I’m dating this post so that that you will know when I reviewed GORUCK’s Scars program. At the time of this review Clay was the GORUCK employee who was overseeing Scars repairs. The Scars program has gotten some flak in the past and who knows if it will be good forever… but what I do know is that it’s good now.
I purchased the Coyote GR2 during the time they were doing the limited Java and Coyote colors. My GR2 formed a tear along the zipper and as soon as I noticed it I filled out the SCARS form on GORUCK’s website so that I could get it fixed up.
The small tear along the zipper.
The Process
Within a day from filling out that form Clay got back to me saying that they would be more than willing to repair it. He sent a prepaid shipping label to me so that I wouldn’t have to pay for any expenses. I responded to him and asked if I could wait a week to mail it in because it was the ruck I was planning on using during Heavy. He didn’t mind at all so once the Seattle Heavy was over I found a box, packed it up, and shipped it out.
It took about 4 days for the ruck to reach GORUCK in Bozeman, MT and as soon as it arrived I received an email from Clay saying that they were checking it out. After a few hours (same day it arrived) he sent an email to me saying that they were going to have to replace the ruck and gave me a choice been a black, sand, multicam, or coyote GR2 or SK40. I went with the coyote GR2 since that is the ruck I sent to them but I was tempted by the other colors. Within an hour of my response to him I received another email saying that they were mailing a brand new GR2 to me.
I received the tracking number for the new GR2 that day and the ruck was set to arrive… the following day! I was very impressed that I was going to have a brand new GR2 literally less than 24 hours from when they received my torn one.
The New Coyote GR2
The box the GR2 came in.
Here’s the unboxing of my new Coyote GR2!
The brand new GORUCK GR2!
Overall Impression of GORUCK Scars
The GORUCK Scars process is incredibly quick and painless. They know that you love your gear and hate to be without it so they process the claims very fast. If I had sent my GR2 the day that I received the shipping ticket from them the whole ordeal would have been under a week. Everyone at Scars was very understanding and kept me in the loop every step of the way. This is honestly how a warranty process should be handled.
7/17/2013 Update
I’m not sure if this is standard GORUCK procedure or not but due to a slight misunderstanding between GORUCK and myself they sent the following care package. The mistake was probably on my end but they took responsibility for it either way which was awesome. To make amends they sent the following 5 items to me.
The 3 Patches and 2 GRKoozies are Awesome!
So they had to give you a new bag because of a small rip at the zipper? This worries me since I have an SD15 I use as an EDC bag for work and the shadow rucks have scars warranty too. they discontinued them as far as I know and the ones on their website right now are just leftover stock from a warehouse. If something were to happen to the shadow rucks that they couldn’t actually fix and they didn’t have anymore stock, how would the company be able to keep their warranty on that item then other than a refund? And a refund would suck because it’s the most simple, perfectly sized bag for EDC I’ve ever found. I hope mine lasts for a while.
I’m sure yours will last! The original GR2 I owned was purchased when they were opening up a new sew shop and the quality was not up to their standards. They replaced the entire bag because it was from that batch and they feared that it would fail later down the line. Generally they don’t replace the bags and instead sew them up at their sew shop.
Hi, I just checked your site again, it’s been almost a year since I came back to this actual review lol
I decided to go ahead and purchase an echo, hopefully that pack isn’t discontinue anytime soon. I liked the 15l size and wanted an actual laptop pocket for my iPad. I couldn’t be happier with it. Feels quite a bit more “solid” than the shadow rucks. It’s also nice to be able to put one of the field pockets inside attached to the molle.
Reading your various reviews on the goruck bags and the scars warranty made me feel a lot better about buying a more expensive bag and several different size field pockets and one of the new tool pouches they added a few months ago. So thank you for your detailed write ups.
I’ve had a similar experience with Scars. The first time was just a week or two before my first Light and my GR1 needed shoulder strap replacements. They paid 1-day shipping both ways, sent a couple patches and coozie on the return and were excellent to work with. Second time was similar, not expedited shipping but I didn’t need it and wouldn’t have wanted them to spend the extra money anyway.
I am deliberately working on abusing the rucks; I just feel good when I can use them to that level and know they’re covered.
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m glad to hear they treated you so well… it definitely makes myself (and I’d assume others) more confident in our purchases.
Care package comes as standard I think. Had the same deal.
I’m pretty sure you’re right. I didn’t want to say it was standard though just in case someone didn’t get anything. I received patches and a koozie the second time I went through Scars as well.