Warranty denied as I stripped the bike down?

I wouldn’t ever buy a bike from any brand that had that sort of stipulation in its warranty terms, they’re basically saying they have no confidence in their own product to be fit for its intended usage. Given this is one of the brands that appear to be currently struggling in the marketplace, it’s this sort of nonsense misdirection that should deservedly sink them. If you’re pushing out a high value product on to a market then flipping stand by the thing you’ve produced, take ownership of it.. this is as good as saying, our products are price-point junk. So they’re basically saying that if the rider drops their fork out to clean and grease their headset bearings then they’ve invalidated the warranty… brands like this can go stick it.

Add me to the list of people that have been looking at it now certainly won’t be buying a bike from Giant on that basis. Would I have to take to a dealer to fix a puncture? Change brake pads?

Cant theoretically change a tube.

Did they mention how they’d refund that if a warranty claim was upheld?

Labour is chargeable for warranty work

It’s quite possible that the only payment the dealer receives is for the strip-down (and possible rebuild).

Most provide nothing at all

No, Giant reimburse their dealers a set price for warranty work. (Or at least they do where I work.)

Giant reimburse their dealers a set price for warranty work. (Or at least they do where I work.)

Double bubble for the dealer I went to then, as zero mention of that.

I had an Anthem of roughly the same era crack the same way. I was lucky as I worked for a Giant dealer at the time and had a race coming up that weekend so some calls to Giant got me a new frame sent out before the old one was sent back.

When they did get it back they said they’d not have warrantied the top tube/seat tube cracking as some of the pivot bearings was stiff. I’d noticed the crack whilst replacing the bearings. So, no, I’d not buy a Giant again either.

My Specialized warranty experience wasn’t great either – they took months to approve a crack around the base of the seat tube on a relatively new frame. This was in about 2014 and it seems they’d been told to tighten up their somewhat generous warranty replacements. It took a lot of chasing by the shop and I’d not buy another of them either.

EXCLUSIONS
The above warranty, or any implied warranty, does not cover:

Removing the bicycle from the original packaging
Riding the bicycle
Anything else not mentioned above

Bloody con merchants.

How does this get flagged to STW staff?

I would really like to see someone from here query this with Giant, to see whether they have the balls to repeat such a ridiculous statement to a high profile publication. Obviously if this is genuinely policy then it needs to be shouted to the hills, and an explanatioin asked for, but I’d give odds that if Hannah or Mark or Chipps went to gIant and asked ‘what’s the story here’ there’d be an awful lot of backtracking and blame cast on the intern/work release kid misinterpreting the intent of the warranty.

Warrenty over and above your statutory rights is entirely at the whim of the manufacturer

Not really. it’s their decision whether to provide it and it’s terms and conditions, but:

A warranty is a contractual assurance from a seller to a buyer. It is a subsidiary or collateral provision to the main purpose of the agreement: the sale itself. A breach of warranty claim is an action for breach of contract and is subject to the normal legal requirements of proving loss.

So if you’ve bought a bike, you have a contract. And if the terms and conditions are ambigious, the ambiguity is construed against the drafter.

eg: “Bicycles serviced by a non Authorised Giant Dealer.” the OP isn’t a Dealer, he’s not a Giant Dealer, he’s not an unauthorised Giant Dealer. This exclusion can’t be applied to him. If they wanted to exclude “Bicycles serviced anywhere other than at an authorised Giant Dealer”, they could and should have done.

I think that’s a bloody good idea @vinnyeh, also @stwhannah and @chipps

As someone who just bought a Giant eBike based on having a good local dealer and warranty, this worries me (although the Giant thread on eMTB forums suggests mostly very good experiences).

https://static.giant-bicycles.com/Manuals/GIANTEnglish_1628675195.pdf

The Owner’s Manual is full of ridiculously unrealistic things. Such as suggesting a complete dealer check-up after EVERY 25 hours of off-road riding. Basically once a fortnight for a keen rider.

Section G on page 12 does not say the customer shouldn’t swap parts themselves, merely that they should get advice from a dealer about it. If removing/replacing components automatically voids the warranty, they should say so here.

P38:
“It is often necessary to remove and disassemble components in order to properly inspect them. This is a job for a professional bicycle mechanic…” . Which OP is. No mention that this ‘professional mechanic’ has to work in a Giant shop. Again, if using a non-Giant professional mechanic for this work automatically voids your warranty, it would be reasonable to make it clear.

