It's about THIS Bike

by Jeff Campbell

I took my new bike in finally to a proper Trek dealer here in Brussels to be
serviced as the airline battered it pretty decent.  I don't know if it's
true to Trek about their level of customer service (as I've heard gossip)
but what's certainly true to many shops here in Brussels is as if I, by my
mere presence, am inconveniencing them.  (Always very strange, bewildering
and most of all frustrating.)  Anyways, concerning my fork and upon hearing
my story, on the defensive, the first thing they countered with was that I
had to return it to the store that I bought it from.  Not bloody likely!
(In the near future anyways.)  This I explained to them without any
sympathy on their part.  After going over the fact that it's a Trek bike
and that they were a Trek dealer and that Trek should maintain a guarantee
for their bikes no matter where it was purchased etc etc, they then
countered with the fact that the fork is Manitou and not Trek.  Well...
(Too bad all this was taking place in French as I certainly would have
given them a proper verbal draw and quartering otherwise.)  Anyways, this
is more or less it in a nutshell.  It didn't help them (once I pointed it
out) that they had the exact same model for sale (Manitou fork and all) in
their shop so how would it not be possible for them to help me out?  So
after all this, they finally agreed to send the fork to the Manitou
distributor (at my expense) and we will await what it is Manitou determines
- no guarantees.

I will wait too and get on the horn with Trek & Manitou pending an
unfavourable result.  Not that I really care that greatly, but it's
principle and it would give me something to sink my teeth into for fun...
BTW, the purchase price on the bike here was 833 Euros.  My Thai purchase
equated to about 500 Euros so pending the cost of a replacement fork, it
could be a steal of a deal indeed.

Like night and day in comparison to your story Mike - and nowhere near as
fun!

Congrats on the rides you've all put in after we parted - take care,

Jeff.

[Jeff is Canadian citizen who currently makes his home in Brussels. He is an IT consultant.]