If part of your bike, which was bought from your LBS, fails and gets returned to the manufacturer via the LBS, who pays the postage?

You, your LBS, or the manufacturer?

Not you.

Any other arrangement is between the retailer and distributor/manufacturer.

When I used to do frame warranties the shop would pay to send to us & we would pay to send warranty replacement back. Whether the shop made the customer pay them I don’t know.

If the bike is purchased from the shop, they should cover any postage charge. Usually if its going back to the distibutor they can get a collection booked so it doesn’t cost you or the shop anything.

Theyre telling me i have to pay for them to get it to the manufacturer. Nobody mentioned this when i dropped it off but now the items back they want money in exchange for item. It seems a bit unfair that i should be out of pocket.

Common for warranty terms to not cover postage or other incurred costs such as re-fitting the replacement parts, if so that will be down to goodwill etc between you, the shop and the manufacturer or importer.

Is this an extended bit of a warranty, (eg. are you claiming under a lifetime frame warranty from the manufacturer) or part of your statutory rights, which is probably upto a year?

If the latter, then your contract is with the shop, you return it to them and they sort it out.
If the former, then it’s probably reasonable you or the manufacturer pay.

tthew – Member
Is this an extended bit of a warranty, (eg. are you claiming under a lifetime frame warranty from the manufacturer) or part of your statutory rights, which is probably upto a year?

Its a part from a 6 month old bike thats still under warranty.

Tell them to hand it over or you will be reporting them for extortion.

If part of your bike, which was bought from your LBS, fails and gets returned to the manufacturer via the LBS, who pays the postage?

Your contract is with the shop: returning the part is their problem, not yours.

Cheeky bastards!

Its a part from a 6 month old bike thats still under warranty.

You shouldn’t be paying for the postage on that. We would never charge in that situation.

Cheeky bastards!

I think it’s cheeky too and I don’t want to have to pay it but i feel bad because i have a good relationship with them 🙁

… have a good relationship with them

It seems they don’t feel the same way. Time for a new LBS, (and make sure they know why)

The warranty is between you and the shop/retailer, the manufacturer may offer a supplemental warranty over and above your statutory rights but thats normally beyond say 1 year. AFAIK unless the supplier requires you to register directly with them, then the retailer is liable for the extended warranty as well, assuming the bike is sold / advertised with such a warranty. Or put simply, its the shop’s problem not yours. The only judgement you need to make is whether the part is genuinely warranty, or a good will replacement. Whichever way it is, I haven’t come across a manufacturer yet that would not pay for the return postage on a warranty replacement.

…because i have a good relationship with them

You don’t 🙁

Your responsibility to get it back to the shop (if it’s warranty, not if it’s faulty on arrival). The shop’s responsibility from there, whatever their agreement with the manufacturer/importer/distributor.

This is assuming you bought it from them in the first place, which in this case seems to be so.

Postage costs are an overhead the business has to deal with. Hopefully they made some profit on the sale in the first place!

I think it’s cheeky too and I don’t want to have to pay it but i feel bad because i have a good relationship with them

I’d be asking quite bluntly “are you refusing to give me my part unless I pay the postage for a warranty part?”
The shop has presumably made profit from selling you a bike. By taking that profit, they assume some risk. Also, the delivery arrangements they have with their suppliers are nothing to do with you.

The only judgement you need to make is whether the part is genuinely warranty, or a good will replacement. Whichever way it is, I haven’t come across a manufacturer yet that would not pay for the return postage on a warranty replacement.

It’s a common fault apparently.

Many times the shop eats the cost on returning warranty items, unless brand new faulty from box or bike/frame where distribution will arrange courier to collect from shop premises.

This is why often the shop will give customers new items from stock, put faulty items in box/ pile and post that lot back every few months to save postage costs

If same items constantly faulty then shop has conversations with distribution to cover costs or end trading relationship

Does sound like you don’t get on to well!!just before Christmas had a caliper go wrong so LBS took it of and boxed it up and I just went in and posted it for them only cost £2.80 they did offer but swings and roundabouts new one came back from Upgrade and back on bike within 4 days.Saying that I have had way over £2.80 in tea bags and coffee over the years 🙂

Said shop sound like a bunch shysters.

I’d say the shop should be covering this. I would not be paying it as your contract is with the shop and they should be absorbing the postage cost for you.

It’s a common fault apparently.

So, we’re talking about a Reverb?
Shops responsibility, if you bought it from them.
If you bought it elsewhere, it’s your responsibility to return it to the original point of purchase.
If you chose for your lbs to deal with it instead, they have every right to charge postage and admin

How much is the postage?

I think they’ve got a nerve in asking!

