Just because its Friday and it'd make a pleasant change from moaning
I'll start shall I, as I've just had a rather pleasant experience with Fisher Outdoors.
I had a right old bitch about my Truvativ Bottom bracket exploding after less than six months use. I then had a revolutionary idea. Instead of moaning to you lot, I'd moan to them instead.
They responded to say they'd replace it under warranty, but they didn't have any stock of that particular part, but they'd send me a lower spec part that'd do the trick until they had them in, whereupon they'd send me a like-for-like replacement.
So after receiving the original BB I'd forgotten I had another one to follow. I've just had a knock on the door and received another nice new Howitzer bottom bracket
I is a very happy bunny. Brilliant! 🙂
Your refreshingly good experiences please. And no moaning!!! lets keep it positive eh kiddies?
Recently Clee cycles and Woolly hat shop have been FANTASTIC.
Wooly Hat Shop for me. Great prices and come next day every time with free delivery.
18 Bikes, I live in Sheffield but they are my LBS of choice.
Set up my tubeless flows when I couldn't get them seated.
JE James for price matching what was a massive saving for me.
I've dealt with some good companies online (silverfish, TF tuned). I can't say that I've ever received what I consider good service from an LBS 🙁
Oakley. Simply awesome.
Had a few spokes snap on my Hope wheel.
Got in touch with Hope who sent out replacements all the way to Singapore. Top service. :d
Judging on my recent experiences, ordering anything from Germany is super efficient.
Swinnertons @ Cannock Chase.... Top people.
Hmmm. Oakley. I've had great service in the past from them, but am still waiting for my ordered in the price error specs...
Recent dealings with nice people
CRC
Cooksons
Bikegoo
Paulscycles
Planet X
Had a couple of poor ones too... but I'm a nice guy so I won't slag them off on here.
ordering anything from Germany is super efficient.
They're just reinforcing their own stereotype!
18 Bikes
Loco Tuning
TF Tuning
Wheelcraft
Bikelove
and dare I say it - CRC
Have all offered very good service this year. 
Patagonia gave me a £150 credit note because a seven-year-old jacket had fallen apart.
I got it for £33 in TK Maxx originally.
That good customer service probably why their stuff is so expensive.
I've had great service in the past from them, but am still waiting for my ordered in the price error specs.
According to UPS mine's coming today 😀
Enigma Cycles, have been very helpful and friendly with a lot of questions i've asked.
MOJO suspension, great service.
Torm.
Pleasure to deal with.
RicherSounds. I wrote to their head office thanking the Deansgate store for their intuition and passion for products that they sell. I received a thank you letter back from the founder handsigned 🙂
Evans Deansgate. People who actually ride bikes and are intelligent.
Hope
Mojo
Merlin cycles
Evans, for the cheerful way they price match.
Oakley, cos they didn't just hand out '£10 off your next £100 purchase' vouchers when they cocked up. And for their frame replacement service when you sit on, and squash, your old ones.
And the King Canute award to 2pure for supporting Crank Brothers products.
I've never ever had to deal with Hope. Which means I've no idea about their customer service. A strong, brilliant product means you'll never see a companies backup..
Merlin Cycles? I was told 3 times that the product I was interested in was 'at cost' and they 'just want shifted of it'.
Why do I need to know that information?
Have you been trying to haggle with Merlin Hora?
😆
I haven't had any Hope products fail, but its' great how you can ring them up and ask a tech question and get a reply straight away.
The Bike Chain in Edinburgh - always top notch.
Oakley - used three times (me smashing frames that I didn've have receipts for, which folks had bought abroad) - above and beyond what they had to do.
Apple - some chilled out yank on the end of the phone was uber-helpful a couple of years back.
And it stays with you - I'd be very loyal to those three brands now...
I'm not saying a word but I am known to haggle over EVERYTHING. I'd do it at the petrol station but even I'm not that brazen 8)
Works Components - fast replies and refunded product when changed frame no-quibble.
MTB-Direct. Sold me something on ebay below cost price by accident. I offered to cancel/no probs as I didn't want to profit out of anothers mistake. He insisted and refused to be back down and that he would honour the deal.
