Bob Dopolina 

I noticed a while ago that a certain small pawled hub brand went consumer direct. Not really news but it was just another in a long line of bike brands adopting the model.

Years ago, factories would do anything they could to NOT talk to the end user. Language was sometimes an issue but it was really more about labor; They just didn't have the staffing to deal with the emails and subsequent running around. I know a few carbon vendors in China were early adopters but labour is cheap there so I can understand why they did it first.

I'm just wondering how customer service is being handled by these brands now. I sometimes hear people complain about how they sent an email to some such company and never heard back but I am wondering if they are just the squeaky wheels. So I guess my question is about how well the industry is handling the transition away from the brick-and-mortar/distributor model and into consumer direct sales.

No real mission here. It's raining pretty hard and I have time to kill.

Troul 

it's been hit & miss ime. If the company retained a general public means of contacting them after the switch specifically for "customer support" & not just sales or tech, chances are good that the timely communication will be positive.
I default to not expecting much from most companies, which also drives the search for lowest spent cost possible for the product. I'd rather be out little cash & expect nothing for support than to spend big bucks & "hope" customer support is great if needed.

veganbikes

A lot of this D2C stuff isn't so great with the CS side of things or they are super helpful in the sense that they will continue sending the wrong parts and drawing out the conversation and disagreeing with our mechanic over and over and finally realizing after we had tried all the wrong parts they sent and it didn't fix the problem that they needed to send the part we had been asking for and that fixed...No S. Sherlock,

Some however are actually pretty decent. VanMoof (for instance) makes bikes that beep and boop but the quality isn't quite there however they support their products really well and I will give them huge credit there.

In the end sometimes you are buying support along with your product and sometimes you are spending less initially to get even less over time.

PeteHski

My experience with Canyon bikes has been pretty good. Not that I've had to use their customer support very much, but I had a trivial issue with one bike that required them to send me a couple of small replacement parts. They were helpful and quick to respond.
I also had great customer support from Wahoo. I had a problem with my new Kickr Bike that required detailed technical support and they were outstanding. They diagnosed the problem and sent replacement parts on next day delivery. Really couldn't fault them on support.

I find in general that companies that are geared up primarily for direct sales (whatever industry) usually provide much better customer service than companies who have recently converted from using a more traditional distributor business model.

Bob Dopolina 

It sounds like you have lowered your expectations. Has that out you off choosing to buy a certain product or from a particular brand?

Bob Dopolina 

That sounds like a learning curve. In which case do you feel things could even out over time?

Bob Dopolina 

I always felt that after sales support mattered whether you were a dealer or consumer. Expecting less but paying the dame, or even more, seems.like a.step in the wrong direction.

GhostRider62

I'd rate CS very good from Farsports carbon wheels. (Although not a fan of their hub design, bloody fast and light wheels)

PeteHski

Certainly a learning curve, but also an attitude. I guess it depends on the business owners and their reasons for moving to a direct sales model. Are they willing to make the change or do they feel forced into it? I know a few traditional businesses that have really struggled with internet sales simply because the owners were not really fully committed. A business that starts off with a direct sales model is more likely to have owners who have fully bought into the concept.

Over time I think it will improve as the direct to customer business model is more and more accepted as mainstream. It will be second nature for the next generation. Internet consumer sales is now pretty slick and people expect near instant delivery and response.

Troul 

mainly for accessories it has.

veganbikes

It does matter but for some companies they don't care that is why some charge so little, in comparison to a quality product, for their product is because they want to step away. Another quick story a customer had purchased a cheap bike and it was a 6mo warranty on it and the customer was literally 3 days out of warranty, 3 measly days and the company said, well they can pay for parts...3 days out of warranty not months not years not decades but 3 days and they said no, no matter how much we pleaded with them and explained the situation. It was terrible, they wasted our time and the customers money and thankfully he wasn't mad at us but I have had situations where that has happened with products we didn't sell and it was ridiculous.

TiHabanero

Can't imagine what the environment inside the call centers for these companies is like. I am sure they keep close tabs on call volume received per employee and I am sure they record calls "for training purposes", and I am sure it is an environment similar to a pressure cooker. LOL.

Kai Winters

I guess it depends...
I've had very good results from Spesh...quick to respond to my emails and usually always taken care of.
Mavic support is awful...waited months for an email reply...by the time I got a reply, that said nothing useful, I got rid of the wheels.
Bafang support is dreadful...had been buying their ebike conversion kits and no problems until we got a faulty battery in one kit...contacted them over and over until we finally got a reply that they didn't recognize us as a buyer...lol we 'were' in their system as an acknowledges shop...eventually we got through to someone and after they 'investigated' they said 'no warranty' as user error, which it wasn't lol...no more Bafang for us.