If it was a Reverb the return postage would be paid by SRAM no question. In fact, the postage to SRAM would possibly be covered too.

Show your LBS this post.

@benpinnick

in my experience Fisher (Sram tech) won’t cover the outgoing postage. They will pay for return as they use their courier. Unless its a product recall where there is a mechanism in place – for example the Specialized road bike fork recall a few seasons back.

my Recon’s failed after 1 ride (lowers full of oil due to damper seal failing) and we had to post them back at our cost £20 with insurance. Forks were returned at Fisher’s costs after being fixed FOC under warranty.

in my experience Fisher (Sram tech) won’t cover the outgoing postage.

As a rule yes, but I do know of some common issues being picked up by them too from some shops. Makes sense, suppose a customer walks into a SRAM dealer shop and says my XYZ is bust – not the shop that sold it so the customer has no rights, depends on who you speak to I guess but I would not be surprised if SRAM offered to pay postage/arrange a collection. Its not a policy, but they are pretty good about that kind of thing. Madison have done the same for Shmano too I believe. We do the same as you and just hold onto stuff until its ready to go at once. Its cheap enough that it would be more hassle to arrange a collection even if it were offered!

Your contract is with the shop: returning the part is their problem, not yours.

This.

Your responsibility ends when you hand it back to the retailer for them to sort.

If the item was purchased from the shop and under a year old the shop should be covering the return postage to the distributor and the distributor the postage back to the shop.
If the component was purchased elsewhere and the shop is returning it for you I’d expect you to cover the postage to distributor as the shop has made no money from the original sale.

Re. Fishers postage to them at your (Bird & Esher)/our cost and return their cost.

IANAL but, working at the other end of the (none bike related) chain my understanding is this:

Cost of return to point of purchase is the buyers’ to bear in [non DOA] warranty cases.

You return to the shop you bought it from at your cost# (even if that is just the kcal to walk there) [some online retailers will pay the cost but that’s entirely their perogative, don’t expect it off anyone else]

The shop returns to their supplier at their cost and so on up the chain.

Replacements (for faulty) are then shipped – in line with normal delivery terms – at suppliers cost* to their customer at original point of supply i.e. in store.

*if you want it sending to you this time instead of picking it up from store which you did last time I’d expect that cost to be passed on.
*I’d also expect you to pay for any special service you asked for – I.e. I want it FedEx to store tomorrow not on your regular delivery from supplier.

Of course many places may choose to do either of the above as good will but in no way would I think them obligated to do so.

<edit> # if it’s supplied as an installed item, say a washing machine, your home is point of supply as that’s where the final element of service took place.
If it’s supplied as a stand alone item i.e. an after market fork, the costs to return that part to stand alone status are also yours.
If it’s supplied as an integral part or pre installed component i.e. The fork on a new bike OR an aftermarket fork fitted by the items supplier where in its bought as a speed and installed item (not where you’ve paid your lbs to install a fork you bought from crc or you’ve payday the same lbs to supply out and install it as two distinct orders the cost of removal lies with the supplier of the complete item.(arguing the difference over an hour of mechanics time would seem petty but if it were say, a generator on a destroyer which needs a hole cut in the side and millions of pounds of work to replace it, becomes more pertinent),

And LBS wonder why they loose business, when CRC give free returns and would have prob been cheaper in the first place 😆

Think about it in terms of what you would do if the item in question wasn’t a bike part bought from a place where you have a ‘good relationship’. For example, say you bought a set of Bose wireless headphones* in store from John Lewis** which subsequently developed a fault. Presumably you would return them to the same store to be repaired, replaced or refunded at no cost to you. Would you expect to have to cover the cost of postage for the headphones to be sent to whoever the Bose distributor is?
*I don’t own any of said headphones and am not commenting on Bose reliability. They just struck me as a similarly high cost niche item to bike parts.
** Insert any large shop here as I know JL are very well regarded for their returns policy.

As has been said its the LBS responsibility. Under UK law the responsibility is nothing to do with the Manufacturer. Its all the retailers problem. You should never be fobbed off with the “manufacturer / importer” wont replace it line as it carries no weight in UK law.

Also the warranty on your bike is more than a year. In law the warranty is for what is considered the reasonable for the product. A classic example are mobile phones. Because they are usually sold with a 24 month contract it has been established in court that it is reasonable for the phone, including the battery, to last a least 2 years so that is the minimum warranty whatever the retailer says or is written in the small print.

As above,

IF you bought the bike from them in the first place, they should cover the cost of postage. That’s what we do anyway. If we are returning a frame or bike, usually the distributor will arrange a collection for us so we pay nothing.

We happily deal with warranty claims for customers who haven’t bought from us, but just get them to cover the postage and a small labour charge.