Professionalism in bike repair

Not using bikes as one's primary means of transport in Amsterdam is no fun. With having and using the bike comes the occasional theft and regular repairs. I have my favourite bike shop. I always buy and get my second hand bike fixed at this particular shop. First I was a student and they had great prices, cool reputation and surprisingly good quality. Until one day the quality of services sterted to decline and the prices crept up. So that last time I went there I was already thinking of looking for a new bike shop, since they messed up again. I got there, ready to voice my frustration over the decline in the quality of services. But I was faced with a guy leaning over the bike and apologizing for any possible delay. My brake was not working. He was fixing it by taking the whole brake structure apart to really see where the problem was. While doing so, he said it's like working on an instrument, listening to it, taking care of it, understanding the problem and reconstructing the thinking of the previous bike repairer to really come to the core of the issue. He said it's like preparing to play the instrument, to play a symphony. Only a good and fit instrument can play well.
Needelss to say, my anger vanished. All I could see a guy passionate about what he was doing. He is an artist in fixing bikes. Of that I was convinced. (And my bike works pretty well now, too.)
Once the brake was fixed and I got a bonus bell ( I did not have one before, which was painful at times of cycling through downtown) I asked how much I owed him. And he said that the least he could do for having to put up with the recent decline in quality is not to charge me.
Now this really got me. I forgot I ever thought about leaving this bike repair shop. If you ever wonder about what authentic marketing is, this is the best example of it I have seen in a loooooong time!

1 comment:

Marcel said...

Still the Portuguese bike shop?