Pico Chairs... a quick story about GCI customer service

[lostworldexpedition]

I went to SEMA last year and tried out the Pico chairs at the Disabled Explorers booth, needless to say I bought two Pico chairs for our little adventure. They are very practical and comfortable; however, after maybe 3 months of use one of them broke and to make things worse the second one broke on the following outing!!! No mater how many times I tried to open them step by step they would not work...

The one on the left will not open no matter what, and the right legs of the chair on the right will not lock.

We know several people that own Pico's that have had no problems at all after over a year of heavy use. These are not cheap chairs by any means, but we really like them so we called GCI customer service and described our situation: "Broken chairs and traveling around the Americas without a permanent address." The customer service rep did not hesitate and sent us 2 new chairs at no cost to a destination of our choice! His only condition was that we destroy the broken chairs...

2 brand new Pico's

Great customer service, kudos to GCI.

 

[mountainpete]

That is great customer service!

I use a Pico myself and love it. Not just for the packdown size either, I actually find them comfy.

Pete

 

[1leglance]

I broke my PICO but since I had bought it at REI I returned it there and went for the GCI little brother to the PICO...the Xpress Lounger.

while it doesn't pack as small I think the simple steel construction will hold up better to my sons
Plus the price difference allowed me to get other goodies as well.

 

[Chris]

We liked the Pico's and decided on two of them, Pack small and comfort sold us.

Now for another great customer service story. One was broken when we bought it, didn’t know until we used it for the first time. Purchased at Bass Pro Shop and they replaced it NO Questions.

Get this! The next time out we realized we had replaced the non-broken one...... Blue one in the black bag and black one in the blue bag type of thing.... I'm sure you get it ...took the broken "blue" chair back, should have opened it but didn’t. oops!

Ok so now, on the same trip we ended up in a small sand storm over night....YUP! Left them outside folded up. Went to open them in the morning and NO I mean NO way they would open up.

Back to Bass Pro Shop, exchanged them both no Q's.


BOTTOM LINE......Bass Pro = Great customer service and be very careful with them around sand......



Cj

 

[lostworldexpedition]

Three people with broken chairs. Well, now I am kinda worried about these chairs... I think they are great, but once we leave the CONUS it will be a lot harder to replace them. When I bought them, the whole point was to buy a sturdy chair that could survive a year and a half on the road.

Anyone else have a good or bad experience with the Pico? Flyingwil?

 

[Christophe Noel]

Three people with broken chairs. Well, now I am kinda worried about these chairs... I think they are great, but once we leave the CONUS it will be a lot harder to replace them. When I bought them, the whole point was to buy a sturdy chair that could survive a year and a half on the road.

Anyone else have a good or bad experience with the Pico? Flyingwil?

I don't know if this is good or bad, but GCI is now part of Integrity Outdoor products. They own RIO furniture. RIO is taking over production of the GCI furniture including the PICO chair. On the plus side, this will lower the cost of all GCI chairs, knocking the PICO down $30 to $100 retail come January. Since RIO has a great reputation for quality, I would assume the '10 PICO would be solid, but then again, ya never know.

We sell quite a few PICO chairs but that chair Lance posted is our hands down best seller. At first blush it seems more durable, but time will tell.

Flyingwil is a good source for these. Brian Handler is our GCI rep and he had great things to say about Flyingwil.

 

[1leglance]

I am now using both the steel Xpress and the PICO side by side for at least 2 months in a variety of camp conditions. I find that the PICO needs some dry silicon or some kind of lube now and then especially if you are around sand.
The Xpress is holding up very very well, no lube required, just a little larger and heavier but worth the switch.

If I was about to leave the country and travel the world I would return the PICO's to REI, change out the the Xpress and use the savings to get other needed gear.

Both chairs are made by GCI, great company, lots of creative thinking and I am not knocking the PICO for normal use...just sandy camping with people who might not be gentle with gear.

 

[Chris]

The only draw back I have had is SAND. Otherwise I think they are great.

PS sham on me for leaving it out in thoes conditions and no problems since I had that lesson.

