Originally Posted by
gsa103
Talk to the owner of the bike shop. Your best bet is to talk with the owner, and see if you can come to a satisfactory arrangement (discounted new frame and they swap parts?). Show them your pictures, explain your side. Be friendly and cordial, give them an opportunity to resolve things. I think it's unlikely they'll offer a brand new frame for nothing, so set your expectations accordingly.
If the bike shop doesn't cooperate, your only alternative would be small claims court. Even with small claims court I would not expect to get more than the depreciated value of your frame, so realistically you're looking at a settlement worth a few hundred dollars (going by ebay used non-Hi-Mod frame prices). Going this route is likely going to be a lot of hassle for very little gain, just some food for thought when the bike shop proposes a solution.
Originally Posted by
stewood
^^^^^ That's what I've been doing so far, but it's becoming pretty difficult (imagine someone just totaled your *brand new* carbon frame). I'd like to stay away from court and I think the bike shop, because of its status will most likely be willing to work with me to uphold their reputation, but is that really best-case-scenario? Ending up with a more-than-likely worse frame than I started with because they made a mistake? That doesn't seem quite right
What do you mean by "it's becoming pretty difficult"? I mean, what have they said to you that is making it difficult, or what reason do you have for thinking it is, or is going to be "difficult".
Also, nobody totaled your brand new frame. They might have totaled your nice used frame, but it's nowhere near the value of a brand new frame. So quit thinking of it in those terms. Think of what it would really take to make you whole - another comparable used frame and /or what you actually paid for the used frame in terms of cash... or something similar in terms of a different frame and/or getting you back on the road with the parts you salvage from the broken frame.
Do you have ANY reason to think they aren't being, or won't be reasonable? Please tell us why.
This hypothesizing is really pointless, and it just sounds (to me, I could be wrong) that you are just getting all worked up before you really have reason to be. Just get on with talking to them and figuring it out. Quit increasing your anxiety until you have to. Press them in terms of getting it resolved asap because you need the bike, expect them to make you happy in the end, but don't be unrealistic, i.e. it is not a brand new frame, and it really won't take much for the shop to make you whole (see above recommendations by others)