Warranty denied as I stripped the bike down?

well, it smells fishy…

Long time lurker. 1st time poster.

Well, it’s long been thought that manufacturers browse various forums to keep an eye on customers. And potential customers.

Thanks for confirming.

(Though, looks like you have a few less potential customers on here now.)

And potential customers

Of which you’ll have fewer now no doubt

You can add to the list ‘ex customers’ as well. I wonder how many sales this little episode will cost giant. I alone have spent over ten grand on their bikes in last 8 years, they won’t be getting another penny after this

I find the idea of having a lifetime warranty ushed back when a frame has snapped under normal use dire.

I’ve only had to warranty a few frames in my time riding. first was a cheap peugeot, 3 replacement frames and when the last broke they replaced the whole bike. all FOC, including labour to swap parts.

Second was an orange E3, replaced no quibble with an E4.

last was a Cannondale F3000. I’d worn through the chainstay with my foot. In honesty I didn’t think they’d warranty it, maybe a ‘crash’ relacement deal, but off it went and a new frame turned up a month later, again FOC.

so no, if and when I buy a new bike or frame, it’ll not be a giant.

Back to the OP and what he can do

I am not a lawyer 🙂

Legal action.

Go for small claims using consumer rights law.  Compensation would be awarded according to the % of life usage you have from this so assuming normal life would be 6 years ( which seems to be the standard for most consumer goods)and you have had 4 years usage so max compensation would be 33% of the cost when you bought it.  Cost to go down this road would be low really just your time and your expenses including time taken off work.  fair chance you would win

Try to sue as unfair contract terms.  I think that would need a full trial in court when even if you win and costs awarded to you the costs awarded may well not actually cover your costs incurred.  Iwas looking at suing for a very different issue – my lawyer advised me costs awarded are likely to be half of my actual costs.  Trial lawyers are expensive and in my lay persons opinion your chances of winning are not great

With any legal action sometimes the threat of it ie the ” letter before action” can shake out some compensation as it cost Giant money to defend it

Other options are to raise a formal complaint via Giant – I guess they will have a procedure. You might get a goodwill gesture with a well presented case

or name and shame via social media / the press.  Faint possibility of getting money out of them I guess.  but a lot of satisfaction

Personally I would go for formal complaint with a threat of legal action and hope to shake some money out of them.  I wouldn’t actually go legal tho and would cut my losses to save my mental health

Just my opinion

I worked previously for a warranty department at Tredz until early 2017. It was an in-joke there, there was a big red button that sat on the supervisor’s desk that used to shout “Denied!” when pressed. I think it was a secret Santa thing.

I worked previously for a warranty department at Tredz until early 2017

And what do you do now?

Besides apparently lurking on here long-time and suddenly registering on 17 Jan as a new user with a username rather relevant to this thread, and only posting in this thread?

And you choose a username based on some office bantz from 6 years ago … ?

Righto … 🤥

“in-joke there, there was a big red button that sat on the supervisor’s desk that used to shout “Denied!” when pressed”
When I used to process all the warranty returns for the not small shop I worked at I would bend over backwards and fight for a customer to get their warranty claim upheld… Every monday was warranty day, I think Scott were probably the best, heres a photo, ok, send us a pic of the destroyed frame and we’ll get another with you tomorrow. A happy customer will tell 1 or 2 people. An unhappy one.. well..

The title of this thread was “Warranty denied as I stripped the bike down?” Didn’t have to look too far for a name. Work for the NHS these days.

Good for you. My bosses were a little less keen on helping the end-user. It frustrated the hell out of me, one of the reasons I left.

Work for the NHS these days.

Did you take that shirt off yourself? TRANSPLANT DENIED!

Tredz are owned by the big H and when I took a Raleigh with a lifetime warranty to them, they got me a new bike without much persuasion. Even though I’d bought the 10 year old Raleigh 2nd hand. (I kept that last bit secret 😛 )

I worked previously for a warranty department at Tredz until early 2017. It was an in-joke there, there was a big red button that sat on the supervisor’s desk that used to shout “Denied!” when pressed.

aren’t tredz a retailer? i thought with warranty claims the manufacturer/importer would supply replace parts.

on a slight tangent, i think Warren T would be a great name for a hip hop artist who rapped about consumer rights

Did you take that shirt off yourself? TRANSPLANT DENIED!

I laughed 😂

As others have stated. I won’t be buying from giant in the future if that’s how their ‘warranty’ is handled.

I’ve had 2 giant mtb in the past and had no problems with them but it’s good to know how they treat customers when a warranty claim is made.

Op you should send a letter to the claims dept manager and message them direct on twitter or other social media.

Another big corp not giving a toss.

I’d like to tell you all that Salsa were amazing when I made a warranty claim that could easily have been refused as it was partly my fault. They felt their bikes should be able to deal with the level of mis-treatment I’d given it!

Even though I’d bought the 10 year old Raleigh 2nd hand. (I kept that last bit secret 😛 )

I didn’t have the same luck with Specialised after I found a cracked headset on my Allez bought ‘second hand’ from a bike mechanic who made it up from a bunch of new and nearly new parts (the frame itself was new but had a small ding in the top tube).

Haven’t read all the way through, but current bike is a giant, next one won’t be, not due to this thread, but due to some of the issues i’ve had over the last 2 years, and the design and niggly little things around the quality.

Absolutely mad. Just in case anyone from Giant is reading, you’ve lost a sale here as you were my current pick for my new aero road bike. Back to square one I guess with that one!

I can honestly say Giant are now off my list of companies I will buy anything from.

To be fair, they were incredibly low on that list anyway, in no small part due to their insistence on using press fit bottom brackets on AL frames.