I can only imagine Mrs Hora's mortified face when you get to the checkout at Tesco.
Anywhere privately owned gets haggled. Anywhere selling me an expensive item gets haggled. Its the rule.
Hmmm, I've had poor service from Oakley in the past and won't buy them again. Maybe my loss.
Hope are brilliant and Mojo and TF are super helpful. LoCo aren't the quickest to respond though.
Evans online were very good indeed.
Just a counter LoCo has been amazing for me every time and get back to me usually within hours.
I won't go anywhere else for parts or service again.
Hope. fantastic help with my old Vision2 LEDs which are gradually wearing out.
Anywhere privately owned gets haggled
This is an interesting point, is the view that small businesses can afford it or that they are more likely to cave? It seems a little strange that most people wouldn't dream of haggling in tesco (for example) but would be happy in a small independant
Matt
(and thanks to those who mentioned us, we do try so it's nice to see it gets noticed)
Loco and my LBS, Cyclopedia Watford. Always really helpful, customer loyalty I suppose.
Wrecker, stupidally busy week as was ill for a couple of days last week and catching up. (first day ill since I started 18 months ago and haven't had a holiday either, mail me your question and I'll get back to you asap, or is it a comment about a waiting time for service?
cheers Mosey 😀
and Bags 😀
A couple of really good one's lately:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/crc-warranty-impressive
and Hargroves yesterday (funnily enough, the LBS in the above story!) - ordered a hybrid for my mum - quick email reply and a phone call to the shop got the bike ready for collection the next day (no deposit needed). Then I added a rack and the guy [i]offered[/i] to fit it without me asking! All in all a really good buying experience.
and of course, Hope Technology.
Another couple from me
Animal - Sorted out a broken bag, waaaay out of any warranty, free and fast. Awesome.
TFTuned - Ride saving greatness
Giant - Had a few issues with my NRS when I first got it. They were brilliant. Above and beyond what was required.
Hope - "What's that you want? Custom drilled hubs? Yeah, sure, no problem. Want your name or anything else on them?" (No name on hubs, that would be naff, but hubs made for you, that's pretty sweet!
Salomon - For my ace boots! 🙂
Back on Track bikes at Malvern.
Superstar Components
Merlin Cycles
All have been great to deal with. Thanks.
TFTuned, Hope and 2Pure have gone above and beyond for me in recent months, but the award has to go to Fizik - broke a rail on a 4yr-old Arione, asked if it was possible to have it repaired (at my cost) and they sent me a brand new saddle, FOC.
Rose bikes
Loco
Crosstrax
18 Bikes
Moonglu
Stif
CRC
Charlie the bikemonger
Sam @ singular
Cy @ cotic
Tim @ sideways
All great to deal with, properly nice bike people.
Hope, time and again, vision2 led several years out of warranty sorted quickly for free, maxle hub replaced free, cracked pro 11 (many years old and very well used) replaced with evo 2 for free. you could say that its a few too many things that have gone wrong but as I know they will be sorted out in a way that many others dont match then I keep going back. quite likely to buy a new hope r4 now as well
Silverfish and We Love Mountains. I bought a set of Formula The Ones direct from Formula, which broke and Silverfish and WLM have sorted me out with a lovely shiny brand new pair. So big thanks to them!
hora - Member
Anywhere privately owned gets haggled. Anywhere selling me an expensive item gets haggled. Its the rule.
try and haggle your water company, see how far you get 😉
Rob, Nath and Dan at B.A.B. For honest, straight-forward advice, products and servicing.
B n Daft I recently argued my gas bill and got it reduced right down.
melksham cycle centre.they have let me take bikes,whilst paying them off interest free (even though i am currently unemployed).i cannot think of many shops that would do that.great shop and guys 😀
Bikelab Poole. They have been so good to me for a number of years I feel very loyal to them. When I wanted to buy a frame they didn't supply they still advised on suitability for me and built the bike for me once I'd got the frame elsewhere.
the Customer Service people I don't need to contact, because their company does not sell shoddy goods which are not fit for purpose, those are the best,
Chris at LeisureLakes - Thoroughly helpful chap who went out of his way to source a cheap (but vital) bit for me even though I'd never shopped with them before. Big props to you, sir!
