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The length of your explanation is bewildering! But you do seem to be being pretty reasonable yes. And yes if they do take the piss publicly, I guess they should suck it up too.
When you have your own shop rather than working for someone else, maybe the temptation is great to imagine people who seem to be wasting your time are worth offending. It’s not a good way to keep customers.
Anyhoo I guess what I’m trying to offer, in as friendly way as I can muster, is you’re both looking a teeny bit petty. Over something I would consider a cycling consumable, maybe not like tyres but more like brake hoods or saddles are. They get a bit fucked, you replace them. As someone who’s worked in bike shops you already know this, forgive me stating the bleedin obvious.
But sure, if you think they’re behaving shittily, of course tell us. It’s good to know.
Skülly-
...you’re both looking a teeny bit petty. Over something I would consider a cycling consumable...
I feel like you are missing an important point of the whole issue.
I am beyond satisfied with the guards. I think they look great and work fantastically. I think having gotten 2 years of trouble free use out of them is pretty good. They are definitely the best functioning guards I have ever owned. I ride in all weathers and I don't need overshoes with these guards fitted, they are that good (some credit to the Raw flap I use too). Communication with Velo Orange has been easy and friendly and I was obviously very happy that they agreed to replace the cracked guard. I would not hesitate to recommend these guards or, based on my dealings with them, any Velo Orange product.
Obviously the mudguards were the catalyst for my interactions with Practical Cycles but they they bear absolutely no relevance to my opinion of or feelings about that company. It could have been £2 on some brake pads or £2000 on a bike, I would still consider the service I received to be below par.
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...you’re both looking a teeny bit petty. Over something I would consider a cycling consumable...
You are clearly saying that because what I bought was (what you consider to be) a consumable I have no right to feel I've received poor service.
M_V
As far as I was concerned the bent guard thing was over and done with 2 years ago.
In reference to that, call it harsh if you will but I’ll leave feedback on eBay that reflects my experience and would expect those that buy from me to do likewise. It does take a fair bit for me to decide to leave anything other than positive feedback by the way.
I don’t have the messages that were exchanged anymore but I remember the tone from PCs side was sarcastic and dismissive. Remember that my issue had arisen because of their careless packaging so to address me in a dismissive manner was, in my opinion, very poor customer service.
I don’t hold a grudge and have since tried to buy from them on eBay but have found myself to be blocked by them.
I’ve noticed they like to reply to neutral/negative feedback on eBay which could be a good thing, engaging with people who have had issues but sadly the sarcastic/dismissive tone comes into play again,
“Doesn’t fit, too loose.” As feedback for a shim has the reply,
“The shim or the bolt in your frontal lobe?”
I have worked in various bike shops during my career and while I would like to have spoken to customers in that kind of way quite a few times, I haven’t as a) I’m more professional than that, b) It’d probably have cost me my job and c) I’d have probably been lamped by the customer a time or two.
If PC are happy representing themselves this way online, then I’m certainly not gonna feel guilty about leaving them bad feedback or discussing my experiences of them on here.
Now back to my current issue, I did feel a bit cheeky going looking for a warranty replacement but I’d heard here and elsewhere that Velo Orange were really good at replacing cracked guards so I though, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I was totally open with VO about the age of my guards and about how I’d drilled multiple holes in them in the area of the crack but they were still happy to sort me out with a replacement.
I know I mentioned PC early on in my postings about the cracked guard but really I expected my dealings with them this time to go smoothly, I mean, you wouldn’t expect a retailer to hold a grudge for two years would you?
In fact maybe it want a grudge, maybe that is too harsh. Either way though, I had to go chasing VO as I hadn’t heard anything from PC and then when I did hear from PC there was that same old tone, blaming me for not responding to their email (I thoroughly checked through the junk mail and deleted folders on both the email account I had used to contact VO and the one linked to my email account and I definitely had not received anything from PC).
They were also claiming that VO were refusing to replace the guard, which is exactly the opposite of what VO had said to me, in their emails they were so helpful and happy to replace the guard.
Now, there could have been some mis-communication or something simple like that but the fact that PC’s attitude took such a u-turn as soon as I cc-ed in VO in my reply suggests otherwise. It was as if someone else at PC had taken over writing the emails.
I understand what you are saying about impact on business and such but in reply to that I’d reply with 2 points,
1 - I don’t feel I’ve been particularly public about my experience with PC. I left the feedback I felt they deserved for the ebay transaction. I feel feedback is an important part of the eBay experience and I don’t think I’d be alone in feeling like that and I don’t think my neutral feedback was harsh or unwarranted.
I mentioned it in here in what I felt was ‘passing’ as it kind of related to the story of my mudguards if you will. I will admit it has now become a bit more than an ‘in passing’ mention but that has definitely been fuelled by my continuing dissatisfaction with the way PC have dealt with me.
I have not sought to tarnish their reputation through posting publicly on social media or review sites.
2 - If you (not you I know...) can’t take being called out on your questionable style of customer service, maybe wind your neck in and don’t suggest your customers have a frontal labotomy on a publicly accessible platform.