Yup, I’m in alignment with the last 2 replies. Giant make some great bikes but that exclusion in their warranty details means I’ll never consider them again unless that changes!

Also lost a sale here, been saving for an ebike, not getting giant now. Sounds bloody awful. You want them to look after you not weasel out of it.

The only thing i’d highlight is this is a local authorised dealer who has passed on the information that Giant have then stated is outside their warranty conditions.

My local giant shop is a franchise with good guys who have been helpful over the last 2 years when i’ve had an issue, and it has half of the original parts replaced by me.

My personal comments previously about issues with the bike are those niggly design issues, i’m an engineer and cannot stand seeing bad designs, or the complete lack of any ease of maintenance assessment going into designs!

When I started reading this thread, I had some sympathy with Giant as obviously there’s been some element of miscommunication by the dealers and Giant have not had the opportunity to inspect the fully-assembled bike. And I can see why they might have rejected the warranty on that basis…

BUT that email from Giant UK effectively saying that irrespective of anything else, they will reject warranty claims unless “ALL SERVICING” is carried out by a Giant dealer is outrageous!

(I thought this was specifically outlawed a few years ago – though that may only be in the context of cars).

Anyway, as it happens, my Giant TCR has just been serviced by my LBS (who are not a Giant dealer but have some of the most professional, trustworthy mechanics Ive ever had the pleasure of dealing with…). I guess I can now kiss my warranty goodbye

OP: good luck if you choose to keep fighting this and let us know how this goes…

I had considered buying a giant road frameset to switch all my stuff over to, but not now!

Makes you wonder why we buy bikes from the big expensive brands and pay more if they don’t honour the warranty or wiggle out of it with the small print.

I could buy a giant but I don’t live close to an authorised dealer and I do all my own repairs. I’m not going to start driving miles and paying for a service just in case I need to warranty the claim.

I see a lot more people now buying direct from the bigger established companies like canyon who cut out the middle man and the “must service here clause”

These kind of posts make me think about going one step further and just buying direct from China like winspace etc.

If will be interesting to see how the bike industry changes over the next 5 or 10 years as more direct to customer brands eat away at their market share.

I’m worried to be fair.

My trance e has just died again and has gone back to giant UK cause the local dealer couldn’t figure it out.

I hope to god they don’t realise that I replaced the xtr rear mech with an xt after snapping it with a twig in the jockey wheel.

“Sorry sir, your warranty is invalid for your crappy motor because you undid one bolt on the mech hanger and also changed the bars for a bigger rise, have your £5k paperweight back”

Meanwhile I’ve just watched the giant videos on how to assemble your home delivered bikes……

All sounds very weird and I still can’t help thinking that they will backtrack at some point.

Especially in light of them going direct (albeit sometimes via dealers) in the UK. https://www.bikeradar.com/news/giant-to-offer-consumer-direct-sales-in-the-uk/

“The Taiwanese brand will deliver bikes bought online through its website to your door for free for the first time. Instructions on how to assemble the bike will be included in the box.”

How will THAT work?

Especially in light of them going direct (albeit sometimes via dealers) in the UK. https://www.bikeradar.com/news/giant-to-offer-consumer-direct-sales-in-the-uk/

Wow! that story must’ve taken some tracking down! 😂

anyone tweeted Giant a link to this thread?

They’ve already seen it and sent ‘warrantydenied’ to defend their honour.

Absolute Jokers are Giant. They should be embarrassed.

Might be worth emailing the MD of Giant Uk – Ian Beasant.

He’s on LinkedIn:

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ian-beasant-19844847

Propel, Propel Advanced SL, Defy, Defy Advanced SL, Trance locked away, and previously a Talon. With that warranty, there won’t be another. We’ve also removed Giant from the new club kit. To be fair, the Giant shop found a replacement set of forks when the original Propel was written off in a crash. But I can’t have them serviced in that shop. Also the posh Defy is now running Dura Ace, which was installed by another bike shop.

I’m a Giant fanboi (can you guess), but am not at all impressed by such an obvious failure. Times are tough but goodwill pays back many-fold.

They’ve already seen it and sent ‘warrantydenied’ to defend their honour.

🤣

I’m definitely not intending to be smug, and they do cost a lot, but Santa Cruz have just come good again on their proper lifetime warranty.
A fairly minor fault became apparent on my 2021 Tallboy. Brought to the attention of the supplying dealer (NWMTB) and Santa Cruz immediately offered a new frame. Latest, updated model too. Just got to decide on which colour… preferred the colour of my old one TBH!

Wouldn’t buy a Giant after that response from Giant UK earlier in this thread. They clearly do not care about their product or customers.

So how does this work with Giant’s frame only sales, even when appreciably a very small % of purchases?

Can’t build, can’t ride…..just hang in the shed to admire.

Your legal contract is with the original retailer, not manufacturer. Thus if you want to bring an affordable claim through the courts (‘small claims court’) you need to go after them. You can name the manufacturer in your claim too though, nothing stopping that.

Does anyone know if Giant’s warranty has changed substantively? I had a 2015 Trance 1 and I don’t recall these terms then.

Re Giant direct sales, I had an email from them yesterday, they send out part built bikes and the customer finishes them off.

Email me if you want a copy
Paul.sal@btinternet.com

Your legal contract is with the original retailer, not manufacturer. Thus if you want to bring an affordable claim through the courts (‘small claims court’) you need to go after them. You can name the manufacturer in your claim too though, nothing stopping that.

I’m not sure this is the case. The sale of the bike itself and the consumer rights associated with this are between you and the shop, but the warranty is a separate contract agreement between the consumer and Giant.

I bought an Anthem 29er a year or so back. Just got it the way I like it having changed brakes, dropper, mech and shifter, along with saddle and pedals.

Hope it doesn’t break.. 🙄