Friday, November 6, 2009

dilemma

mostly thinking out loud here so feel free to ignore this post entirely. scenario: custom bike part breaks, builder offers repair/replace/refund. i chose a replacement. i waited some months for the original build after being told build time would be 2-3 weeks. the wait on the replacement has now been pushing a few months after promises of a quick turnaround. i don't mind waiting longer than expected for a custom part but when a few weeks becomes a few months it gets a little ridiculous. and the explanations provided actually showed said bike part moving backward in the building process making it difficult to believe i was being told the truth. in the meantime a friend with another product from the same builder has huge issues with his product cracking and getting a suitable replacement product. he is put off over and over and when the replacement arrives its just plain wrong. he battles for well over a year before demanding a refund. its been quite some time and he still only has half of his refund and is still waiting for a fairly large amount of money to be returned. ignoring my issue and this other guys, the builder makes a ridiculously awesome product. the part i am waiting on is damn near the best/lightest you can buy and really no one else is making anything else comparable. morally (for lack of a better word) i have no desire to ride this guys product. i want to feel for him, want to be sympathetic but when it APPEARS to be a string of lies and putting people off and poor business practices it gets difficult to continue to give him the benefit of the doubt. i have chosen to receive a replacement and i will stick with that, but i know that if i receive it and immediately put it on ebay i could get ahold of a pretty good chunk of money that would pay for a substantial amount of new parts/gear (transiowa/arrowhead kind of parts/gear). but, again, this individual part is virtually without substitute. given this guys business practices i don't know how long he'll be in business and not sure i'm really that moral of a person to not ride his product on principle and so to give up this product and risk regretting it later is difficult as well. hhmmmm....

4 comments:

Ari said...

I would sell it and get something reliable and that has some service action to back it up.
Just my opinion. Plus you ride so much and so hard I would go for durability over anything else.
ari

Captain Bob said...

I went through a very similar issue this summer and fall. One week after I bought a new frame the one I had been waiting for all season shows up without notice. I was shocked. Now I two new frames and only need one. I think you should buy something new and keep checking your mailbox, it just might show up. Good luck. It stinks being put aside while mfg's work on more important things.

Charlie Farrow said...

Well written and sadly not a rare thing...I am dealing with a similar issue right now. We all want to go "local" and help the little guy, but when a local fails at the most basic level...It sucks...
Charlie

It would be so great to have you at the Arrowhead!!!!

Head Honcho said...

I know of what you speak. I'd shit can it, and get something different. Hell, I'd ebay the thing, make enough off of it to get two repalcements. One steel for general riding, one carbon for racin' action.

I know that because of your stories, I won't ever be getting anything from 'said' constructor.