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No problem!

My orthopedic surgeon's office staff may suck in the customer-service department, and SF's Department of Parking and Traffic may be evil money-grubbers, but I had one excellent experience last week. I called Kurt Kinetic, the company that made our bike trainer, to get a replacement for a bolt and handle that had stripped. I bought this trainer five years ago, and even though we get great riding weather year-round here, it has gotten some good hard use on rainy days and for pre-race warm-ups and injury recovery. I knew that the unconditional lifetime warranty on the trainer included regular wear and tear, so I expected no troubles when I called up their service number.

What exceeded my expectations was that the phone was answered by a friendly human after one ring. I had hardly finished explaining the problem when the nice Minnesotan lady said, "No problem! We'll send out replacements. What's your address?" The entire phone call took less than 60 seconds.

The parts arrived Saturday (unfortunately after my 2-hour ride on the limping trainer, oh well). We have replaced the bolt and the trainer is like new. And it didn't cost us a cent or a moment of aggravation. How often does that happen? Not nearly often enough.

January 16, 2008 11:19 PM