With all due fairness, the hat that had been returned to my shop had a very small area that had been melted by contact w/something hot (it was a Tilley LTM6 khaki nylon Airflow), which IS NOT a warranty-able, manufacturers defect issue. The customer stated he had been mowing grass and his hat blew off onto some weeds. To the best of my knowledge, southern Illinois has no native plants capable of melting nylon, and it more than likely landed on something hot on his mower. Knowing it was not a warranty-able issue, we suggested customer send it in with a letter, as most companies deal better on supposed warranty issues when dealt with directly. We went so far as to call Tilley customer service while the reviewer was in our store. Tilley, though agreeing melting was not a manufacturing defect and siding with us, comped the customer a new hat. I'm sorry this customer left feeling he was slighted. He had received a free hat, which he failed to mention, from an issue related solely to customer error. It doesn't get much better than that.
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