An open letter to Look Bicycle Products
Posted by Ben on | December 18, 2006
Dear Look Cycling Products,
I am a keen recreational road cyclist and have been a fan of Look Bicycle Products for several years. I am also a fan of the cyclists who endorse Look products, particularly Thor Hushovd and my favourite cyclist Robbie McEwan. I love how fast they can ride even after they have been riding all day.
It was my understanding that Look Cycling Products such as the KEO Sprint Road Pedal are of a high quality. This perception is re-enforced by your high-end prices. I am a discerning consumer, and I certainly don’t mind paying more for a product if there is a benefit of doing so. In the case of the KEO Sprint Road Pedal I considered there was.
I saved up some money and in August 2006 I purchased a brand new pair of red KEO Sprint Road Pedals. I got the red ones cause they match my bike nicely.
I rode with the pedals about 2 or 3 times a week for 2 months before the left pedal broke. I was a bit surprised by this but “these things happen” and it was only a small bolt or pin that broke and could not cost more than a few dollars and maybe 20 minutes of labour.
I took my broken pedal to Brunswick Street Cycles. Only to be told that because I purchased the pedals in the USA that Look would not honour the warranty. (That’s he last time I be honest when taking something back). The boys at BSC took up my case anyway and despite their lobbying you have refused to fix the pedal, a fix that would literally take you a few minutes. Probably less time than it takes to respond to this letter. Furthermore I was told that these pedals hardly ever break, so I doubt you would have a backlog of broken pedals to fix. At least I hope not.
To compound the ridiculousness of the situation I weigh 65kg. I cannot be considered too heavy for your pedals. I am clearly not at fault for the pedal breaking.
What exactly is going on here? Has my pedal miraculously transformed as I left the USA? Is Look Cycling Products not the same company south of equator? Why can’t you guys stand by your products and support your customers? I am not trying to be nasty. I just want a fair go and for you to not be so mean spirited.
Here’s another experience I’ve had lately. One of my Full Speed Ahead carbon crank arms was faulty and had to be replaced. FSA replaced the crank arm within a few days at no cost and no questions asked. They were not concerned that I purchased the product in the USA and FSA proclaim that they happily stand by their products and offer a world wide warranty. I imagine replacing the crank arm would have been expensive and I am very impressed by the way FSA have looked after me. If FSA made pedals I would purchase some.
The question I have for you is… Other companies in the cycling industry are able to stand by their products and customers. Why can’t Look Cycling Products do the same?
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14 Responses to “An open letter to Look Bicycle Products”
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December 20th, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
Maybe there is a clue to the problem in the name. Sounds like there is a gap in the market for a company called Function® that focusses on customer service and product design.
December 20th, 2006 @ 6:43 pm
As a consumer of Look products I am appalled at the lack of customer service that seems to be on offer to people who care about their cycling equipment. It it too late to change my decision to buy Keo Sprint pedals, and I can only hope that my pedals remain intact, but I will think hard before buying any Look product next time.
January 18th, 2007 @ 10:16 pm
Hi,
You have raised an interesting point regarding overseas purchasing, and perhaps the French - I was going to purchase a set of Mavic Ksyrium ES wheels, from Switzerland. Turns out that Mavic will not back their warranty unless the prduct was purchased localy.
For what it is worth I ride a carbon Look frame, KEO pedals and a Look ergopost carbon seatpost - none of which have ever given me troubles.
Sounds like you were very unlucky!
January 18th, 2007 @ 10:35 pm
I agree that I was one of the unlucky ones Matt as Look do make decent products.
I guess I just drew the short straw and in my experience Look clearly do not care about their customers like other companies in the cycling industry do. Despite this letter and plenty of lobbying by BSC Look have still not fixed or replaced my pedal. As nice as those pedals were they have been an expensive purchase for only two month use.
Either way myself and any of my friends will not be buying Look products anymore. Which is a shame.
I am glad to hear that you experience has been a better one than mine.
