Warranty denied as I stripped the bike down?

Has anyone ever had a warranty denied on the basis of it being serviced by a non authorised dealer?
Had a cracked frame, contacted the local dealer, they said there would be a labour charge to strip the bike, I said no worries i’ll just bring the frame. Now the manufacturer are denying the claim as I took my own bike apart.

Any thoughts or ideas?

What does the warranty document say, exactly?

Depends on a reasonable definition of service. Are you voiding your warranty unless you pay the dealer to change your bottom bracket, replace a cable, or adjust your headset?

Sounds a bit harsh, but time to read the small print I guess

So did you service it or strip it down? Did the local dealer tell you that your stripping it down would void the warranty?

Assembled by an authorised dealer, which it was and.

The above warranty, or any implied warranty, does not cover:
Bicycles serviced by a non Authorised Giant Dealer.

They agreed to you just bringing the frame?

Either way it’s a shady cop-out.

No idea where you stand legally but morally it’s a blatant contravention of rule no. 1 from the dealer.

When I emailed and said I would strip it the shop didnt respond.

If you did what the dealer agreed to, one of them owes you a frame.

If a car broke in warranty they wouldn’t ask for it to be stripped down before you sent it away, why did the bike have to be stripped? (unless if you bought it as frame only)

Just get it back, reassemble it, take it to where you bought it from and start warranty process again.

Dealers dont send full bikes back for warranty just the offending component. Bit different with a car..

I did this on a Trek frame and it was replaced with no issues, although I guess it might depend where it had cracked

Are you qualified, trained or insured to dismantle a bike?

If not, you’re probably out of luck.

Still a dick move on the manufacturers side.

they said there would be a labour charge to strip the bike,

That would/should be covered by the manufacturer if the bike was bought as a complete bike…

But charging to strip a warranty claim that as the bike shop they contracted to provide is very crap. I would have challenged that above all else.

Cytech qualified mechanic, so yes

I’m sure they might recognise the name. Dealer is presumably pissed off because they didn’t get their stripdown fee and had to package and send it back for nothing.

I’d be pointing out that the dealer did not respond and advise you that this would void the warranty, and asking them persistently to review the case.

After that, it’s name and shame time, and given the price of new frames, potentially small claims, where the ‘reasonableness’ of their warranty terms will have a light shone on them.

How old is the bike?

I wouldn’t accept that esp if you have evidence the frame was damaged before the strip down.

I’d send a Letter Before Action to the Dealer (or whoever you bought the frame from).

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/Problems-with-goods—letter-before-court-action/

Cytech qualified mechanic, so yes

Tell them that then.
Then they can’t deny your warranty.

Are you qualified, trained or insured to dismantle a bike?

where can I buy bike dismantling insurance from – I feel like I need some, I dismantle my bike all the time.

Im not however an authorised giant dealer which is their clause.
Giant havent even recieved the frame, the warranty was denied before it got out the shop at the B2B stage

Dealers dont send full bikes back for warranty just the offending component. Bit different with a car..

but that is not the consumers problem or issue. They purchased a bike, the bike is broken and should be subject to warranty investigation.

Im not however an authorised giant dealer which is their clause.
Giant havent even recieved the frame, the warranty was denied before it got out the shop at the B2B stage

How old is the bike? if quite new (<2 years) then you may have a case by claiming against your statutory consumer rights (ie claim the bike is not fit for purpose)rather than claiming against the terms of the giant warranty. If its older then you may well be out of luck if this is what their warranty T&C’s say.

The product warranty is totally separate to your statutory rights, however you do ned to go back to the place that sold you the bike in order to exercise your statutory rights (if that is different to the place that is not playing ball on the warranty).

It sOunds to me like the shop are just not interested in helping , so you may get a different response by taking it to a different dealer – but put it back together again just in case.

How old is the bike?

If it’s not too old then just set aside the bullshit they are giving you about warranty.
Just tellem the bike is broken, it’s not fit für purpose and tellem to fix it.

Cleverly their warranty states also Modified from the original condition, so theoretically, change the pedals, no warranty

the bike is broken and should be subject to warranty investigation

Yes but (playing devil’s advocate) shouldn’t that investigation also take into account the general state of the bike, the pringled wheels, the inappropriately long travel forks, the 3 piece steel dirt jumping cranks etc. etc. (ask my 15 year old self with the headtube torn off his lightweight XC frameset how that one goes 😭 )

Theyve had photos of the bike at the exact moment the crack was discovered. Only non standard parts were bars and seat

Cleverly their warranty states also Modified from the original condition, so theoretically, change the pedals, no warranty

crosses giant off list of potential future bikes.

