Hase Bikes (Germany) and their Customer Service
I would like to say something about the customer service we received from the Hase company when we experienced some problems with our bike on our maiden voyage. You need to remember that our Hase Pino Tour was purchased from the showroom floor of a Hong Kong bicycle shop by the name of Velocity Racers. We had been informed, previous to our purchase, by this bicycle shop that the bike had been hired out for a distance of less than 100km during its time 24-month duty as a ‘demonstration’ stock model.
We knew the bicycle was not brand new, but pretty darn new. So we decided to give it a test run upon our return to Thailand. After putting it back together in our 5th floor apartment we planned a mostly flat, 230km two-day ride down the beach side roads in lovely Prachuap Khiri Khan province, which is just outside our door.
Around about the 90km mark on day one of our test ride we had light rain for a short distance. Nothing to really worry about, the rain was actually quite lovely and cooled us down a bit in the Thailand heat. Our Ortlieb panniers are completely waterproof so we don’t have to worry about getting any of our gear wet, and as Natt has repeatedly pointed out to me after I’ve made an off the cuff comment about being out in the rain, humans are waterproof.
Well the bicycle did just fine and we arrived at the beachfront hotel where the lovely staff locked the tandem away on the ground floor. Happy about our successful day of test riding we jumped in the hotel’s pool for a swim and enjoyed a quiet beverage together.
Next day we turned around and headed back home at dawn. From experience we know we can enjoy the lovely careless and quite morning and get 50km in before the day starts to get warm. Our bicycle, White Giraffe, was NOT happy… overnight something had happened and there was strong backward pressure on the pedals when Natt stopped and I continued pedaling. This was in total contrast to the loveliness of the internal freewheel that had worked flawlessly the day before. Luckily, Natt is a strong rider (for a Thai lady) and we worked well together for the 110km trip home, only dealing with major problems when we wanted to do a sharper turn that required Natt to stop pedaling and place her foot clear of the front wheel.
Once we got home, I was pretty unhappy for a few moments, thinking we’d purchased a lemon, wondering if I’d killed White Giraffe by somehow putting her back together incorrectly (I am no expert), or if there was just something simple that had gone wrong and was in need of some love.
Amazing Customer Service
I sent off an email to Velocity Racers who in turn sent off an email to Hase Bikes. Within 36 hours (which was pretty good since it was the weekend) I had received responses from both companies and a request for my Pino’s serial number. So I spent 10 minutes looking under the bottom bracket finding it, and replied.
Once they had my details I told the Hase Bikes technical person what the problem was and they informed me that the freewheel on the 2009 model was a first generation attempt and not so crash (wonderful) now. I was getting ready for the 200 Euro invoice thinking that after spending all this money I was going to have to pony up some more to get the bike back on the road.
Nothing of the sort happened. The customer service person informed me that they would ship me the replacement parts needed to upgrade to the new and improved system TOTALLY FREE OF CHARGE. FREE! Yes you heard me. I can tell you I was very happy. The only problem was I had to stare at White Giraffe until the box arrived.
