Absolutely no comparison. My wife and I both sent our waders back to the companies at the exact same time due to leaks, last Thursday. Came home from work today to find a brand new pair of Dan Bailey waders for her sitting in a box on the porch. I checked the status of my Simms and they have had them since Monday and are still evaluating them.
Simms is an EXCELLENT company per the work/service I’ve had.
Wishing you the best from them soon,
Jeremy.
Gee, with service that good, don’t you think that the Bailey waders should have been also hung in your wife’s closet instead of just being left in a box on the porch?
Slate -
I’ve had two occasions in the past couple years to have Simms take a look at two different pairs of waders.
The first time, it was just to repair some leaks that developed from using them in very rough conditions. The work was done thoroughly and promptly at a minimal charge, which I expected since this was not warranty work.
The second time did involve a small leak at a seam. Again, the work was done properly and quickly, and this time with no charge, even though they also checked for other leaks and cleaned the waders thoroughly.
The first pair is still serviceable after more than something over 300 days on the water. I use them for warmer weather conditions, since they do tend to have a “cooling” effect, but do keep me mostly dry. That is just fine with me.
The second pair has about 150 days on them and are completely leak free and in very good shape overall. I tend to save them for winter since I really do like to be completely dry when it’s around freezing, or below.
The question I have is - how well does the product serve you before you have to ask for customer service ?? To my way of thinking, prompt customer service is fine, but if you need it because the product just doesn’t stand up to being used, what is it really worth. A great product more than makes up for having to wait a few extra days for service, if and when it is needed.
John
Hey Slate,
Personally I think you’re jumping to too great a conclusion based on a too small a sample. Much like not driving your car today because you got a flat LAST Friday. There ARE variables that should be considered.
Mark
My wife got about 2x the wear out of her Bailey’s that I did out of my Simms under the exact same conditions.
I’m not slamming Simms, just saying that Bailey’s is a lot quicker, which equates to better customer service. Simms isn’t bad, they just aren’t as good. I’ll start slamming them in a month if I still don’t have my waders back and I have to go out an buy another pair (which will be Bailey’s) to start my almost month long flyfishing vacation.
And to be honest, I’ve gotten the same product life from Orvis, Simms, Hodgeman and some cheap-o brand that I can’t remember the name of. Overall, Orvis has had the best customer service I’ve experienced. I take them back to the store I bought them from, tell the owner I have a leak and he gives me a brand new pair, turn around time about 5 minutes.
I got tired of leaky waders and figured I would try a different brand since I’m happy with my Simms wading jacket and numerous other outterwear articles I have. Turns out that all breathable waders pretty much suck when it comes to durability in my eyes and I need to stick to brand that I can easily have replaced when they inevitability fail.
I think the delivery man knew that the boots would leak again when the 00 buckshot tore through him and the boots he was holding as he walked up the stairs to my wife’s closet. So lets not be silly here. 
Which one of these shipping options would come with that perk?
UPS Express Critical orrrr Next Day Air? http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/time/service/critical_dom.html?WT.svl=SubNav
Thanks,
Doug