:ylsmoke:


CJ

 

[overlander]

I have carried a PICO with me for my deployment to Iraq going on almost a year now, and I sitll love it. I'm in Iraq now, and it's been through a few weeks of sand hell at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA (aka death valley).

I learned quickly that this chair MUST be lubed in the telescoping legs. No problem, since we carry gun oil for our weapons anyway. As long as that is kept up (ie once every 1-2 weeks) you won't have a problem at all.

I had one leg seize on me after a week of NTC, and sitting on my cot in our barracks, I learned that this chair is fully FIELD MAINTAINABLE which really surprised me. I'm use to throw away chairs that have rivets and unserviceable parts.

With nothing more than my Gerber multitool and weapons cleaning kit, I was able to fully disassemble my PICO's legs, lube the internal parts, find the offending issue (it's the black plastic bushing on the end points of the black scissor component that get's hung up), and reassemble in about 20 minutes. The chair again worked perfectly. I would encourage all PICO owners that take these chairs into the field for extended stays to dissamble the telescoping legs once at home just to be able to visualize the engineering. You'll be impressed, and be able to visualize when there is trouble.

There is one thing you just can't beat on this chair; it fits in the overhead carry on bin with a laptop in it as well. For a world traveler like myself, that's like mastercard priceless. I have found myself countless times in hanger bays sitting comfortably, while hundreds of others are sitting for hours on concrete.

I also modified my PICO carrying case with MOLLE webbing, so I can attach all sorts of pockets and pouches to it. It still fits in carry on, but now it is my only carry on quite often. :victory:

As if my endorsement isn't enough, the other staff officers I work with have been so impressed with this chair, that at least 7-10 others have bought one for themselves. We now have an informal PICO club on cigar nights...it's kind of like the same pompous clickishness that Prius owners are alleged to have.

 

[bmonday]

I also modified my PICO carrying case with MOLLE webbing, so I can attach all sorts of pockets and pouches to it. It still fits in carry on, but now it is my only carry on quite often.

I do believe there is a law against posting about installing MOLLE webbing on unexpected things without providing the requisite pics.

 

[lowenbrau]

I bought the Express loungers as as a stop gap until I could get Picos.

I'm also having trouble with mine due to sand. The both still work but take a lot of effort to open and close. I'm not ready to abandon them though because I just love the size and shape of them folded up and they are nearly the most comfortable camp chair I have owned. If I end up replacing them annually, I'll be very unhappy but will probably do so. Their predecessors have lasted over a decade and have only been retired do to their clumsiness to pack.

GCI, I hope you are reading this. You nearly have a home run with these... don't trip.

 

[1leglance]

Well Mark as someone who just can't stand those cheap suck you into a pocket camp chairs that have soft fabric armrest you can't push yourself up with and are really really uncomfortable to me....I love my PICO's and my Xpress lounger.

I for one would rather pay more for something that is repairable and serviceable instead of something cheap that is meant to be tossed in a landfill.

Image a handgun that you couldn't teardown and clean, one that you pay 1/5th the price but throw it away if it jams, or has any issue...or look at much of our modern auto world where you flat can't work on them anymore.

lowenbrau thanks for the heads up on the field service alert, I have been using a dry silicon lube on my chairs but I think I will take'em apart, give a good cleaning and lube'em up.

 

[Scott Brady]

Honestly, I find the Pico Chair to be a poor product. I wanted to love it, but it broke on me the first time out, right at the front bracket.

 

[spressomon]

I, after only a couple "sits", had one of the seat bottoms come unstitched on the Express Lounger...yeah yeah before the peanut gallery chimes in I'm only a buck ninety five :coffeedrink. Wil and the manufacturer had it taken care of pronto without further issue (Thanks to you both for excellent post sale customer service!!!). So far no other issues with the pair of Express Loungers.

 

[lowenbrau]

lowenbrau thanks for the heads up on the field service alert, I have been using a dry silicon lube on my chairs but I think I will take'em apart, give a good cleaning and lube'em up.

I'd love to take credit for it but it was Overlander who suggested the field servicing. I'm going to take his advice, too. I just love to have another reason to smell like Hoppe's no. 9. Chicks dig that stuff!