Black Diamond Drop Zone

About a year ago I bought a new bouldering pad.

I had seen and bouldered above a 'Black Diamond Drop Zone' pad before and liked the pad a lot.

I also knew that it was the replacement for the old Franklin pads that are as tough as old boots and last forever.

I was happy as Larry for for the first while, but then the foam within the pad began to become flimsy and mis-shapen. I brought it to bouldering sessions and wondered why I bothered - and met a few other boulderers who owned the pad and immediately agreed -

It's a waste of money.

I was in the Cave last weekend and the guys all spurred me on to email Black Diamond and ask what could be done. Afterall - A pad should last longer than a year and I hadn't treated mine badly.

So last Friday I found myself with nothing to do and so put together an email explaining my predicament and detailing my mat's place of purchase etc and sent it off to Switzerland.

First thing Monday morning a nice man called Glen emailed me back and said that yes - that was a piece of equipment that Back Diamond were having trouble with and he gave me two options:

1) To receive a pad with newer foam in it (the foam's been changed but is still manufactured abroad - however it's still the same external pad.

2) To wait until Summer 2012 when Black Diamond will be launching their new Drop Zone with foam manufactured in Switzerland.

I emailed back yesterday and said that I couldn't really wait the guts of a year for a new pad, and said that with the Winter season fast approaching, I'd opt for an immediate replacement.

Glen mailed me back this morning and told me that a new pad would be dispatched tomorrow and should be with me soon.

As much as I've complained and bitched about my boulder pad in the last year, I think it's important to recognise when companies go out of their way to fix the problems customers have.

Black Diamond held their hands up, apologised and are sending out a replacement pad that otherwise would have set me back about a 140euro.