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After the recent Orange Five hatred thread I though I'd ask which makes of bike actually provide good warranty/backup customer service?
I've owned a Whyte and had many probs with the bike but received good service,
Also had a Lapierre with a major problem and received terrible service,
I've since moved on to a Five which I love but see lots of bad feeling about Oranges warranty etc.
I accept there are many warranty issues with bikes but who is doing the best job of keeping customers happy? For me this has a major effect on which bike I want to own....
I found Giant's customer service to be amazing!! They sent me free stuff to help me out when it had been my ham fistery that has caused it!!!
I can't speak highly enough of Turner.
I owned a specialized sirrius roadbike when they 1st came out, I snapped the chainstay whilst riding a 300k audax.
the bike was 14 month old, specialized paid for a cannondale tourer to the same value.
I was very pleased.
also when a certain mr b Richards was at ragley, he delivered, not once but twice, 2 frames to my workplace which I thought was fantastic.
rob why Turner so good? (I'm thinking of getting one).
No
rob why Turner so good? (I'm thinking of getting one).
If you have a problem, you speak to the guys who own the company and they will sort you out. I had a minor headtube badge issue, which Chainreaction, as the retailer, really should have sorted. But after a couple of months, I gave up waiting. An email to Turner, parts (plus spares) arrived from the U.S within 3 days, no questions asked.
I can't speak highly enough of the chaps at Planet X! Fantastic!
Edit. Thames water don't make bikes!
Good -
2Pure (replaced Niterider battery I had bought in US and abused FOC out of warranty)
Hope
Chain Reaction where excellent with something that was not there fault but down to -
Commencal (also good over same issue)
Voodoo - had a lovely chat with Joe Murray himself who sent me a load of frame decals
And non bike related -
Sky
Virgin Media (surprisingly as when they where NTL I actually ended up with an out of court settlement!)
Bad -
Halfords didn't cover themselves with glory refunding me recently (although easy to get hold of and generally cheery and helpful on phone, just fell down after initial contact)
(Not bike related but by a long way worst ever are)
BT - worst experiences ever over last 2 weeks
Royal Mail
John Greed Jewellery
Can't actually think of a bike related complaint that I haven't had resolved with minimal fuss
Edit just did - Oakley!! Sent broken glasses off years ago on promise of a repair never heard anything, chased repeatedly eventually told unrepairable, end of conversation. By other people's experiences though this was unusual and it certain ally hasn't put me off them as I've since bought a few more pairs
[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/best-company-for-long-term-support ]Great Topic[/url] 🙂
My experience of cotic, singular, hope, camelbak have all been good. My experience of kona and salsa is even better.
Trek is my best customer service experience. When they give you a life time warranty, they bloody well mean it, it had been 3 years of hard riding on stock components, shipped me a brand new frame (8700 for my 6300 frame) and let me keep the old frame as well! Lovely.
Bad is dave hinde (of course) as I have just bought some wheels off of them then read the reviews. Late but they are cheap.
Only ever broken one frame, it was a 2 year old '06 Marin Rocky Ridge. Dropped the frame off at the supplying shop on Friday new frame was in my hands on Monday. Superb service.
Orange have always been excellent with me, including sorting out my hamfistedness for free.
Planet X / On-One also good, Singular superb, and bike shop wise I can recommend Fulford Cycles, Cyclesense in Tadcaster, and Stif amongst others.
I think the customer service you get is often down to how you ask for what you want.
Edit: Forgot Hope - also good.
Cy and Paul at Cotic, I broke my Mk1 Soda a couple months after the warranty ended and they sorted me out a replacement frame (Hemlock as the Mk1 Soda run had ended by then) with some parts thrown in straight away.
Howies had a problem with a delivery recently and they responded brilliantly.
Amazon when my first Kindle died I contacted them via the website within minutes I had a callback and was seamlessly dealt with by two levels of tech support in different parts of the world, with all of my case details correctly forwarded between them and finally a rep who arranged for a delivery of a new Kindle and the return of my faulty one (I'm in Telecoms and the level of website/CRM/virtual contact centre integration was perfect for the end user experience, top marks!)