Thule and price gouging
Having just bought a new mountain bike I’ve decided that I should finally invest in the bike rack for my vehicle. Since I already have the ski attachments and base bar for my VW (which are made by Thule), I figured it would be a pretty painless purchase to move forward.
Well kinda.. But wow it’s expensive.
Here are some Canadian prices:
– Thule 516 Prologue Fork Mounted Bike Roof Rack = $120ea
– Thule XAdapt9 (so I can mount on my ‘aero’ base rack) = $25ea
I’d need two, thus a total of $290. Problem is finding the XAdapter9 in town is close to impossible. They’ll order it in, but will take a few weeks.
So having come home I figured well if they gotta order the adapter anyways, I’ll just shop online and get it delivered to me directly. That’s when my agitation began.
Price in the USA:
– Thule Fork Mount rack = $71.95
– Thule XAdapt9 = $11.95
Total = $167.80 USD (roughly $185 CDN)
So as you can see in Canada we’re being gouged roughly $100. I’m sick of it. And to make matters even worse Thule has a policy where US dealers are not allowed to ship outside their country, thus us Canadians are shafted. YAY!
Looking for an explanation why Thule would do such a thing, I figured I’d ask Thule directly. I expressed my extreme dissatisfaction to their policies and how Canadian’s are having to pay so much more for the same product. Here’s is their un-altered and complete response to the matter:
Good Day David,
1) Any Thule dealer that does not what you need in stock will put an order in for you.
2) We understand your concern, this price differential does not only apply solely to car racks and accessories bit to all industries in general.
Unfortunately, the Canadian market is 10 time smaller than the US and speak over relatively the same territorial dimension and therefore distribution cost will always be a contributing factor in the price difference.
Regards,
..uuuh.. Okay, so fine you’re most likely Swedish (where Thule is from), and maybe English isn’t your first language, but you can’t even sign off after saying regards?
*sigh*
Good job Thule.. Good freaking job.