If you buy things that are stated as OEM from online retailers etc, are they subject to the same warranties if something goes wrong?

Usually not – they’re not meant to be sold separately.

The warranty is supplied by the retailer so you would have to ask what they are providing. Also, you may find that the distributors or appointed agents won’t deal with you direct.

most of the above, if it’s from overseas it can get trickier again.

Not overseas but a UK reputable retailer, but the part has a somewhat checkered history with reliability and crucially warranty issues.

Don’t forget that your statutory rights are still there, whether it’s OEM or not and they’re often as good as a warranty.

Then don’t buy it.

bigbloke – Member
Not overseas but a UK reputable retailer, but the part has a somewhat checkered history with reliability and crucially warranty issues.

Assume that’s the Merlin Reverb – as said above the issue is with the supplier though I doubt if it was sent back to distributor if anything went wrong that they’d know the difference. They all come out of the same factory.*

* though there may be some way of telling from the part numbers

Yep Merlin Reverb

Yep Merlin Reverb

Based on the guys I ride with:

1 They work well
2 Go wrong
3 Need sending away for repair
4 Go back to 1

So it’s only warranty relevant initially, and then you’ll be paying for the repair.

SRAM have stated repeatedly that they will not accept warranty claims on grey imports. They absolutely can trace the origin of all parts via serial numbers. As above though, your contract is with the retailer and if it’s faulty, they are liable to put it right.

Things get trickier if you have a problem more than six months after purchase as it’s then up to you to prove it was faulty, rather than the retailer to prove otherwise.

I would base my decision on whether I thought that the retailer would look after any problems in the absence of support from SRAM and whether you think that you could prove the product was faulty if it developed problems down the line.

How good a deal is it compared with what you could negotiate with a retailer selling an official UK product with bleed kit etc, and SRAM warranty?

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/consumers/protection_of_consumers/l32022_en.htm