Friday, June 06, 2008

Blackburn (Bell) Customer Service


Over the last few years that I have been trying to pay attention, there has been a fairly significant level of consolidation in the bicycling related industries. I may not have all of these right, but I seem to remember:
I am sure there are many others. It is usually assumed that when there are consolidations like this, that competition and customer service are areas that suffer. Anecdotally, it does seem like the 'deals' at Nashbar and Performance are not quite as good as they used to be; there are fewer coupons as well.

Replacing A Pump

At work we have a cage in the parking garage that provides more secure parking for bicycles. When the cage was built three years ago I asked a couple of regular riders to pitch in a few bucks and went to the LBS. I came back with a Blackburn Track Pump. The pump served us well, but the presta portion of the dual head has worn out.

Thinking I could buy a replacement head I called Bell Sports, the parent company of Blackburn. After explaining what I needed I was told that heads for that pump were no longer available. I told the customer service rep. that I would just go buy a new pump...

"Wait.", she said. "All our pumps carry a lifetime warranty, please hold on for a minute." When she came back on the phone she said "I have ordered a new Air Tower pump as a replacement for you."

She collected my mailing address, and eight days later the bike cage became the home for a new Blackburn pump.

I guarantee you, every opportunity I have, I will think twice before choosing another manufacturers product over one built by Blackburn.

3 comments:

mMullins said...

Awesome advice! I bought a Blackburn pump from backcountryoutlet.com that isn't working properly after only 2 months of use. I will definitely be calling them and hopefully getting my pump fixed! Thanks GeekCyclist

GeekCyclist said...

Thanks for the comment Michael. I have had great luck with the customer service at backcounty.com this weekend as well.

Post another comment when you get a response back from blackburn.

kz said...

I know this post is from over a year ago, but I wanted to echo your positive experience with Blackburn/Easton/Bell customer service.

The plastic head of my Blackburn Mammoth 2-Stage mini-pump got stripped out when I cross-threaded the aluminum fitting when switching between Schraeder and Presta.

I called the customer service number, pressed the button for warranty service, and was *immediately* connected to a human being. I explained the issue, she took my name and mailing address, and said that a replacement head would arrive in 7-10 days.

Quick, easy, and painless. I will look to the Blackburn/Easton/Bell family of cycling products now whenever I can.