Bike warranty

walkingshadow

Hi,
I have had a major problem with my bike and I would like some of your advice on this. I purchased a fairly expensive bike last July from a particular bicycle store.
I took the bike out for a spin in early June for the first time this year, and not 20 yards from my house, the rear derailleur of my bike essentially collapsed into my spokes. As a result of this, the frameset became damaged and a little crack has occurred.

I initially took the bike into the store to repair the rear derailleur (I was unaware of the crack at this point). A day later, I got a call from the store telling me that the crack was observed and that my bike was no longer safe to ride and essentially a write off. They offered to replace the frame for almost €700.

I felt that since I did nothing to cause the rear derailleur to go into my spokes and damage the frameset that it would come under warranty, but the store manager was having none of it. The manager tried to suggest that damage was caused to the bike frame previously to cause the derailleur to crack, which I denied. Essentially this person was unwilling to offer me any satisfaction.

Is there anything more I can do here? I’ve sent a letter and photos of the frame to the bike HQ, but I doubt I will get a response, as their company policy says that all of these kind of issues should be handled by the local store. I have showed the crack to some people who claim it can be fixed, and others who state a carbon crack cannot be fixed. Or, if I get no satisfaction, will I really have to get the bike dumped as it is essentially my word against the store manager? I worked hard to save up and buy that bike.

cython

Had this happened within a short period of you buying the bike (e.g. a few weeks), or shortly after getting it serviced by them, I might expect some satisfaction were I in your position. However it sounds like you have had it almost a year (that this is the first time you cycled it this year is irrelevant, and might even work against you), so in that time it is very possible that you could have (not saying you did) made a mess of the limit screw, or simply that the derailleur got a knock towards the wheel, and then went into the wheel when you shifted into the inner sprockets. Where and how was the bike stored, or for how long? Did you give the bike and gears a once over/through their range before cycling it after it was laid up for that long?

walkingshadow

Yes, I looked over the bike the day before I went out to check all was in order (and set up my odomoter), tyres, etc. The guy in the store also suggested the bike may have got damaged in storage however the bike was stored carefully in my utility room, upright, and never had anything near it, let alone hit it. I am really considering sending a solicitors letter on this, as I am so upset, but how can I prove anything? How can I prove to anyone I'm not at fault here (which I'm not!). Bike also got a service about a year ago.

C3PO

Why not take a claim to the Small Claims Court? It only costs a few € (€20/€30?) and a judge will quickly decide on the veracity of your case!

magicbastarder

walkingshadow wrote: »

I’ve sent a letter and photos of the frame to the bike HQ, but I doubt I will get a response, as their company policy says that all of these kind of issues should be handled by the local store.

this is in line with what the law says - any warranty issues should be handled by the entity who sold you the bike.

it's a tough case; you're well within your rights to insist it's a warranty call if it's provable that the issue was caused by a defect in the bike's design or manufacture. however, they can easily point to the fact that the bike was in storage and not getting normal, regular use; and that it was successfully serviced soon after purchase.

i would say one approach would be to ring the distributor; any warranty issue would probably be passed onto to them by the store, and it's easier for them to say no in an email than it is on the phone to you.

Eamonnator

What make is the bike?

tunney

Sorry you haven't a leg to stand on.
Assuming as well that you never brought it back after a few weeks for its tune up as you would have been instructed to?

walkingshadow

tunney wrote: »

Sorry you haven't a leg to stand on.
Assuming as well that you never brought it back after a few weeks for its tune up as you would have been instructed to?

Yes I did bring it back for a tune up approx 3-4 weeks after purchasing last year.

ford2600

tunney wrote: »

Sorry you haven't a leg to stand on.
Assuming as well that you never brought it back after a few weeks for its tune up as you would have been instructed to?

Technically you right only small chance would be a small claims court judge not bothering to understand limit screws or derailleur alingment. Or bike shop/distributor agreeing to do something for an easy life.

Small chance either way I would think

walkingshadow

tunney wrote: »

Sorry you haven't a leg to stand on.

So anyone who has damage caused to their bicycle that was not their fault to a new bike less than a year old is supposed to simply forget about it?

cython

walkingshadow wrote: »

So anyone who has damage caused to their bicycle that was not their fault to a new bike less than a year old is supposed to simply forget about it?

You say it wasn't your fault, but can you prove that it was the fault of the shop or the manufacturer as opposed to a mistake/oversight on your part? Ultimately that is the determinant as to whether warranty should cover it. Should the shop or manufacturer be liable if this is not their fault? You've yet to post anything that would convince me that it was their fault, so why should they pick up the tab?

desertcircus

walkingshadow wrote: »

So anyone who has damage caused to their bicycle that was not their fault to a new bike less than a year old is supposed to simply forget about it?

The problem is that an independent arbiter has no way of knowing that the above is truthful. All they know is that you bought the bike about a year ago, and there's now a crack in the frame after the derailleur went into the wheel. They don't know (and indeed can't know for sure) how the bike was treated over the past year.

desertcircus

There are two competing explanations for what happened, given that a derailleur collapsing into a wheel and cracking a frame is unbelievably rare:

1. Something happened to the bike that you didn't realise in the course of the ten or eleven months that it was in your house; when you took the bike out, it manifested immediately, the derailleur collapsed and the frame sustained a crack.

2. The bike shop in question sent a carbon-framed bike without realising there was something wrong; it didn't manifest on your way home from the shop, but manifested catastrophically the moment you took the bike out for the first subsequent spin almost a year later.

Sorry to say it, but the first explanation is far easier to believe based on limited evidence than the second.

tunney

walkingshadow wrote: »

So anyone who has damage caused to their bicycle that was not their fault to a new bike less than a year old is supposed to simply forget about it?

The problem was most likely limit screws being wrong or the derailleur being bent.

"It was like that when I bought it"
Nine hours after purchase - fine.
Nine months - not going to fly.