Tony at SRAM is a-Hole
- Thread starter profro
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try being a local trailbuilder who doesn't build to suit his needs as a racer.
hell hath no fury like a profro scorned.
I hear ya on the "I'm a racer" thing, but I clearly asked the guy if there was a fix I could do first since I knew there wasn't time to get a cartridge to me without overnighting, etc. He immediately wanted to send me a new part via a LBS. I actually don't want a new part that MAY or MAY not address the problem. I'd like to fix the thing myself and be on my way.Lame, CS attitude sucks.
I will say this though, I used to have bike manufacturer job that required the occasional CS call, and I was amazed at how many rude racers there are. There are times when you just can't solve someones problem in the time they need, and most of the time their responses would be pretty flippant. As a CS rep you need to be able to handle the situation without becoming inflammatory back. Kinda hard for alot of gear heads to do though...
A couple of years ago I had a problem with my Dorado just before I left for the Snowshoe National. I called CS and once the tech knew I was willing to fix it myself he stayed after work and helped me fix my fork over the phone and emails with pictures. Needless to say we all know Bob Vigil kicks ass.
I'm a mid-pack pro with no illusions of WC podiums and choose to BUY a Boxxer Team without sponsorship based on its reputation for ease of service and performance. I just happened to run into a prick that obviously has something against racers. In the past, I have had awesome CS from SRAM. So hopefully its just this Tony dude.
The great thing is that 3 different people have offered to loan/give me cartridges and/or forks to get me through the next two races. So thanks to Chris Kring, Froggy, Jamie Ford.
Hey, ignore lists are great. 
That actually makes sense. Thanks.
I added everyone to my ignore list, RM is pretty boring these days...no new threads.
I didnt read most the posts here, but I do have a responce to the original Post.
1st i dont care who is right and who is wrong
2nd ok, i get what you were asking about, you wanted him to give you an at home fix so you would be equiped. Cool we all get that
3rd Having worked a Tech line before, i can tell you that over the phone DIAG is an absolute shot in the dark, and i would also reccomend something that i knew would fix the problem, Its trylu the only thing you can do without having the part in your hand to see for yourself.
4th Yes, you have to take your fork to a Bike shop, or back to morewood, its the only way they are going to take care of it, Rochshox/Sram will not send any items, warranty or not they will not do it, you must have someone at a shop look at it, reason is very simple, leaks like what your describing can usually be fixed right at the shop, sounds like one of the previously mentioned slightly larger, but softer durometer oring will fix you right up, also a rebuild and clean up.
5th never expect a company to try and get a turn around from monday to thursday, its just not gonna happen, I dont like it myself, but thats that. you cant change it, just somethings we have to swallow.
Seriously though, if Rockshox is going to have a tent up at the race, take it to them, tell them whats up, maybe bring some beer along for the guys. They should get you taken care of, thats what there paid for, To Take care of the RACERS at the races.
Good luck on getting this taken care of, i really hope it works out well for ya, and that you do well in your races. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
1st i dont care who is right and who is wrong
2nd ok, i get what you were asking about, you wanted him to give you an at home fix so you would be equiped. Cool we all get that
3rd Having worked a Tech line before, i can tell you that over the phone DIAG is an absolute shot in the dark, and i would also reccomend something that i knew would fix the problem, Its trylu the only thing you can do without having the part in your hand to see for yourself.
4th Yes, you have to take your fork to a Bike shop, or back to morewood, its the only way they are going to take care of it, Rochshox/Sram will not send any items, warranty or not they will not do it, you must have someone at a shop look at it, reason is very simple, leaks like what your describing can usually be fixed right at the shop, sounds like one of the previously mentioned slightly larger, but softer durometer oring will fix you right up, also a rebuild and clean up.
5th never expect a company to try and get a turn around from monday to thursday, its just not gonna happen, I dont like it myself, but thats that. you cant change it, just somethings we have to swallow.
