Originally Posted by nzhu

I haven't been this angry in a long time. I feel like someone stole my wallet.
But here's what happened
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I bought a Marin Vincenza from Performance Bikes after my Marin Nicasio (my first bike from the same Performance Store) was stolen 1 week after I bought it from my private property during the day.
It’s been about a month since I got the bike.

When I got it and tried it…..it was the most wonderful bike I’ve ever ridden on. It was a perfect fit, geometry, etc in every way. Of course, after having my previous bike stolen on private property, I was very paranoid. I kept the bike locked in my room, or within sight at all times. Even during work. (I work in a startup with just 4 ppl. 2 bosses, and 1 other employee). The bike was fast and light. Every day after work, I would spray the frame with Pledge Orange Clean and wipe it down. And I’d relube the chain

2 Days ago, on March 7, 2018, I finished up at work. I packed up to leave. I went to my office and as I usually do, feel the smoothness of my bike, and admire it’s beauty as well as its glowing shine from having cleaning it with Pledge yesterday. So I KNOW this bike was in perfect condition as this moment.

I left and I rode 2 miles on from Twinbrook to Rockville, MD. That’s just 1 metro stop’s distance on the Washington DC metro. I rode on the sidewalk. So whatever bumps I encounter is just sidewalk mini bump and even then I don’t ride quickly.

I road to Rockville and stopped in front of Wendy’s. I got off the bike, and turned to walk the bike and to my ABSOLUTE shock, there was a HUGE dent (rather it looks more than a dent but deep enough to be a bend) in the metal.

Next day I took the bike to my local performance bikes to the technician. And I show it to him. I tell him yesterday I before I left work, I checked by bike and it was perfectly fine. And then I rode back on the straight paved road from Twinbrook to Rockville, 2 miles and when I got off the bike at the Wendy’s, I saw this huge dent in the top tube.
And indeed, when I got off the bike in front of wendy’s and saw the big bump, I was shocked! I didn’t believe it! I thought it was a shadow. So I actually had to feel it with my hands to make sure it wasn’t a dream, but it STILL felt like I was dreaming!! HOW IS IT POSSIBLE, that the tube completely intact before I left work, and then when I got to wendys!?!??!

I’m trying to figure it out, but the best I can come up with is that where I work is usually around 75 degrees. That night 2 days ago was freezing. So when I took my warm bike into the cold weather, it created a vaccum on the inside that caused the soft aluminum to implode on that spot as I sat on the saddle and rode it.
The performance bike tech said “Well what do you expect me to do? That’s a damage to the frame. There’s nothing I can do” in an abrupt way. I told him “I bought this bike from here 3 weeks ago! This bike is manufacture defect! It has to be covered under warranty”. He said “No warranty doesn’t cover that.” I said “then call Marin and put in that it’s a Manufacture defect!”. In the most LAZYIEST tone, he said “OOOkkk”. He pulled out a form for me to sign. And then he said “You’re going to have to leave the bike here. We need to take pictures and send it to Marin. The warranty [guy] isn’t here right now. He’ll be back tomarrow. The earliest you’re going to hear back from Marin is tomarrow”.

So I left my bike there overnight and left.

Next afternoon I called Performace and asked about the bike. And the performance bike guy [Mark] I think said “yeah this dent is due to an impact. It’s not covered under warranty”…..While completely dazed I said “Are you kidding? That dent came out of no where. Before I left work it wasn’t there. And then after riding and getting off 2 miles later, there was a dent!”!!! And he said again “No, you must have hit it on something”. Again, I told him “Look, I had one of my bikes stolen from me last month. When I got this bike, I’ve been totally paranoid so I’ve kept this bike with me at all times or I keep it locked away”. He said “Did you lock the bike anywhere or leave it outside?”. I said “NO! I keep my bike inside, and I didn’t lock the bike outside. AGAIN, this bike happened YESTERDAY while riding back from work! This isn’t a situation where we’re figuring out WHEN it happened. I KNOW WHEN it happened, and I happened to be riding on flat road back home!”.

But I just couldn’t convince him that this is a defect with the bike. He still thinks I damaged it. And all he could say was “I’ve never seen anything like this before”. And all I could say was “I know! I was shocked when I saw it too, but this is what happened! I didn’t crash into anything! It didn’t fall. Nothing. This bike is in perfect condition!!! Just look. No scratches anywhere!!!”

I have taken care of this bike so well. I’ve always made sure to wipe it down after each night. I lube the chains. And I always put the bike in a safe location. That’s just a show of my habit, but that’s of course besides the point because the dent happened at that MOMENT ALL OF A SUDDEN, and not due to some long term accumulation of rust damage or something.

But HOW could I possibly argue with HIM?! It’s my word against his no matter how much I know how careful I was or no matter HOW CLEARLY I remembered the events of that night. To him, I’m a lier because he believes “No, a dent like that can’t happen by itself”. But I explained to him “There’s NOT EVEN A SCRATCH on the paint on the dent! If it was an impact, the paint would be chipped and the paint is intact!”. “All I did was ride back from work! I didn’t run into a tree. I didn’t get hit by a car! Nothing! All I did was ride on the roads!!” And all he kept repeating over and over again was that there’s nothing he can do for me, and that he’d send pictures of the bike over to Marin.

Anyways, he gave me Marin’s 800 phone number. I call Marin, and a guy picks up and says “Hi, Marin moutain bikes speaking…”. And I explain the whole situation to him. And he says and believes BY DEFAULT, “no that’s not possible”. Without seeing any pictures or anything. Just hearing my story, he says “No that’s not possible. ”
Because I think if he did admit to the SERIOUS SELF IMPLODING problem with the bike, they’d have to do a recall of the bike or at least a big investigation. SOO instead of considering the possibility, he’s squashing any complaint that I have. EVEN THOUGH I’M TELLING THE TRUTH!!! But that goes to show, claiming and getting reimbursed for manufacture defect is near impossible! Because there’s so many stupid excuses they can pull out of their ass rather than admit they’re making a bull**** self imploding product.

ESPECIALLY, since he de facto claimed it’s my fault even though he has no evidence to make such claims.

So now I’m waiting for Marin to check the pictures, but I’m not having much hope.

Bought this bike new 3 weeks ago.....and it's already destroyed...spontaneously.

And it looks like I got scammed again. People steal bikes from my house. People hack my investment account and steal everything. And now, companies are making up BS not to fix their own faults.


And DO NOT BUY THE MARIN VINCENZA!!!! It’s A FAULTY BIKE and both Marin and Peformance are useless!