OT Customer Service is alive

Customer Service is alive, another

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Had a bike tire fail in an unusual way; tiny cone of rubber pushed up and burst like a volcano. Local shop where I bought the tube said it was a rim defect that caused the tube failure. I was not. Called Bontrager customer service, got a helpful person and a replacement is on its way.

Customer Service can be raised from the dead

John K Jordan

It may help to be assertive.

Had an engine failure on a well-maintained Honda motorcycle. It was several years out of warranty. On disassembly I discovered and documented with photos that Honda had left out a critical 50 cent part that allowed wear which starved the head and overhead cam of oil.

Phone calls got me nowhere. However, with the documentation and some aggessive letter writing to the right people, Honda set a service rep to my shop to examine the disassembled engine. They agreed they messed up and repaired the engine. And threw in a new battery.

JKJ

Somewhat Related Story

John Foster

Back in the 1960's two of my uncles independently purchased the same large engine driven tow behind concrete mixers used ( how old they were at the time of purchase I don't know). These mixers were heavily used for a couple of decades , and then sat unused for decades as my uncles both stopped their concrete endeavors. In their retirement in the 2000's they became involved in a school building mission in Haiti. One of these mixers was refurbished and sent to Haiti. A few years later one uncle was refurbishing the other, and he realized that the manufacturer was still in business. Any model numbers or serial numbers were long lost on this machine. When he contacted the manufacturer and spoke to the parts department, all he could tell them was who he had originally purchased it from. The parts person immediately corrected him saying that that particular mixer was already in Haiti and the one he was working on must be serial number ####, my uncle was speechless, not only did they still make parts, they knew where their mixers were!

These mixers are beasts that probably have another century of use in them, if anyone still wants to mix concrete by hand (possibly in Haiti). It is nice to see quality manufacturing and support still exist.