Rumor: New X-Metal

[defiant00]

Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see new X Metals!!!

 

[Tech Guru]

Can we see pics? How did that happen?

Unfortunately didn't think to snap picts at the time.... I was out with my lady the night before and had returned the frame to the Ferrari hard case after the sun went down... The next day I was heartbroken to find them broken?!?!? The nut that holds the lens screw had pulled right out of the carbon fiber near the arm and that whole lens was just loose/ hanging by the remaining nut and screew that was still attached to the frame by the nose... The Only thing I can think of is that when I put them away I wasn't careful with the hard case and broke the frame with the hard case WOW!! As I told everyone I spoke too in warranty and returns, I EXPECTED MORE FROM AN after taxes $500$ pair of sunglasses... This helped fuel my recent X Squared craze as well at least they will last more then 2 weeks!!

My beef?... I'm really careful with my things, id only had then 2 weeks (bday gift) and as sad as that is, thats the state of the carbon blades to me. WEAK SAUCE.... Id expected more from the carbon fiber aka STRENGTH!!!! They obviously don't have a good way to keep the nuts in the frame at there current thickness at least....IMO

 

[GH4AU]

That's very interesting. I disassembled one of mine and found that there are threaded metal studs impregnated into the carbon fiber that you screw the tiny screws into. The threads on the screws are extremely short though. Sorry to hear yours failed. Maybe give the Oakley warranty dept. a call?

 

[Tech Guru]

That's very interesting. I disassembled one of mine and found that there are threaded metal studs impregnated into the carbon fiber that you screw the tiny screws into. The threads on the screws are extremely short though. Sorry to hear yours failed. Maybe give the Oakley warranty dept. a call?

Yes the studs pulled right out of the carbon fiber with the lenses and screws, meaning its the weak point for impact protection!! These where my ONLY SUNNYS at the time, so I was super pissed! This was all months ago in April when the Ferrari Carbon Blades just hit the market... So, I had nothing but problems with the warranty and the exchange, I was unable to register my frame on the website for a repair. I ended up calling and talking to someone in warranty department to get the ball rolling and it ended up being one thing after another to get a replacement. Somehow Oakley functions without DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION?! The warranty department doesn't communicate with the website side of things / inventory and vise versa!!! So even though they had stock of the frame on the website, the warranty department INSISTED that they where out of stock and would contact me when it was available. After the conversation I did not return the frame, whats the point if they cant even send me anything back yet.... I waited all week called back friday as the website still listed in stock for the frames, I decided to try a different approach, and decided to talk to someone in sales to see if the website stock matched what the phone sales dept shows. They informed me that they had a few hundred of the item in stock, and it had been in stock all week just as it had been listed on the website... To say I was upset was an understatement, I transferred over to warranty and asked to speak to a supervisor as there was obviously an issue here... I reamed the supervisor for the lack of communication! Its unacceptable and obviously infuriating to a customer! It just kept escalating, eventually I was offered an extra few pairs at discount... I'm leaving out some of the other twists I went though to get to that point but it was quite a mess.... In the end I prefer X METALS!

 

[defiant00]

Hmm...new X Metals=new coins? Sorry, I'm a challenge coin collector.

 

[Patient_Cero]

Yes the studs pulled right out of the carbon fiber with the lenses and screws, meaning its the weak point for impact protection!! These where my ONLY SUNNYS at the time, so I was super pissed! This was all months ago in April when the Ferrari Carbon Blades just hit the market... So, I had nothing but problems with the warranty and the exchange, I was unable to register my frame on the website for a repair. I ended up calling and talking to someone in warranty department to get the ball rolling and it ended up being one thing after another to get a replacement. Somehow Oakley functions without DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION?! The warranty department doesn't communicate with the website side of things / inventory and vise versa!!! So even though they had stock of the frame on the website, the warranty department INSISTED that they where out of stock and would contact me when it was available. After the conversation I did not return the frame, whats the point if they cant even send me anything back yet.... I waited all week called back friday as the website still listed in stock for the frames, I decided to try a different approach, and decided to talk to someone in sales to see if the website stock matched what the phone sales dept shows. They informed me that they had a few hundred of the item in stock, and it had been in stock all week just as it had been listed on the website... To say I was upset was an understatement, I transferred over to warranty and asked to speak to a supervisor as there was obviously an issue here... I reamed the supervisor for the lack of communication! Its unacceptable and obviously infuriating to a customer! It just kept escalating, eventually I was offered an extra few pairs at discount... I'm leaving out some of the other twists I went though to get to that point but it was quite a mess.... In the end I prefer X METALS!

Part of the thing (or problem) regarding inventory is that many of the departments have their own designated inventory (or did in the recent past). So they can't pull from main line inventory to fill or replace orders from warranty, custom shop or SI. I know this was a fact for sure regarding the custom shop as recent as early 2013. I would hope warranty wouldn't be the same but this may be a contributor to the compartmentalized experience you got with your answers dealing with this problem. I agree with you, I would have been pissed it couldn't be resolved in a smoother process regardless of any compartmentalization that may be present.

 

[Tech Guru]

Yep thats what was going on separate stock for the warranty dept, vs the main, and further the store stock but we will get to that in the next bit.... SO in the end after finally getting to the bottom of Web and Warranty dept stock, the supervisor was going to overnight me a pair, I told the supervisor I wanted the replacement ASAP and would drive to the local store that day (FRIDAY) to speed up the exchange and return the pair where I had purchased them. Imagine my surprise to see them IN STOCK as I walk in, and I couldn't help but feel scorned again as the manager there told me also told me they would have exchanged in the store skipping all this drama! To top if off when I called back to the warranty supervisor theres no way they could change my return to instore exchange at that point as they where overnighting me a pair!!.... arg... So now I'm looking at a new pair in the store that i have to just walk away from... PISSED.... So I call the supervisor again to make sure I'm getting a pair on Saturday for all my troubles, BUT NO the supervisor attempted to request Saturday delivery but in the end it was somehow it was ignored and I had UPS overnight / that wouldn't show till monday to look forward to.... I was about ready to buy another pair there on the spot but I was so mad... in the end id be going without sunglasses for a few more days.

Its a shame if they had tried to go the extra mile for me they could have made my experience more positive.... Anyone in the chain could have suggested a store return, and for that mater when I told the supervisor that I wanted to return that day in store she schould have thought to check stock with them.... its quite a fail for a longtime customer, and it was suppose to be a gift gift from my wife not a burden, She was even more mad then me.

 

[steveocubed]

Of course, this is just complete hearsay, but I was speaking to an employee today who seemed knowledgable on everything else I was asking him about Oakley-wise and I asked him if he had heard anything down the pipeline of a re-release of X-Metals and he said it was all crickets down there but I know I don't have the sources some of you guys do, so I obviously took what he said with a pound of salt. Who knows -- I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Xmetal74]

Where did you get that number from?

from a nevada plant employee

 

[GDMFSOB]

New metals are going to be magnesium...