Just thought I’d share my experiences (so far) with getting my Yeti 575 repaired under warranty:

The rear triangle snapped on Oct 28th at the point where the carbon is bonded to the aluminium, at the drive side bottom pivot. I got it home, washed it and took it back to my lbs (OnePlanet Adventure at Llandegla) where I’d originally purchased it. They reckoned I’d be without it “for at least 2 weeks”. As I now required my 3rd rear triangle for this bike (it would be the 8th between me and 2 other mates with 575’s) I requested the possibility of replacing it with the alloy version rather than the carbon.

As far as I know, Silverfish took over from Evolution as UK distributor at the start of October so I was expecting some minor delays/teething trouble, but everything seemed pretty positive when the rep saw the bike on the 4th Nov and sent photos back to the warranty dept.

10th November came and despite a few phonecalls to OnePlanet I’d had no response from anyone, so I sent an email to Silverfish in the hope of getting some feedback as to what was going on. Within 30 mins Richie responded to apologise for the delay and anticipated that their warranty dept would be in touch within 24hrs. I waited until the 15th Nov and still no response, so sent another email to Silverfish asking that they double-checked whether their warranty dept had received my email. 30 mins later, OnePlanet called to say the warranty claim had been accepted by Yeti and an alloy rear triangle was on its way from the US. The following day I received an email from Silverfish’s warranty guy to apologise, he’d been out of the office and said “Let me see if I can get you the tracking info and get you a better ETA”. He didn’t get back in touch following saying that.

I had taken 2 weeks off to get some riding in before my daughter was born, so OnePlanet kindly offered to lend me a demo bike for when I was riding there, but theres only so many times you can pound round Llandegla in 2 weeks despite the lovely new stuff, so only took them up on it a couple of times.

On the 19th Nov I again called OnePlanet to find out whether they had any news and there was nothing. It had been nearly 4 weeks now, but I was beginning to wonder whether I was being a PITA for calling them for updates all the time, so left it a couple of weeks in the hope it would just arrive.

I called again for an update on 6th Dec, OPA called me back and said they’d spoken to the distributor, and I’d have the bike back that weekend “at the latest”. Needless to say the rear triangle didn’t turn up. On the 16th Dec OPA said they had been informed by the distributor that again, they were 99% certain the rear triangle would be in the UK on Tuesday (yesterday), and one of the following two things would happen today: either it would be hand delivered by the rep and fitted to my bike today ready for this evenings ride round Llangollen, or the rep would deliver a demo bike that would be mine for the entire festive period or until my Yeti was repaired.

I called OPA this afternoon (21st Dec) to find the rep had been and gone and had left neither my rear triangle or a demo bike, again indicated the triangle was on its way, due to be dispatched tomorrow, but left me with no assurances that it would be here in time for riding over Christmas. Oh, and absolutely no apologies whatsoever.

It will be 8 weeks on Friday since I dropped it off, unlikely to have a bike over christmas when all my mates will be riding, to say I’m livid is an understatement. I cant even go for a ride to relieve the stress.

my 3rd rear triangle for this bike (it would be the 8th between me and 2 other mates with 575

😯

with that failure rate you’d think they’d have a stock of spares ready to go out.

what happens once the warranty runs out?

I’m glad Ive read this, Im also glad Im not in your position, I dont want to sound bad when I say that as I sympathise with your position.

I was a Yeti dealer for seven years with Evolution and found Mark and the guys really good to deal with – especially on warranty,
Ive not made my mind up on Silverfish and this does nothing to encourage me to sign up to being a Yeti dealer with them, I hope you get sorted quick, is the rep Pete?, because I have the highest regard for him, and it is because of Pete that Im interested in still being a Yeti dealer.

To clarify, this will be my third, one mate is on his third, and another on his second.

Edit – not sure of the rep’s name, OPA have been dealing with him.

Evolution were excellent IME, full new ASR-C frame within 8 weeks, no hassle.
.
Have heard funny things abot Silverfish with regards to Rocky Mountain, along the lines of “Cove is ‘thier’ brand and they don’t really care about the others” and that was from a RM dealer! Didn’t even try an Element but did have a go on his Spark instead.

yetirepstu probably you can follow him on twitter, seems like a sound lad.

crap deal so far though.

Mme… Not a good storey. I’ve been riding Yetis for a few years now and its a shame part of their UK network let their customers down like this.I do hope you get this sorted out to your satisfaction very soon. Good luck. Feedback on here to let us know…

blimey – good luck.

CS is simply king imo.

Always very good with Silverfish but that was dealing with Cove and Race Face warranty stuff, I’ve never had a Yeti (although I’ve heard of the rear triangle problems).

Silverfish though – top bunch of people. Richie posts on here sometimes so he’ll probably see this at some point.

I would try putting this on the mtbr yeti forum, yeti employees are on there all the time replying to posts, doesn’t mean they won’t ignore it though!

Hi Yetialex

Apologies that you’ve experienced a delay in awaiting the replacement parts.
As with all things in life nothing is quite as black and white as it seems and as such I dont believe that on a forum is either the time or the place to go into the details of your unfortunate delay.
However, as you have discovered through your previous correspondence with me I am always available on email and always willing to help wherever possible so do feel free to drop me a mail.

I could spend a long time discussing the issues here but as a guy who just desperately wants his bike back all you really need to know is that I personally wrapped up the replacement back end for your bike today and watched it get loaded into a City Link van and sent to OPA.
on a next day delivery service.

