How good is the guarantee from main manufacturers

[trex]

Yesterday, my friend had a little accident while riding down some contry tracks. The rear wheel of his bike somehow got completely wonky although the rim seems to be OK still.
He is worried that the mail order company he bought from will refuse to fix the bike under guarantee. What should he do?
Have you got any experience with similar situations?

 

[banbury frank]

Hi

He has damaged the rim by misuse WHY should it be a guarantee issue . Remove the wheel and rake it to a bike shop and have it ether the buckle taken out or re rimed

and pay £ 30 to £60

Even if the company would fix it he will have to return the bike cost approx £60 then when it arrives they will inspect the bike and say customer abuse and charge for a new wheel + delivery £200 + Best case is they will send a new wheel Free ???

sorry to be so blunt

Frank

 

[funkylyn]

I always thought that guarantees only covered faults due to manufacturing problems not to cover self inflicted accidental damage ?
Or am I wrong ?

Lynda

 

[trex]

Frank, it turns out he hit the kerb. My friend thought it wasn't really his fault, the wheel should not have buckled so easily but then again, he's about 17 st. and the tyre was a little floppy. Linda, is hitting the kerb a self inflicted accident?

 

[eddieo]

If driving your car and you hit a traffic island or kerb and damage rim and flatten tyre...whats the difference?

answers on the back of a ten bob note and post to me via forum.....

 

[Blew it]

It may be easier to have the wheel rebuilt by a bike shop, and it's not as expensive as you may think. Here in Swindon, one of the shops that specialise in wheel-building, rebuilt both wheels on a machine for £90 including new high quality rims

 

[trex]

I'll tell him to take it to his local bikeshop. Thank you all.

 

[oigoi]

I'd tell him to buy a spoke key and learn how to use it

 

[trex]

Yes, and he did so (spoke key £5 at Halfords). I helped him yesterday afternoon. It's cheaper than sending the bike or the wheel back!
It will be interesting to hear from mail order manufacturers (Kudos, Ezee, Juicy Bikes etc) with regard to helping their customers with mechanical failures where the borderline between design or material weakness and user errors can be blurred, or guarantee terms are not sufficiently explicit.
If anything, my friend's experience has put me off a little buying on the internet (or from China).

 

[funkylyn]

Frank, it turns out he hit the kerb. My friend thought it wasn't really his fault, the wheel should not have buckled so easily but then again, he's about 17 st. and the tyre was a little floppy. Linda, is hitting the kerb a self inflicted accident?

Yes it is I'm afraid.....it certainly isn't the manufacturers fault, but anyway I'm pleased he got it sorted without too much expense, and I suppose it just goes to prove 'that a bike is a bike'........until the quality shows. ( at least you would hope so ! )
I would hope that a more expensive bike would be stronger......mine is not an expensive bike but so far has weathered all the abuse I have levelled at it

As for where you buy....its not the internet you should be worried about its the quality of the seller.....plenty reviews of good support from dealers/manufacturers on this forum and all of them sell on the internet......

Lynda

 

[JuicyBike]

I'll tell him to take it to his local bikeshop. Thank you all.

That's exactly what we would say too, Trex, if the bike had been a Juicy Bike, purchased from our website. We do prefer that customers try to get to one of several Juicy Bike stockists (and growing) and make their purchase there.

We now offer to send web sales to a local bike shop for assembly and so help create a long term relationship between local bike shop and Juicy Bike owner.