ttcycle
Cycling Excusiast
Had my bike stolen with a Kryptonite New York lock securing it.
I registered the lock when I first brought it within the 15 days time frame to utilise the Anti theft protection offer which states that if the lock fails Kryptonite will pay out £1200 - I think it's gone up to £2000 however they stipulated that you would need to provide amongst other things in the post (check the document that comes with the lock) part or all of the lock back to Kryptonite to claim the offer. The other items are proof that you have notified you insurers if you have insurance, a receipt for the lock, Proof that you reported the theft within 72 hours and a police report.
Thought I'd share the sucessful negotiations I had with Kryptonite- wasn't able to get the full £1200 as the thieves took the Kryptonite lock along with the bike but I got £500 out of them which is better than nothing.
Basically, I called and faxed a letter to Madison Cycles the Monday after my bike had been stolen on Saturday - Madison are the UK arm of Kryptonite on 020 8385 3385 (fax=0800 1300 599) and spoke to their team about the situation - the supervisor basically said without the lock that they couldn't pay out as they were working on behalf of Kryptonite- they offered to replace the NY lock...considering that my very expensive carbon fibre bike dissapeared off the streets in less that 40 minutes with the bike locked up with very little leverage in the dlock I didn't have much faith in the lock anymore despite the good reviews from C-Plus, but accepted the offer and they sent one to me (it's still sat at home-hasn't been used yet).
I then decided to contact the actual Kryptonite company- Ingersoll Rand out in the states - did a google search and they're based in Boston (from what I recall though my USA geography is a bit scant) and their email was Letters@irco.com - Donna is the customer representative who usually responds to the emails. Emailed them and basically said how dissapointed I was with the lock and Kryptonite as a company,was not convinced with their lock reliability and had contacted Madison cycles who were not helpful as they were not the people who were responsible for the anti theft protection offer and that if the NY lock had indeed worked my very expensive (insert value here) carbon fibre bike would not have been stolen. I explained that I was away from the bike for only 40 minutes and that the bike had been locked up well, in a busy area and was locked up as suggested on the label on the lock packaging - through the seat tube (not the seat post!) frame, seat stays, back wheel and with no leverage to get at the lock- so basically good practice. Added details of additional locks used and sent them a photo of the frame it was secured to and told them how the frame had bent from the force used to remove the bike which could be seen in the picture. Emphasised neutrally but persuasively that I was unlikely to use a Kryptonite lock again due to the poor record demonstrated by the NY lock.
Took a while for Donna to reply - but after more emails giving details of what happened - she agreed that they would review my case:
I sent via special delivery to their address - declaring on the customs form what was in the letter-ie insurance documents/key for bike lock etc:
Kryptonite
437 Turnpike St
Canton, MA 02021 USA
the following items
1. A key for the lock
2. The code number that comes with the key ie the tag- noted down the key code in case it got lost in the post
3. Receipt for purchase of the lock
4. Document that I copied when I registered the lock back in April
5. Insurance documents which included a picture of how the bike was locked up to show that it was secured well- I also stated previously in my emails that my insurance does not have an excess payment as it doesn't -which was crucial to my claim I think as the small print states that they will pay your insurance deductible in relevant cases (ie your insurance excess)
6. Police report- I stipulated via email that we don't get reports here in the UK but photocopied the memo the police officer wrote down when I reported the theft - it had the police officer's name, the station address and number and the crime reference number.
Waited a while - emailed them to check that they had recieved the documents which they confirmed - a few more days passed but they finally agreed to pay £500 (which is going to fund my track Dolan Pre Cursa!) - they emailed me a release form (basically to protect them from further claims or litigation which I signed with a friend who signed as a witness) and faxed it back to them on 001 781 821 0780 - Emailed to confirm that she had received it and how the monies will be paid to me - still waiting on the cheque but it will be sent out through their UK branch.
There we go - a bit of tenacity, good negotiation and patience led to successfully squeezing money from Kryptonite as their lock had geniunely failed.
