TheBlackPath wrote:bilwit wrote:fromtrektocolnago wrote:Customer service starts with the local bike shop. I only purchase shops from are known for standing by their customers. As far as relying on the manufacturer, it's something you hope you never have to deal with.
This. More definitively, it starts with the dealer you purchased from. The actual manufacturers don't care about the end-user, they already sold the product to distribution so whether an end-user buys it from a reseller or not doesn't matter to them. It's up to the dealer to work with them to handle whatever warranty or service problem you have with the product. The problem with this is that resellers aren't specialists and generally don't really know jack shit about specific products, just sales baselines.
It's exactly like any other industry: IT, cars, etc.
but this is weird anyway... at the end of the day is the manufacturer brand that gets damaged, and not the distributors. I think that the manufacturers should take care and do quality control of all the links of their customers relationship. It is not that difficult, especially considering premium brands...
I agree that most trouble processing warranties depends on the dealer capacity and relationship with the manufacturer.
They should, but the reality is that the bigger the brand, the more leeway they have for being crappy--just look at Microsoft or Valve. They have some of the worst customer service ever but it doesn't matter because they are giants in their industry/respective market. The strength of their brand allows them be crappy. In contrast, small, independent companies are known for having great service because they aren't granted this kind of leeway--their profit margins are on a thread and they can't afford to be trashed by the media or their community. The big companies can most certainly afford to put up great customer service, but since having crappy service doesn't really affect their big picture sales if a few hundred people are put off by their service's reputation then it isn't worth the cost of hiring/training/upgrading infrastructure, etc. That's capitalism for you.