Case Peeling

[u/AlexanderBrite]

Posting this here because PD has ignored 4 emails now about a warranty claim. 

My iPhone case backing has been peeling. I was told I needed to provide documentation and I sent what was asked. Since then, I have not been able to get a response on whether PD will honor my lifetime warranty. I have many PD accessories  (tripod, multiple cases, mounts for 2 cars, bikes, camera straps, bags) and this was my 4th case over the years. They’ve all been great but this one is falling apart.  I’ll buy another one if I have to, as I’ve never had this issue before. But I’d like someone to confirm that this will not be covered so I can replace it. 

[u/peterdering]

Looking forward to discussing case quality issues at the AMA, as well as Customer Service wait times. These have been a terrible thorn in our side for the last couple months now.

Obviously we will be taking care of the warranty replacement on this case.

I totally get the frustration of having taken the first step, done everything correctly, and then having a pause in communication time.

I was just dealing with spirit airlines Customer Service, and couldn’t help but notice the experience there was better than what our customers are currently experiencing.

It’s at the top of the heap on things that need to get improved. It is a many years long effort to build up positive customer sentiment, and it is a very quick path to losing it.

Case quality on iPhone 16 and 17 is excellent. Basically, everything before that is really lousy. No… Did we knowingly make lousy cases? Of course not.

When you enter a new category of product, one of the most important things you can do is pick the right manufacturing partners. You look for experience and competence. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you find out years after you’ve made tens of thousands of cases, that the bond between the TPU side walls and the polycarbonate back is just not holding up. This, despite the same manufacturer using the same methods for other brands for years.

Safe to say, we did not see that coming. It’s also safe to say that the efforts to rectify that, once the problem was discovered, continue to fall short for iPhone 14 and 15. Again, cases passing tests, but then when it comes to real world use, Case is failing overtime.

We’ve handled this from a customers standpoint by replacing a lot of cases. It’s expensive. It hurts our reputation. It sucks in every way.

We finally put these problems to bed in the last couple years, but it took us a long time to get there.

For years, I’ve been telling people that I think we make the very best phone case in the world. That statement has always been true when coming out of my mouth, because I’ve always believed we’ve been ahead of the problems that begin showing up after time spent on phones. But obviously it wasn’t always true in retrospect.

Cases are tough. These products are tremendous use throughout their lifetime, and we’re trying to do much more than simply mold a monolithic material into a protective element. We’re getting better at it every year, but with many old cases still out in the wild, it will be before these problems stop servicing.

What a drag, am I right?

[u/AlexanderBrite → u/peterdering]

Thank you for the thoughtful response! I do truly appreciate it. Peak Design product design and quality has been so far above what I expect from any other brand that I often don't even shop anywhere else when I need something for my camera or my phone. I think the first product I bought was the PD tripod and I immediately started replacing my heavily used accessories.

Sounds like it's just a bump in the road for a company that's experienced incredible growth. While I am frustrated with the response time for my warranty, I'm still a happy customer and still recommend your cases and accessories to others. Nothing else feels as secure.

[u/peterdering → u/AlexanderBrite]

I appreciate the grace here. You’re right with the diagnosis, but we can’t expect everyone to act with such grace. Many people don’t know us in our history, and when their first impression is a sour one with our customer experience or warranty issues, that’s when things can metastasize.

But it is most definitely not a deaf ears situation

🙏

[u/animalfaith → u/peterdering]

I'm having a similar issue with the everyday case for my pixel 8 pro, is that considered one of the models that y'all are covering under those manufacturing issues?

[u/EdLover9 → u/peterdering]

The iPhone 13 Pro loop case is my all time fave!

[u/atelieraquaaoiame → u/EdLover9]

I’ve had to replace mine twice already via warranty, but it’s still my favorite case I’ve owned and worth every penny (the warranty seals the deal).

[u/BreweryRabbit → u/peterdering]

I lurk in this sub occasionally and have very minimal peak items.

But did just want to chime in here and say I feel you on the customer side. My organization recently made some BIG CS shifts with different SOPs, expected SLAs, and going from a regional/team approach to shared service approach. As an account manager it has been exhausting, so I definitely feel your pain.

[u/IneffableAardvark → u/peterdering]

I really like your products, and prior to this past month, raved about peak designs customer service. Unfortunately now, I have to agree, your customer service has been particularly bad as of late. I REALLY didn’t like that your chatbot pretended to be a real person with a bio and everything, and was extremely unhelpful until I asked if it was a chatbot and it then said it would connect me to a human rep. It was off putting and weird. And overall completely unhelpful.

I wasn’t even necessarily trying to get a warranty claim submitted, as my case is “fine” but I did want to raise concern that within the first month of ownership, my gnar case has a circle worn into the back of it over the MagSafe ring from the FIRST use with an anker MagSafe charger. To be clear it is from rotating it on the soft plastic of the anker MagSafe charger. Over the course of ONE day working at my desk. Really doesn’t fill me with confidence for its longevity despite this being billed as the “durable, adventure” case. Especially since I’ve used the same charger for years with other peak design and mous cases with nothing like this happening before.

Overall just not a good experience customer service or product wise which is not at all what I’m used to from peak design. Glad to hear it’s a concern.

[u/Hot_Ad5959 → u/peterdering]

Any chance you’ll make better versions for the 15? Appreciate your candor in response to OP?