The workmanship on that slot is terrible. You could actually argue that the frame was so poorly finished that it was destined to crack as it looks like there is a sharp edge there. It should be a nice round hole at the end of the slot. That would be a sales of goods act claim.

Alternatively the jagged edges could just be the paint and a high paint build up would crack like that and the carbon underneath be undamaged. But that should be for the manufacturer to investigate.

ouch.

Assessments of useage from retailers are pretty accurate in my experience. It’s impossible to hide the degree of useage. And an experienced retailer can gauge it fairly accurately.

Unfortunately you may have got neither by riding it. Which sounds silly.

You can get it fixed though, it shouldn’t cost more than about £50-60 and it’ll be good as new.

they’ve offered you a refund.

How can you say you’ve not had a refund when you’ve not sent it back?

all my other comments aside, it looks to me like it was delivered without a seat post in it, and the person that removed the seat post has tightened the seat post clamp up to prevent it falling off.
in my experience it would be difficult to achieve that type of damage with either the post in place or without damaging the post as well. unless the post is undersized that is.

Think we need to see these worn drivetrain and wheels etc as well in pics. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve tightened the seatpost collar with a certified wrench or not as if it was already cracked it would not be strong enough to deal with the force you were applying and you probably made it worse.

Here are the wiggle pictures claiming wear. The funniest one is the bottom bracket view (note the picture is of a white frame, mine was a black frame).

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/1633021P1010009_zps390d4aa3.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/16330211P1010017_zpseafd0225.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/1633021P1010020_zps7ed0949b.jpg

there was one more showing the chain but you get the point.

How does over tightening damage the seat clamp damage the frame without damaging the seat post?

That tyre looks like you did lands end to John o groats on it.

Hmmm.

So there’s a pic of a small amount of dirt on the tyre, one of the wrong bike and one of the stem cap. Is that showing wear to the edge of the stem cap (below the LN of Colnago)? Or is that just a reflection?
Not sure that any of that is conclusive in showing excessive wear.

So, did you buy a complete bike?
Did it come with the seatpost in place or not? The comment above about someone overtightening the seatclamp with no seatpost in place (to stop the clamp falling out) seems like a good call to me…..
The finish on that seatclamp groove is particularly rubbish, crack & peeling lacquer aside…

tire wear. < 1 mile in leicester.

seat post: if its so sensitive that it needs to be torqued in a lab with blokes in white coats than its not a practical bike for the real world.

I bought it as a whole bike. The pictures of claimed wear are from Wiggle (which I have appealed for more evidence), which I disagree with.

The seat post was never removed from the frame.

The frame had a clear manufacturing defect in my opinion.

if you live in leicester city then i’m surprised that the tires are in such good condition. the roads are dreadful at the minute. those pictures are pretty useless. the pic of a white frame is priceless.
Anyhoo, if the post was never removed from the frame I don’t see how you could damage it. Unless it is not the right post.

They ship bikes with seatposts in them?

Does seem a bit rubbish to be honest.

As above. How do you crack the seat tube and not damage the post?

I’d be really annoyed that they were sending ‘evidence’ of wear, but not even sending the right pics….

Have you actually spoken to someone about it, or is it just e-mail correspondence. I’d try and get on the blower to someone about it. Make a list of your concerns/questions so you don’t forget to mention anything. You’ll get further with a 10 min phone call that you will with a week of e-mails back & forth.

Fact is you probably shouldn’t have ridden the bike, but regardless of that there is clearly some damage there.
Did you pay with credit card? If so, I’d be getting in touch with them and getting them to try & sort it….

some places do al. they come 99% built. you fit pedals and turn bars and its supposed to be ridable.

The bike came with seat post installed. The shape is very unique on the seat post so it would be hard to put the wrong one in.

i agree that you need to call them. the fact that they can even send you pics of your bike doesn’t fill me with confidence in their ability. and if you payed by credit card, call them too. good luck.

I agree with calling them and sorting but…. Wiggle does not accept calls from their website!

