Selle An-Atomica under new ownership + FAIL

[hulagirl]

So Tom, the owner of Selle An-Atomica passed away last summer. His sisters have taken over the business as of the last 6 months or so. In my quest for a saddle I spoke with Carol after she returned from the bike show in Vegas recently.

She was incredibly helpful. And as the website has very little useful information, she took all the measurements and weights down and called me with the details. She explained that they were both very new to this and learned a lot at the bike show from users of the saddle. She told me the questions she was most often asked was width and weight of the saddle. So she needed to know this info anyway.

So, she told me the saddle was:

250mm wide
430-480 g

I thought "Hey! My sit bones are 150mm! This would be great for the hybrid! Nice and wide and with a cut out and US made! Awesome!"

I asked if the 30 day return still stood. She said "What 30 day return?!?" They had no idea it was on the website or offered and said she wasn't too happy about that, but would take it back as a demo if I didn't like it. But assured me she had never had a return.

Today was saddle day! And I thought that for a 250mm wide saddle, it was awful thin.

Put it on the bike and followed the instructions anyway. Hours later I can confirm the thing is only 190mm measure edge to edge. If I flip it over I measure only 140mm leather between metal edges. sigh....

I've sent her the email asking for a refund and explaining the difference between my measurements and what she told me. Where in the heck she got 250mm from I dunno! But had she said 150 or even 160 I wouldn't have bothered. What a waste. I'm so bummed. Tried to get hubby on it but he is not a fan at all.

I suppose I should have asked you folks to measure your saddles. But I figured the owner of the company with a saddle in her hand would KNOW.

Agh! So frustrating!!!! They should have this stuff up on their website so there is no confusion!

[hulagirl]

Heard back from Carol already - she will take it back and refund my money. Lesson learned she said...she must have measured wrong. That's good news. But boy, what a bummer.

[Miranda]

You know what... I realize it's wrong to speak ill of the dead... but my business dealings with Tom were not so great.

I ended up returning my defective saddle I purchased from him. He was just such a jerk. Not only did he insist that I keep his clearly defective saddle, he personally insulted me from a phone conversation we had prior to purchase after the fact, AND then he had the audacity to deduct from my refund *his* money order costs for refund... much less I was out my shipping cost both ways to receive the saddle, and ship it back for defect.

Sometime shortly after that for reasons not mentioned TE stopped carrying his line. Can't speak for TE, but crimony, I'd ride a 2 x 4 board scrap outta my garage before I'd repeat that experience.

Hope you get all your issues worked out.

[Biciclista]

Sounds like the sisters are a lot nicer than Tom. And they are learning.

[jobob]

So Tom, the owner of Selle An-Atomica passed away last summer.

Actually, he passed away almost exactly a year ago. He was riding last year's Devil Mountain Double at the time.

This years' DMD is next weekend.

(This is admittedly not really relevant to the thread discussion, but I've been thinking about DMD and it was a surprise to see Tom's name pop up here).

[Biciclista]

it's funny how that works, isn't it?!

[maillotpois]

.... but I've been thinking about DMD ..... [/I]

Hmm. Me too !

[Biciclista]

When Tom started selling the saddles, he figured enough people would fit his saddle and someone else could worry about the others. More or less the definition of a niche market and it worked well. I think it's cool his sisters are keeping it going.