I've been using CRC for 15 years, and I can only think of one occassion when they were less than superb.
Rose Bikes impressed me recently with cheap prices, fast delivery, and a free cereal bowl (yes, really!).
The Brake Pad at Kirri!!!
Great, great service, kept my holiday on track!!!!
Thank You 🙂
Paul
P.S. North West MTB Centre, consistently great.
Swynnerton's in Stoke are ace
There's a shop in the centre of Plymouth that's also brill, can't remember the name tho
Swinnertons
Had a tyre de-laminate last week so emailed them, got a quick reply from Craig asking for a photo which he quickly passed on to Trek - 2 days later there's a new tyre in my hands
No messing around just straight forward good service
Turner
re-sprayed frame when a bit of paint fell off aroung the front mech, was only 6 months old but the turn around was impressive
Hope
Split an 18month old pro2 replaced without question
Judging on my recent experiences, ordering anything from Germany is super efficient.
Not really.
Ask nameless bike shop if they have a frame in stock
"Yes we have one left"
"I'll take it, can i have a spare mech hanger to go with it?"
"Not a problem but we'll have to order that in from the manufacturer, should take 2 days for the part and 3 days for shipping to you"
3 weeks later i receive the wrong size frame, apparently they got the frame from the manufacturer too. this is 2 weeks before a trip to morzine. get in touch with manufacturer to sort this out and things take a few days. finally get a correct frame on the tuesday before the friday I go to morzine.
At times the germans can be just as efficient as any other country.
No names yet as i'll probably give the bike a glowing review on here soon.
[u]Edinburgh Bike Coop.[/u]
Bought a new lock in the newcastle store, sadly it came without the required keys.
Emailed a day or so ago.
Back in touch next day gave me a number to call, now they're gonna just post a new lock out to me.
Pretty darn good.
I have always had good service from:
- My local bike shop - Cycle Kingdom in Fleet
- Four4th Lights seem to do a good job of fixing stuff that people break and they look after a number of us in the Trolls very well.
- Hope are always and have always been brilliant.
- Scottish Tourist board - makes booking b&b's for trips away (Scotland needless to say) a sinch!
- Turner are always helpful.
- Mountain Trax in Barkham seem to turn emergency must have's around pretty quickly.
- Cotic were very helpful when I decided I need old style decals.
- Argos were pretty helpful when I had a frame resprayed too.
I tend to think of good customer service as people sorting you out when something goes wrong. Fortunately I've not really had much call for that (although I have had bad customer service in this regard).
In terms of people being nice in providing what I wanted to buy/pay for:
18bikes
Loco tuning
Bikelove
Eyepic - Member
Swinnertons @ Cannock Chase.... Top people.
As above
Bought some lights from mtbbatteries on Wednesday and they arrived today. Happy days 🙂
Wicked Cycles in Colne, near Hope in Barnoldswick. Pair of Hope Hoops for £260 all in, arrived in less than 48 hours. Very good customer service.
Alpine Bikes in Glasgow for me. Heckler broke the pinch bolts for the second time 🙁 . So they sorted the new swing arm for me.
Riders Retreat in Morzine. One of our party managed to break a the axle in Hope hub. Tried all the shops and the best we could do was buy a new wheel or rent a bike for the rest of the week. The guys at Riders had a friend of a friend and we had the part required that night at the apartment. That is beyond the call of duty in my eyes. The apartment was top notch as well.
One more for blowing me away with their customer service.
The Bike Chain, especially Mark. Couldn't ask more from a bike shop.
Hope for the great service on an exploded hub and Simon at Albany Cycles in Coventry for fixing my second Hope Hoop that I had abused to death and getting it done for me ready to ride this weekend even though the workshop was stacked out and he had a harrassing customer just before me.
+1 swinnertons on the chase. Mark and jack always helpful and nice guys too.