A reasonable interpretation of their warranty terms would be that if you have it serviced, it should be at a Giant dealer. The handbook clearly suggests that changing components is not verboten, just that you should have it done by a professional.

Obviously the company is using these ill-defined and patently unreasonable terms to wriggle out of its ‘lifetime’ frame warranty, and hopefully this thread and others like it will cost a few sales and show that burning through your customer service reputation for pennies is a false economy.

I’d love to get input on this whole scenario by other manufactures too, obviously we have people from Bird who drop in here, but would be great to get others who’d share their thoughts on “we’re OK/not OK if person does XYZ”

I was just going to post the same link as Martin. Not to point out the ridiculous stipulations, but what the Manual suggests the owner does, all the checks and adjustments. No mention of invalidating the warranty if you follow its instructions.

eg page 3, “if you choose to work on your own bike, you must use a torque wrench…”

https://www.facebook.com/giantuk/photos/a.150109001675747/6089871451032776 from Giants own facebook page, I would be using my social media search powers to see if anyone else has had an issue.

suggesting a complete dealer check-up after EVERY 25 hours of off-road riding

Ha ha…. or after only one decent ride for a really really keen rider. Giant Cretins tm.

Ha ha…. or after only one decent ride for a really really keen rider. Giant Cretins tm.

Yep, that was one weekends use for me for a charity ride in the autumn. Possibly a weeks worth during lockdown or height of summer.

Consumer rights override the wording of any warranty.

Goods should last a reasonable time in relation to the price paid – eg. A £2500 bike would be expected to outlast a £400 bike.

If you feel there was a manufacturing failure within a time frame that was within reasonable expectation for the goods you bought then you should still have a claim.

Just had confirmation from Giant that removal of parts, a shock or fork for service by, for example TF Tuned must be carried out by a Giant retailer, failure to do so invalidates your warranty.

WTAF – if every manufacturer was as **** as that, there’d be no need whatsoever for the bike aftermarket to exist. If every single change you’d want done to your bike required an original manufacturer dealer to do it, the market for upgrades would vanish.

I usually buy my frames/bikes secondhand so warranty is less of a biggie with me, but that’s Giant now firmly off my list regardless.

Now this is cunning, they are actually getting their customers to unknowingly void their warranties by doing servicing at home without being professional Giant mechanics. 🙂

https://www.giant-leamington.co.uk/gb/service

Maintenance Evenings
At Giant Leamington we hold regular bike maintenance classes within the store. The courses are designed to give you the knowledge to maintain and run your bike. The content varies from trail/road side repairs, punctures and chain breaks to gears maintenance and brake set up.

Course details will be advertised here or on our events page so stay tuned for more information.

If you feel there was a manufacturing failure within a time frame that was within reasonable expectation for the goods you bought then you should still have a claim.

My friends Anthem failed in a similar manner. I was there when it went and he really was just riding along. He got his sorted ok but pretty sure it was a common failure point on a certain era of frame.

Suppose you could put in a freedom of information request to ask how many other frames have failed in this way.

I don’t read that warranty the way some (including the Giant dealer) are:

Bicycles serviced by a non Authorised Giant Dealer.
Improper maintenance, assembly or installation.

The first line is a heading, the second is the term of the warranty. So IF you have bike serviced by a non-Authorised Dealer, and it’s done improperly, the damaged isn’t covered.

Modifications from the original condition.
Damage caused by failing to follow the owner’s manual.
Damage or failure due to accident, neglect, abuse or abnormal and excessive misuse.
Improper alteration or installation of components, parts, or accessories not originally intended for or compatible with the bicycle as sold.

Similarly, the heading just says that the following text will describe how the warranty applies to modification. if you modify it badly, or use incompatible parts, it’s excluded.

In the OPs position, I’d be going back to the dealer and saying they’ve misread it, and they would need to show that the damage was caused by stripping the bike down incorrectly – and since there’s a photo of the damage before the bike was stripped, they can’t do that.

…and maybe also pointing out that their interpretation is completely inconsistent with the way any serious person uses a bike, and if that what it means everybody on the forum you use will never buy a Giant bike (or anything from that dealer).

