I bought a leftover 2019 Isle of Man Bell Star DLX in early 2021 from an eBay vendor. After using it for one season I was taking the cheek pads out and one of the clips broke. No idea why they don’t just use snaps. But a few emails later and customer service at Bell says that helmet is discontinued but they’ll send me a Race Star Flex as replacement free of charge. So stoked on this. It feels weird to get great customer service like this so I figured I’d share the story. My new one arrived today and even came with a nice little helmet bag!
I was thinking of starting a customer service thread, but I'm gonna add to yours. -Ridgid warrantied an 11yr old battery for me this year -Gerber multitool my buddy bought me (basically a leatherman) broke 1st day out of the package at the hinge (bad casting?). I didn't know this but Fiskars and Gerber had merged so it took about a month but they also replaced my product
wow great to hear that from bell. I moved to 6d last year and had a snap and vent break they also did a great job shipping me replacements quick painless service
While I was super happy with the customer service, I think the design is a bit flawed. Or at the very least they should sell replacement inserts with the clips, because I have a feeling these will keep breaking if you remove them often to clean them.
They replaced a regular fiberglass Star with a carbon fiber Race Star Wow man, you got the hook up! The Race Star uses magnets for the cheek pads anyway so you're GTG!
Good people at Bell. Back when I raced, they had a great support program. I like their “auto-tint” shields.
Couldn't believe it myself, my luck never goes this way! Thanks for the heads up on the magnets, that makes me feel much better about trying to play 'operation' when removing the cheek pads.
The magnets in the cheek pads, super easy change visors (Pro-Tint FTMFW!), and MIPS, are total game changers in my book. Hopefully others catch up. I want to branch out and try KYT and such, but its hard to move away with plusses like that.
I had a not so satisfying customer service experience with Bell. Have an older RS-1, great helmet. Needed a set of interior liner pads. Called Bell and was told, sorry you're out of luck helmet is discontinued try to find some on eBay or an online dealer. To be fair had the same thing happen with Shoei and an X-Twelve. Discontinued so no interior parts. Lesson learned, so I just ordered interior liners for all the helmets, dirt & street. If you take the liners out to clean eventually a snap or clip will break, no two ways about it. Next time a buy a new helmet I'm ordering the interior pieces while I can.
Older, not bashing either company, just pointing out my experience and the potential eventuality of having to replace a helmet costing hundreds of dollars or almost a thousand dollars instead of a set of $30 check pads. When I called Shoei on interior pieces for a 3 year old RF-1200 was told the helmet has been discontinued so parts are no longer listed. Got lucky in that I was told there were still some available on back order. Of course now I'll never have other clip or snap break on an interior pad.
Wish I had done this with a couple Arai and Shoei helmets I loved and retired too soon. Bought pads for my current Bell ahead of time and it's the way to go if you're hell on lids like I still am. Must say that the modern liners still wash up good though.
Just got my brand new Bell Race Star DLX flex as my last Bell reaches the 5 year end of race life in July. I was stoked that it drop shipped directly from Bell as my last few Bells bought on closeout were already 2-3 years old leaving only 2 years of race life left. I can't seem to find the date sticker on my new helmet. A couple models ago Bell put that small round punched sticker on the outside, last model it was inside under the fabric liner. I have torn this helmet apart and can't seem to find it. I see the Snell 2020 rating sticker but no date stamp. Does anyone else have this same issue? How do I prove date?
I just got a Race star DLX and the date code was on the chin strap. Seemed a bit more normal than on the liner that can be swapped.
Bingo. I knew I was missing something and the beeb would set me straight. Thanks I even looked on the on the removable cheek pad but didn't look on the strap. Not a sticker any more either, printed font.
Not motorcycle related. I bought a pair of Duluth Trading firehose work pants in 2016. I never owned any of their stuff. I tried them on but they were just too stiff and I couldn't move around like I wanted to. I wore them for 3-4 hours running errands, thought they might loosen up, but they didn't. I was in a Duluth store in 2020, the guy asked if I've ever worn their clothes, I said no, I bought a pair but they were uncomfortable. He said bring them back. I mentioned they were years old, he looked it up, and they were purchased 4 years earlier. He said we would accept returned clothes that were worn a few times. I went back in there a few weeks later, and was amazed they gave me a full refund! They refunded my $80, but I spent another $200. They make awesome hot weather clothes. Flex Dry on the Fly shorts, along with their Armachillo underwear, best I've ever worn.