I registered the lock when I first brought it within the 15 days time frame to utilise the Anti theft protection offer which states that if the lock fails Kryptonite will pay out £1200 - I think it's gone up to £2000 however they stipulated that you would need to provide amongst other things in the post (check the document that comes with the lock) part or all of the lock back to Kryptonite to claim the offer. The other items are proof that you have notified you insurers if you have insurance, a receipt for the lock, Proof that you reported the theft within 72 hours and a police report.
Thought I'd share the sucessful negotiations I had with Kryptonite- wasn't able to get the full £1200 as the thieves took the Kryptonite lock along with the bike but I got £500 out of them which is better than nothing.
Basically, I called and faxed a letter to Madison Cycles the Monday after my bike had been stolen on Saturday - Madison are the UK arm of Kryptonite on 020 8385 3385 (fax=0800 1300 599) and spoke to their team about the situation - the supervisor basically said without the lock that they couldn't pay out as they were working on behalf of Kryptonite- they offered to replace the NY lock...considering that my very expensive carbon fibre bike dissapeared off the streets in less that 40 minutes with the bike locked up with very little leverage in the dlock I didn't have much faith in the lock anymore despite the good reviews from C-Plus, but accepted the offer and they sent one to me (it's still sat at home-hasn't been used yet).
I then decided to contact the actual Kryptonite company- Ingersoll Rand out in the states - did a google search and they're based in Boston (from what I recall though my USA geography is a bit scant) and their email was Letters@irco.com - Donna is the customer representative who usually responds to the emails. Emailed them and basically said how dissapointed I was with the lock and Kryptonite as a company,was not convinced with their lock reliability and had contacted Madison cycles who were not helpful as they were not the people who were responsible for the anti theft protection offer and that if the NY lock had indeed worked my very expensive (insert value here) carbon fibre bike would not have been stolen. I explained that I was away from the bike for only 40 minutes and that the bike had been locked up well, in a busy area and was locked up as suggested on the label on the lock packaging - through the seat tube (not the seat post!) frame, seat stays, back wheel and with no leverage to get at the lock- so basically good practice. Added details of additional locks used and sent them a photo of the frame it was secured to and told them how the frame had bent from the force used to remove the bike which could be seen in the picture. Emphasised neutrally but persuasively that I was unlikely to use a Kryptonite lock again due to the poor record demonstrated by the NY lock.
Took a while for Donna to reply - but after more emails giving details of what happened - she agreed that they would review my case:
I sent via special delivery to their address - declaring on the customs form what was in the letter-ie insurance documents/key for bike lock etc:
Kryptonite
437 Turnpike St
Canton, MA 02021 USA
the following items
1. A key for the lock
2. The code number that comes with the key ie the tag- noted down the key code in case it got lost in the post
3. Receipt for purchase of the lock
4. Document that I copied when I registered the lock back in April
5. Insurance documents which included a picture of how the bike was locked up to show that it was secured well- I also stated previously in my emails that my insurance does not have an excess payment as it doesn't -which was crucial to my claim I think as the small print states that they will pay your insurance deductible in relevant cases (ie your insurance excess)
6. Police report- I stipulated via email that we don't get reports here in the UK but photocopied the memo the police officer wrote down when I reported the theft - it had the police officer's name, the station address and number and the crime reference number.
Waited a while - emailed them to check that they had recieved the documents which they confirmed - a few more days passed but they finally agreed to pay £500 (which is going to fund my track Dolan Pre Cursa!) - they emailed me a release form (basically to protect them from further claims or litigation which I signed with a friend who signed as a witness) and faxed it back to them on 001 781 821 0780 - Emailed to confirm that she had received it and how the monies will be paid to me - still waiting on the cheque but it will be sent out through their UK branch.
There we go - a bit of tenacity, good negotiation and patience led to successfully squeezing money from Kryptonite as their lock had geniunely failed.
