RAPHA customer Service.....

godihatehills

Is bloody great.


I had a big old stack this weekend and as well destroying my favorite jersey and cracking my ulna I put a nasty ragged hole in my knee. Unfortunately my Rapha I.F. 3/4 bibs got in the way and took a beating.
I was not impressed with the prospect of trying to find a spare £160 to replace them so set about trying to fix them- without luck.
I phoned Rapha this morning and explained the situation and they have offered to have a crack at repairing them FOC and refunding postage despite the fact they were purchased over 18 months ago. this is a standard service too!
I know they were expensive initially and people slate them but the service I received was great, they were more than happty to have a chat and I cant think of many other manufacturers (clothing especially) that would be prepared to do this, especially given the 18 month time frame involved.
Well Done Rapha.... now hopefully they can fix the mess Ive made of the comfiest piece of riding kit I have.


if not Im sure I'll be back on here moaning about how overpriced they are!

red dragon

I have one or two bits and pieces from Rapha, please post what repairs are like, many thanks.

godihatehills

Hi RD will let you know how I get on, they have said it might be too big , they cant replace entire panels as the flat lock stitching etc makes it too complex so will be a patch.
they have said that if they can fix it it will be strong enough for purpose and be relatively inconspicuous aesthetically speaking.
fingers crossed

Anonymous

Glad you weren't mega injured!!

I've heard numerous reports of excellent Rapha customer service. Same with Assos. I like Gore kit too but they wouldn't repair my bibtights which only had one small cut

red dragon

Many thanks godihatehills.

mrushton

If they are like Assos they will be excellent. Assos have done stuff for me in the past like adding 'patches to tears using the same material and colour of stitching and have never charged me.

dennisn

mrushton wrote:

If they are like Assos they will be excellent. Assos have done stuff for me in the past like adding 'patches to tears using the same material and colour of stitching and have never charged me.

You guys have got to quit talking about how great Assos is. I'm starting to become convinced and any day now might cave in and order, dare I say it, a couple of pairs
of $350.00 bibs. Wait until my wife sees that bill. I have enough problems, so knock it off.
Please.

greasedscotsman

dennisn wrote:

mrushton wrote:

If they are like Assos they will be excellent. Assos have done stuff for me in the past like adding 'patches to tears using the same material and colour of stitching and have never charged me.

You guys have got to quit talking about how great Assos is. I'm starting to become convinced and any day now might cave in and order, dare I say it, a couple of pairs
of $350.00 bibs. Wait until my wife sees that bill. I have enough problems, so knock it off.
Please.

I think you need to get a pair of Assos and a pair of Rapha and then let us know which is best

dennisn

greasedscotsman wrote:

dennisn wrote:

mrushton wrote:

If they are like Assos they will be excellent. Assos have done stuff for me in the past like adding 'patches to tears using the same material and colour of stitching and have never charged me.

You guys have got to quit talking about how great Assos is. I'm starting to become convinced and any day now might cave in and order, dare I say it, a couple of pairs
of $350.00 bibs. Wait until my wife sees that bill. I have enough problems, so knock it off.
Please.

I think you need to get a pair of Assos and a pair of Rapha and then let us know which is best

Maybe I'll start a poll on which one is better.

mrushton

Brian at washing machine post may have both (he certainly has the Rapha)

FatLarry

Wait until my wife sees that bill.

Thank the Lord for paperless online credit card statements.

Hallelujah.

owenlars

They fixed road rash on a lightweight softshell for me free of charge the jacket was posted to them, repaired and back to me within 5 days. The repair is excellent, the service is standard for anything bought directly from them. You can't knock it!

nicensleazy

Well, what is the best kit? Rapha, Assos, Castelli ????

dennisn

FatLarry wrote:

Wait until my wife sees that bill.

Thank the Lord for paperless online credit card statements.

Hallelujah.

My wife sees all, knows all.

crown_jewel

I like Assos for bibs and Rapha for everything else. And I agree Rapha service is spectacular.

dennisn

nicensleazy wrote:

Well, what is the best kit? Rapha, Assos, Castelli ????