Our rep (who is indeed Pete) didnt leave the demo bike that he had with him as he knew that we’d shipped the back-end – the demo was a goodwill gesture from us based on the back-end not being with us in time.

I’m sorry that the time scale has, in this instance, been far greater than either you or us had hoped for but hopefully by tomorrow afternoon you’ll be back on the trails.

Enjoy your riding and have a great Christmas.

Regards

Richie

p.s – if you’d like the tracking number for the parcel please feel free to mail me.

Hi Richie,

Thanks for your reply. As you point out, I’m sure there must be more to it, but all I want is my bike back! I was told earlier today that the back end had not been dispatched and would not be until tomorrow, and therefore that it was unlikely it would be repaired in time for Christmas. Given the timescales suggested so far, I had no reason to doubt that, hence my patience finally running out with the whole saga. Fingers crossed all goes to plan and it is sorted out tomorrow.

Thanks again for your reply.

Regards,

Yetialex

I always thought the top mount of a shock should be in line with the bottom one, but the warranty guy at SF didn’t seem to think it a problem. This was a few years back, hopefully he’s been eased out…

Well I can’t comment on the info you have received today I’m afraid Yetialex but I will repeat my original statement – nothing is as black and white as seems.

As I say, I KNOW that it’s shipped and I’m happy to pass that info on to you.
You have my contact details, I’ve said it on here – I’m happy to be held accountable.

Cheers

Richie

p.s – in response to Andrews comments regarding Cove being ‘our’ brand. I can assure you that’s not the case. All of our brands are like our children – we can’t have favourites or the others sulk!

Wow what can you do if the item is not shipped over.Thats a bummer.Perhaps that is why i buy Treks.

Just to add balance to this thread – I’m currently dealing with Silverfish to resolve an issue where a bike frame the wrong size was supplied to me by a retailer. Silverfish have got involved where they didn’t need to and the result should be outstanding.

I’m quite happy to wait as well particularly during the busy xmas period.

My Hummer never sulks,moans abit when it gets muddy but always looks like new after a wash and its 3 years old.

TBH after breaking 3 I’d be thinking maybe it’s not the bike…… 😉

Hey guys-

Just wanted to chip in here if you don’t mind…
The reason for the delay and lack of information was because our factories in Asia were struggling through this past fall with political issues in the region and a change of management internally. Because of that, they had difficulty giving us solid answers, and that made it impossible for us to give anyone else solid answers. Recently, the factories have gotten back on track, so we’re confident this sort of issue won’t happen again.

In the end, this situation falls squarely on our shoulders here at Yeti; Silverfish’s hands were completely tied by our inability to give accurate information. We’ve learned a great deal about about managing our vendors through this ordeal, and we’ve put some procedures in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Finally, please know that we’re very sorry you’ve been without your bike for so long. Every one of us here at Yeti is a passionate rider ourselves, and we feel your pain/loss of being without your bike on a very personal level.

Thanks very much for your patience,

John P.
Int’l Sales Mgr.
Yeti Cycles

You can’t fault stw sometimes – the UK distributer and the bike company both chipping into a thread within a couple of hours of it going up.

It’s a shame it’s in a negative context but fair play to both Richie and John P. for posting.

I have to say that Silverfish have been great to deal with as a warranty customer. When my Hummer cracked, they had all sorts of fun trying to get Litespeed to honour the warranty on the frame as Litespeed offer a shorter warranty than Cove. The frame was over 3 years but less than 5 years old and Cove had switched production to Lynskey.

The upshot was a long wait as Litespeed dragged their heels until Silverfish managed to get me a brand new frame, Lynskey made, which they didn’t have to do. I’m fairly sure it will have cost them to do this but the end result is a very satisfied customer who will buy their brands again in the future.

I can’t praise them enough and as Richie says, it’s not always black and white. Distributers can only give you the information they have. If there is a supply chain delay, it’s not fair to assume that it’s their fault. Fair play for John at Yeti for being so honest about the reasons for the delay. Sounds like they’ve learned from it so that’s got to be a good thing for all Yeti owners.

Cheers

Sanny

Yetialex – I’ve just tracked the parcel for you – at 7:21am, in Chester, it was loaded into a van and is now currently out for delivery.
I’d suggest giving it an hour or so and then give the guys at OPA a buzz.

Thanks for all the other comments Guys – We do try 🙂

Riche

All sounds fair enough – although the OP going through 3 rear triangles, plus five more for his two friends – surprised neither Yeti nor Silverfish had a comment to make on that. Sounds like a serious enough issue with the bike.

Never quite understood the 575 – seems to be a 150mm XC bike, not up to anything tough. When I was buying a bike, i talked to a Yeti Rep on MTBR, was told the bike wouldn’t be suitable at all for the Mega. They seem to be pitching the SB-66 in the same way too.

richiethesilverfish or jpyeti,

Can you help me find two 3903RS replacement bearings for my 2011 575 please?

The 3903RS don’t seem to be available in the UK?!?!

Cheers,
Christian
On his 3rd yeti 🙂

Mr Christ
Why dont you ring your local shop, what with them being a Yeti dealer and all that, as I know (well I would as I own it) that they have them in stock, but then visiting your LBS seems alien to you these days.

Get down here you bell end and we’ll get them fitted. 😉

Sancho,

I have had your best man, in the best LBS in all of Leeds on it for the last 4 days and he has concluded they aren’t available in the UK. The US yes but not the UK.

Thought I would have give it one last stab before helping the US to reduce their deficit.

Ill sort it for you then

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIrCFrFpHvw

WOW crosstrax have found some for me, they ROCK and the owner is very attractive too!