Jon
Well-known member
Last year I bought a seat from Rick Mayer Cycle for my 2007 FJR. It was a troubling experience which I think Forum members may want to know about. Please read on.
My short legs and FJR are a poor mix. Last year I checked out some friends' FJRs with after-market saddles to see if any would get me closer to the ground. Rick Mayer's seem the best, so I contacted Rick and told him what I wanted. He said he could build me a saddle which would be lower but still offer comfort and support. He asked me to send him pictures of me sitting on my bike with the stock saddle so he could see how I couldn't flat-foot it. I sent Rick the pictures and a check for the new seat. Rick builds his seats from your original pan. Because I wanted to keep my seat until the new one arrived, I also had to send him a $400 check as a deposit
Late last summer the seat arrived. It was beautiful and well-made. However, it was no lower. I called Rick and he said that after a short ride the foam would compress and I'd be sitting closer to the ground. I road 100 miles with the new seat but the foam did not compress (seems like that's a good thing). I called Rick and told him and he said I should send the seat back and he would remake it. I appreciated that. However, I had to pay the return shipping. I didn't like that, but I paid it.
In a short while the "remade" seat arrived. I put it on the bike and ------ no change. Again, a nice seat, but same height as stock. I tried riding with it, but the seat height remained unchanged. I again called Rick. He claimed to have remade the seat to get me closer to the ground. I told him that this wasn't going to work and asked for a full refund. Rick agreed and I mailed him back the seat (again at my own expense).
Rick received the seat on November 5. I waited a couple weeks, but no refund came. I emailed Rick on November 25. He responded the next day saying a refund would be issued. When no refund came I emailed again on December 6. Rick called the next day and said a refund had been issued. Apparently he thought a credit card refund had been issued. When I reminded him that I paid by check, he asked me to send him a copy of it. He had no record of it and, more disturbing, the $400 deposit check was now missing.
That day I faxed copies of both checks to Rick. On December 9 he emailed saying a refund check would be mailed the next day. The refund didn't come and so I emailed Rick on December 18. He replied, telling me to be patient because the mail was slow due to the holidays. I waited a couple more days and emailed Rick that my patience had run out and would consider legal action to get a refund.
Well, that must have done it because the check arrived on January 3. It was in an envelope postmarked December 27! Rick hadn't mailed it when he said he did but dragged his feet up until the point I threatened to take action. It took almost two months from the date Rick received my seat for him to put my refund in the mail. And he had lied, telling me he had mailed it previously. But what really crunched my cookie was he deducted $70.00 from the refund for his shipping cost which he said was "policy". He didn't pay $70 to ship the saddle. And it wasn't my fault he couldn't build the saddle I wanted. And his "policy" had no mention of deducting shipping costs. And he never told me he would deduct this amount. I communicated all of this to Rick in an email with another threat of further action. He agreed to refund the $70.00 which he did.
Having told my sad story let me be clear. Rick makes a good seat, appears to be a nice guy and did respond to my calls and emails. However, his business practices are crap. He promised a product he couldn't produce, lost the record of my sale, lost my $400 deposit check and lied about mailing me a refund check when he knew he hadn't. He tried to cut my full refund by $70 which he never told me, wasn't part of his policy and wasn't his true shipping costs.
I decided not to take a chance with my $400 deposit check floating around somewhere. I went to the bank and paid $30 to stop the check. That and the $57 I paid to twice mail the seat back to Rick means that I spend $87 for the privilege of sitting on, but not owning, a Rick Mayer saddle.
Thought you all should now this.
My short legs and FJR are a poor mix. Last year I checked out some friends' FJRs with after-market saddles to see if any would get me closer to the ground. Rick Mayer's seem the best, so I contacted Rick and told him what I wanted. He said he could build me a saddle which would be lower but still offer comfort and support. He asked me to send him pictures of me sitting on my bike with the stock saddle so he could see how I couldn't flat-foot it. I sent Rick the pictures and a check for the new seat. Rick builds his seats from your original pan. Because I wanted to keep my seat until the new one arrived, I also had to send him a $400 check as a deposit
Late last summer the seat arrived. It was beautiful and well-made. However, it was no lower. I called Rick and he said that after a short ride the foam would compress and I'd be sitting closer to the ground. I road 100 miles with the new seat but the foam did not compress (seems like that's a good thing). I called Rick and told him and he said I should send the seat back and he would remake it. I appreciated that. However, I had to pay the return shipping. I didn't like that, but I paid it.
In a short while the "remade" seat arrived. I put it on the bike and ------ no change. Again, a nice seat, but same height as stock. I tried riding with it, but the seat height remained unchanged. I again called Rick. He claimed to have remade the seat to get me closer to the ground. I told him that this wasn't going to work and asked for a full refund. Rick agreed and I mailed him back the seat (again at my own expense).
Rick received the seat on November 5. I waited a couple weeks, but no refund came. I emailed Rick on November 25. He responded the next day saying a refund would be issued. When no refund came I emailed again on December 6. Rick called the next day and said a refund had been issued. Apparently he thought a credit card refund had been issued. When I reminded him that I paid by check, he asked me to send him a copy of it. He had no record of it and, more disturbing, the $400 deposit check was now missing.
That day I faxed copies of both checks to Rick. On December 9 he emailed saying a refund check would be mailed the next day. The refund didn't come and so I emailed Rick on December 18. He replied, telling me to be patient because the mail was slow due to the holidays. I waited a couple more days and emailed Rick that my patience had run out and would consider legal action to get a refund.
Well, that must have done it because the check arrived on January 3. It was in an envelope postmarked December 27! Rick hadn't mailed it when he said he did but dragged his feet up until the point I threatened to take action. It took almost two months from the date Rick received my seat for him to put my refund in the mail. And he had lied, telling me he had mailed it previously. But what really crunched my cookie was he deducted $70.00 from the refund for his shipping cost which he said was "policy". He didn't pay $70 to ship the saddle. And it wasn't my fault he couldn't build the saddle I wanted. And his "policy" had no mention of deducting shipping costs. And he never told me he would deduct this amount. I communicated all of this to Rick in an email with another threat of further action. He agreed to refund the $70.00 which he did.
Having told my sad story let me be clear. Rick makes a good seat, appears to be a nice guy and did respond to my calls and emails. However, his business practices are crap. He promised a product he couldn't produce, lost the record of my sale, lost my $400 deposit check and lied about mailing me a refund check when he knew he hadn't. He tried to cut my full refund by $70 which he never told me, wasn't part of his policy and wasn't his true shipping costs.
I decided not to take a chance with my $400 deposit check floating around somewhere. I went to the bank and paid $30 to stop the check. That and the $57 I paid to twice mail the seat back to Rick means that I spend $87 for the privilege of sitting on, but not owning, a Rick Mayer saddle.
Thought you all should now this.
Last edited by a moderator:
