Bike with Cracked Frame
 

So, I sold a guy an Iron Horse bike 10 days ago, and he took it to a shop. Ten days have elapsed from the sale to him emailing me about there being a crack.
The shop said the frame is cracked and he wants a refund. It was a face to face sale; he test rode it and all.

I did specifically say to him there were no cracks in the frame (and to my knowledge at the time I sold it to him, there was none. No trickery intended on my part).
He intends to take this to British Coumbia's (canada) small court claims. Wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of stuff.

Seems like I cant post pictures; I cant tell if they're new or old. The crack is located on the rear triangle, right beside the front shifter

In order to avoid having your dogma run over by his karma, I'd give him a refund.

Now, if you want to be a stickler about it, then go to the bike shop and have them show you. If there is any sign of corrosion, then it is not a new crack. If it looks fresh, then it's fresh. Proceed accordingly, but prepare for a fight.

Life is too short to fight over wee things.

Return his money, it is the right thing to do.

I mean he could have crashed the bike or whatever and I have no way of knowing. I mean he seemed like a decent guy and probably wouldn't do that but isn't a bike sold a bike sold? It is second hand after all

I offered him 50 dollars as a discount for him to get it welded

I’d go check it out at the bike shop and have look at the cracks. He may have crashed it. Did you look the bike over really good before you sold it?

When ever I sell anything it’s always where is as is. I also have the buyer sign paper on it as well.

You can't have gotten much for an Iron Horse. If it's really worth your time, look at and photograph the crack. As pointed out above, you can probably tell if it's old or new. If it's obviously old, you need to give him a refund. If you can't tell, you are probably safe to call his bluff.

Ask yourself "If was the buyer and not the seller would I still feel the same?"

The bike just can't be welded, unfortunately this isn't how it works. Most likely the Iron Horse is aluminum and any repair would have to be heat treated after the welding process. Plus where ever the weld is the paint is going to be destroyed. Even if it was steel, that brand is not worth fixing.

You came on this forum to ask opinions but you aren't liking what you are hearing. Never ask a question where you don't want hear an answer that isn't to your liking.

Every time I've sold anything expensive the buyer has tried to scam me in some way. It's a used bike and chances are unlikely if it lasted this long that the crack is serious, if it is even preexisting at all. Actually seeing what he is complaining about would help. But this is a good reminder why you might want to take detailed pics of something before selling. Very suspicious to me that a crack the seller never noticed was noticed this quickly by the buyer. Also suspicious he has it in the shop already, could be from a crash.

Refund his money.

First, do you live in British Columbia? If not what would he have to do to collect from you?
Second, was it a face to face sale?
Third, why did he take it to the shop? For the crack or something else.
Fourth, how long after you sold it did he take it to the shop? (Next day is one thing, a week later another).
Fifth, where is the crack and what is the nature of it?
Sixth, I wouldn't offer him any sort of partial refund. Either the crack was there and you should return his money and take your loss, or determine it wasn't there when you sold it and it is not your problem.

Next time take pictures and have the person sign off it is being sold "as is". That they can have it looked at before buying.

Btw- how much money was the bike sold for?

Good luck.

A lot less suspicious than he crashed hard enough to crack the frame without leaving any marks on the bike*. Also the crack was found by the shop, not the buyer. Not suspicious he has it in the shop so soon. He probably took it in to be checked over and that’s why they found the crack.

*I assume the bike doesn’t show signs of a crash. If it does, then the new owner should have to prove his crash didn’t cause the damage.

Wait a second, here you are saying you DID know there was a crack in the frame. :foo:

it makes sense to take it to the shop the next day to get it checked out, not ten days later. This is why it's very obvious bs. If it were a real problem then it would have been found out right away or by the seller, not a week and a half later. The guy is also just claiming it was found by the shop, which even if true means nothing if the guy caused it. For all we know the guy could have swapped out the frame for that matter.

I had a guy buy a cheap car from me years ago then immediately drives it to california where it broke down a month later then he wants me to pay for towing it back here and to give him a full refund. The car cost less than a thousand and the problem was very minor yet this guy expects to undo a deal a month later. Probably cost almost as much to rent a car that long lol

That’s not the timeline the OP described.

"So, I sold a guy an Iron Horse bike 10 days ago, and he took it to a shop."
All we know is he sold it 10 days before he posted here.

The buyer could of taken it directly to the shop and it took them 5 days to look at it, 2 days to email the seller and 3 days for the seller to post here.

Seems obvious to me.

Then GlennR can straighten you out.

Why would the poster wait ten days to ask for advice then? Makes even less sense than the idea this guy will take it to the shop ten days later purely by chance and find a problem, or that he sat on the bike ten days then suddenly realized getting it checked out by the shop would be a good idea.

You said already that was not the timeline, not that there is some chance it's not the timeline due to language ambiguity. But it's pretty obvious that the obvious case is what happened. No one would wait ten days to ask advice on a forum any more than someone gets a bike checked out by the shop ten days after buying it.

This brings to mind a certain scene in Shawshank Redemption.

According to my made up timeline, the seller didn't know till after 7 days and then waited 3 days to post here.

Again, you can make up your own timeline, but it's just a guess.

Language is ambiguous at times but my assumption is the most logical one if you can even call it that I would say it's just taking language at face value without making up an elaborate backstory. Maybe add in a little time for back and forth communication. Thankfully the poster can just tell us what happened in detail and break the complete lack of suspense I feel at this imaginary controversy.

Either you don't have any idea what welding costs and the process involved, or you are trying to pull one over on the guy.

Might save someone from digging an even deeper hole:rolleyes: This timeline obsession seems like an irrelevant distraction. We need to see the crack!