I recently found a crack in the chain stay on my swing arm. I thought no problem the frame is covered by a life time warranty, so i contacted the LBC from where the bike was purchased and a claim was sent to the maker.Maker honoured the warranty and i was told a new frame was on its way. What actually arrived was a new chain stay but in a different colour to the original, the frame now looks shocking. The maker was contacted again and i was told that the part sent was the only one available as you can imagine i am not happy, after several more phone calls to the maker they agreed a new frame was the only way forward. Email arrives from LBS with offer from maker for a new frame if i pay for it, although its discounted (still £900).
I am convinced they should cough up a new frame FOC what do you guys think.

If it is a Trek (from op’s username) the swingarm is only warrantied for 2 years.I’d have a look inside the headtube whilst you’re at it,they tend to go there and all.
I will wheel out my well worn adage…..’it’s a chuffin bike not a handbag’.

Unlucky but suck it up I say, they are honouring the warranty.

warranty honoured imo, paint finish doesn’t really figure

its a 2009 which still carries the life time warranty they changed it to 2 years in 2010

I’m afraid that’s probably all you are going to get. Funny tho – we’d not expect it with a car. If a panel “failed” on a coloured car you’d not expect them just to replace it with a white one because “that’s all they had in stock“.

tin of hammerite, a few beers and a bit of immagination and youll be reet 😀

Similar issue here on my swing arm. Same colour mind but not anodised. I got the newer style swing arm, new due to the fault I suffered, so I can’t complain really. It has been as good as gold since.

Wasn’t there a massive thread on here about this exact same situation? IMO they have replaced the broken part, so whats the issue? If you are that bothered then have the offending piece resprayed, or put a chainstay protector over it?

of course paint finish matters, if a car had a faulty door you would not expect it to be replaced with one of a different colour.

No, sorry but why should you suck it up. They’re flogging bikes & winning business based on a warranty offer that’s conditional. I bet the small print doesn’t say we reserve the right to palm you off with whatever we have lying around the warehouse, or to actually charge you close on a grand because we don’t have any X colour swing arms left. No, don’t suck it up, bloody well storm into the shop tomorrow afternoon when its full of potential customers & tell them (loudly) as such.

Too bloody soft sometimes, & these companies bloody know it. Given the mark up a company like Trek, et-al make on far east produced frames, they should come good.

Thing is druid, structural parts on a car are not on show and vice versa.

personally I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a part the same colour. If mismatched tubes are acceptable, why do they sell bikes all the same colour!?
I would check the warranty, you may find the small print allows them to palm you off
And buy Cotic next time, their customer service is awesome!

Wheels?
e.g. you have silver wheels as standard on your car, one fails and they ship you “this years” fancy black anodized one…

I’m praying takisawa is being deeply ironic otherwise he’d a total douchebag…….. And I so wanted to like him.

Trek have done this for absolutely years, and I think it’s shit. The car analogy is spot on, whether the piece is structural or not is totally irrelevant. I’d go back to them, but to be honest I suspect you will just have to suck it up. Trek are very ‘by the book’ on their warranty procedures, no flexibility. They have done why they say they will do and no more.

TrekCol appears from time to time, but may not see this as its not instantly obvious.

Edit: I do think a new frame is excessive, but a matching swing arm is a more realistic request.

but a matching swing arm is a more realistic request

only if they still have them available, otherwise they’ll give the next best thing. The only thing being warrantied is the swingarm, so the rest of the frame doesn’t really figure in this case (but would do if the fit and function had changed).

Could be worse, they could’ve repaired it!

Thing is druid, structural parts on a car are not on show and vice versa.

Body of the car is structural.

Crap service from a massive company that bought and killed off loads of smaller brands? There’s a shock.

Go and give them a chance to put it right. If they don’t ask them a direct question on fb and Twitter as that usually gets a positive response. We even managed to get BT to fix something…

http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/support/warranty

There is a quote,

For 2010 and older model bicycles, please consult your owner’s manual or contact us or an authorized dealer for the applicable warranty.

Also states repair or replacement of the parts no mention of colours

Tricky one your bike is fixed and rideable , maybe your LBS can help with getting the swingarm painted to match, it would be ideal to have it colour matched but if they don’t have one then its the best compromise and you can still ride and have fun just don’t look in windows on the trail 😀

I’d not be happy with that as a warranty repair. Rather devalues the warranty in my opinion. Added a couple of tags so this kind of story is easier to find for potential trek customers.

