I cracked my Specialized Tarmac either side of the top tube and below on the down tube and have been refused warranty, the reasons i have been given are that it has been clamped by the top tube, crushed in the car door or hit. None of this has happened and the bike was new in Aug and done 400mile tops to work and back!It lives in my bloody dinning room!
Can anyone give me some advise on what they did or where to go next as i stand at loosing out big time, i have been offered a new frame at £450 but why the hell should i pay that if i haven't damaged the damn thing?
Spesh normally have the best after service care in the industry.
Any pics of the damage?
It's up to them to prove you did the things they claim you did caused the damage (by way of an expert evidence as they clearly don't have direct evidence) but you need to push things to get this far - so you need to go back to them, perhaps by letter, Trading Standards or CAB involvement, then Small claim.
Does seem a weird failure mode though, pics?
Its coming back tomorrow so will put some on.
You must have been dinning it too much.
Is that a knock back from the shop or Spec UK?
If its the shop, go direct to the top.
I would expect the importers to at least have a closer inspection.
Don't spend more than £450 on legal advice...
This is direct from SBC, the shop agree with me! Spesh even said the shop have clamped it, i think they are just throwing every excuse to get out of it.
I dont want to jump on the band wagon and bay for blood, but it seems like an odd failure, has it gone at the welds? have you hit anything? has anything been dropped on it, etc.
I dont work for Specialized, but is their response based on an inspection of the bike?
it dosent matter where the bike lives, its more how its been handled when riding or when moving it about.
I have heard of bike companies even inspecting your torque wrench to make sure the correct torques have been applied to the bolt... This could have been done in the bike shop, transport or anything, but you will just have to dig your heels in and try your best...:s
Did you pay by credit card by any chance? Am not entirely sure, but you may have some comeback through our cc company if you did.
Its gone basically in the middle of the top tube and the Tarmacs are carbon, the only thing it can be is side to side flex for it to go both sides and directly below in the downtube.
Anyone taken issues up futher with returns?
pics?
sounds like quite a failure, which wouldnt suggest a manufacturing fault.
hence them not wanting to warranty the frame.
Pity its not a Toyota.
My experience of spesh's warranty was that they were completely crap. I had a frame that was out of alignment by a fair bit (to the point where wheels popped out and QRs bent) and they just said it was 'in tolerance' and refused the warranty. They wouldn't even give me the part at trade or cost.
Suffice to say, I've brought other brands since, and sl4g them off at every opportunity. See.
Best thing to do is go to trading standards. And ask for advice. It shouldn't be cracking like that. You should get trading standards information on 'fit for purpose' if its just been used normally and cracked then its not fit for purpose. How did the crack occur?
dano see post 4
Warrenty and your rights under the sale of goods act are two separate things.
Your rights under the sale of goods act are with the shop not with the manufacturer. Your sale of goods act rights trump anything in the manufacturers warrenty
Under the sale of goods act when something is less than six months old and fails then it is assumed to be a manufacturing fault unless proven otherwise.
Cruicial bits
It is the seller, not the manufacturer, who is responsible if goods do not conform to contract.
If a consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty)
Have a read thru this http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html and then take it up with the shop. The shop have to replace refund or repair - your choice. If they don't want to play ball then consumer direct have advice http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ and finally small claims court. Keep at it you will win.
As TJ says, don't even get involved with Specialized
It's the shop owner who owes you a new frame unless he can prove you damaged it.
Get advice & formally reject the goods, I wouldn't even accept it back from the shop
Interesting, I had an '03 enduro frame failt at the weld where the top tube and seat tube join. At a guess i'd say i had a brand new replacement within 10 days.
Spesh are generally one of the best for warranty replacements. Keep at them and don't give in!
STW's resident consumer rights expert TJ is pretty much spot on here ... 😉
Dont deal with Specialized - your contract is with the shop, as already said.
Speak to Consumer Direct, and take it from there.
Specialized warranty were pretty good for me, I had 3 enduro frames out of them:-)
if you want to get it resolved quickly and amicably then Id recommend speaking kindly and firmly to the bike shop manager and see if you can resolve the matter with them directly, no need to start getting the lawyers involved, they should know their responsibilites and you can refer to the refernce in TJs post to back up your claim.
However, it does seem to be a very odd failure, which would suggest an impact. Im only telling you this as I have seen a lot of waranty claims.
I would also look at other forums in the US etc. to see if this fault has ocurred with other people.
Thanks for the advice - real sticky situation as i am very good friends with the owner and worked there for nearly 10 years so know how to clamp a workstand.
This does sound weird, being in the industry Spesh have an really good reputation for sorting this kind of thing. Andy the main man at [url= http://www.biketreks.net ]Biketreks[/url] managed to get them to swap a carbon frame for a customer when they (the customer) had overtightened a mech clamp and crimped the lovely gloss varnish on carbon bikes.
I'd agree with the comments above and get the shop to sort it out with Spesh, I'm sure a few persuasive words will help get this sorted.
Ultimately however its the shop's responsibility to sort it out, we've replaced a few parts which have come back bust, where the supplier has refused warranty, at our own expense as the customers story has stacked up.
If Spesh won't sort it, the shop should, its then between Spesh and the shop. It's worth bearing in mind that the shop will have heard a stack of stories about bikes which have failed 'just riding along' when they've been off big drops and generally abused, so it may take a few conversations to get them 100% on your side.
Neil @ [url= http://www.fawkes-cycles.co.uk ]Fawkes[/url]
http://www.bustedcarbon.com/search?q=tarmac
Very interesting site,look fotr the tri cross bike with a broken fork as well.
Hi muppet, I work for a law firm, but this is outside of my field , I can ask the partner at work who deals with this area to give you a bell, personally I would have said you had a good chance?
email me your number mate. paul.whitlock@shoosmiths.co.uk
Thanks, i will speak to the shop tomorrow and will let you know