Excellence in Customer Service: Thule

Last winter I purchased a car that I am rather fond of. One of priorities in outfitting my little race wagon was fitting 4 bicycles and 4 front wheels on top of the car. After doing a bit of research, I stuck with Thule and purchased a set of feet to mount to my factory racks, 2 new bike trays, extra long cross bars and 4 front wheel mounts.

I installed the rack per instructions in the early spring and didn't use the new trays much, as I had mounted my 2 leftover Rocky Mount trays in the outside spots, which caused me to use these more often as they were more accessible.

My third time using the driver's side bike tray my carbon fiber Fuji SLM 2.0 popped out at highway speed on Route 1 North, leaving the city (lower deck of the Tobin in Chelsea). I hit a bump hard. The bike did a dramatic end over end tumble before skidding to a stop in the middle of a traffic lane. A box truck had to lock up its brakes and swerve to avoid the carcass, complete with smoking, squealing tires. I came to a similar squealing stop in a traffic lane, as there is no breakdown lane on the lower deck of the Tobin Bridge.

I considered leaving the mess on the road, but thought better of it and jammed in reverse and squealed the tires some more. There was a distinct smell of burnt carbon when I opened the car door, but that may have just been Chelsea. I collected my bicycle, my spoiler and as many pieces of the tray as I dared gather.

The frame was toast. Other parts of the bike were in various states of damage. The bike didn't look terrible, but it is carbon fiber and close inspection indicated that the frame was cracked badly in more than one place. Also, the bike ripped my spoiler off of this car that I am very fond of.

Here I am, with a broken race bike and a damaged car. Initially, I cursed my own stupidity for misusing the rack. I backtracked to figure out where I went wrong and the more that I thought about it, the more I was convinced that I had used the rack properly. After mulling the issue over for a few days, I spoke with Mark Vatour at Landry's who immediately called his Thule rep (I didn't purchase the Thule equipment from Landry's) and told him the issue. I was put on the phone with the rep; I briefly told the rep what happened. The rep put me in touch with Thule's claims department within minutes.

The Warranty Claims Specialist, Travis Stevens, patiently listened to my story, while asking clarifying details. Hyper sensitive to lawyerly questioning, I got the distinct feeling that Mr. Stevens was only looking to understand the issue as opposed to finding reasons for denying my claim. At no point did Travis ask any questions or even imply that I may have misused the bike tray.

After clarifying what happened, Stevens offered me a clear, simple and logical protocol for submitting a claim. While the required documentation was thorough, nothing was superfluous, obstructionist or deliberately difficult. He was clear on the time tables and the procedures that Thule would follow in evaluating the claim.

I mailed Thule both of the heads of the bike trays for inspection. After a few weeks of dithering, I got my act together and gathered the receipts and documentation and submitted the claim. Days later, after some phoning and emailing back and forth to clarify and explain details, Stevens contacted me and asked that I mail him my bicycle.

Within 2 weeks of submitting a complete claim, I had a check that covered the complete cost of repairing my car and the complete replacement cost of the bicycle (the bicycle was team purchased, so I was given an amount that covered another team purchased bike including shipping costs). Furthermore, Thule sent two more robust (and more expensive) bike trays to replace the two I sent back.

While some of you are reading this as a post about a failed product, I am writing this to point out how great Thule was in handling my issue. Most companies will replace a failed product while under a warranty. But usually, getting a company to pay what is essentially an insurance claim is adversarial and contentious. I got none of this feeling while working with Thule and Mr. Stevens. Thule was straightforward about making the situation right and get me on my way quickly. Some of you know that I can be pushy at times. I want to assure you that I never even felt the desire to become pushy with Thule, they were just so clearly trying to do the right thing without being pushovers (and their not being pushovers makes me respect them even more).

For this, they have earned a heartfelt thank you and a customer for life. It feels really good to report on a company that attempts to fix a situation that didn't go right instead of shifting blame and trying to evade responsibility. Thank you Thule.

BTW, the new trays are pretty sweet.