Biketreks have always given me good service.
Oakley
18 Bikes
The Bike Chain
Fred Williams
The Bike Shed in Scissett, West Yorks ... James the bike tech, takes the p**s out of my blingy bikes, my lack of skills & calls me an old git ... but always sorts my mechanical woes out 😀
Mine has to be orange. From years ago I had a issue with my p7. Orange where very helpful sorted it no dramas
Sanderson (forgot the distributors) bought a frame from a bike shop (via eBay) had a issue with the frame so I called the bike shop who told me there was no warranty as it was from eBay (even though it was brand new) called Sanderson, they had the frame fixed in less than 48 hrs.
And hope but that's well known now.
Bike wise -
18 bikes in Hope. Top chaps
Jon @ [url= http://www.bicyclesmithy.co.uk/ ]Bicycle Smithy[/url]
The nice folks at [url= http://www.plushhillcycles.co.uk/ ]Plush Hill Cycles[/url] in Church Stretton
And Rob, head brewer at the [url= http://www.itchenvalley.com/Home.html ]Itchen Valley brewery[/url], who some of you may know 🙂
Cyclestore.co.uk
Bought a pair of Hope Hoops, sent me a free pair of Hope QR with the order for no reason whatsoever.
Winstanleys used to be very poor but in the last 18 months or so have been superb, so well done to whoever has turned this around there.
CRC and Wiggle, on the (very) rare occasion something has not gone quite right they sort it straight off with no hassle.
Ant White at XCRacer shop, super friendly and efficient; likewise, the folk at Alpkit.
The team at Threshold Sports for unflagging enthusiasm, friendliness and positivity under trying conditions on the Ride Across Britain.
Superstar were really good for a bottom bracket- ordered early afternoon and arrived next day - with sweeties!
I did say I would give them a shout if they turned it round quickly then forgot so thanks for the reminder!
Monster Bikes in Inverness for being very patient trying to sort some troublesome Elixirs that I'd clearly just bought from CRC. Am now awaiting an email from CRC warranty and hope to be able to add them to my list.
Nevis Cycles in Fort William for helping me pack up my bike for a trip to Spain even though I'd never spent a penny with them (I have since).
In non-biking, the customer service I've had from Apple (sent me the wrong refurbed laptop so replaced it with a brand new one) has been outstanding.
Orange!
Had a slight issue with a Blood outside warrenty. Couldn`t have been more helpful or speedy sorting it out. Even got a bit of a wander around orange towers. Suspect I will be owning one of those new patriot things at some point so I guess good customer service pays.
Oh and Ride On.
Consistently good for the last decade.
Dave Hinde sent me 2000 Hope rotors for £9.95, and left glowing feedback when I demanded a postage refund!
Trolling aside, Hope replaced my QR seatpost clamp withing 48 hours, despite my having ridden it for over a year, and having no idea where I bought it. Grand.
Marin for excellent warrenty (twice)
Magura. Had been having real trouble getting hold of some internals for the right leg of a 2009 Durin Race, dealer was being very unhelpful and suggesting I should send it in for a service (£85 plus the cost of the part plus two lots of postage! I can od it myself, I just need the bit!) Saw the Magura man at a race and 2 days later the right part dropped through my letterbox, no charge, no nothing. Top marks.
superstar pop larkin ..hahahaha.
Falls of chair laughing.
14 emails and no reply...
Just wait until it falls to pieces.
He doesn't want to know...t####r...
The haribos leave the sour taste of his c/service...
Does anyone know how enforce the sales of goods act on him.?
In terms of great customer service when having an issue; fatbirds, Rapha
and crc have been great. In respect of ordering and getting prompt delivery; all the previously mentioned and wiggle, merlin, probikekit, planet x, shiney bikes, cycle bargains, sjs, high on bikes and bulkpowders always deliver as stated.
Smellit, you've obvioulsy had a very different experiance of CRC to me. I wouldn't touch them with a steralised barge pole.
Bloc sunglasses customer service is excellent.I couldnt see spare arms listed on their website and asked about being sent one which turned up free of charge within the week .