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.

RMM's Guide to Getting Broken Stuff Replaced for Free

When bike parts break "just riding along," I contact manufacturers and ask for replacement parts. Nine times out of ten, companies send me replacements along with profuse apologies, sometimes with freebies.

Over the years, I have cultivated my persuasive writing skills. I follow a proven pattern when seeking replacements, listed in chronological order:

1. Bring the broken item into a friendly LBS. Ask them to pursue the manufacturer. Often the quest ends here.

2. In simple cases I may call the manufacturer, but usually I skip straight to step three. Remember to be polite and consiliatory. Use the strategies listed in three, only verbally.

3. Write a professional, polite business letter that: first tells the company how much you like their product (seriously stroke their ego), states your history with the product and with the company in question (tell Look how many sets of Look pedals you have bought), outlines the issue/failure, states the steps already taken (LBS, phone call), states why you think that you should get a new -----, discusses the inconvience that you have experienced (If you walked 15 miles in your carbon road shoes, make sure you mention it), states what will happen if the company refuses to satisfy you (you will never buy their product again and will talk trash about it at every opportunity) and lastly thank them for their consideration. Remember to be firm but very polite.

3. The letter should provide a deadline for hearing from them concerning the matter; I usually give them 2 weeks. Assure the company that you will refrain from talking about the issue until after the deadline has passed.

4. After the deadline passes without satisfaction, use your Twitter, Facebook, blog whatever internet tools you have to roast the company in question. Many of the bigger companies have people who monitor what people on the internet are saying about them. See the comments on my Knog post for an example.  There have been rumors of dissatisfied customers getting turned away by customer service only to be contacted and conpensated after they posted on thier twitter/facebook.  

5. If you get no justice, DON'T BUY THAT GARBAGE EVER AGAIN!

6. If you get justice, you should give the company some props: Facebook, Blog, Twitter, whatever. Don't forget this step, it is an implicit part of the bargain.

My usual strategy when contacting bicycle companies to request a remedy is to convince them that whether they agree that the I am justified in demanding a replacement or not, that they should provide a replacement because if they don't I will make it uncomfortable for them. Ultimately, it is less expensive to accomadate me than to cross me. I break it down into simple math, without the numbers.

It is a subtle craft. I perfected this art in fighting parking tickets. When disputing a $40 parking ticket, your only job is to make it cost more than $40 for the city to recover the cost of the ticket. When this is the case, they will drop the ticket even if you are in the wrong (unless you get a bureaucrat with a chip on their shoulder).  If you don't make it difficult for them, they will deny your dispute, even if you are correct, because they's rather be wrong and get the money than do the right thing and forgo the income.  

Call it blackmail, call it underhanded, call it a dark art. But when you consider the prices that we pay for components, frames and clothing, I feel like we should be able to rely on our gear to function properly for a reasonable period of time. When things break under normal use, you have been ripped off and you are within your rights to ask for justice. Of course there are economics running in the other direction too. If you are worth $40 an hour, it makes no sense spending more than half an hour trying to collect $20 worth remedy. If you are well paid, write off the small stuff. If you are starving student or unemployed...

Quad Multi-Sport: Shop Review

Those of you who know me, probably think that I am about to slam the triathlon shop. You couldn't be more wrong.
Let me tell you a story:
I had a set of 2005 Zipp 404 tubular wheels. I bought them used and raced the set for two seasons. Lots of potholed crits. I thought that I had broken them a dozen times. I put enough miles on them that I had to change the tubular tires.
When I tried to sell them, I found a hairline crack near the tire on the front wheel. It was small enough that I may have been able to get away with selling them "as is," but the ethicist in me would not allow that.
Zipp has a "no fault" crash repair policy for wheels that are out of warranty. My wheels were both out of warranty and on their 2nd or 3rd owner. Furthermore, I don't have a receipt for them. Zipp's repair policy requires you to go through a Zipp dealer, pay for shipping (both ways) and pay wholesale for repairs. The idea is that Zipp will keep your wheels running for less than the cost of new wheels. Fair enough.
Quad Multi-Sport (QMS) is a Zipp dealer. There are also a number of other Zipp dealers in the Boston area. I have done business with almost every one of them and opted not bring the wheels to them for one reason or another. I chose to go to QMS because I used to race for Quad Cycles, which is across the street and closely affiliated with QMS. I remain good friends with QS's owner, Rustem, despite my decision to race for another team. I figured that Rustem would make sure I was treated well at QMS.
I brought the wheel in on a Saturday and was treated politely. Obviously, the owner and I had little to talk about since our cycling disciplines could not be more different. There was no small talk, all business. I don't even remember if I mentioned my former affiliation with Quad.
I truthfully told Tom, co owner, that I had no idea how the wheel came to be cracked. I didn't imply that the wheel was defective, only that it was cracked and that I would like it fixed. I never disparaged Zipp or their product.
Tom promised to call Zipp on Monday, readily admitting, without shame, that he had never handled a Zipp service issue before. He said that it would be a learning experience. I made him promise to call me before sending the wheel off. I was a little hesitant to be the test run, but left the wheel accompanied by my name and phone number.
I never got a call from QMS on the following Monday. I had visions of waiting forever for the wheel and then getting socked with a $500 repair bill on a wheel only worth $400.
Tom called back a week and a half later, the wheel was fixed and I was only required to pay for shipping ($42)! I am not sure how the shop wrangled this deal, but I was very happy. I kept my happiness under wraps so that they wouldn't change thier minds and be tempted to tack extra charges onto the bill. I didn't ask any questions either.
I should add that the wheel looks brand new and came with a new Zipp skewer and a valve Zipp valve extender.
While I will not be switching sports, or more accurately, taking on two new sports, I will say that I was more than happy with the service at QMS. They were polite and quick. They have a good selection of aero gear in stock. So if you are looking for fast carbon wheels or a TT setup to buy or rent, I'd at check these guys out, you'll be happy with the service.