The frame has snapped on one of my bikes. The bike was bought online just over a year a go … and has a lifetime guarantee.
Said bike company website suggests taking it to nearest dealer to inspect, and make the warranty claim to them.

So I call into my local dealer – which isn`t the shop it was bought from – and they rather predictably want nothing to do with it; quoting “a few hundred” quid to cover their admin costs if they make the warranty claim through them.

I expected them to not want to go near it. But is it their duty to make the warranty claim free of charge as part of their obligation of being a particular bike brand dealer?
The bike company website makes clear there will be a charge if bike needs rebuilding etc.

So is it usual practice to charge a few hundred quid to make the warranty claim if bike isn`t bought from that dealer?

But is it their duty to make the warranty claim free of charge as part of their obligation of being a particular bike brand dealer?

No.

So is it usual practice to charge a few hundred quid to make the warranty claim if bike isn`t bought from that dealer?

Not in my experience. They clearly don’t want the job.

Can you not speak to the online shop and arrange for them to collect the bike?

Its not unheard of for an LBS to charge an admin fee if you didn’t buy the bike from them, after all they made no money on the sale and who is covering their time and postage costs for sorting the warranty claim.

A couple of hundred does sound excessive tho!

was is an online shop that told you to go to a dealer or the manufacturer?

It may well be in the shops dealer agreement they are to deal with warranties (bought from them or otherwise) hence why the manufacturers just state to go to your nearest dealer.

The reality is that it costs said dealer time and money and they probably aren’t going to want the ‘work’.

Returning items due to faults your first port of call in a legal sense is the place you bought it from – that’s who your contract of sale is with and who has to deal with issue relating to consumer laws – fit for purpose, refunds / repairs / exchanges etc. Pitfalls of buying online unfortunately – tho most online retailers are pretty good these days.

The manufacturers warranty is offered in addition to the various consumer laws – in all honesty the manufacturer should deal with it directly but the cycle industry is retentive so they fob you off.

Yes – I can see why they don`t want to touch it – I not surprised.
But wasn`t sure if it was their obligation of being the said dealer.

The manufacturer suggested nearest dealer will sort it.

Just would have been easier for myself to have took it to local dealer than post off. The bike would have needed a rebuild to swap parts over when sorted anyways … which I would have been paying the dealer to do.

£30 postage is still a big chunk cheaper than LBS price to have rebuilt the bike afterwards … swings and roundabouts I guess.

If its a warrantable fault then surely the online shop will cover all costs for you? postage / rebuild etc?

Unfortunately no – the terms of the warranty state that rebuilding the bike will be at cost to customer. Thats kinda where I expected the local dealer to see where they will make the money even though it wasn`t purchased off them.

Mostly shops do not get reimbursed for time and cost spent on warranty claims. But several hundred seems a little steep.

But I’d guess strip down , rebuild probably with new cables and postage can add up.

What brand is it and where abouts are you one of us maybe able to suggest a friendly lbs

Bought from an official UK online retailer or a grey import?

Postage back to your online seller I would expect to have to cover. The hassle and rebuild of your bike is something that shouldn’t cost you anything. The warranty should leave you in the same position that you would be in if the problem hadn’t occurred.

Various companies trying to fob you off.

The hassle and rebuild of your bike is something that shouldn’t cost you anything. The warranty should leave you in the same position that you would be in if the problem hadn’t occurred.

You’d like to think that……you’d be wrong.
Trek,Giant,Cannondale do not cover incidental (rebuild) costs.

Bought from an official UK online retailer.

The mention of a `few hundred quid’ was only mentioned for admin costs … no mention what so ever for strip down and rebuild costs.

As already said; I totally understand their reluctance to want to touch the bike seeing as it wasn`t bought from there …. there again if I owned a bike shop I would hope that I had guys running the shop who could see where they could make some money.

The warranty would have taken them 30 mins to look, take a pic … and email details off to manufacturer; any added costs of sending frame/bike would have possibly been FOC to bike shop if covered by manufacturer, or billed to me …

So the shop have missed out on a rebuild job of say £100-200 … all for the sake of 30 mins of their time … £3.75

Another own goal for the friendly LBS.

You’d like to think that……you’d be wrong

Please explain why the original seller is not responsible and why it should cost the OP to make a warranty claim?

To be fair it’s in the T&C of the warranty that any rebuild costs are down to me.

Yes I agree it’s unfair … but it’s well stated.

