Has anyone experience of buying an ebike online (good price in a sale) and subsequent warranty issues - ie how it was dealt with?
Are all authorised retailers required to deal with warranties or just the shop you bought the bike?
Going to pop by my local dealer later to see if they have any sales bikes - but in the past they tend to have ex hire bikes for not much less than the sale ebike I’ve seen.
Had loads of probs with my Giant, Paul’s cycles were very good.
Makes no difference if it’s on sale.
Second hand is another matter though.
Are all authorised retailers required to deal with warranties or just the shop you bought the bike?
Will depend on the brand and don't mistake "giant says you have to" with they actually will, nor any stipulation on how helpful they have to be.
Warranty work is almost always a loss for the shop and the margin they would have made to help offset that has gone elsewhere. Some will be a lot less happy about that than others.
(for clarification, no shop is required by law to deal with warranties either unless you bought that warranty from them, your consumer rights are not the same and, whilst they have legal backing, only apply to the shop you bought from. [warranty is offered by the manufacturer and really hasn't much legal standing, its a good will gesture])
I bought an e-bike from Surge Bikes. They couriered it to me and it was packed amazingly. I had a problem with the power switch. They obtained and posted the replacement part to me quickly but I did need to arrange fitment myself since I'm not local to them.
Admitted from a couple of years ago (though looking at forums/FB, they don't seem to have improved), but my CRC ebike was DOA (well faulty), had to wait 8/9 weeks, before I received a working bike. Though going from communications, it was a shimano/bike manufacturers who failed to resolve the issue, so CRC replaced it with a bike from another brand.
I pay the premium to buy local now.
I had a problem with the forks on mine. It was a total pain, cos they had to go back to Sram via the dealer. Then back to me the same way, you couldn't deal direct with Sram and the dealer couldn't fix the warranty issue on the forks. Neither could Sram first time around, so they had to go back a second time, which made it even more ****ing annoying!
Apart from that, it was fine! (And I guess, would be a similar situation via a LBS really. Except you'd have to get the parts to the LBS instead of getting them collected and delivered.. Swings n roundabouts)
Are all authorised retailers required to deal with warranties or just the shop you bought the bike?
Depends on the contract between the dealer and the distributor/brand. Some do, some dont. Specialized are starting to push it, makes sense from a customer service point of view. Some dealers are less enamored with the idea of being warranty centers for online sales.
Your consumer rights are with the retailer you purchase from.
I bought a Vitus from CRC which failed outside warranty. I did contact them but received an immediate knockback. I only tried because I had heard some people had been sympathetically treated outside warranty.
Anyway I am now trying Madison as it is of course a Shimano motor.
I don't understand the attitude of some folk on EMTB forums who seem to accept rapid failure of , particularly Shimano, and are happy to shell out £1000 for a new motor every few years
A lot will depend on who your LBS is. I bought my Kenevo SL from Berkshire Cycles but Raceco have dealt with a couple of warranty issues for me immediately (even opening early one Saturday so I didn't lose a weekend's riding). Leisure Lakes in Cheltenham were significantly less helpful with a mate's Levo; minimum charge was 3 hours labour, plus the shipping cost for returning the faulty motor. He also went to Raceco...