Hi all.
Does anyone any tips on how to get Evans Cycles to actually deal with warranty issues?
Bought a Norco Fluid FS 4 off them online in March 2019 and the forks (Suntour) developed a fault in August this year. They will only travel about 20mm and then stop.
Contacted Evans warranty department via email and was actively encouraged by them to get the forks inspected at LBS as they said it was too far to my local branch for me to take them there and if they were to collect they would have to take the whole bike and it would take longer to sort out if they did it.
Submitted the report from my LBS at the beginning of September stating that the damper unit was faulty and unrepairable as spares were not available and asked what the next steps were.
They replied stating they'd reimburse the £24 inspection fee I paid but ignored the "next steps" question. I sent multiple emails over the next week or so and eventually got a reply asking for me to make the 180 mile round trip to the nearest Evans branch to drop of the forks. I emailed back saying this was unacceptable as they'd originally told me it was too far to go and could they not collect the forks only.
Since that email? Nothing, complete blank. Zero replies.
So, with Evans removing their online chat feature and not taking phone calls due to covid does anybody have any suggestions on making contact and actually getting them to do something? Or do I just say sod it life is too short and buy a set of forks you can actually get spare parts for?
Cheers.
If you paid on a credit card get them involved under S75.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/
Letter before action ie the first step in a small claim in court should shake something loose
There's a lot of these "Evan cycle" threads at the moment. Good old Mike!
I think it's a heads up to us all to think carefully where we spend our money!
Their customer service is making planet x look amazing at the moment
Send more emails.
They do end up sorting if you are persistent, jump through any hoops or even make suggestions yourself to help them out. E.g x fork is available here for x. Give me x and we’ll call it a day..
I can't help feeling that the best course of action would have been to send the forks to Evans in the first place. That's the normal way of dealing with warranty claims. Mucking about with third parties is just over-complicating things.
You could try contacting Greyville who are the UK distributors for Suntour . If you explain the difficulties that you are having with Evans they may be able to help you . Alternatively any LBS that has an account with Greyville should be able to help you . They would no doubt charge you but you could possibly get that refunded by Evans . Alternatively just buy a better fork and get out on the trails again .
@scotroutes I asked them at the start to collect the forks and also said I'd post them but they said it was easier and quicker going the LBS route as they would have to take the whole bike and sue to covid it would take a couple of weeks to get it collected. At least I'm still in possession of the bike.
@Ramsey Neil I think the LBS has an account and said the sealed damper unit is not available as a part. I might contact Greyville directly though to see if they can help. Thanks.
I’d buy a new fork and chalk it up. Life really is too short.
Just get a better fork.a new one will no doubt break too and Evan's are unlikely to offer you cash.
In all honesty, I'd be wary of spending too much effort getting all lawyery on this.
Have forks been serviced properly in accordance with instructions? Could invalidate warranty.
You've had best part of 18 mo of use from them, if they were to offer compensation they'd be able to offset the use you've had against the value of the (relatively cheap) fork, so you may not get a lot anyway.
I'd be inclined to propose buying a new set, and asking for a goodwill contribution from them towards it. And much as it pains me to suggest feathering Mike Ashley's nest, that might go through more easily if you buy the new set from them.
Great advice above although you may still spend less for a fork else where online
I think Evans still price match, although price match plus goodwill might be a struggle
Evans don't price match anymore.
Try via facebook messenger, they are still useless but a least they reply....eventually.
I feel your pain, I tried to buy a Norco from them and have just given up.
I agree with the comment of life to short.
It is better to sort out a replacement and move on and enjoy some ride time.
If you feel strongly about the service provided buy you bike supplier you need to re-establish communications with them and if nothing comes of it get in touch with the UK supplier direct.
If they have refunded your cost for a local bike shops diagnosis it appears that some form of liability has been accepted.
Bike shops in general will remove and send the offending part back to the relevant agent.
As bikes are made up of many different manufactured parts a warranted part would normally go to the UK agent's for example a Shimano unit to Madison or a Specialized branded components to Specialized UK.
It is rare now days for bike shops to directly cover larger warranty items.
A loan fork a possibility to keep you riding but that's pretty much unheard off now.
I guess your experience of this fork is enough for you to source a different unit so it's likely if a new warranty one was forthcoming it would probably be moved on and sold.
Just replace it yourself and get riding then send the fork direct to the relevant UK supplier along with your diagnostic report and account of your experience.
You'll get nowhere, strip and service yourself, send somewhere for a service or buy new ones.
Suntours warranty is 2 years on the chassis, 1 year on the damper and 6 months on wear items. You are 18 months in and it's doubtful it's a chassis issue, so it won't be warranty.
Cheaper, quicker and less stressful to replace or repair elsewhere.