Wouldn't even want to guess. All good stuff.
Does anyone know if there are any cycling specific tailors out there who, for a suitable price, will custom make your "kit" for you? Sort of like, well, a custom suit tailor??

daviesee

Wouldn't even want to guess. All good stuff.
Does anyone know if there are any cycling specific tailors out there who, for a suitable price, will custom make your "kit" for you? Sort of like, well, a custom suit tailor??[/quote]

Like this?

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/r ... suit-21181

I like Rapha stuff but WTF? :shock: :shock: :shock:

ozzzyosborn206

my brother got a pair of his assos shorts repaired FOC too, i bit different but i was still impressed when i snapped the arm of my oakley radars in a crash i sent them back, had to pay£14 to extend warrenty and got a new frame back, its things like this that make it worth while spending that bit extra in the first place..............still £100 plus for shorts are they really that much better? and then would they not make me think club kit is even worse than i do now?

TheStone

The problem with Rapha is that they sell log books and shaving kits and tweed cycling
jackets for hundreds of pounds, so when you look at an expensive jersey, you think
you're being ripped off, so buy something else.

Their stuff seems really well made and probably is worth the cash ... but in the back of
your mind is always that log book ...

giant_man

This goes to prove, yet again, that you get what you pay for. Both Assos and Rapha charge a lot for their kit, and in both cases, it's worth it for the quality and customer service you receive. I have kit of both makes and might be trying some Castelli this year too.

nicensleazy

giant mancp wrote:

This goes to prove, yet again, that you get what you pay for. Both Assos and Rapha charge a lot for their kit, and in both cases, it's worth it for the quality and customer service you receive. I have kit of both makes and might be trying some Castelli this year too.

I use Castelli and I must say, its good kit. I quite like the look of the new Castelli Aero jersey which is new for 2010 at Wiggle.

The kit I use is

Assos
Castelli
Rapha
Le Col (one jersey)

godihatehills

I've got a castelli espresso jacket and despite being on the small side it's lovely as is my prologo jersey. I have to admit I'm less convinced by my assos mille shorts in terms of form and function.... Like the look of lecol stuff... Seems quite substantial

godihatehills

Update!
So I had an email from rapha today checking they were just repairing one hole... I called to check there wasn't more than one, turns out they were just checking too! They shoul be fixed and back by end of the week. Quality.

nicensleazy

Good service!

tophatcontrol

I have had completely different experiences in dealing with Rapha customer service. Rude, curt, unhelpful staff at Perrin Street London location. In my experience Rapha rank and file staff have a dislike of their customers.

Basically 20-somethings running the office and they don't give a damn.

nicensleazy

tophatcontrol wrote:

I have had completely different experiences in dealing with Rapha customer service. Rude, curt, unhelpful staff at Perrin Street London location. In my experience Rapha rank and file staff have a dislike of their customers.

Basically 20-somethings running the office and they don't give a damn.

Funny you say that because a friend of mine had the same experience from their customer service!

ynyswen24

nicensleazy wrote:

tophatcontrol wrote:

I have had completely different experiences in dealing with Rapha customer service. Rude, curt, unhelpful staff at Perrin Street London location. In my experience Rapha rank and file staff have a dislike of their customers.

Basically 20-somethings running the office and they don't give a damn.

Funny you say that because a friend of mine had the same experience from their customer service!

Funny you say that because I've had the complete oppossite from their customer service

ASISLIFE

I just recieved an unprompted email from Rpaha saying they though a Jersey I bought at least two years ago maybe faulty and fade quickly (actually yes, but wasn't a big enough problem for me to ever do anything about it).

The fact that the sent this email and will provide a new replacement is in my opinion great service. I'll continue to use them without doubt

Clever Pun

I've always had amazing service from rapha, love their products as well. I prefer the shorts to assos but prefer the assos summer jerseys....

Glad to hear if I wreck the shorts for whatever reason they stand a chance of being repaired