Hitting the deck hurts and invariably results in road rash, and to add insult to injury shredded clothing. That insult is magnified when you are wearing your new kit. I am sure you know what I am talking about.When I purchased my shorts from Rapha, I saw that a repair service was available but I have to be honest I did not think much about it until reviewing the state of my new Rapha shorts a few days after crashing in California. I had literally worn them twice and here they were with holes in them.
When I got home I decided to try Rapha's repair service and I have to say I am a happy customer. Apart from the cost of shipping them to Rapha the service is free. Sending them was easy. From there it went dark, I was not sure if they had even arrived so I called Rapha.Calling Rapha is never the experience I expect from a premium brand but it always works out. I would like to see Rapha invest in their customer service training in the same way they have invested in their packaging experience.
I finally got put through to the guy who manages repairs and he was really helpful. He confirmed they had arrived and that they would be sent to me shortly (no pun intended).
He was not kidding, two days later they arrived in the post. One of my favorite things about Rapha is the attention they place on packaging. It just feels special opening the packets and the repair was no exception. It came in its own accident repair musette, a really nice touch. The patching is well done and best of all I get my shorts back. While it is not a service I want to make much use of, it is comforting to know that Rapha understands the impact of crashing and is there to support its customers by making the experience easy. Thank you Rapha.
Until next time keep it Rubber Side Down and MaxLifeOut.
