Qustion About Consumer Direct Bike Purchasing

Quick question for anyone who has bought consumer direct.

Did you have any parts fail? if so,did the bike supplier resolve it or did you have to deal with the individual component distributors?

I bought a Bird Aeris last year and have had 2 component problems ; a faulty freehub and a soggy reverb. In the case of the former, I returned the wheel to Bird, they replaced the part and returned it. For the Reverb, I sent it to Bird, they sent it RS for rebuild who returned it to me.

Both times the service had been great, very quick and apart from having to box up the parts, pretty low hassle.

Thanks Joemmo. I thought that might be the case.

Going through this at the moment, the process is slower than I would like but I think its because the supplier is trying to get the part direct to the warranty agent, rather than two lots of postage etc. So dealing with bike co but part co are involved also.

If I wasn’t in the financial position to replace the component temporarily I would have missed out on a good few days riding, so a bit miffed at the moment but not the end of the world. Also feel a lot happier knowing warranty is 2 years in EU and not the 1 that the US get on this part!

Sorry to hear that rockthreegozy.

I’ve asked the question as I’m going through something similar except the manufacturer has left me to deal with the distributors directly. Problem is the distributor won’t deal with consumers directly so I have the added layer of hassle and expense of having a bike shop more or less act as my agent. I thought the direct sales manufacturer would do that so was wanting to guage if my expectations were unreasonable.

Interesting to read, I’ve had a couple of warranty problems over the years.

Cracked linkage on a Cove. Cove were great, Dist completely useless and seemed be actively trying to dissuade me from trying to sort it, gave up and bought it in the end.

Cracked chainstay on a Spesh frame, when I bought it Spesh offered a ‘Lifetime warranty’, but changed their mind 2 years later to exclude the rear triangle, which they imposed retrospectively which was nice. Shop showed no interest in fighting my corner, in the end I had to buy a new part at a ‘discounted’ price, which didn’t match the colour of my frame for £90 I recall.

Anyway, my point is just because there’s a bricks and mortar shop to deal with it doesn’t guarantee great service and you’ll likely still have to send things off for inspection etc, some people see this as a big hassle, but we handle multiple courier pick-ups and deliveries a day in work so it’s normal for me.

YT were great for me, and oprett good for a mate.

Both times dealt with them. My mate had a recurring issue with a shock, which took a while though. As far as I remember the main delay was answering the initial email. Once at the front of the queue it was all handled pretty quickly.

I’d expect the direct to consumer manufacturer to sort the problems – you shouldn’t have to try and deal with individual component manufacturers.

Its the bike manufacturer who have bought the components from the individual suppliers – so it’s them that havevthe contract with them.

You definitely shouldn’t be having to try and convince a bike shop (who didn’t supply the bike as it’s direct to market) who happen to stock some of the individual parts to process a warranty claim for you. Said bike shop are likely to tell you where to go unless they happen to be particularly friendly.

@joebristol that’s pretty much the position I’m in. I’m having to rely on the goodwill of a shop I’ve dealt with in the past but they’ve made it clear that, as I didn’t buy the bike from them, they would deal with my warranty issues when other actual bike buying customers had been dealt with as a priority. It’s led to a bikeless situation for the last three weekends.

Direct seller adamant they are not responsible for the parts, only the frame. “what do you want us to do?” was actually in one of the emails I received.

That’s shocking tbh – almost worthy of a name&shame – if you bought the complete bike from them, any failure of any of the parts on it is their responsibility to rectify as your contract is with them.

Almost worthy? Totally worthy IMO. Your contract is with them, they should be dealing with it.

Getting ratty at the minute as it’s turning into an omnicluster.

Looking like I might just have to bite the bullet and replace the dropper and brakes from my own pocket just to be able to get out riding again.

Is this your Recluse?

Yup

Your rights as a consumer are with the retailer who sold the product under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

The manufacturers warranty is supplied by the manufacturer.

