Cautionary tale about binding mounting

The other day I was swapping out some Voile toe pieces for a friend to convert the setup from a 3 Pin Hardwire to a plain old Classic Hardwire. Personally, I think the 3 pin toe piece is a pain in the butt. (Oh, sorry for the harsh language; I should save it for later in this story.) The bindings had been mounted by a well known shop in Seattle, so I started with the assumption that the job was done to professional standards. I don't want to name the shop for obvious reasons, but I will say that it's not one of what I consider the 2 or three top-tier shops. Not Second Ascent, not Marmot.

On removal of the old toe pieces, one was mounted on the Voile riser with the correct length screws; 3/4 inch. There was no evidence of any glue or thread locking compound however. This may not be an issue however in that not much would really bind to plastic. Couldn't hurt though.

The other toe piece was mounted with obviously short screws. 5/8 inch instead of 3/4 inch. My friend tells me that this toe piece has been chronically loose since soon after installation, and that she would tighten it periodically only to have it become loose again. Well, no wonder!

At this point, I started to become suspicious about the care that was given to mounting these bindings on her K2 Dawn Patrol skis. I found this on the Voile website:

 
  Voile Ski insert screws-20mm riser

               Size: -- Select One --Fits 20-25mm Riser

        a.. DESCRIPTION
        b.. Reviews
        c.. Compatible Voile Bindings
      Attention! Do NOT Use The Ski Insert Screws Included With K2 Skis To Mount
Voile Telemark Bindings! They Are Too Short!

      Use following screw pack to mount Voile telemark bindings onto Voile and
K2 brand skis with industry standard 4-hole metal inserts.

      Use this screw pack with these model Voile telemark bindings:

      Switchback
      SX
      Hardwire/Women's Hardwire
      Hardwire 3-Pin
      Hardwire CRB/Women's Hardwire CRB
      Hardwire 3-Pin CRB
      Voile Release Kit
      V-120 20mm Riser

      The screw pack includes:

      12 - M5 x 18mm length screws for the binding riser and heel pad.
      1 - 3mm hex wrench.

      Tech Tip: K2 brand telemark skis include M5 x 16mm length screws with 4mm
hex wrench. The screws included with K2 skis are too short when mounting a Voile
telemark binding.

      Fits 20-25mm Riser: part# 608-94

Sure enough, when  I checked the riser screws, they took a 4 mm hex wrench, and were in fact 16 mm long. Thread locker was present, and the screws were still seated, but still...

I ordered the proper parts from the Voile website, and was, as I have been in the past, very pleased with the prompt service. I think the screws, plugs and anti ice tape were on my door 3 days later.

I guess the message is that just because the bindings were mounted 'professionally' by a known shop it does not mean that it was done correctly. Imagine how one might feel if that loose toe piece had fallen off way out in the backcountry, and the reason became clear. One might be tempted to say some unpleasant words.

Larry

I hear ya on the "professional" mounting work, Larry.

I know there are a lot of good ski techs out there. Nonetheless, some of our most trusted local ski shops DO occasional make some heinous mistakes. What really tells you what they are made of and how important their reputation is to them, is what they do to make things right AFTER they make their mistakes.

Case in point: A local skier in our little backcountry ski gang recently bought here daughter some new backcountry skis so the daughter could start particitating in backcountry skiing. She bought the skis online and then took them to a local and respected shop for mounting them up.
Well the shop drilled through the bases of the brand new skis.

Should be an open and shut case, right?
Buy the customer some new replacement skis, mount them up and send them on their way with the sincerest of apologies for the inconvenience. Then fix the damages boards in house and sell them discounted due to being repaired or put them in the rental pool.

No so in this case. Our respected local shop told the customer to go back to the online retailer and see if they might replace the damaged boards, which the online retailer actually considered doing (kudos to them BTW), but apparently the manufacturer talked them out of it.

I would really prefer not to out this local shop. I know times are difficult for everyone right now. But I swear, if the local shop doesn't do the right thing by this good, repeat customer, soon, I will be strongly tempted to out them, if for no other reason that as a local backcountry skier/consumer I would certainly want to know who the local guys are that do not stand up and take responsibility for their own mistakes.

What would you do?

off with their heads!

... I would certainly want to know who the local guys are that do not stand up and take responsibility for their own mistakes.

What would you do?

Gee Ron, maybe the tech did not think he was making a mistake. You know, kids are getting stronger and stronger, so maybe he was planning to put tee nuts in the bases so the bindings could not possibly pull out.    Bolt those babies on!

Here's a more useful comment (I hope). The screen capture below is from an 04-05 Rossi Tech Manual. You can find these here and there online with Google, in directories that are not password protected. For some reason, Rossi does not want to have this stuff freely available to the public. Although the info in this pic would apply specifically to using a factory jig to mount the Rossi Junior Comp kids binding, the advice about checking would, I think, always apply. So in my mind, the mistake was more than just grabbing the wrong color coded bit.

Larry

I'm often amazed at the number of people who are totally at ease making life-or-death decisions regarding snow stability or route selection, and completely calm descending 45+ degree slopes with consequences, yet who freeze up at the thought of mounting their own bindings. If they're your skis or those of a loved one or close friend, the best way of making sure it's done right is to do it yourself (at least if you screw up, you'll know exactly what happened).

I once pulled the bindings off my wife's skis (mounted by a popular alpine shop) and discovered another complete set of holes (at least they plugged them) but no one every said anything about it. Kinda made me reconsider having someone else work on my stuff. And yes, I think the shop that drilled through the skis should step up and provide a new pair - when I did that as a shop tech back in the day, I showed them to my manager and he told me to go out on the floor and get a new pair (of course, this was REI and their cash flow even then was pretty significant).