My four month old Orange Four has been sitting in the bike shop for three weeks now, awaiting repairs. The rear shock, a Rockshox Monarch Debonair RC3 ‘packed down’, without any loss of air, during a recent jolly to the Lake District.

The guys in the bike shop, have been pleasant and reasonably communicative. They removed the shock and posted it down to SRAM UK. I’ve since been told that the shock can’t be fully repaired and needs replaced. However, there are no replacements available and I’m not being given a date when one will become available.

Now, SRAM UK have partially repaired my original shock (stopped it packing down, but apparently it’s noisy and not fully functional), and have sent it back to my bike shop where they’ve offered to refit it as a temporary measure to get me back on the trails.

Is this just an everyday ‘bog standard’ occurrence? Am I jumping the gun a wee bit by starting to get frustrated with the delays?

I’m struggling to understand how SRAM can’t find me a replacement…seeing as they make the damn things. More to the point though, being someone who really doesn’t like the whole idea of confrontation, I’m not looking forward to picking a fight with someone over this. If I have to though, who should it be with and do you reckon I have a leg to stand on?

I’m happy to accept that I’m wrong, but in my mind I think if the company can’t supply a replacement for their faulty product from stock, then they should be going out of their way to either secure me an equivalent model, even if it means taking it from another bike, or (maybe a wee bit optimistic), the next model up as recompense.

Any experiences? Advice? Reality checks?

All would be welcomed

C.

🙂

, then they should be going out of their way to either secure me an equivalent model, even if it means taking it from another bike, or (maybe a wee bit optimistic), the next model up as recompense

Seems reasonable to me.

If I have to though, who should it be with

the place you bought it from.

and do you reckon I have a leg to stand on?

Depends how old it is, is it still in warranty, has it been serviced correctly etc…

Return the bike and ask for a replacement or money back

If the bike is only 4 months old and its going to be any significant amount of time before its properly fixed they should be offering you a replacement or a refund. Ive got no sympathy with the whole ‘the warranty is with SRAM / orange’ thing, you gave the money to the shop, whoever they have to deal with to get it sorted is up to them

Mine developed the knock of death, LBS ended up sending it back to the black hole of Sram service department.
I was lucky as they (LBS) had a demo shock that I used whilst mine was away for 6 weeks!
Ended up getting a new one under warranty

Did you buy the bike from the bike shop? Given similar instances on here I reckon your beef will be with the shop who sold you the bike. Not a 100% sure though.

In what way is the original shock not fully functional?

If the damping and compression are both working fine I’d just ride it until the new shock comes.

If it’s going to ride like crap, maybe give orange a bell and see if they can help?

Did you buy the bike from the bike shop? Given similar instances on here I reckon your beef will be with the shop who sold you the bike

it is, simple UK consumer contract law.

Hadn’t spotted the 4 month old bit. I’d be leaning on the LBS somewhat!!

Fishers (Sram) are shit – it took them near to five weeks to return a fork that they just borked further.

Three options

1) Demand a new bike, not fit for purpose etc

2) Buy a new shock. Sell the replacement.

3) Ring orange and ask them nicely if they have any spare shocks lying around.

Return the bike and ask for a replacement or money back

I’d do that too. If you are uncomfortable, take the sale docs to your local Citizens Advice Bureau, while they won’t know a thing about bikes, they will know about your rights and help you to feel confident about next course of action. Good luck.

Can I also suggest that TF tuned might be able to fix it, they removed lumps in the internal anodizing of a monarch that was causing it to feel like it was notchy/knocking. Fishers failed to apot that as well.

Is the shop who has the bike now also the shop from which you originally bought the bike from?

If so, you’re well within your rights to expect them to sort it. You have no relationship with SRAM so you don’t really have any clout with them – although in our experience they will generally go out of their way to sort customers out.

With the aim of avoiding confrontation, though, here’s a suggestion. (Bearing in mind I don’t have any more information that you’ve given in the OP so there may be many reasons why this isn’t possible/practical). If SRAM are going to replace the shock anyway, they *may* be prepared to just credit the shop for the cost of the replacement shock. If they did that, the shop could then source you a replacement shock from either a) another SRAM distributor, if they deal with both (Raleigh and ZyroFisher); b) Orange, who probably have some stock of the shocks they use on their bikes; c) another supplier, although that’s a bit of a long shot; or d) another brand altogether (Fox?) depending on your preferences.

This all relies on SRAM being willing to credit rather than replace (which I don’t imagine they’re obliged to do) and the shop being willing to do some legwork for you (which if they supplied the bike originally I’m sure they’d be more than happy to do).

This also opens up the possibility of upgrading to the next shock up in the range if you (or the shop) are willing to cover the difference, depending on what’s in stock.