February 22nd, 2007 @ 6:11 pm
Well I am just surfing the web to find anyone else who has had the pedal shatf break on keo pedals, mine are 1 year old and snapped clean off biking home tonight, not a big rider either but threw me off the bike suffering usual road rash to the legs and shoulder. I will try my luck with the warranty as I too like the product, clear metal fatigue in the CrMo shaft.
Here’s hoping!
February 22nd, 2007 @ 10:50 pm
I am sorry to hear that Steve. I hope your road rash is not too bad and that you are back on your bike soon.
One year is not very long for a set of pedals. Lets hope they treat you better than they treated me. Good luck and let us know how you go.
March 17th, 2007 @ 8:24 pm
A similar thing happened to my LOOK KEO this morning. Accelerating away from the traffic lights this morning and bang I was off the bike in a flash! Got up to find the right hand pedal shaft completely snapped. Bruised and a little lighter on skin coverage, but fortunately no major damage to me. I,m just glad it didn’t happen in a bunch sprint.
Is there a manufacturing problem emerging?
May 17th, 2007 @ 11:11 am
When I was researching pedals for my new bike. I looked into Look Keo Carbons as well as regular Keo’s and that snapping isn’t uncommon. Esp with the keo carbons.
I say stick to spd-sl’s or speedplays
August 1st, 2007 @ 10:18 am
I was in the last 50 miles of a 600k event when I snapped off my right Look Keo Carbon. It was hard to believe that the thick spindle arm just snapped. With a lot of effort I was able to make it up the rest of the hill on 1-leg (a lot harder than I thought it would be) and then another 4 miles with 1 leg to a bike shop that was open late and willing to take my $250 for a replacement pair of pedals so I could finish my qualifier. Haven’t begun the haggling with Look yet but it sounds like it may be to no avail.
October 3rd, 2007 @ 11:09 am
Issues with international warranties apparently relates to fact that manufacturers, e.g. LOOK, appoint different importers/agents in different countries, and the agent only agrees to remedy warranty claims for product they initially supplied.
Each agent has a margin to cover warranty repairs, but they get p….d off if you buy from overseas via the internet because it’s cheaper, then expect the local agent to wear the cost of remedying a problem with a product they didn’t supply. There endeth the lesson.
And thanks for all that stuff above guys, I was going to buy LOOK Keo’s, but I’ve just changed my mind. It’s not just the warranty issue, but also the issue of getting home on one pedal.
November 30th, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
See this link at Road Bike Review oon the Keo Carbon: http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/drivetrain/pedals/look/PRD_326179_2503crx.aspx#reviews
Several problems are noted including the failure of the spindle.
February 18th, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
Carbon Fibre Front Forks
Has anyone else had the problem with the carbon fibre front forks on Giant OCR bikes where the joint between the aluminium fork section and one of the CF blades has failed causing the fork assembly to completely collapse and consequently causing a pretty serious crash.
September 15th, 2008 @ 4:08 am
While Daryls comment about different distributors is likely accurate, it is still a shoddy piss poor way to do business. look Corp could easily provide its distributors with a worldwide service/warranty replacement fubd to dip inyo should they need to repair/replace/fix any faulty Look product. The product ID easily traces to where the product was made and there is novlogical reason why a USA shop for example should be effectively banned from servicing/fixing a Look product bought in Germany for example. This is afterall a GLOBAL economy that we live in and apparently LOOK thinks that all its products should only be bought in 1 country used in the same country only and serviced in the same country only. That’s idiotic. I used to have a LOOK frame and when I bought it it took the LOOK USA distributor, Veltec Sports over 6 months to send me my warranty paperwork so I could register my product. If they are that slow with warranty registration how slow would they be with a real warranty issue? It sounds like not very good. Unfortunately I think LOOK makes some real nice products but their customer service sucks which is why i will not be buying any more LOOK products.
October 4th, 2008 @ 6:09 pm
Below is a recall notice for Look pedals. I hope this helps your situation. Eventhough it has been a couple of years since your first letter there still maybe some recourse.
Geno
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08354.html