Outstanding Service.

[bikeman66]

Although this situation happened a few years ago now, it is still one of the most outstanding examples of customer relations I have personally witnessed, not just involving cycling products, but in any form!

In the mid nineties I had a very sexy new front wheel built for my MTB by Merlin Cycles up in Lancashire. It featured a Hope Lightweight hub in red, 16g double butted spokes, red alloy nipples and a Mavic 318 (I think) rim. It was a fairly light set-up and looked fantastic. I chose the Hope hub because it was made in Britain, and I was really impressed with the quality of products from Hope Technology. For those unfamiliar with the Hope hubs, they consisted of a titanium centre sleeve with press fitted aluminium flanges and beautifully smooth sealed cartridge bearings. Merlin made a great job of building the wheel (as usual) and it served me very well for the next four years.

One day whilst cleaning the bike (a fully rigid Kona Lava Dome) I noticed what looked like a very small split in one of the aluminium flanges, where it fitted over the titanium sleeve.

I was heading off down to Newnham Park in Plymouth to watch a MTB World Cup XC event the following weekend and took my bike along with me. Hope Technology had a trade stand at the event, so I had a word with one of their guys and showed him the hub. He would have been justified in telling me that as the hub was four years old I would have to buy another. Instead he asked if it was possible to deconstruct the wheel and let him have the hub to take back to the factory for inspection. After competing in the citizens race I took the wheel apart and gave the hub to the guy. By the Wednesday of the following week, I had received a phone call from Hope Technology asking whether I wanted my hub sent direct back to me or to Merlin Cycles to be re-built in to a wheel.

Hope had replaced both aluminium flanges and fitted new bearings completely free of charge. They didn't even charge me the carriage to send it on to Merlin Cycles. By the Tuesday of the following week I was the owner of a nice new wheel minus the cost of (in my opinion) one best hubs available at the time.

I was seriously impressed with that level of service from Hope, and to this day, I still think they are one of the best bike component manufacturers out there. Best of all, it was a great product and a great service from a British company.

Anyone else out there got any stories to tell of great customer service from bike or component companies?

 

[Drago]

To this day those Hope hubs are still failing. Undamaged ones worth a pretty penny now in Retrobike circles due to the consequent rarity. I've got an unused one in black I'm going to sell in a few years and retire on the proceeds.

 

[winjim]

They're worth more because they keep failing?

 

[bikeman66]

I know what Drago means, but I didn't really consider it a failure of the product after four years of what might be called abuse! Four years of hard riding, especially in the harsh environment that MTB's are subjected to. The bearings were still good, and to be honest, it wasn't a catastrophic failure of the hub flange. It was just a tiny crack,and it would probably have remained rideable for quite some while. I wasn't annoyed about it, as Ijust considered it had served me well during its four years of almost constant pounding.

What really stood out about the whole issue, was the excellent response of Hope Technology in addressing the problem. They took a course of action that I considered at the time to be well above the call of duty.

 

[Cubist]

Hope are very jealous of their reputation. I have a couple of examples of small problems like leaky brake reservoirs which they will, without fail, send you the spares for free, without question. Their products are things of real beauty, all my MTBs have Pro 2 or Pro2 Evo hubs, and I loved their brakes until i discovered the latest generation of Shimano. However, they do occasionally have problems. Don't forget that as a customer you are, in effect, Beta testing their product for them. Ask any of the Pro2 hub owners who have converted the hub to 142x12 and broken an axle. The Pro2 evo is 12mm axle to start with as a result of all the failed units!

Hope is a British engineering story which is quite a happy one. The image of products being produced in Barnoldswick hewing precious metals into gorgeous offerings is an easy one to buy into, especially if they respond cheerfully to put right flaws and faults. Their headsets, seatclamp and hubs are superb, but I'm a bit underwhelmed by their QRs and Head Doctors.