Talk to the shop – I’m sure they’ll be just as keen as you are to get it sorted.

SRAM have acknowledged that there’s something wrong with it so there’s no reason for the shop to delay in resolving it one way or the other. Can they not approach Orange to see if they can supply a replacement shock? Otherwise, tell them you’ll be looking for a full refund. It’s their responsibility.

The rear shock, a Rockshox Monarch Debonair RC3 ‘packed down’, without any loss of air, during a recent jolly to the Lake District.

Happened to me. RC3+ on an 8 month old Enduro.

Took it back to Evans who sent it to their suspension service centre who then sent it to SRAM/ Fishers. Got word back it was completely knackered and I was getting a brand new replacement.

It took 7 weeks for the replacement to arrive 😥

It took 7 weeks for the replacement to arrive

meanwhile there was probably one in the cabinet in the LBS sat doing nowt. Boils my piss, why can’t they sort the customer first and do the backroom stuff later? STILL waiting for Madison to ‘source’ a replacement frame for my Grapil despite the obvious replacement being sold, heavily discounted, in a number of outlets. Today may well be ‘losing my shit’ day.

THIS

Feel a bit sorry for the shop but essentially they KNOW and you can prove you were sold goods not fit for purpose so they need to resolve this not SRAM- who are technically the real cause of the problem but the shop need to deal with that not you.

No way i would wait an unknown period of time to get an unknown replacement as my warranty runs down

I know a few people who work for fishers, the biggest issue they seem to have is the fact that bike shops generally take for ever to send in or return customers goods, letting fishers take the wrap for it.

I had to return a reverb awhile ago and used a local bike shop to return it as I needed the warranty claim number, the shop wouldn’t agree to me just giving it to my mate who works for fishers and deals with the reverb warrantys, they prefered to keep it saying they’d get it off the next day.
Anyhow, over a week later my mate contacted me saying they still hadn’t recieved it, when I spoke with the bike shop they told me they dropped it in three days previous and Fishers were to blame, when I said I’ve spoken with fishers they then changed their story to they posted it and it must have been delayed.
Two days later I get a phone call from my mate saying the shop have just dropped it in, the funkers still stuck to the lost in post story even when I went to collect the replacement.

In the two weeks the seatpost was gone, fishers had it for one and a bit days before the new one went out and the shop had it for the remainder.

Don’t believe everything the shop tells you.

What drovercycles said…

It’s an annoying situation for sure, but I don’t think anybody is intentionally trying to pull a fast one. Both of SRAM’s UK distributors, and also SRAM tech centre genuinely are always low on stock of most things in my experience? Why? I can only hypothesise, but I believe it’s the rush to supply the OEM market that often leaves the aftermarket a little dry. As and when I’ve had to send products back to SRAM, if they’ve been able to fix or replace they have done so quickly and efficiently. I often joke about Reverbs with customers saying that “reliability wise, it’s the best of a bad bunch, but if you break it they’ll send you a new one” (as they have done every time, my 8th is on its way out and I know a few customers that have had more than a couple too).

If SRAM can’t repair or replace, seems to me that the best option is that the shop asks Orange to credit them for the shock (or send a different shock from another manufacturer), Orange will then get their credit back off SRAM. It’s a convoluted way of doing things, but your contract is with the shop, theirs is with Orange, Orange’s is with SRAM. You apply a little (friendly) pressure on the shop to sort it out, they will apply a little pressure on Orange, Orange will apply a little pressure on SRAM.

It’s annoying for the shop (I know, I own one) but it’s also part and parcel of being a dealer for said brands. If all goes well, you sell an item at full RRP and you have no hassles with it, you may pocket your X margin. Sometimes you have to deal with a warranty, and/or can’t sell the product at full price, so you may end up making X/2 or X/3 margin instead.

Does sound like you had a duff shock mind, I’ve sold tonnes of bikes on Monarch Debonair RC3’s and not had one come back with an issue yet!

Orange are still building the bikes. At the least as a goodwill gesture, as suggested above, they should be able to supply something to keep you on the move, even if SRAM have to credit them for the shock.

I know a few people who work for fishers, the biggest issue they seem to have is the fact that bike shops generally take for ever to send in or return customers goods, letting fishers take the wrap for it.

OR…

You just had a bad experience with one LBS… I can guarantee you this isn’t the case with many!

As it so happens, returned my own Reverb a fortnight ago, and the new one arrived 2 days ago (a little longer wait than usual) and they’ve sent the wrong length replacement. No big issue, we’re all human, but they’re not answering the phone right now and I’ve left messages!

