I am absolutely exasperated by the service I have (not) received in attempting to locate spares for my Northwave Aerlite MTB shoes and Thule bike carrier, ant trying to buy a Giant Trance! My tale of woe starts some months ago when my Thule carrier decided to dismantle itself on a road in the Cederberg. One "click-lock" knob later and my bike was hanging behind my car! Was advised that the agents for Thule resided in Olympic Cycles so I contacted them and was told the parts were on order but that I would be contacted when they arrived in a couple of days. No calls of course but I followed up as I realized they may be busy. Then the runaround started.......no the parts were missing from the order etc but they would arrive soon. Some weeks later I again followed up. No parts. Now getting pissed off dismantling bike to travel. So I placed an actual order. Needless to say 3 months down the line still waiting for the f@$#ers to actually come up with the parts! So I have a little accident and break the micro ratchet strap on my NorthWave shoes. Ok shoes cost 3k so I'm kinda keen to replace a R50 part (available on Amazon,but not to SA) so I go to Trail and Tar where they were purchased and after begging to be served they agree to contact the agents to locate spares (did ask for agent details but not forthcoming but fair enough they are running a business). Obviously it would be too much to ask to actually get a call back from a Cape Town business so a week later I decide to go to Cycle Lab to have a look at a Giant Trance (yes apparently they are the agents now) and am pleased to learn that they also sell NorthWave and they will contact the agents for the spare part. Two weeks later and I am still riding with insulation tape to keep my shoe on! Oh and just for information CycleLab did not have a single Giant in stock but I could buy one from the catalogue!! (Jesus wept!) But wait.......Google is your friend........Hullabaloo is the importer.....so a quick email ( followed by another 2 weeks later after no response) and I am settling into a winter holding pattern with taped up shoes, a non-folding bike rack and an aging 26' Silverback begging to be replaced. So in order of priority I am imploring the Hubber community for suggestions as to where I can get parts for NorthWave shoes, Thule carrier spares and finally a Giant retailer that actually carries stock!!
