[UN-RESOLVED, Again!] Specialized "Rider - I Don't Care" Support is non-existent, what is YOUR experience? (poll) (NEW SYSTEM IN PLACE 4-21-22)

Does Specialized Rider Care answer YOUR calls?

  • Total voters
    19
webcurl said:
Stefan: Just come over from Bosch/R&M land to say "seems like not everything is going perfectly smooth in Specialized land"! :)
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Let's talk on the pedal strikes, peeling paint, and the extra battery falling off R&M e-bikes. Purion, Intuvia, Kiox, Nyon. The GPS navigation not working in the U.S. The obsolete system still waiting to be replaced by the Smart System. Any lightweight e-bike such as Specialized SL?
And of course the excellent technical support in Germany.
I was telling Guru for several times to switch to R&M so he could complain on yet another brand :D
 
Besides, it is not my fault Specialized performs perfectly in Europe (including my backwaters 38-million people country) and the UK but it offers poor service in North America.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Let's talk on the pedal strikes, peeling paint, and the extra battery falling off R&M e-bikes. Purion, Intuvia, Kiox, Nyon. The GPS navigation not working in the U.S. The obsolete system still waiting to be replaced by the Smart System. Any lightweight e-bike such as Specialized SL?
And of course the excellent technical support in Germany.
I was telling Guru for several times to switch to R&M so he could complain on yet another brand :D
Click to expand...
That's quite a list.
Let me summarise by saying: It's difficult to be a pioneer, especially when the copier's work frantically with your idea(s) and deliver it smoother before you've had a chance to refine your own original product(s)! :)
 
But, still waiting for a copy of a belt driven double battery tube enclosed full suspension ebike with suspended rear and/or front carriers from Specialized!
 
Still waiting for the Smart System (a copy of Specialized Mastermind system that is now current), especially working with something like a Smart System Nyon :)

Not everybody needs to be ridden by an SUV e-bike. Some prefer riding their e-bikes :) Now, show me any of R&M e-MTBs. I mean, a trail e-MTB :D Or, an R&M road/gravel e-bike. or, a non-leaking R&M Rohloff e-bike :D
 
BlackHand said:
Wait, so pedal strikes on a Spec are poor rider technique, but are somehow Bosch's fault when they happen on a bike with a Bosch drive unit???

PS: Stefan, you're being an ass....
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Blackhand:
Of course it is always the matter of the wrong technique. I couldn't, however, fail noticing how many R&M users were complaining on the pedal strikes. Guru was irritated with Trek. He was mostly happy with his Vado 5.0. He is happy with his Vado SL. He returned Vados 5.0 IGH. He bought Comos. Now, he complains on the Como pedal strikes... And he would like to get Specialized Rider Care admit the Como was a wrong design.

Do you get me? I would be most happy if Guru switched to R&M and left the Specialized territory...

(No need to offend me. I've been always patient with Guru. I cannot, however, stand his attitude of bashing the brand he's currently using just because he hasn't acquired proper riding technique. Because everybody else is happily riding their Spec e-bikes but Guru gives the brand bad name just because he has the nature of a pettifogger. Clear?)
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Do you get me? I would be most happy if Guru switched to R&M and left the Specialized territory...
Click to expand...

Sounds like somebody else who seems to now be an exclusive Specialized fanboy foraying into the Bosch plus Riese & Muller territories giving those brands a bad name all because R&M's reach into Polish territory was not quite what he'd like it to be! :)
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Still waiting for the Smart System (a copy of Specialized Mastermind system that is now current), especially working with something like a Smart System Nyon :)

Not everybody needs to be ridden by an SUV e-bike. Some prefer riding their e-bikes :) Now, show me any of R&M e-MTBs. I mean, a trail e-MTB :D Or, an R&M road/gravel e-bike. or, a non-leaking R&M Rohloff e-bike :D
Click to expand...

The Bosch Smart System, whilst not very smart at the moment is built on the foundation of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_FD , this inherently provides for ultimate flexibility in the future. Not sure what kind of system the Specialized Mastermind is, how does it communicate? Does it use a CAN bus like the current & older Bosch or their own proprietary system, if proprietary is it similar to CAN or CAN FD - which Bosch invented?

