Thule

Roundtrip MTB Case

Thule Roundtrip/Backcountry Service

Familiarity:

I've used it once or twice and have initial impressions

I purchased the Thule roundtrip bag from Backcountry after a lot of research, conversations and comparisons. I wanted to make sure that I purchased the right bag for my bike. Protection, portability and ease of use were all vital. Thule roundtrip was the bag. I unboxed it after it arrived and did a test fit with my bike (Ripmo v2 size XL). It fit securely in the bag with room to spare with one exception. It was necessary to remove the rear derailleur which was slightly disappointing because I expected to not have to remove it. Everything else was functional and high quality so removing the derailleur was a minor disappointment. One of the last steps before zipping up everything and getting it ready for transport is attaching the handlebars. Two straps with velcro sit to the left side of the front fork. One of the straps was missing Velcro which made it impossible to secure the handlebars. I went to the Backcountry site and used the chat function to share the situation with customer service because the defective strap was a dealbreaker for me. If I spend $1,000 on a car I expect it to have warts. If I spend $1,000 on a bike bag I expect manufacturing precision. Sarah was the first person I chatted with. She was understanding, sympathetic and offered to replace the defective bag with a new one. I was quite satisfied with that proposition. Before sending me a new bag she asked me to provide pictures of the defective part for “documentation and verification”. I emailed the pictures to her but she couldn’t view them because my email was quarantined in her phishing folder. We tried again. We tried a third time. Despite three volleys she was unable to open the emails I sent. Sarah offered to transfer me to a “bike specialist”. Enter Elizabeth. I was forced to start from the beginning with Elizabeth because apparently Backcountry customer service can’t see chat history. Or they opt not to read it. Regardless, after getting Elizabeth up to speed she was on board with replacing my bag with a new one after the defective part was verified with photo evidence. Elizabeth sent an email to me and asked me to reply to it with pictures attached. I did. She received the email with pictures attached but couldn’t open them “because of the format”. The pictures were provided in jpeg format which happens to be the most common format for digital pictures on the planet. Repeated attempts were unsuccessful. Elizabeth offered to transfer me to a “bike specialist”. Wait, I thought you were a bike specialist? Nevermind. Enter Joe. Joe wasn’t so much a bike specialist as a hatchet man. I asked him if it was necessary for me to start from the beginning and he took mercy on me by offering to read the chat from the start which was now running for 1 hour and 7 minutes. Solid Joe! Solid. Joe quickly determined that “we don’t need to start shipping bike bags all over the country” and told me to contact Thule, the product manufacturer. I told Joe I didn’t purchase the product from Thule & it was unlikely they would ship me a replacement. He assured me Thule “will replace the defective part”. I took this opportunity to clarify the situation with Joe and informed him the strap is an integrated part of the product and sewn into the wall of the bag. He acknowledged that. I asked him what I would do with a "replacement part". Should expect to receive a replacement strap from Thule, remove the old strap (which was attached to the bag originally with an industrial sewing machine during production) and then sew the replacement strap into the bag without damaging the bag or losing functionality? I also shared with him that I don’t know how to sew and I don’t own any sewing equipment or supplies. Joe said yes this is the best course of action. I was colossally disappointed with Backcountry customer service which consumed 90 minutes of my Sunday and left me in the exact same position as I was before I contacted them.