Originally Posted by
bikesdirect_com
Hi
I have been off the site for months; mainly due to having 90 year old parents that have been in the ER and in Hospital too many times to count in the last six months. Add to that design of about 30 or 40 new models and it just eats up all your time.
I decided to go on today; as this is the first weekend in about 4 months I have not had a parent issue.
The case of the OP here brings up several issues that involve "what are the industry standards?" and "should we ever vary from them?".
First, the Kilo WT is made by UEC; one of the top makers in the industry; Do they ever make mistakes or have defects? Sure ~ Are they insanely rare? Yes -- The chance of two to the same person is so low that I am more worried about being hit by an asteroid.
Problem here is clearly related to the seat post.
However, when this first occurred I may have contributed. My people ask for the entire bike to be sent back for evaluation of defect claim. This is standard industry procedure. I know of no bike shop that evaluates a frame warranty claim without seeing the product. Actually; it is not possible to pass judgment on such a claim without seeing the entire bike.
In this case the OP did not want to send the bike in to be evaluated. Even after I explained to him that even though warranty does not cover labor BUT that we always cover it for free AND that even if his situation was not a defect I would still do labor for free. OP just did not want bike to come back to us. So I decided to wave the standard policy and send him a frame. OP confirmed that he was ‘experienced’ with bikes and that he was expert enough to do a frame swap if he was given a free frame. So I sent him one [even though I was sure close inspection would have shown this was not a defect]
Of course, an expert bike mechanic would check seat post size before installing. I think most would agree with that. And it appears clear to me that the aftermarket post put in the second frame is the wrong size.
On this latest issue: my service people did what every shop in the USA would do; ask for the bike to be presented so the ‘defect’ could be evaluated. So the ‘cycle’ starts again. The OP sends an email saying it is not convenient to send the bike back so we can evaluate it and decide what created the issue. So I ask service center for his number and best time to call; and I have called several times and left messages. I have still not heard from him.
My decision to try to save the customer time & money by sending a new frame for free was misguided; although I think my heart was in the right place. If I had the first bike in our shop to start with [a] the true reason for the first issue would be clear and [b] the second issue would have never happened. My guess is that everyone understands that.
Next issue is specs:
Sometimes we have mistakes on our site – this is even covered in our FAQ.
“Q: I found an error on the site (Price/spec/etc)
A: If an error is noticed prior to placing an order, we appreciate the information and will make the correction. This site is maintained and created by humans and we sometimes err. We may even send you a surprise gift if you were the first to notice the error or if the error was especially funny.
In the bicycle industry, suppliers and factories sometimes change specs without notice and state that they are "subject to change without notice". This is because bicycles are made from hundreds of parts which come from dozens of vendors. Parts are sometimes updated to the most current production generation/iteration one gets better or more current parts or a comparable part. For example, 12-25 instead of 11-25T cassette or 52T chainring instead of 53T ring. “
Why do bike brand have specs that are “subject to change without notice”? The reason is simple; bike specs are written; bikes are ordered; components are then ordered; and sometimes the specs cannot be delivered in a timely manner or something that works better becomes available. Sometimes spec says hub X and that hub can not be made in time and hub y is available – so that is used. Or maybe a little change is made as ‘running change’ that brand feels will improve the bike.
A bike can easily be in any dealer’s stock that has somewhat different specs; in fact this happens a lot. And in some cases the dealer does not even know it.
Of course, items like BB, headset, seatpost, etc that can be different from bike to bike would need to be checked before doing a complete bike rebuild. Spotting such items is part of being qualified to rebuild bikes and part of the reason we prefer to do such rebuilds ourselves.
We provide the best online prices and service I know of. But in this case I went overboard by sending a free frame instead of requiring that the bike be presented. I could have pushed harder to get the bike back so we could have handled it in our shop.
Mike,
Again you are not correct. TREK had replaced 2 KLEIN frames for me with just high quality pics of the damage.
Because my wife's Specialized was purchased at my LBS and sold there, they could see the damage right there and send a new frame. One advantage for buying at the LBS.
SCOTT also handled a claim I had without seeing the frame. Yes, many companies ask to see the frame and PAY to have it sent and received. But many are doing site unseen replacements as well now.