Peloton bike
I bought a Peloton bike. That’s an exercise bike with a screen to ride with a whole bunch of other crazy bike riders. Peloton bikes help you create massive tree trunk like legs! Which begs to question why I bought one, considering I already have tree trunk like legs! But I digress.
When a Peloton bike gets delivered it includes setup. The delivery team sets up the entire bike and ensures connectivity to the internet and that all parts are present and working.
The next morning I’m excited to hop on the bike. I get all geared up, water bottle 
, sweat towel , bike shoes , spandex …yeah no….no spandex…I hop on the bike. I don’t even get halfway on when a pedal snaps off the crank and falls to the ground.
My first thought…..oh boy….this thing isn’t built for my size!
Upon further investigation, I found that the threads were chewed up both on the pedal and on the crank where the pedal was attached.
I see some metal coming out of the crank, so I go to clear it with my finger…and swoosh….I end up with a gash, rather deep, and blood starts flowing!
I immediately move into triage mode. I start looking for crutches, wheelchairs, buckets, anything that can help me with this “Niagra Falls” of blood! Turns out it’s more like a small stream that trickles through your back yard! I manage to slow the flow down to a crawl. With it now at a rate of what I would describe as a slow pace, I pick up the phone and dial Peloton customer support.
The message says “We are experiencing extremely high call volumes” to which I think….is gashing your finger and flying pedals a common thing on a Peloton?
After a wait, Nikkisha hops on the call and asks how she can help. I explain the situation, and to my surprise, she shifts the conversation to my well being. Because I had mentioned the cut and the bleeding she wanted to ensure that I was ok.
Now…some of you may be thinking that this was a defensive move to cover for insurance. I say it was not. I could hear the tone in which Nikkisha was genuinely concerned about me and my well being, and frankly that smoothed things over with me rather quickly. She then talked to me further about the issue with the bike, got the details on the parts, ordered them immediately and ensured that they would be overnighted to me so I can start using the bike as quickly as possible.
Then, because Nikkisha recognized the fact that the pedal was threaded incorrectly by the setup team, she immediately, without prompting, issued a full refund for delivery and setup. My eyes widened. During the entire time, my sadness and frustration simply revolved around my inability to use my new toy! It had that new car smell….but sadly no gas pedal! I was never going to ask for a credit, refund, or remuneration of any kind. Frankly I didn’t think that the issue warranted that conversation. At the end of the day, I just wanted to use the bike!
What I love most about this action by Nikkisha, was that she didn’t even ask me if that would be ok, she simply did it and said “I am going to refund your full $250 shipping and setup for this inconvenience”.
Over Delivery Moment?
Let’s talk about delivery for a moment…, from a customer perspective, delivery is when the company you are doing business with delivers a product or service that you are happy with and met your expectations. Nothing more! In this specific case, I would not define this action as delivery, instead I would define it as Over Delivery!
….and that folks is a key component to Care Package!
Care Package is about creating raving fans and lifelong customers through caring! Nikkisha did just that!
My speaker friend Joey Coleman talks about the “First 100 Days™” experience! During which he goes into depth about how many businesses will lose a customer before the first 100 days have hit! He says the number is between 20% and 70% depending on the industry. That’s something that companies and their employees need to pay attention to!
When Nikkisha from Peloton made this decision, I could tell immediately she was empowered to do so and she wanted to do so. She didn’t have to put me on hold to talk it over with a manager! She didn’t have to get approval from anyone! She was empowered by her company to do what was right for the customer, and to make things right, immediately, with no lapse in time, so that they don’t lose a customer in the first 100 days! I suspect that someone at Peloton has heard Joey’s keynote!
Peloton’s aren’t cheap. They are a premium brand in my opinion. Brands need to exercise common sense and judgement when interacting with their clients. Doing so creates a premium experience. An Unforgettable Experience! Had Peloton decided to charge me a technician service fee, charge me for the parts, and not overnight them, this experience would be completely different.
Instead…they chose the Over Delivery route!
Well Done Peloton!
This story is to be continued….new parts should arrive in a day or so, and a technician will be out to install them.
I should be back on the bike soon!
🙂
If you want to hear more great customer service and care package stories, check out my podcast, SPRH Podcast on itunes or on the web at www.SPRHPodcast.com