Seriously though, if Rockshox is going to have a tent up at the race, take it to them, tell them whats up, maybe bring some beer along for the guys. They should get you taken care of, thats what there paid for, To Take care of the RACERS at the races.
Good luck on getting this taken care of, i really hope it works out well for ya, and that you do well in your races. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
Unfortunately the state of racing support in the US is so low that I highly doubt SRAM will be at the Whiteface 5K DH race or the Snowshoe Series. It would be cool, but I doubt it.
I am a privateer to an extent and I just can't put down everything and go to a LBS for service. I guarantee I know much more about the fork or any piece of DH equipment than any shop within 100 miles of me.
I had the fork completely apart and was hoping to walk through a couple of fixes over the phone. But this guy just wanted to send me a complete cartridge. He wouldn't even tell me what was different between mine and the new one.
Morewood has done all my warranty stuff in the past and this is usually how it works. I figure out the part number, contact, etc. and then I just give the info to Richard and he orders it right up. But when I tried to explain this to Tony he started in with the racer thing. I have never heard that one before and I was quite stumped.
I am a privateer to an extent and I just can't put down everything and go to a LBS for service. I guarantee I know much more about the fork or any piece of DH equipment than any shop within 100 miles of me.
I had the fork completely apart and was hoping to walk through a couple of fixes over the phone. But this guy just wanted to send me a complete cartridge. He wouldn't even tell me what was different between mine and the new one.
Morewood has done all my warranty stuff in the past and this is usually how it works. I figure out the part number, contact, etc. and then I just give the info to Richard and he orders it right up. But when I tried to explain this to Tony he started in with the racer thing. I have never heard that one before and I was quite stumped.
Wurd, I dunno how anyone would afford DH if they weren't a pro mechanic. *shivers* the labor costs would be outrageous
What are his turn ON's? Crashing, hacks, and DFL-ing novice class?
This is completely unethical and I would never recommend it.
If you were to say, call up SRAM tech support and talk to the service manager, then tell them you are conducting a reference check for Tony ____, who has applied for a tech position at XYZ company, it would create an uncomfortable situation for said A hole.
Of course I in no way recommend you do this.
If you were to say, call up SRAM tech support and talk to the service manager, then tell them you are conducting a reference check for Tony ____, who has applied for a tech position at XYZ company, it would create an uncomfortable situation for said A hole.
Of course I in no way recommend you do this.
Yeah, just make sure to get his SSN next you call SRAM help desk.
No one asks for SSNs on reference checks. First and last name would be fine.
p.s. in case it hasnt been said already, sram CS usually rocks. One time I got a ****ty cassette from them (bent cog after like 2 rides and I ain't no pedal masher) and they sent me a brand new 990 or whatev casette that i got in like 2 says no questions asked. MY friend was having trouble with his juicy's and they sent him a new rotor he got within 2 days, no question asked.
Tony will find himself uncomfortable at work without any pranks if he keeps treating customers like poo.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
this thread is stupid. go ride your bikes.
Their CS does! I sent it my juicy 7's to be completely rebuilt and they ended up upgrading me to juicy carbons for $200 (less than the total price of fixing both brakes).
cram it whitey!
Well, i am sorry to hear about not having any good shops near you, wish you were close to me seeing how i could do a complete rebuild done in under an hour. Try a new oring, you obviously know where it is and what do do , seeing you have/had it torn down, But dont let one call with sram put you down. Like i said before, how can someone diag over the phone without having the part in there hand. Dont go off about him untill you have a repeat expierence, you never know how many others he had talked to before you asking for miracles to happen overnight, or how many times he gets told he Has to do better because he is dealing with a racer, i hear that alot, and it gets annoying. i have never taken it out on someone yet but still i see both sides here. People snap, get tired frustated and so on. I am sorry you had a bad expierence, but it does happen. I hope future service goes better.
It's a reasonable point. Too bad reason is always the first thing thrown out the window in these flaming threads.
I'm with ya, Stiks.
I'll also repeat the statement that SRAM CS is typically awesome. They have always taken care of me and been very helpful on the phone.
