Buying on-line or via an LBS - A tale of customer service

[PK99]

A little while ago I bought a White Winchelsea E-Bike. Ordered online on a Thursday, ready to collect on Tuesday from my local Whyte dealer (Moose Cycles, Colliers Wood).

Fantastic bike does exactly what I wanted - helping me get back to riding fitness after several years of illness and injury.

10 days or so ago I took it in for its 6-week check and asked them to fit mudguards while it was with them.

Phone call a few days later - they had a problem! A manufacturing flaw meant that the fixing boss for the rear mudguard was unusable and it was not possible to re-tap the damaged hole. They had been in touch with Whyte who had agreed to supply a new frame.

Collected the bike this am, all the kit stripped from the old frame and fixed to the new. All at no cost to me and with zero hassle from Whyte.

So: a big shout out for truly excellent customer service from a great LBS and a great manufacturer.

 

[Cycleops]

That really is epic service.

 

[Drago]

Whyte has aleays had a decent rep for customer service, and Whyte probably paid the LBS a nice little coin to do the warranty repair for them, so everyone's happy.

 

[Pale Rider]

I'm a little confused by the thread title.

Presumably, you used the increasingly popular method of ordering the bike on the manufacturer's website for delivery via your local dealer.

I reckon Brompton pioneered this type of hybrid sale because I don't recall many others doing it before them, although there may have been a couple of relatively obscure MTB brands.

You were certainly wise to involve a Whyte dealer because you may not have received such good service had you bought a bike direct from the maker/importer.

 

[Archie_tect]

Good news PK!
Sometimes you really do get what you pay for!

 

[rogerzilla]

Ok, who here would have used a longer bolt and a nut on the other end?

 

[Pale Rider]

Ok, who here would have used a longer bolt and a nut on the other end?

Only if a self-tapper wouldn't work.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Presumably, you used the increasingly popular method of ordering the bike on the manufacturer's website for delivery via your local dealer.

That is a good method of buying and it has been standard practice in the airgun world for a while now as all such sales are required to be face to face. It gives the convenience of internet ordering with the security of good local dealer backup.

 

[cougie uk]

Ok, who here would have used a longer bolt and a nut on the other end?

Or a zip tie.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

That really is epic service.

And savvy business sense, since a satisfied customer has now related the story on a public forum, where it will enhance the reputation of both the manufacturer and the LBS who sorted out the repairs.
When you get above the "box shifter" low end machines sold by retail chains, service is often a significant consideration when it comes to what to buy, and where from.

 

[PK99]

And savvy business sense, since a satisfied customer has now related the story on a public forum, where it will enhance the reputation of both the manufacturer and the LBS who sorted out the repairs.
When you get above the "box shifter" low end machines sold by retail chains, service is often a significant consideration when it comes to what to buy, and where from.

Precisely why I took the trouble to relate the tale and posted it to FB too.

So often it is only bad service that people post about.

 

[hatler]

Moose Cycles. A great LBS. Always had good service from them.

 

[Drago]

We need to be clear though that Moose did an excellent job because Whyte paid them to do so. There was no warm hearted brotherly favour for a fellow cyclist and valued customer type thing going on here.

 

[Chromatic]

All good service and that but the frame should never had made it past quality control.

 

[PK99]

We need to be clear though that Moose did an excellent job because Whyte paid them to do so. There was no warm hearted brotherly favour for a fellow cyclist and valued customer type thing going on here.

Not quite.

Greg at Moose said to me that he could have bodged it (as some posts up thread have suggested, and many bike shops would have done) but he thought that having spent £3k+ on a bike I should not have to accept a bodge. Without asking me, he negotiated the resolution direct with Whyte.

Moose and the Late Lamented Corridori are the only LBS's I've trusted for many years.