I process warranty repairs/replacements for products not purchased from me, but I charge for my time and postage (most manufacturers do not cover labour or costs incurred).

Thanks bigyan.

I’ve pointed out the whole privity of contract thing to the retailer but it appears to be falling on deaf ears.

I suppose I was wondering if the culture with direct purchasing was that my rights may be X but the custom and practice is Y.

I suppose the value of a warranty is limited to the willingness of the person granting it to honour it.

https://www.resolver.co.uk/consumer-rights/product-manufacturing-manufacturers-guarantees-warranties-complaints

“Manufacturer’s warranty

The retailer may ask you to contact the manufacturer directly. However, your contract is with the retailer and not the manufacturer and it is therefore the retailer’s responsibility to resolve and rectify the issue.”

If you bought a brand new car from Ford that had Michelin tyres fitted and one was faulty, would you accept being told that you had to go and deal with Michelin..!?

Intense. Still not a good company to buy from.

i’ve had to deal with quite a few people getting all arsey because i wont process warranty parts of their broken canyons and crapra’s free of charge.

Direct seller adamant they are not responsible for the parts, only the frame. “what do you want us to do?” was actually in one of the emails I received.

Inform them of their obligation, tell them a UK shop will send them back but you will be charging them.

Id also email the distributor and explain that these guys don’t want to help you and explain how disappointed you are blah blah blah as it’s not in the interest of a brand to get a bad rep via somebody else.

Or do that via social media

Whilst it’s not the best route, if the usual channels haven’t worked then social media name and shame often suddenly gets the attention it needs from a company.

mikewsmith, one of my bugbears is that the distributors will not deal with consumers direct. I tried contacting the SRAM distributor but they won’t take emails from the public.

So, in true Kafkaesque style, they spec parts they won’t deal with warranty issues on from distributors who won’t deal with their customers directly.

If I had known that, I wouldn’t have touched one of their complete bikes. Maybe would have bought a frame but the parts warranty attitude would have made me think twice even about a frame only. Truly a hidden cost to buying one of their bikes.

SRAM apparently took 11 days to get the post back from the shop. Left the bike in 20th, post not collected by SRAM who organise the courier for days. From my end, it looked like my post had disappeared down a black hole and no one could give me a turnaround time.

In the end I just bought another post and lever. Hundreds of pounds down due to what I can only describe as a chaotic shambles. I effectively had to appoint a shop to act as a third party agent for me with the distributor as the company which sold me the bike simply ignored their legal obligations.

It also looks like I’m going to just have to buy a new set of brakes as Madison won’t replace a lever without the whole system being stripped from the bike and returned. Again, they won’t deal direct with me and, as the cables are internally mounted, I’m facing the expense of having a shop strip, post and then refit them. The bike is turning into an expensive ornament.

mikewsmith, one of my bugbears is that the distributors will not deal with consumers direct. I tried contacting the SRAM distributor but they won’t take emails from the public.

Of course they don’t it’s not what they are there for, it’s the part that the retailer plays in the deal and what they get their cut for.

Again, they won’t deal direct with me and, as the cables are internally mounted, I’m facing the expense of having a shop strip, post and then refit them. The bike is turning into an expensive ornament.

At this point I’d be suggesting that the retailer can have the bike back for a full refund as they are not holding up their end of the bargain.

I’m not sure I could reject the whole bike because of these issues Mike.

In addition, I have spent £550 on a new rear shock and £180 on an invisiframe kit and shop fitting and £140 on a new bar and grips. I would lose that as well if I was to send the bike back.

I’m not sure I could reject the whole bike because of these issues Mike.

You are conducting a negotiation here. You need to force the retailer to take you seriously. Next step would be social media

Hi @BikeCompany why won’t you help sort out my warranty with @PartsPeople !! Can’t ride my bike until it’s sorted out. Not what I expected when I decided to shop with you.

Not a bad idea Mike