Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Customer Service - an unsolicited review

A while back, I ordered a Velo Orange Grand Cru long setback seat post to go with my Brooks saddle. This month the part of the seatpost that holds the seat rails to the post broke.

Once I got home, I emailed Velo Orange and sent them a couple of pictures of the problem - mostly to let them know it happened. I didn’t have my original invoice and I knew that at least a year had gone by since the purchase, so I didn’t bother to even ask about a warranty replacement.

Nevertheless, Velo Orange’s response was to apologize for the problem, tell me it rarely happens and offer to immediately send me a replacement part. It’s not the first time VO stood behind one of their products. I previously had an issue with the stitching on a VO Campagne bag and they promptly sent me a replacement.

In this age of voice faceless internet transactions, good customer service is important to me and I think it deserves recognition.  I tend to spend what little pleasure spending money I have on bike related things and not everything I want is available at the LBS. I feel much better about making online purchases when it goes to a place that cares about having my business. So I plan to keep VO on my list of places to shop and to recommend them not only for their products but for their customer service.

Do you know of a particular bike related company with great customer service? If so, leave a comment, I’d like to hear about it. 

4 comments:

  1. VO Rocks! Yet another example in a long list to prove it.

    I had a very similar experience with ShowersPass. The zipper on my SP Elite 2.0 jacket broke. They asked me to send them the original jacket and they replaced it. I had to cover shipping both ways to expedite the exchange (they offered ground) but there was no question or dickering about replacing a year old jacket that had seem significant Rando and Commuting miles.

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    1. Thanks Mike. I've heard good things about showers pass jackets and hae one myself. I'm glad to hear that their customer service is good too.

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  2. This is disconcerting. I was going to buy one of these posts, cause I have trouble getting a long setback. Do you think you may have over torqued the bolt or something?

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    1. Jeff,

      VO has redesigned their seat post and made this part stronger. I continue to ride this seat post and it has been trouble free. I don't hesitate to use it or recommend it.

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