I’d very much appreciate any help and thoughts on this please.
My daughter bought a Raleigh Evo folding bike from Halfords in Exeter about three months ago. I went to visit her a few weeks ago and on riding it, it was making an awful noise on pedalling. She said it had been doing that after having it for 2 months.
We took it into Halfords and the mechanic said it was the bottom bracket, but it would not be covered under warranty. I said no bottom bracket should go in such a short time. After me asking what he thought she could have done to cause it to fail, he said they would cover it under warranty rather than argue with me.
Now after taking it in, they say the bottom bracket is rusted and she has been leaving it outside in the rain. However, she has told them (truthfully) that she does not leave it outside (she has to keep it in her room there is nowhere else to keep it, hence buying a folder) but they say she is lying!

So, where do you think she stands? I appreciate it was a cheap bike (£250), but I have a bike that has done over 40 000 miles and is still on the original bottom bracket and it has been out in all weathers.

All help very much appreciated, as it’s very difficult to help her from so far away.

Edit: ps it appears they’ve told her she also needs new brakes and a new chain!
With an estimated bill of £110

If she’s been leaving it out in rain you would expect the rest of the bike to rusty too – if its not, I’d try that argument?

After 6 months the onus is on you to prove that the defect was there from new, before that there is no such requirement. I’m sure someone will be along shortly to tell you the exact piece of legislation to quote, but upshot is they should repair it.

Bought on a credit card? They are jointly liable and could get you a refund if Halfords won’t back down.

The BB is probably loose in the frame, just needs refitted.

Argue it out with them, buy from a decent shop next time.

Thanks both. That bit of legislation would be handy if anyone knows it.

buy from a decent shop next time.

I hear what you’re saying, it was an awkward purchase as she’s only just moved down there.

This should be a good start

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

Thanks cynic-al, I was just looking at that. It says that to be of reasonable quality, means what a reasonable person would consider satisfactory for the goods in question. I think I’m reasonable, but do you agree that ‘rusting’ after approximately 200 miles is not of a satisfactory quality?

Get her to call Halfords customer services on 0330 135 9779

It will be logged as a complaint and they will tell the store to get it sorted.

Thanks boriselbrus.
I have spoken to the manager. He said – a creaking bottom bracket is definitely water ingress, which is categorically a user issue. And the only solution is to send it back to Raleigh. This seems crap to me.

Also, he wouldn’t give me his full name.

He said after 28 days, the retailer chooses from refund, replacement, repair. That was not my understanding from reading the citizens advice website.

Also, another thing I was not aware of – he told me you can break a bottom bracket by riding in the wrong gear.

Thanks for everyone’s help. He has just rung back to say that “he has spoken to his top mechanic and since they cannot 100% say it was user error, they are kindly going to replace the bottom bracket”.

Good result

I know it’s controversial but I’d be sure to pack the new one with marine grease

I’d make sure they fit a cartridge one like a Shimano UN56 – cheap, no adjustment possible and will last forever in this application.

Your daughter on a folding bike will NEVER break a bottom bracket due to riding in the wrong gear – that is complete and utter hogwash. This one has failed due to water ingress so that is lack of grease and lack of sealing. If it was a cr@ppy adjustable bb then any issues due to loosening under load would be due to poor quality and / or incorrect adjustment from new.

A little update on this.
So, I forgot to mention yesterday that the folding mechanism seized a couple of weeks ago, so that the bike would no longer fold.
I thought that today before speaking with the store, I would call customer services to explain my dissatisfaction and that I would like any advise and potentially a full refund.
Whilst being passed between customer service staff, the manager of the store rang to say they had replaced the bottom bracket, but the bike was still very stiff to fold.
I then spoke to a more senior member of customer services who told me:
– that because the chain was rusty, then the bottom bracket had also rusted, they were connected. I told her that they were totally separate, to which she said “well you have your opinion, I don’t want to argue”.
– she then asked me if the bike was rusty. I said that iirc I had seen rust on the bolts that hold front wheel on. She then said that all bikes need to be dried after being out in the rain. I asked her what she meant by ‘dried’, to which she said (and repeated several times) all (Halfords’) bikes should be towel dried after being out in the rain!
– also that the folding mechanism had seized because it had not been greased regularly by my daughter. And that she should have known to do this.

Email CEO and give them 24 hours to endorse a refund before you put all this towel dry nonsense on twitter.

So basically the entire bike is rusting and you still think this is a manufacturing issue? Think I might be siding more with Halfords tbh

So basically the entire bike is rusting and you still think this is a manufacturing issue? Think I might be siding more with Halfords tbh

Really? Not the whole bike is rusting. There is from what I recall some superficial rusting on the bolts holding the wheel on, in my experience of observing other people’s lower end bikes, this is fairly common as the metal is poor. Along with some rust on the chain, no more than you’d see on the majority of bikes use daily, which has been oiled frequently.
However, the bottom bracket has rusted and folding mechanism seized. To my mind, neither of these things should have happened under normal riding conditions (especially to a bike stored indoors and left undercover at work).

Genuinely, do you think I’m expecting too much? I take it you don’t think she should have towel dried the bike after each rainy ride?

whitestone
Scotland’s great but be aware that there isn’t the network of tracks that you might expect – after all why go to the trouble to have two tracks across a range of hills when you only need one?

That’s why you should include in your plans shouldering the bike for a shortcut over a bealach. 🙂

I dry (or at least lube) the steel bits of my bike before I put it away in the shed. Chain, cassette, erm that’s about it on mine!

I think the issue is that Halfords seem to want to sell bikes for people to put in a garage and break out once a year in summer to ride around Centre Parcs. It sounds like what you bought isn’t really made for actually riding. And that’s reflected by the tone of the conversations you’ve had with their customer services who clearly don’t really know anything about bikes.

To be honest that’s why I wouldn’t buy a £250 adult’s bike and expect it to last. But perhaps they should have advised your daughter of that.