This very popular song by The Carpenters pretty much evokes the melancholy a rainy day can bring. Especially when there are outdoor activities planned, and in our case, pre-booked e-bike rentals to fulfill.
Even though we need the rain, and we all know how important it is to our land (ask the western states), nothing is sadder than waking up to find that your plans are "soaked" by bad weather!
Well, that was not the case at least one time during the summer. We had a six hour pre-booked rental from a couple that came all the way out to our area to enjoy a bike ride at the Western Reserve Greenway. A few days before the rental, we started monitoring the weather and the forecast was not looking promising. Thunderstorms and wind was expected for several days. All we could hear in our heads was that song; "Rainy days & Mondays"...
The day of the bike ride arrived. That morning the flood gates of heaven opened, and we were sad. We thought; "surely our couple does not want to ride in the rain and get soaked"! We contacted them several hours ahead of their scheduled delivery to offer up a rain check or reimbursement. Much to our surprise the response was; "We came all the way out here to enjoy a bike ride at the Greenway. We are committed to see our plans through. If the electric bikes can perform under wet conditions, we would like to move forward with our rental".
We quickly re-checked the manufacturers recommendations and confirmed that just as long as the e-bikes do not get submerged in water, they will perform as intended under wet conditions. Some doubt started to cloud our minds as logic wanted to win the argument that water and electricity don't mix well! A ray of hope shined on our dilemma as we acknowledged the fact that we use water to clean our e-bikes.
Our brave renters arrived at the agreed time. It was still raining. They signed all the paperwork and dressed with rain ponchos, they jumped on our e-bikes and headed down the trail in the rain! We stayed around the trail entrance for about 10 minutes "just in case” they changed their minds. They did not return. We headed back to the shop, there were no more rentals that day. Every time the phone rang we thought; "There it is! Thats the call to go and pick up two e-bikers. No one wants to ride a bike and get wet".
The expected call never came. The phone rang 5 hours and 47 minutes later. We headed back to the drop off location to pick up our e-bikes. Another ray of hope shined on us when we saw our beautiful couple in the parking lot. They had smiles on their faces and were fairly dry! Rain ponchos do work after all!
The report on our e-bike performance under these less than desirable conditions was great! Our customers enjoyed every minute of their adventure. One thing that has stuck in our heads, to replace that sad song, was what one of them said to us.
She said; "If you plan to do anything outdoors in North East Ohio, you can't let a little rain spoil your day".
What a beautiful lesson that was! Thank you dear friends for that pearl of wisdom! We will apply that to all our plans and every place we do business at, not just North East Ohio. From now on "Rainy days & Mondays" (it's our day off on Mondays) will never "get us down"!
With this blog story we would like to define our Terms & Conditions pertaining pre-booked rentals on rainy days:
Pre-book one of our e-bikes or mobility scooters and if the day of the rental is a rainy day, we will issue a Rain Check or reimburse the prepaid rental fee 100%.
We do not expect you to do the same as our brave couple. We also reserve the right to cancel rentals due to weather conditions, but if you do decide to not let the rain spoil your plans, we are here to assist you to Explore your Outdoors!
Our lovely, brave, & wise couple riding to explore their outdoors! Used with permission.