Im not going to argue with you on this, but I will give you the facts on how warrenty works from an insider. Working in a shop, and dealing with warrenties on a daily basis, and BEING FRIENDS WITH A WARRENTY GUY FROM ATOMIC this is whats going to happen to an Atomic that ripped out and took the topsheet with it...
...Ski shop will take it in and say what I just said. Kid will bitch that people on Newschoolers said he would get new skis. shop takes it in to shut him up...
...Ski shop will call Atomic and ask for an RA. Atomic will ask if said shop mounted skis and if there is any record of the ski being purchased less than 1 year before. Atomic will ask if said binding ripout is heli-coilable. Shop will say no...
...Atomic will ask if there is any evidence of rail damage or "abuse" (unrepaired core shots, excessive chipping, evidence that the ski was beat on, etc...)to the REST OF THE SKI. If the answer is yes, Atomic will try and say that it it not covered under warrenty. A good shop will bitch and get an RA anyway. If the answer is no, the shop will get an RA from Atomic and send the skis out.
This costs the shop on average $30.
Once Atomic gets the ski, they will catalog it and look over it. They look at the ski and determine if the ski was treated well as a whole, or of it was treated like shit. If it was treated like shit, odds are it will be denied right there. If it looked like it was a decently treated ski, they will look at the ripout. A ripout that takes the topsheet with it indicates a GOOD MOUNT at the shop. A ripped up topsheet means the ski was drilled to the right depth and width, and that wood glue was used. Now, Atomic has to decide whether or not it was their fault the core was weak enough to rip out under "normal skiing conditions" or whether the ski was damaged by "excessive force resulting from a crash or impact". That line right there is the clincher for a warrenty denial. If its the latter, the ski is denied, and retuned to the shop. If it is granted a warrenty, the old skis are run through a band saw, and the new skis are shipped to the shop or a credit is issued for the shops cost of the skis, less the shipping charge incurred at initial shipping of the stock.
So there. The magical journey a dmaged ski makes on its way to either being replaced or returned. Before thinking you will get a new ski, you have to ask yourself if the problem you want fixed resulted from normal use of a ski (jumps/rails dont count no matter how you claim a ski is marketed) or whether the ski manufacturer did something wrong to the ski during the production process.
In our shop, we would give the kid a killer deal on some new skis, but would advise against sending it back for warrenty, because most likely, it wuld be a waste of the shops time, and of the kids $30.
