Alpinestars - General review of customer service

[natedogg624]

so over this past track season i somehow ripped the zippers in both the left and right smx plus boots as well as the pinky seam on my gp plus glove ripped (no crashes). i have a feeling the cause of the boots zipper ripping was that i wasn't tucking the calf of my suit in properly? i never had a problem before with a previous suit, ill have to check it out later...

anyways, so i dont really have the money to burn on buying new gloves and boots, so i call around for leather repair shops. the cost of them would be a lot of money, especially for the zippers on the boots, as well as the unique/extensive safety stitching on the glove.

somehow i found out to try my luck with alpinestar, as i heard they have "free" repairs. I found the contact info for a-star and get a hold of their secretary. She sounded hot, but man the first time was a total bitch, probably blonde lol. Anyways once i finally got in to talk with a rep i told him my problem, he asked if these were purchased within the past year, and they were so he gave me a reference number and said ship them to us we will fix them free of charge.

Wait, did he say free? yea free. Just pay for shipping there, they'll take care of the rest.

So i ship them out, wait a week and call in to check on them. He says they can fix the boots, but "unfortunately" they can't fix the glove so he was going to just give me a new pair. I recieved the brand new model of gp plus gloves for free.

yes, give. free.

at this point im stoked and finally have a huge appreciation for a-star and their service, and can see why they are highly chosen among the pro's for their gear.

lastly, the boots i sent in were the white "balla" boots. I had some oil/coolant issues the last two trackdays and were pretty much black by the time i finished the season (sjc1000 can verify this...) and when i got them back they were as clean as i got them.

HUGE +1 to a-star for there service.

[tomato_racing]

That's sweet! I have my eye on some A* SMX Plus or Puma 1000's

[attackpainter]

While i agree their customer service is pretty good the overall quality of alpinestars products is complete shit imo. My $1500 race suit shreded like paper in a simple lowside. The palm of my gp pro gloves wore through in no time and my Smx plus boots have broken more buckles then i can think of. If you ever get a chance take a piece of Rs-taichi or Kushitani Japanese cowhide leathers and a piece of chinese aka alpinestars, Joe rocket speed and strength ect ect ect and try to tear them you will be amazed how easily you can rid the chinese and brazilian and netherlands cow hide.

[madcat6183]

I have mixed feelings on this as well. I got my SP2 gloves replaced for free after paying to send them back, BUT they split at a seam which never should have happened to begin with.

The customer service was solid, but Im thinking their name and their popularity might be making their gear a little less solid.

Personally I'd like to pick up a different set of gloves next season for the track, so the SP2s are probably gonna just be my daily gloves.

[SJC1000rr]

I also had my pair of GP Plus break a seam on my right ring finger at the tip. Unfortunately, I noticed this right before a trackday and did the repairs myself. Its coming off again and the inside material of several fingers has worn through and is becoming annoying to ride with. I might be looking into something else next year if this keeps up. As for the A* SMX-R Boots...they held up great other then where I wore through the rubber edge/bottom of the boot with the track surface Time for some metal outside protectors I guess.

And those boots were pretty dirty nate! But now you can repeat the process next year!

[Tomcat0403]

my A* SMX gloves fell apart after a year of wear...they wore through on the palms, the outside of the pinky and the outside of the index finger...needless to say i have Speed and Strength gloves and suit now...no problems whatsoever ....but i am jealous as always

[V4junkie]

My SP1s didn't hold up so well in the palm area when I went down. Would've pursued it but got such a good deal on GP Plus I let it go. A* was very quick responding to my emails for such a big company. My initial purchase was based off of spending about 4 hours in Iron Pony trying every brand on, just fit the best and felt like the highest quality. It'll be a while before I need new gear (I hope) and I'll probably go through the same process again when I do. I'm thinking it'll probably be RS Taichi or Dainese next time hehehe.

[exSRAaron]

While i agree their customer service is pretty good the overall quality of alpinestars products is complete shit imo. My $1500 race suit shreded like paper in a simple lowside. The palm of my gp pro gloves wore through in no time and my Smx plus boots have broken more buckles then i can think of. If you ever get a chance take a piece of Rs-taichi or Kushitani Japanese cowhide leathers and a piece of chinese aka alpinestars, Joe rocket speed and strength ect ect ect and try to tear them you will be amazed how easily you can rid the chinese and brazilian and netherlands cow hide.

Yup, I'd agree. RS-T ftw