R&M don't specialize specialise in MTB's because companies like Specialized have had a 20+ year head start in that area.
Show me a Specialized SUV e-bike, or a Tinker-like or a Cargo ebike!
Show me a Specialized IGH e-bike, not with some crappy Enviolo or small gear ranged other make, something like a Pinion, Rohloff or Kindernay.
You speak with a knowledge that seems to be confined to what you read on these forums, turns out a lot of people turn to forums when they have problems - like Rohloff's leaking, etc.
But how many other people are out there that you have not heard from (many thousands with Rohloff hubs too)?
And who the hell rides Road e-bikes anyway, MAMIL's? Do they wear Lycra?

I would have thought that the current Specialized ebikes would cost less considering they are practically half owned by a Taiwanese company.
The R&D should not be as major a cost factor as it's closer to being like an Apple scenario - use someone else's idea & perfect it.
They've had experience with Intellectual Property, patents & trademarks in the past, so i guess it's now like, if you can't beat them, might as well join them :)

All this sounds vicious, it's not, i just have a really dry sense of humour :)
 
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Maybe the dealers have better support?

My only issue the battery on my Vado 4 stopped charging. It was annoying I had to bring it to my dealer and didn't have the bike for a week or so until the new battery arrived. But the dealer handled it all and called me back the day I dropped it off with their diagnosis and ETA on new one under warranty.
 
Back to the original topic- Rider Care has answered every e-mail inquiry I've sent them. I've found them to be very helpful. I can't speak to phone contact. Maybe that's the issue? e-mail communication is asynchronous and much less expensive for any company. Give e-mail a shot next time. Granted, it's not as on-demand / real-time as a person-to-person conversation. But if you can wait 1a day for a resolution, you might find it more appealing to fire off an e-mail, get on with your day and then return to find your answer 12 or 24 hours later.
 
YoGe said:
Back to the original topic- Rider Care has answered every e-mail inquiry I've sent them. I've found them to be very helpful. I can't speak to phone contact. Maybe that's the issue? e-mail communication is asynchronous and much less expensive for any company. Give e-mail a shot next time. Granted, it's not as on-demand / real-time as a person-to-person conversation. But if you can wait 1a day for a resolution, you might find it more appealing to fire off an e-mail, get on with your day and then return to find your answer 12 or 24 hours later.
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They don't like me. Because I ask too many questions and they are annoyed. They told me to go away. They also said if I did not stop calling, they would ban me. So, I no longer call, but I have no support. what TO DO?
 
GuruUno said:
They don't like me. Because I ask too many questions and they are annoyed. They told me to go away. They also said if I did not stop calling, they would ban me. So, I no longer call, but I have no support. what TO DO?
Click to expand...
Maybe -

1. Get a new e-mail address.
2. Stop reaching out to Rider Care for at least a few weeks.
3. If you have questions or issues see if your LBS or folks here on the forum can help.
4. Reach out to Rider Care sparingly.

Just throwing out ideas. Rider Care works for me, so it should work for you too, if utilized in a reasonable manner. To put it in perspective - I've owned a Toyota for close to 10 years now. In all that time I reached out to Toyota directly only once and that was because the dealers (I tried several) were unable to assist with my issue. Specialized is a manufacturer. They expect that frontline support will be obtained via the LBS network. If you contact the manufacturer too often, they're not going to want to deal with you. Cool it for a while and hopefully you'll get back on their good side. Good luck!
 
I had a question about the small battery in the Creo's TCU and asked Rider Care.

I got a quick reply that included pictures (not attached here):

=========================

Subject: EBike -
Description: I have a Creo. I am trying to determine the purpose of the 1620 coin cell battery in the TCU. The instruction manual makes no mention of its purpose. If it backs up data or settings or? Is there a warning when it might be running low? And, frankly, what kind of tweezers can actually grab hold of that dime-sized battery in that tight narrow slot. My thinnest tweezers from a Swiss Army Knife don't even make it.

Thanks for a reply.

---------------------

Their reply was prompt:

Good evening,

That is a great question! Turns out that the battery powers the TCU the TCU actually doesn't use power from the bike at all. So when that battery dies the TCU will not power on until you replace that battery. I haven't had much luck getting them out with tweezers I use just a straight pick or a wood scribe will work. There will be an error code when it starts running low on juice. The battery will typically last about 1year to 1.5 years. I usually just change mine out on my birthday every year so I dont forget. This is the picture from the manual I found.

This a picture of what that error code will look like for a low battery.

I hope this helps answer your questions, If you have more questions in the future please reach out to Rider Care anytime.

Happy Trails,
John | Specialized USA Rider Care

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