The techs stayed late for me back in 2004 when I had an issue with my fork and rebuilt and blackboxed it in time for my 6am practice at Big Bear. That was the one race I was always without a full set of tools and SRAM sure did help.
An example was at the US Open this year. A guy I know had an issue with his Juicy (I think he damaged the master cylinger in a crash). Anyway, I told him to hed up to the SRAM tent and ask for John and see if he had the part. If they didn't have time to fix it, I told him I'd do it. Or if they didn't have the part, he was welcome to use my Code brakes since I wasn't doing much riding with a cast on my leg. Anyway, he comes back 10 minutes later with a Code brake that SRAM loaned him for the weekend no charge since they didn't have the part for his brakes. Then they took care of his brake the following week. I was surprised at that.
The techs stayed late for me back in 2004 when I had an issue with my fork and rebuilt and blackboxed it in time for my 6am practice at Big Bear. That was the one race I was always without a full set of tools and SRAM sure did help.
An example was at the US Open this year. A guy I know had an issue with his Juicy (I think he damaged the master cylinger in a crash). Anyway, I told him to hed up to the SRAM tent and ask for John and see if he had the part. If they didn't have time to fix it, I told him I'd do it. Or if they didn't have the part, he was welcome to use my Code brakes since I wasn't doing much riding with a cast on my leg. Anyway, he comes back 10 minutes later with a Code brake that SRAM loaned him for the weekend no charge since they didn't have the part for his brakes. Then they took care of his brake the following week. I was surprised at that.
Watch out for flying rocks from the RM fanboys, you are a brave soul.
Wow, Tony is on a roll today. Yesterday I was riding a little at sugar and the cage on my x0 broke in half between the pulleys, first run, had had no impact, i didnt hit anything, a true JRA. Today, I have my roomate who works at the lbs and is probably one of the best people i know at explaining situations so that warranty takes care of things call SRAM for me. Tony has Joseph, my roomate, explain what things look like etc...after grilling him on what his position was at the bike shop etc for a solid 2-3 minutes as if it matters. After he explained that and told him exactly how it was in perfect shape with hardly a scratch besides the broken carbon section on the arm between the pulleys, Tony says that the derraileur was set up improperly and that the chain was too short etc.... and that is why it broke. I know for a fact the chain was the correct length, etc. I've been running the same derraileur for a year or so now and had absolutely no problems, if the chain was too short it would have been long gone. He then says that the limits were wrong and keeps saying that we were wrong and it was improperly set up. Tony goes on to say that he's going to be generous and send me an aluminum cage (not carbon like the one that broke) as a replacement, Tony kept reiterating the statement that he was generous, Joseph however kept telling him, no, you're just warrantying a warranty issue. It's not just today either, i've heard people having delt with him before and he's been a prick then too. 
Ok, I feel a bit better now!
Ok, I feel a bit better now!
A lot of Ridemonkians know Doug and he's a standup guy. He wouldn't lambaste someone online unnecessarily, or try to make up this story. I'd take his word for truth in this story even though there is another side.Watch out for flying rocks from the RM fanboys, you are a brave soul.
Blacklisted. I know all about it. I got blacklisted several years back at Mt. Snow and am still. I was an actual skunk tester for them when they came out with twist shifters and composite derailleurs. Ken Lee was the regional rep and he had me and two other guys, Fred and Joe Moore, skunk test every single piece they came out with at the time. We snapped DOZENS of test pieces and helped that company get their stuff right within a 2 year span with tons of positive feedback.
I got the Boxxer with stanchions the model year just before the most recent modified arch..About 4 years ago. I had the fork 2-3 weeks and it developed tons of stiction. Bottom line, it had NO scratches. Lowers were twisted. They tried to blame me.
I'd driven from NC to Vermont 14 hours with my FIVE months pregnant wife on very little money and wanted to do GOOD. It was my 2nd Semi-Pro race ever. I was polite, but insistent they warranty it b/c I had done NOTHING wrong to the fork..it was not damaged.
