TPS Photos: April 2009

Tim Hoy in Nico's Street (Gerrit Van Erkelstraat) - Zeeburg Holland

Have you ever noticed how customer service almost everywhere appears to have been dumbed down? With increasing unemployment figures and another recession in full swing, one might think that service providers might be a bit more proactive in ensuring that their customers have feelings of loyalty to the brand and want to continue doing business with them. Staff who have to deal directly with customers who have received little or poor training to do so, do such incredible damage to customer relations and the company’s reputation.

Increasingly I have to deal with automated telephone systems or on line customer service lines that requires a convoluted labyrinth of useless frequently asked questions only to be put on hold or have to start all over again when links are broken or systems fail.

This is not just an experience from Messrs Bodgit and Legit, but just as likely to be encountered when dealing with multi nationals and other corporate entities – I suspect I wont have to give readers any specific examples of those who operate in this frustrating manner as most people I discuss this issue with always seem to nod in agreement that pay to complain telephone lines and far from helpful on line services do indeed damage their relationship with the companies involved.

Having to deal with software companies, printers, wedding and event album suppliers and the host of other service providers that our photography workers’ cooperative entails often leaves me feeling somewhat let down when other people don’t seem to share my appreciation of reliable customer service. Thankfully, it’s not always like that and rather than bemoan the cut throats and corporate bunglers, why not instead use my blog to celebrate areas where it’s as good as it gets? So here goes.

Zeeburg at bedtime for most bikes.

Occasionally I am reminded that not every business operates on the rather perverse principle of “don’t talk directly to customers if you can help it”. I was thankfully reminded of this recently when I went to procure a new saddle for my hybrid bike.

New imported gel saddles last between six and seven thousand kilometres or about two years riding for me. They cost in the region of £30 a time and so I decided that the next one bought would be for life – I’m 49 now so wanted something to see me up to my 90th birthday. If I make it that far maybe I’ll buy another one. Whenever I asked the questions about reliability and longevity, the name of Brooks came to the fore.

Just before I went in search of the replacement, I was contacted by Nico Van-Zanden, a long standing friend of the family who administers the Netherlands office of TPS Photos. It’s a voluntary position, but one we hope to make functional and full time when the planned one stop wedding shop is completed.

This service currently runs via a series of independent providers who are disparate from the workers’ cooperative that is TPS, but it is a well organised network and ideal for anyone who plans a wedding in the Amsterdam area and needs a canal boat, DJ, band, dressmaker, florist, hairdresser, caterer, cake maker (you get the picture – or you will if you use us anyway).

Nico was to be our host for our 8 day cycling, live music and photography for stock & fun over the school spring holiday. Three others travelled to Holland with me; my wife Sian, daughter Cyd and her schoolmate Melissa. Prior to our trip we made a few telephone calls to Holland sort out the finite details of the itinerary.

During one of these conversations Nico stated that he’d broken his 40 year old Brooks saddle. This gave me the opportunity to take a more useful gift with us than the usual T shirts and socks.

Nico’s 40 year old broken Brooks

Because of the rather awful exchange rate (£1 virtually equal to 1 Euro) at the time of our visit it was a cheaper option to get the saddles in the UK. This might be seen as stating the obvious, but despite Brooks being an English company, the Netherlands bike shops purchase such a large volume of these high quality products (and probably experience lower council tax and other costs) that historically they were able to provide them cheaper than in the country of origin.

Nowadays I use just one bike shop in London – an independent family business called Central Cycles in Ballards Lane, Finchley. The father and daughter team of Rick and Daniella Scicluna have provided me with a first class service for all my family’s cycling needs for years. No nonsense, sound advice and reasonable costs – nothing ever appears to be too much trouble and even with a short deadline for the second saddle, they delivered on time.

http://www.centralcycles.co.uk/

After our arrival in Zeeburg, Nico was over the moon with his new comfy sprung seat, but on inspecting the now broken one, it was clear that it could probably be repaired.

Nico and Alex StClaire in Snelbinder’s rear yard

Alex StClaire – inside Snelbinder

Holland is of course full of bike shops – a wonderfully flat landscape for pedal power and the provision of safe cycle lanes in almost every street provide them all with their stock in trade. It’s a far cry from London with lots spoken about cycling provisions but little actual evidence that much is being done to make the streets safe and efficient for the most environmentally sound bit of road transport available.

I have been moaning about this for years, yet between my front door and my town hall where I go to attend the public road safety meetings, there is not a single metre of cycle lane on route.
For the past decade or so Nico has used a local bike shop called “Snelbinder” about a kilometre from his front door. There the proprietor Alex StClaire works in a similar environment to Rick & Daniella – no frills, no overpriced shelf fillers, but a down to earth waffle-free reliable service that involves trust from Nico and his friends that doesn’t appear to have ever been misplaced. At the time of writing this, the Snelbinder web site was still under construction.

http://www.snelbinder.com/home.htm

When we went there to purchase a couple of tools, an adaptor for the brand new Brooks saddle, two new pedals and some lights for the bikes we’d borrowed for our trip, Alex produced a box full of used Brooks saddle parts. One of the real joys of these robust saddles is that most of the construction is individual modular units such as springs, coils, the leather itself and so each part can be replaced if repair is not possible.

The term “modular” has been used by companies to imply progressive and environmental as each constituent part can be replaced and therefore less waste. Whilst the term modular may be seen as modern, it’s the way that Brooks have been building these sturdy and sustainable products since 1866.

Alex’s box full of Brooks bits

Within 10 minutes of our trip to Snelbinder, we now had three serviceable Brooks saddles, one of which had been made up of bits made by Brooks from as long ago as 1979. The refurbished saddle below has today been attached to a 30 year old bike in my shed at home In Willesden.

I took over 1000 images – 200 stock and the rest social stuff with family and friends and bikes and musicians. I got to see about half a dozen bands and played harmonica on about half of our nights out. Best of all I never used a single bus or tram – all my social and photographic trips were on the bike. All in all a lovely working holiday.