That sounds like a pretty poor warranty term to me, who the hell keeps bikes completely stock standard ?

Did you buy a bike or a frame?

but that is not the consumers problem or issue. They purchased a bike, the bike is broken and should be subject to warranty investigation.

The warranty is an addition to your legal rights. So they can set any conditions they like. In other industries not dismantling would be a common warranty condition

However in this case it’s just a total cop out. How old is the bike? Any chance of using the sale of goods act?

Where does servicing start and end. Pumping up the tyres and lubricating the chain are presumably not servicing. What about changing a tube or brake pads does that invalidate the warranty?

If it’s a cracked downtube for example, there’s very little chance that you’ve caused the problem. If for example it’s cracked at the BB shell and you’ve removed the BB, then I could see why they might question it

Had a cracked frame, contacted the local dealer

is that the dealer you bought the bike from ?

I have had 2 Giant road bikes warrantied through the local dealer, who sold me the bikes new. They both had some changed contact points, saddles, pedals etc. never an issue in my claims.

Just under 4 years old at the time of finding the crack. I bought a Giant specifically for the lifetime warranty on the frame.

Purchased as a full bike, but not from the dealer who is processing.
Cracked under the seat tube to top tube junction, seatpost never extended past about 2″ of static insert

seatpost never extended past about 2″ of static insert

Only 2″ of seatpin insertion?

build it back up and take it in? Or to another giant dealer?

Seems pretty stupid on Giants behalf.

When my Norco frame failed, i stripped it and took it into Evans for a warranty claim. It was honoured, but was bloody painful… but thats a different story!

Purchased as a full bike, but not from the dealer who is processing.

it seems to me you are getting typical levels of service from a dealer that you didnt buy the bike from. They cant be arsed with it as theres nothing in it for them (regardless of what the giant T&C’s say about a global warranty/dealer network etc), so they are falling back on a term in the warranty policy that is a get out of jail card for dealers who cant be arsed. Either try another dealer, or go back to the dealer you bought from.

I think you’re too far out to rely on statutory rights, so its down to the goodwill of the dealer to process it fairly and the giant warranty terms .

You might just be out of luck though.

build it back up and take it in? Or to another giant dealer?

I would do this and take it back to the original retailer.

Cracked under the seat tube to top tube junction, seatpost never extended past about 2″ of static insert

Seatposts (not frames) generally have the minimum insert marks at 100 mm. I’ve always considered 100 mm the minimum, with the seatpost extending below the top tube junction.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Point it in the direction of the staff on here to run a story and get a comment and clarification from Giant? IMO this is hugely significant to the consumer, and grossly unfair.

As speculated above, this seems to leave it 100% ups to Giant’s discretion as regards what counts as servicing, let alone the anti-competitive aspect of voiding the warranty if servicing is performed at a shop other than a Giant dealer.

If it’s not the dealer you bought it from they are quite entitled to charge to strip etc, bike warranties aren’t like car warranties where you can go to any Ford garage for example. As it is stripped down, they will have no way of determining where the seatpost was set, so maybe they reckon you had it too high and hence cracked the frame ?

I’d second building it back up and taking it to the dealer that you bought it from, presuming you have owned it from new ?

That failure point you’ve mentioned is one I’ve come across before on those frames. I’ve worked in the industry before and never came across a warranty inspection being denied based on the owner stripping down to a frame…in fact the mechanics would be glad for the time saved. They are taking the Wee. It’s not even a hard job to strip a road bike, and barely needs specific skills compared to building it…I could have the bike starring at me in the hall stripped and ready for a box in probably 20mins, with one hand behind the back, dancing a merry jig on one leg- and mostly done with a single allen key. Don’t stand for this sort of baloney.

As above though, the manufacturer requesting to judge the condition of the bike as it was prior to disassembly is a not uncommon, but could be sufficiently achieved with a photograph.

bike warranties aren’t like car warranties where you can go to any Ford garage for example

actually a lot are – especially the big boys, most of them have global warranties that just say take it to any of our dealers and they will sort. However the reality is far from this – in my experience if you didnt buy it from the bike shop you take it to they come up with all sorts of stuff to avoid their obligations under their dealer banner, things like saying, sure we can look at that for you, but we’re busy for the next 6 months etc

So Giant could anyway say you modified the bike and installed a non standard saddle potentially incorrectly which led to the failure. It’s rubbish but would appear Giant have multiple (rubbish) reasons for refusal to honour the claim.

I think it goes down to experience but wish you luck in progressing it!