Excuse the long post, but I think it demonstrates how a company took a bad situation and turned it around.
I bought a Trek FX+2 from a local sport store (Scheels) here in Dallas. Got it for a great price ($1000 instead of $2000) on a special deal. Rode it for a week and the pedal assist stopped working. Trek support suggested that I take it into a local Trek dealer (Trek Coppell), and I left it there for what I thought would be a week while they resolved the issue. Anyway, long story short, every time they fixed something, they hit a new snag (cadence sensor wouldn’t speak to the rest of the system, rear wheel needed replacing etc etc). The guys at Trek Coppell were great, but it was one thing after another and it eventually took 8 weeks to sort out. Remember at this point I’d owned the bike 9 weeks and it had been in for repairs for 8 of those.
First ride I went out on it after getting it back, the pedal arm sheared off at 20 mph… luckily I was out early on a Sunday morning, so there were no cars around, but as you can imagine, it could’ve been nasty. Anyway, I walked the bike 5 miles back home, formulating the letter of complaint in my head, as I pushed the damned thing!! Got home, sent an email to Trek support, and their auto-reply told me I’d get a response within 48 hours.
3 days later, no reply. I wasn’t happy. I found the CEO’s email address (thank you Reddit) and dropped him a very polite “I know you’ve got far better things to be doing than listening to customer complaints, but here’s my story” email. Within an hour, he personally replied, apologising and saying “this will be resolved tomorrow”…
Following day I get numerous emails and phone calls, and the manager of Trek Coppell (Philip – good guy) giving me a choice of replacement bikes. I chose one and it was ready for me within 72 hours. Picked it up, rode it home and I couldn’t be happier with it.
So, I’ve gone from a $1000 FX+2, to a brand new Allant+7S. Bike was setup perfectly, and I was even given the receipt for the new bike (for $4300).
I had a crappy experience with my original bike, but to their credit Trek made it right. I shouldn’t have had to involved the CEO(!) but everything was sorted out within a day of him being aware.
Anyway, loving the new bike and I’ve been out every day since getting it. And I’ve gone from Trek being a dirty word, to browsing through the catalog because I’m really convincing myself I need a new MTB now…!!
by marks_reddit