The mail order company Canyon wanted to supply its customers with bikes faster and more reliably. A state-of-the-art production facility was built at the company headquarters in Koblenz specifically for this purpose and a new IT system was introduced. The result was a fiasco, the opposite was achieved: delivery dates could not be met and were repeatedly postponed. At the same time, the response to customer enquiries in the service department faltered. In an open letter, Canyon founder and Managing Director Roman Arnold apologises again for the problems and provides information about the background. Here are excerpts from the letter:
"... As you have also noticed, modernisations in our Koblenz facility have led to some uncertainty among our customers. On behalf of the entire Canyon team, I would like to apologise to you once again. ... With the enthusiasm for our product, we took an important step for the future of Canyon at the end of 2015: we introduced a new merchandise management system and opened a new production site in Koblenz ... Unfortunately, we initially achieved the opposite, because problems arose during the changeover phase that we had not foreseen and which initially caused our processes to falter instead of improving them: The result was a lack of information for our customers and, in some cases, considerable delays in delivery. And our customer service was not able to answer your many enquiries quickly enough and not always satisfactorily. ... With our commitment and the great personal effort of the entire Canyon team, we have already achieved a great deal in recent weeks: the new systems are meshing better and better, the processes in the new production are settling in well and it is clear that we will be much better equipped for the future ... ... We very much hope that you will continue to place your trust in us. I would like to personally thank you for your loyalty and patience ... Your Roman
Founder & Managing Director, Canyon Bicycles GmbH"
As early as November, Arnold addressed the first personal statement to customers. However, even after the latest customer information, it remains to be seen when the delivery of ordered bikes or the processing of service or spare parts enquiries can be expected to improve. At canyon.com/experience/news the mail order company wants to keep its customers up to date with the latest news.
Sebastian Brust
Editor