The first line is a heading, the second is the term of the warranty. So IF you have bike serviced by a non-Authorised Dealer, and it’s done improperly, the damaged isn’t covered.

That would be reasonable, but I think the bold sections are added by OP, and not headings.

P44 of the owners’ handbook link I posted up there covers it.

They were to show the major get out of jail points

clubby

Suppose you could put in a freedom of information request to ask how many other frames have failed in this way.

I think the response will be along the lines of “jog on”.
Giant aren’t a public sector organisation.

I’ve bought 4 very expensive giants in my lifetime. I’ve always been a big fan of their bikes. As mentioned earlier they were no use whatsoever when I snapped one in a crash however I let that slide

Having read the last few pages however, I will never ever buy another on principle. I’d be on social media giving them a deserving kick in if I was the OP.

They know fine well that no one will ever buy a 5 k bike then not have the odd part swapped out or the bike maintained by a non Giant dealer. It’s false advertising to claim there is a warranty, simple as that

As I got called out elsewhere for obviously “conveniently leaving something out”

Ratner moment…..

That’s outrageous. Giant really need to be ashamed of themselves for that. Definite permanent manufacturer shitlisting here, especially as other brands offer similarly priced bikes with a much better warranty.

Ratner moment…..

^This.

Yep. Very poor. One of the main reasons for buying a bike brand new is that you get a warranty. If that warranty is totally at the whim of the manufacturer and potentially voided by swapping the pedals or mending a puncture yourself then it’s pretty worthless.

The moral of the story? Check with whoever your warranty is with before stripping your bike. Wanting to inspect the whole bike seems entirely reasonable to me. The OP’s seat post looks suitable and fitted correctly in the photo, that’s often not the case though. All of us that have worked in bike shops have seen undersized seatposts fitted to bikes (coke can shimmed or not), and those too short or damaged in ways that can result in frame failures over time. Used to be 27.0 or 26.8 posts in 27.2 tubes back in my shop days. Everything’s fatter, but the problems can be the same. Just because a frame has cracked does not automatically mean there was a frame defect. Checking the complete bike over before progressing a warranty replacement frame is the manufacturer’s prerogative, there could be history with Giant that makes them want to do these checks (perhaps… years of running with different diam seatposts to everyone else resulting in more aftermarket bodging of unsuitable posts… for example).

I’ve had better warranty experiences with Evil Bikes

It is a shocker. Also OP stripped the bike after it broke!

Might be a good article for the mag?

The moral of the story? <snip>

pretty sure the actual moral is, “don’t buy a **** Giant” 😂

The moral of the story? Check with whoever your warranty is with before stripping your bike

Moral of the story for me is  “assume that Giant will wriggle out of its warranty and make your buying decisions accordingly” (unless you’re going to a dealer for every trivial bit of maintenance – and where does that stop; change a tube/tyre/brake pads/bleeding.  Christ, what if I want to raise the saddle or, God forbid, clean the thing ?  What is “working on a bike”)

I’ve had two Giants.  Doubtful that’ll get to three

@wysiwyg that’s really piss poor from Giant. Going straight on my ‘never buying from them’ list.

Also OP stripped the bike after it broke!

Removing possible information that might help determine why it broke.

So. Intrigued as to whether STW would consider approaching Giant to ask them for a statement on this.

That would be seriously impressive if they would.

Wanting to inspect the whole bike seems entirely reasonable to me.

Except the OP was told that they were sending only the frame for inspection.

Giant was on my list for next bike. Think it’ll probably be removed after reading that email.

My 2018 Giant defy cracked around top of seat tube. Emailed pics to Rutland cycles whom I purchased from. They said no problem we need the bike back. As I’m handy with bike maintenance/stripping and building bikes I offered to strip it and send frame only. They said don’t bother they will send large box/packing etc for me to put complete bike in. Great it saved me stripping it down. Collected on a Monday had bike back Friday same week(all my bits on new frame) no quibbles. 🤷‍♂️

OP, can you ask for their full terms and conditions of sale? Not just the manual or the warranty terms, but their full TnCs?

I’d be looking VERY carefully into the wording and how explicitly they define “service” and “warranty” in the context of work completed on the bike.

I’ve had to use this approach on a recent occasion and managed to get them on the vagaries of their own conditions.