I’d be getting stuck into the shop expecting them to be fighting my corner with Trek, ime LBS’s tend to want to do the least possible to get you to **** off out the door when there is no money in it for them.

They should just make all swingarms matt black – then they’d match any colour scheme 🙂

Also states repair or replacement of the parts no mention of colours

If I had a broken red swingarm, i’d want it replaced with a new red swingarm. Otherwise they’re not replacing like for like. If they haven’t got stock of them then they should replace the whole frame in my opinion so it all colour matches. Not customers fault that they havent any in stock.

Bike company doesn’t have the right colored swingarm 3 years later. What a shock.
When the swingarm on my Iron Horse cracked, there was no company anymore. I got it welded & it looks more shocking than you’d believe.
Suck it up & ride on.

druidh = GENIUS

Not customers fault that they havent any in stock

I was told that Trek’s policy is to not keep a stock of previous year’s frames, swing arms etc for warranty replacements, instead they replace with the current year’s model, which is why the OP has been given a different colour swing arm.

I had great service from Trek, when my 2008 Fuel EX developed a crack on the front triangle they replaced the whole frame and because the design had changed I also got a new shock, headset and BB as mine no longer fitted. Try snapping the frame next time 🙂

Why does it matter what colour it is? Do you ride your bike, or stand around looking at it?

get the swing arm painted?

When do car wheels or body panels fail? 🙄

http://www.warrantyguide.co.uk/vehicle-recall-3335CABB46C6135F802571850032120C-vauxhall-vx220-recall

[When do car wheels or body panels fail? ] when my daughter borrows my car and hits the gate it was only a 15foot gap 😀 knocked it out with a block of wood costs more than the car is worth to fix,She was mortified bless her.

awh – Member

I was told that Trek’s policy is to not keep a stock of previous year’s frames, swing arms etc for warranty replacements,

Aye. And that’s their problem, not their customers. If they want to save the cost of holding warranty replacement parts, that’s fine but they need to pay the extra cost that this will sometimes incur.

Replacement part for a red swingarm is a red swingarm. Colour is a part of the decision making process for many people. No company that offers bikes in different colours can claim otherwise tbh.

cynic-al – Member

Thing is druid, structural parts on a car are not on show and vice versa.

Well 1), yes they are but also 2) why is that relevant?

Did you ask if they’d help with the respray cost?

It also affects resale value.

this is what it could look like with multiple warranty replacement

(apologies for small picture- dont know how to make it larger)

“cynic-al – Member
Thing is druid, structural parts on a car are not on show and vice versa”

Go cut the roof off your car and see what happens (assuming its a hard top – monoque)

I’d have a look at Argo’s web site and get a price to have it resprayed to match your frame, then ask trek to either pay or offer you something to the value from stock.

We are talking about a big chuck of money for that bike, and the warrenty costs come out of what the customer pays in the shop.

So no i don’t think you are asking too much.

North…2…my point is car body panels are mainly cosmetic/aerodynamic in purpose so they rarely fail, and if they do, colour match is of recognised importance.

Good Googling druid-how often does that happen?

Every now and then there is a thread about warranty…
It does seem some companies are a LOT better than others.
I think it should be considered a big part of the purchase of a new bike or frame, to take into account how good the companys reputation is for honouring their warranty.
This should be weighed up against the 9/10 reviews in a magazine. A few years ago Comencal really took off in the UK. Then there seemed to be quite a few problems with cracked frames. I dont think they could replace them fast enough. The UK importer pulled out, it all got messy.
How much did that damage the company from a marketing point of view?

The OP asked….. am i expecting too much………… if this was a claim with a Turner frame the answer is no, you would not be expecting too much.
If they have the parts they will send them to you. Its that simple. If the UK importer has the parts they will send them.

Send the UK importer of Trek a letter thanking them for the new swing arm as they advertised in their warranty at the time but ask them to either paint it a suitable colour or provide a matching front half….

Wouldn’t bother me personally if the colour was different and I intended to keep it. I’d be more concerned that it broke in the first place which would probably make me want to sell the replacement and get something less likely to go pop. Harder to do if it’s badly colour matched though. 😕

There was a thread a while back which was similar. The bike in question was an Orange and the OP seemed delighted that his swingarm broke and he was given a newer replacement. He got to buy the rest of the frame for a discount which was considered great customer service too. Orange customers are special though.