Campag4life

And Robert I will share my pet peeve. I am repulsed by those who have a compulsion to correct other's grammar on a bike forum. This greatly lowers the decorum here. A waste of band width. Please refrain. I will not debate it btw. There is nobody here that is remotely close to perfect and that includes you.

OP...good luck with getting a replacement. BS what happened to your 'new' bike. A clear hamfisted mistake when assembling the BB that they want you to accept as OK. It isn't. Ask for your money back if they won't exchange the frame.

rpenmanparker 

You are absolutely correct. When I said, "My bad," I wasn't lying. I meant it. I just ask this. If no one here is perfect, would it not behoove us all, to the extent that we can, to help each other to improve? I take your comments in that vein and thank you for them. Should others not feel the same way?

Robert

blarnie

Sorry about your scratch. I know you would like to receive a pristine item when purchasing new.

But, as was written previous, there will be many more scratches to come. Some by use, some by accident, even others by mysterious means.

At some point you may drop your chain in between your chainstay and crankset or you won't secure your back wheel in the dropouts correctly. It just happens. Or someone on a groupride will knock your bike over on the drive side. Or spill coffee on your saddle.

Things cease to be new ten minutes after taking possession.

If you sweat the small stuff, the big stuff will paralyze you.

I hope you get what you're looking for.

DXchulo

Yes scratches happen and this isn't a huge deal in an otherwise wonderful life, but...

Sounds like ****ty service frome C-dale and the shop. Nobody really disputes that Cannondale damaged it, so why not replace it? It sucks, but that's part of the cost of doing business.

He didn't get what he paid for, plain and simple.

Long Tom

A higher-end, precision, expensive, beautiful product needs to be delivered by the manufacturer in a pristine form. That's just the way it is. Cannondale knows this. I bet it works out for the OP.

Bob Dopolina 

The shop did not damage the frame.

Cannondale didnt damage the frame.

The Taiwan assembly factory caused the damage and odds are no one at C'dale ever saw the frame before the dealer opened the box.

As was suggested earlier work with the shop through the rep to get the matter resolved. If this goes nowhen then contact C"dale directly. If you go to them first chances are they will just bounce you back to the shop anyways.

The damage seems cosmetic.

Keep calm and carry on.

Trucker Dan

I don't understand why you are letting this shop give you the run around. Take the bike to the shop and tell them you want your money back. You are entitled to a refund. Take your money and go buy a bike somewhere else. Make sure you look the new one over very well before paying.

joe_5700

At this point, this is what I would do. I have a 2010 Cannondale Synapse Carbon 5 that is still in mint condition after years of riding. Do not listen to the others who are saying oh it's just a scratch etc.

Nachoman

Little cosmetic scratches like that can happen on even one short ride, which is why it's so important to inspect the bike BEFORE you take possession.

Number400

I think the easiest route would be a full return and go bike shopping at a different shop. If the LBS gets a new frame and does a poor job transferring components, you will be even more frustrated. I hope they make it right for you!

Agent Cooper

If this is true, then the dealer would be the party ultimately responsible. I would assume it falls to the shop staff to inspect the new bikes they receive for factory damage before putting them on the showroom floor. They should have caught this before assembly and arranged a return through Cannondale, yes?

Bob Dopolina 

^^^ Yes, sort of.

The dealer should have caught it and now it is also they who need to shepherd the bike through the claim process.

C'dale will be the one to make the call and issue any replacements or warranties.

KlingOn

At this point your only option other than the easiest one (just riding the 99.8% cosmetically perfect bike you already own and choosing to frequent another bike shop in the future) would be a full refund and finding a new machine elsewhere. Your bike is in perfect condition.

If I took you to a Porsche dealership, and a car has been test-driven, if we tried hard enough, we could find damage which we could claim left the car in "less than pristine" condition. And this is why, in high-end retail, the customer is always wrong. Because life happens. And it happens even faster in Taiwan. Nothing or nobody is perfect. To expect perfection is... not Jesuslike?

MagicHour

Sorry, no disrespect and Jesus aside...I gotta call BS on this and side with the customer on this one.

So by the same token can I as the customer say: "Now, I know you're asking for full list retail price for this bike, but could you do me a favor and knock a couple hundred off the price? My kid just got a big dentist bill this month... You know 'cos life happens."

When they tell you to go pound sand do you then tell the shop owner they're not being very "Jesuslike"?

Doesn't work like that, right?

KlingOn

No disrespect taken. And it was a joke about being Jesuslike. I just know you Americans love the Jesus and so it seemed funny to include the comment.

Next time you buy a brand new car, try to get 200 off because the plastic protection inside the wheel-wells are marginally scratched from miniscule test drive damage, or the clearcoat on the plastic hubcaps are marginally scratched, or there is already slight oxidation on the suspension springs and edges of the disc brakes because the vehicle was open-air transported 1000km after a 10.000km ocean voyage to arrive in your local dealership.

Doesn't work like that, right?

I never remotely brought up or advocated pursuing a discount due to personal hardship. I simply stated the obvious: to expect and defend the ideal of perfection is a ludicrous position for a perspective customer to take. Maybe in this particular case, the damage did fall outside of the bounds of what should be expected from a "new, perfect" product. However, he paid for it, left the store for days, then came back with a complaint. Who knows the real story? It's all speculation.

MagicHour

Fair enough.

If anything, the lesson learned here is next time I buy a bike (or any high $$$ item) to go over it with a magnifying glass before paying and leaving dealer. Let ME put the dings and dents in it.

rangerdavid

BTW, does anyone know what the number 71 is for on the new synapse ???

Buzzatronic

This is most certainly a lesson I have learned as well.

Buzzatronic

Skipping most of the noise in this thread, here's an update from the LBS today. It sounds like Cannondale is leaning towards shipping out *something* to them to fix this issue. It's not clear what (new frame? new bike? repair epoxy? load bearing decal?).

I'll know more next week.

hueyhoolihan

RPK79

Reminds me of when I had my phone in for warranty repair. I was watching its progress online and when they fixed it it simply said "replaced component". So vague.

kv501

1. Myself, I'd touch up the paint and ride it.

2. That said, I can understand being upset. With the crappy service I'd just avoid the LBS in the future and make sure they didn't get good word of mouth from you.

3. Most importantly...tossing aside the issue of whether you should fight this or not, this is why you always always always pay with a credit card. If you absolutely can't live with the scratches, drop the bike off at the shop and stop payment. No grey area. You walk away and go somewhere else.

SirHustlerEsq

It's a scratch on the non-drive side bottom bracket area and you want a new bicycle? You need real problems, dude. This is not one of them.

Trucker Dan

I don't know about France, but in the usa the listed price for higher end items like cars and bikes is more of a suggestion. You can definitely get the priced reduced. With cars, only suckers pay list price.

Silvercivic27

You must have never purchased an exotic or rare car. Some people pay more than list for those.