They insisted it was a "crash replacement" all afternoon...and I was out $150.00 just so I could even ride. Horrible experience.
They blacklisted me that fall. Our team resume was sent in by another member of our team. The rejection letter was sent direct, OVERNIGHT to my house. The next season, the team sent in their resume, changed my name to "Jerry" Greene. They sent the rejection letter USPS to MY HOUSE. The next year, they sent the rejection letter to me again, and I wasn't even on their resume!
The ironic part, the very same season they introduced the new lowers...basicly admitting the lowers on mine were too weak and flawed.
So yes, there is a BLACKLIST. Stik is not kidding about that.
Anyone from SRAM care to comment?
Doesn't look so good at the moment (CS or blacklists).
Doesn't look so good at the moment (CS or blacklists).
If you look back, half of these posts show SRAM going above and beyond to make things right. In my experience, as a product and a company, SRAM rocks. No second-hand account in a forum is gonna change my mind about that. Period. Do what you gotta do, but I'm gonna keep running their stuff.
Well, this thread is about this Tony character, not the company as a whole. Even profro says he has had good service from SRAM, except from this guy.
I've known Profro for some time and have done business with him as well - he is very knowledgeable when it comes to bike set-up, and I've had countless conversations with him asking for advice. As jvnixon said - he is a stand-up guy.
At the same time, I can understand the frustration of having a mechanical right before a race, or series of races for that matter. So although the name-calling is the only thing I would say was a bad idea, I can understand where it is coming from.
It would be unfair to hold an entire company repsonsible for the acts of an individual as some of you have commented.
Experiences will run the gamut from what Profro encountered to the absolute nightmare that Butch had. In general, from what I have seen SRAM seems to do a pretty good job of working with it's customers. As for what happened with said individual at SRAM, I wasn't part of that conversation, so I can't comment on that.
However, from what I know of Profro, it's not in his nature to blow something out of proportion as an excuse to bag on someone without good reason.
At the same time, I can understand the frustration of having a mechanical right before a race, or series of races for that matter. So although the name-calling is the only thing I would say was a bad idea, I can understand where it is coming from.
It would be unfair to hold an entire company repsonsible for the acts of an individual as some of you have commented.
Experiences will run the gamut from what Profro encountered to the absolute nightmare that Butch had. In general, from what I have seen SRAM seems to do a pretty good job of working with it's customers. As for what happened with said individual at SRAM, I wasn't part of that conversation, so I can't comment on that.
However, from what I know of Profro, it's not in his nature to blow something out of proportion as an excuse to bag on someone without good reason.
I think sram is pretty good in general. As ****ty as the crank issue has been for us, they have looked after every crank owner- except myself. My cranks got knocked back because they had gouges from crank holders. Pretty average thing to do to a person who sells a bunch of your gear. I did get my snapped boxxer lowers warrantied though.
They are doing a better job then others have in the past, but I think consistency is always going to be an issue.
They are doing a better job then others have in the past, but I think consistency is always going to be an issue.
On mine the black pressure seal has a split in it. Grrr... gonna chase one up tomorrow.
I totally believe that it is just the one guy Tony that is the problem. In the past I have had no problems as sram has gone above and beyond being helpful in customer service. I'm not upset with sram from my experience, just Tony. In the future I will make sure that he is not involved with me or anyone talking to sram on my behalf and ask to be transferred to someone else that knows how to treat customers correctly instead of being a tool.
I think this is more common than most big (Cali) bike companies realize.....many LBS's, especialliy in rural areas, know absolutely nothing about newer gear and its just a waste of time to take it to them.....
HAHAHAHAHaAA
hey hows your dubstar colection going?
you guys have to work on your forks..........?? buy a fox rc...................
you could save us all the flame fest by just calling back and asking for someone else like a supervisor
it isn't the first time a CS rep got salty and it won't be the last...
it isn't the first time a CS rep got salty and it won't be the last...
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