Patagonia is drastically more expensive than REI gear, but included in the higher quality is a better return/repair policy and ethical manufacturing standards. REI is competing on price, not those standards.