Experiences with new Raceface crash replacement

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Experiences with new Raceface crash replacement
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flag A1990ToyotaHilux
FL
Posted: Aug 1, 2023 at 4:07 Quote
So Raceface has this (somewhat) new policy of "no questions asked" crash replacement and I wanted to share 2 stories with you guys. (And maybe vent a little)

The first one is about a friend of mine, who had his correctly torqued pedal fall out of the crank randomly on the trail. He sent in his old Turbine cranks and received a pair of new Turbine cranks 2 days later in the mail. That's great service!

The second one is my story (RaceFace ARC Offset 35 Rim):
So three weeks ago while riding my bike, I was a little unlucky. My wheel flung a stick into the rear wheel. The stick got caught in my spokes and ripped two nipples out of the rim. I remembered the policy of Raceface, so after the ride, I filled out the form, printed out all the PDFs disassembled the wheel and sent the rim on it's journey.
On the fourth day of not receiving any further info from DHL regarding my rim, except "your package was delivered to your post office", I called DHL. They told me to ask the receiver (Raceface/Fox) to order DHL to search for the package. So I did. I also received a phone call about it and I asked, if the process could be accelerated, since a friend of mine had his case completed withing just 2 days. They ordered DHL to search for my package and sent me over to another person who handles RMA stuff. I was asked if my rim had 28 or 32 holes, and I responded, that my rim had 32 holes.
The old rim suddenly turned up a few days later and I received a cost estimate for a replacement. The email had a warning in large red font, reading:'" be aware of 36mm rim width"
photo
Attached was PDF file with following estimate:
photo
I couldn't believe they upgraded me to a carbon rim. I called them about it, just to make sure I really did not have to pay more because of it. They answered, that I indeed will not be paying more for it and I was happy.
I calculated the spoke length I would need for the new rim (the 36 has a different ERD to the 35), and ordered them.
A week later it arrived, I unpacked my rim and inside I found a 35 Offset. So I basically wasted 50 Euros on spokes, I have no use for, just because Raceface misinformed me about the product I would be getting. To clarify, I'm fine with "just" getting an ARC 35 Offset, I guess, but the bit with telling me, that I will get a 36 Carbon is just really bad customer service. I wrote them an email about it, so story is developing, but I don't expect much more than a: "we are sorry, you got a new rim, it's your problem now" from them.
flag A1990ToyotaHilux
FL
Posted: Aug 1, 2023 at 5:10 Quote
Update:
I called them:
Apparently my customer service person thought, my alu rim was carbon, even though Raceface doesn't even make 35 carbon rim. So they wrote me a cost estimate with the 36 carbon rim and warned me about the inner width.
Some tech down the line thought, that the carbon one was too expensive and packed in a 35 offset.
I won't be getting anything, and will have to deal with the spokes myself.

So to summarize:
Raceface: Please put people in charge of your RMA process, that actually know your product lineup, and maybe make it a little faster. 3 weeks without riding in the middle of the season is pretty bad. I would at this point gladly go DT Swiss, if they made offset rims.
The experience was kinda bad, even though I received my product eventually. And in the prospect of the next failure (let's hope it doesn't happen), I would consider going with a different rim brand entirely.

 


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