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/h/option/contactus

You mentioned there were other issues that you sorted yourself – what were those?

Attached is the feedback I gave to wiggle. My only concern was the frame as I sorted all the other issues as I considered them minor.

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/Slide1_zpse7628284.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/Slide2_zps2c76b6b6.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/Slide3_zpscdfb2638.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/Slide4_zps7f252af1.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w445/sirbikesalot/Slide5_zps025b25c9.jpg

Rather poor cable dressing, why not just stick in a new cable and do it properly? It costs next to nothing at trade per cable, and takes less than 5 minutes.

I agree with the cable. I was not bothered by that as I could sort that in a couple minutes.

The crack in the frame was my main issue!

at first I thought you must have done it, but seeing the pictures it’s obviously poor workmanship. Fight it to the death, try to get a phone number or an email of a manager.

The pictures of wear are funny. The tyre looks fine and you can’t see the rim wear (because there isn’t any), the stem is, unsurprisingly, fine, and the bottom bracket isn’t yours. They’re in the wrong, IMO.

Is that it, the crack that is…

You lady you, whining bout something which you no doubt did not help by riding it after apparently noticing it before assembly.

Life’s too short.
I suppose you Re the type to claim on house insurance for things which were in your control whom you expect everyone else to pick up the price tag for.
No sympathy here but will agree wiggle is a tad shite but seem ok.

From Earlier

An LBS is in no better position to refund than an online retailer. If the distributor covers the return than it’s covered full-stop – regardless of where it was sold.

Go to shop collect bike – spot it’s cracked never leave shop.
A LBS will pick up on this sort of thing as then normally assemble the bike. Wiggle is just a distribution company passing on the boxes.

Why anyone would buy from a company that doesn’t even have a telephone number is beyond me no matter how cheap the product is.

Saying that though I do feel for you – you simply didn’t get what you paid for. Hope it is all sorted for you soon.

To be honest doesn’t really matter if you rode it or not, assuming you live in the uk. Retailers often have terms that are misaligned with the sale of goods act as they can attempt to use it to fob people off.

End of the day if it becomes faultywithin the first 6 months then its the sellers problem, and they have to prove it wasn’t faulty when shipped*

*taking into account price and a few other things

Wiggle is just a distribution company passing on the boxes.

no they actually open the boxes and check the contents

They do often take pictures of the wrong frame and email the customers with them (they have done it to me)

don’t they offer a month “free trial” anyway, or has that stopped ?

Ok its laughable , bike shop mechanic hat of cynicism off.

Wiggle get your act together. Sounds suspisiously like they have your bike mixed up with someone elses .

It’s been hit by a car.

There’s your problem.

was it established to be a crack or just a poorly finished slot?

what really surprises is me is the workload that the warranty guy at Wiggle has.

Dealing with 80-90 cases per day.

so for a 7.5 hr day that’s 5 minutes per case assuming he does no other activity (which is not true from the email) – so in reality he spends probably a minute reading the email fromt he customer, a minute looking at the bike and a minute drafting a reply.

No wonder the wrong pictures get sent out.

Having said that, the OP shot himself in the foot by riding it on the road.

A LBS will pick up on this sort of thing as then normally assemble the bike. Wiggle is just a distribution company passing on the boxes.

All bikes are fully assembled, checked fully and sent out in a full size bike box.

I’m a bit confused here. The bike arrived, you inspected it, found a crack, but then fixed the issue with cables. You then went for a ride on it.

If you expected a new frame why oh why would you bother faffling with the mechs?

I think the OP was a little naive and keen to ride the new bike. I get excited about new bikes, and he’d have waited a few days for it to arrive – and then assumed that as it’s cracked that it’d get sorted.

Is it a crack or delamination?

A crack in the frame is a crack in the frame – regardless of whether the bike has been ridden or not.

Surely the issue is proving or disproving the overtightening

tell the truth to wiggle,

tell them that you rode the bike for 5 minuets to see if it fitted you correctly.

“I’m yet to see the OP’s crack”