Hurrah for Trek Bikes

[juliet]

Regular readers of this LJ, or anyone who's encountered me in person in the last couple of weeks, may recall my tale of woe re falling off my bike and damaging my wrist (not to mention the exciting collection of bruises & scrapes), after the bike FELL APART UNDER ME.

So, I wrote to Trek, saying "Your bike fell apart! And I could have died! And my wrist hurts!", requesting that they send me compensation to the tune of cost of seatpost x 1, cost of weekly Travelcard x 3 (because cannot cycle with bust wrist), & £100 just because. Got a letter by return of post saying how dreadful this was & of *course* they'd pay up, could I please send receipts. Sent receipts (well, various proof-of-whatsit) on Tuesday, & today I received both the cheque, & a really very snazzy rucksack with about 9 million pockets, & lots of clicky fastenings & padding & all sorts. Am really quite pleased.

So, yes. Hurrah for Trek, & their impressive customer service. They assured me that they'd never had such an accident reported before, & have sent my drawings & explanation of what happened to their Technical Dept to investigate (sadly it didn't occur to me at the time to hang onto the bust seat post, owing as how I wasn't at my mentally clearest right then). I'm happy to accept that it was a freak occurrence - unfortunate weakness of metal at that particular point, sort of thing; and unless I were to start hearing of other similar occurrences would once again now happily buy one of their bikes :-) (except HOPEFULLY mine won't get nicked, like, ever, so it won't be an issue).

Also, the wrist is steadily recovering, & I hope to be back on bike next week. Yay.

Comments

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

well done! you're a one woman watchdog :)

mr t sez: i pity da fool who messes with juliet!

[hieroglyphe.livejournal.com]

And go you for complaining in such an impressive fashion in the first place :-)

[flick.livejournal.com]

Yay for you complaining and them being so nice!

That sort of reaction does suggest that it was a reaaly strange freak accident, doesn't it?

[juliet]

[nods] I really am quite happy to believe it - otoh, I still think they should reexamine the type of seatpost part they're buying. The one I've got as a replacement wouldn't be vulnerable to the same issue. (which is what I wrote on my explanation-of-what-happened note).

[djm4]

Well done, and hurrah for Trek indeed (not, obviously, for building a bike that fell apart under you, but for doing exactly the right thing given that they had done).

You're not coming to BU, are you? Hope to see you soon, anyway...

[juliet]

Nope - allotment produce show that day! But yes, hopefully see you soon - maybe dinner with you, me, & Ani?

[angelmine.livejournal.com]

maybe dinner with you, me, & Ani? Yes please!

[oh, and a belated *thunk* at your new icons btw... Breathtakingly sexy...]

xxx

[titaniccapybara.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for you and for trek bikes and for steadily improvingness of wrist. Though it does strike me that seeing as they were so very keen to cough up that perhaps you could have got away with demanding a lot more cash in the "just because" category. Ach whell.

[juliet]

Well, I think they were as aware as I was of what *might* have happened (had I, say, fallen in front of traffic rather than onto the verge)... Yeah, I suspect I could have asked for more, but I deliberately chose an amount low enough that they'd be likely just to pay up without wanting proof of injury etc etc (not that I couldn't have provided it, but I didn't want the hassle). So I'm happy :-)

[hazyjayne.livejournal.com]

*Rah!* for wrist feeling better and great customer service. If onlu all companies were that good... :)

[easterbunny.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for good customer service! Well done for your letter writing.

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...

Friends Trek (1999) just had the the frame crack on him. He checked on the Trek website, and they have a lifetime guarantee on the frames. However his bike is 5 years old and he does a -lot- of mileage.

I do hope its not a common problem with Treks as I have one at home...

[juliet]

Metal under stress doesn't last forever, I guess (if this had happened after 5 years I'd have been less pissed off - this bike is only 8 mths old!). I dunno; I guess maybe I should investigate a little harder & find out how often this (metal-fatigue type problems, I mean) happens to bikes in general, & which makes! Not that it matters to me in the immediate future as I wouldn't buy another bike just-in-case. If they have a lifetime guarantee that implies they have a fair confidence in their frames.

Also, modern frames are made to be light, which unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with being less sturdy than the solid-heavy-metal-lump bikes you got 50 yrs ago!

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Oh, hes curious if you had to sign anything saying you wouldn't sue them for your bike falling appart on you...?

But yeah its a bike thats had serious use, where as the seatpost shouldn't go on you when its under a year old.

[juliet]

Nope, they just paid up without demur. (& I didn't notice any legal language indicating that they're seeing this as discharging their obligation, though ICBW).

I guess it's possible that if it came to legal whatsit they might say that by accepting the cheque I've waived further rights, but I've signed nothing to that effect.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Consumer power strikes again!

I got a reply to my letter to Orange in the end. They're not playing ball.

[juliet]

Refer 'em to OfCom or whoever it is? Or contact the CAB to get some advice.

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Ofcom.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

They really kicked Telewest about over a bill that I technically owed money on, but were trying to take me to court for a different amount, so I ended up paying nothing...

Give them a ring, they are -really- helpful.