Customer Service...What's that?

I recently replaced my sneakers with a top of the line pair of running shoes from Reebok that cost me 8000 rupees. I started using it on my daily run and on the first day, noticed a pain in my left leg. I attributed it to running-in difficulty and thought it would go away after a couple of days. But it only got worse on the second day. When I inspected it closely, I found that the seam where the flap under the lace was joined to the shoe was not proper in the left shoe and was pressing onto my foot causing the pain. So, I took it to the shop where they acknowledged the problem and said that they would replace it in a day or two. So far so good.

I gave them an extra day and went three days later, expecting to pick up the replacement. They said that the approval for the claim had still not come and may take a few days more. I blew my top and told them that if it wasn’t done the next day, I will place a hold on the payment through my credit card company. That seemed to help matters, as I got a call the next day stating that the claim was approved. But, when I went there, I was told that they did not have another piece in stock. I gave them another extra day before I went back. They had got the shoe but they found a similar problem in it. I had enough and demanded my money back, but there was no refund. I had shortlisted a second pair initially, but even that was not available in my size. Finally, I settled for another model that cost me 6500 rupees. Wherein, I was told that they could not return the balance and I would need to purchase something. I finally ended up with a couple of t-shirts that I didn’t really need and paid an extra 400 rupees to those idiots.

I was trying to think of how the experience would have been in countries where the customer is truly king:

• I would have been able to return it anytime without any reason (defective or not)
• I would have been given a replacement on the spot or my money back
• They would have paid me the difference in cost and not forced me to buy something else

- To add insult to injury, I would have paid less than half the cost. Yes, the same shoe is available for 70-80$ in the US through amazon.com

Change of gears - running replaces cycling

I’ve made a lot of really bad decisions in 2009, but the one that hurts the most is the decision to sell my Trek 3700 bicycle and replace it with the Merida 40V. At the time, I had intended to buy a hybrid, but due to the lack of choice in the market, I ended up buying another MTB. For sure, the Merida is a superior cycle, with far better components. But, four months later, I have come to the sad realization that the Trek was a far better bike for me. Where the Trek fitted me like a glove, the Merida has continuously given me grief. The things that I dislike are

Seat: the stock seat is just too firm and far too narrow. I was never able to get into a comfortable position on the bike. I replaced it with a seat from the Cannondale quick 5 which is far more suited

- Geometry: This is far harder to fix. The Merida has a slightly stretched riding posture compared to the Trek. As a result, I either have to lower the seat or move it forward to get a comfortable position for my arms. But, this results in the extra load getting transferred to my legs. A solution that has been suggested is to get a shorter stem to reduce the reach.

As a result of this, long rides have become painful both during and after the ride. So much so, that it has been a long time since I have gone on a long ride and most of my rides have been restricted to short 20-30 km ones. Add to this, my Chennai visits in Sep-Oct and the fact that since Mukund was born, I’ve had to shift my exercise routine to a little later in the morning(by which time the traffic is too heavy to cycle), the net result is that my cycle mileage has gone down from 400 km to less than 100 km a month.

But, I am far too hooked on the exercise bug and the space vacated by cycling has been replaced with cycling. I’ve gradually increased my running distance from almost nil to around 50 km a month in Oct/Nov and should cross a 100 km in December. And I plan to keep it there till the cycling bug returns…