Also sent my SRAM Guide R brakes back (both levers had just about seized somehow, a known fault on the R, doesn’t affect the RS/RSC etc.) at the same time… Still shows as “product not yet received” on their returns page on the B2B… In this case, I’m glad this is just my own items, if I had a customer breathing down my neck wanting his bits back I’d be rather annoyed!

DON’T believe everything everyone tells you!

Cheers guys,

The bike is with the shop I bought it from. I’m not sure what SRAM have done to the shock to make it rideable again, all I know is that it can’t be fully repaired and they (SRAM) say it needs replaced. They’ve sent it back to the bike shop to refit to my bike as I said I’d rather have it back in some sort of working order, rather than it sitting in the bike shop for an unspecified amount of time. I’m going to contact the bike shop again today and try to push things along. I like the idea that someone mentioned of getting the bike shop to see if SRAM will credit them for the cost of a replacement, or even getting in touch with Orange for a spare.

Fingers crossed!

As an aside, which is of concern more for the LBS than you, but shouldn’t the shop be taking up the issue with Orange, as that’s where they got it from in the first place (complete bike or frame/shock??).

Your contract is with LBS, not SRAM.
Your legal ‘remedies’ are:
– full refund
– replace
– repair within a ‘reasonable’ time frame; I would say three weeks is unreasonable.

The Consumer Rights Act (CRA) explains your rights; you can view it online.

If LBS try to ignore you tell them your next step is making a claim in the small claims court.

Now, SRAM UK have partially repaired my original shock (stopped it packing down, but apparently it’s noisy and not fully functional), and have sent it back to my bike shop where they’ve offered to refit it as a temporary measure to get me back on the trails.

Sounds like a good interim measure to me. Assuming you picked the bike for reasons beyond the shock, I certainly wouldn’t be looking to return the full thing.

DON’T believe everything everyone tells you!

says Mboy 😆

shouldn’t the shop be taking up the issue with Orange, as that’s where they got it from in the first place

Yeah that’s what I was thinking when I suggested giving them a call.

I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy to hear of a customer in this situation, and they assemble their bikes in Halifax so probably have a big box of shocks with the correct tune.

Your LBS may not have thought of this.

RS quality and SRAM warranty suck. I can see why they can’t stock every possible configuration and tune of shock for warranty replacement though.

I was also offered a several month wait for the same shock which would have meant a whole summer without one. Instead I requested a standard aftermarket MM tune back and my awesome LBS ordered the correct tune damping bits and replaced them for me.

meanwhile there was probably one in the cabinet in the LBS sat doing nowt. Boils my piss, why can’t they sort the customer first and do the backroom stuff later? STILL waiting for Madison to ‘source’ a replacement frame for my Grapil despite the obvious replacement being sold, heavily discounted, in a number of outlets. Today may well be ‘losing my shit’ day

Ot but Madison are awful, it’s a shame as I fancy a Genisis steel frame but can’t bring myself to put myself in the position that I may have to deal with their warranty department ever again. Utter crap.

Get SRAM to do give a credit to your bike shop and then you can source a new shock perhaps a different brand like fox with that credit. I had a customer in the same situation as you we got a credit and then put a fox on his bike!

What can I say, other than thank-you singletrackworld folks?

I phoned my bike shop again about an hour ago and asked then to try and push things along a bit and suggested to them that they might even try giving Orange a shout, as per Mboy’s suggestion earlier.

Just had a phone call from the shop to tell me that Orange are sending a replacement shock up to them and that it should be fitted and ready for collection some time next week. Then, when the shop eventually receives the warranty replacement shock from SRAM, they’ll send it back down to Orange.

This is brilliant folks, really made my day!

Cheers!

C. 🙂

I’d suspect the place your shop is dealing with is simply SRAMs local tech organisation. They don’t “make” anything. They aren’t employed by SRAM. They only have the service bits and pieces and will have to order anything special. It’s effectively just another shop. But one stage further up the supply chain. (hopefully)

Good result 🙂

I’m not wild on orange bikes myself (too much of an xc mincer), but cant fault what you hear about their aftersales etc

it’s possible the oem shocks from orange are from a defective batch .. just saying. Wouldn’t know until yours is fitted and tested. Hopefully not eh!

Awesome result, and happy to have been of help! I find being calm, collected and practical usually gets the best results myself, glad that your LBS and Orange have both seen fit to step in and help out.

Just a note to those advocating going apoplectic and throwing the bike back at the LBS and demanding a refund etc… We’re all human beings, we’ve all got a job to do, none of us like being let down by others, so when it happens, try and be understanding whilst we help resolve the situation as best as possible. The internet forum warrior who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing (including manners) will usually succeed only in pissing everyone else off, which then often reflects in the levels of service received…