BBS.Please explain where I said that.
I don’t know why.You’d probably be better off asking the manufactures why they state it in their terms and conditions of warranty.
I’d like to think a good lbs (if you had purchased the bike from one) would absorb these costs.I always did and if there were additional expenses eg non compatibility of parts, I’d offer them at our cost.
But then the whole internet vs lbs thing is a whole different conversation is’nt it? 😉

I’ve had experience of making warranty claims. I’ve never had to pay for a rebuild. The warranty you have is firstly with the seller. Repair, replace or refund. It should leave you in the same position as if it hadn’t happened.

You stated that I was wrong. Please explain why I’m wrong.

“few hundred quid’ was only mentioned for admin costs … no mention what so ever for strip down and rebuild costs.”

Might be worth double checking if they included the strip/rebuild in the “admin” cost, maybe a bit of miss commutation or shop using the wrong term/word, more so if they didn’t mention rebuild cost, that be the biggest cost!

Pics to the online retailer, tell them your boxing it and sending it to them and want it dealt with. End of story there, the lbs will be losing cash from the second the conversation starts with you. Unless the online shop pays them. They fund warranty time through margin so does the online who want to keep more of it.

No – the person clearly mentioned the few hundred quid was to cover their time and admin costs.

What make was the bike and do you have relevant POP, etc?
I’m a Giant dealer and fairly often help out customers with their warranty claims when not purchased from us and happy to do so. Giant sometimes even pay us a credit if a strip/rebuild is required but this is the exception rather than the rule.

mooman – Member
To be fair it’s in the T&C of the warranty that any rebuild costs are down to me.

What bike is this?

The warranty you have is firstly with the seller.

No it isn’t unless you were sold a warranty by the seller or it is stated in the T&C of the sale.

I don’t blame the lbs to be honest, why didn’t you buy it from them in the first place? The perils of buying online, it costs you to resolve or you pay the extra locally. I’m now in my 3rd week of chasing chain reaction over a warranty claim….I just got to suck it up. What brand is it?

Given a fair few of us work/own shops it might well help if we knew the brand.

But the return postage to the online seller is still probably the cheapest option

No it isn’t unless you were sold a warranty by the seller or it is stated in the T&C of the sale.

You sure? Distance selling regs/soga As was/statutory rights not a thing for you?

The op said in his first post the purchase was over a year ago. They are now claiming on the extended guarantee offered by the manufacturer rather than the statutory warranty. Completely understandable that there may be conditions attached to that.

You are confusing terms:

You have your statuatory legal rights which you can claim under for years after purchasing – this is what the seller has to work under. Distance selling regs, consumer rights act etc. These form a contract between you and the retailer / seller.

And you have a ‘warranty’ or ‘guarentee’ from the manufacturer which is additional to those and dealt with by the manufacturer. This is a contract between you and the manufacturer.

You don’t have a ‘statuatory warranty’ with the seller. Distance selling and CRAs are not a ‘warranty’.

And yes it is important that you are clear on what you are claimng under should you end up taking court action.

You can claim under statuatory legislation with the seller beyond one year but the burden of proof and the assumption of a fault being present at the time or purchase changes (after 6 months under CRAs).

Even if the manufacturer only gives a 1 year warranty, you can still claim against the seller under consumer law after this as it is 2 seperate contracts.

I emailed the shop I visited main office to clarify the ‘few hundred quid’ admin costs.

Thank you for getting in touch, I am happy to inform you we can send the bike back to our supplier for a warranty inspection, you can drop the bike off at any one of our stores.

In regards to the charges, we do not charge anything for sending the bike back, if there was an issue with the frame there may be a cost to re-build the bike however the supplier may cover this cost themselves.

?If there is anything else you need help with, please feel free to contact us.

Take care and have a nice day

As thought. Just a blatant rip off attempt by the shop.

Disappointing.

Sounds like its time to name and shame…..

Out of interest, have you contacted the online seller? The last two warranty jobs I’ve had with online sellers have been utterly painless: Leisure Lakes sorted a new swing arm for my Scott based on photos and frame number (no need to return the old one). Bike24 in Germany sent me a postage paid label to return my Shimano brakes. Obviously, fitting in both cases was my problem, but I’m happy with that.

Yes – online shop has requested pix. I guess next stage will be to send frame off for them to send to manufacturer to inspect.

I not name the bike shop, it not fair giving them a bad name based on just one store.

I not name the bike shop, it not fair giving them a bad name based on just one store.

So they have multiple stores then 😉

not shops…. stores… Hmmmmm 🙂

As thought. Just a blatant rip off attempt by the shop.

I think they told you that because they didn’t want to deal with the issue, not because they wanted to fleece you.

Ok not rip off – just bad customer service.

Or bad customer? Playing devils advocate here, you don’t buy the bike from them but expect them to sort out the (likely) costly warranty claim. If it’s a big chain they will likely have branch revenue targets, warranty claims are very, very rarely profitable for businesses. I wouldn’t blame them at all.