tagaproject6

Seeing that Specialized admitted to the fault, wouldn't it be prudent for Specialized to eat the cost of the labor charges or shouldn't the LBS have charged Specialized for that? Is this the only LBS in town?

cfblakeman

InInteresting perspective. Does it add up that the company that built the rings and (now I know) was aware of the problem for two years continued to deny there was any issue for the whole ten months I'm bringing it up to them?

Talk about not adding up.

tombailey

So the chainrings are OK. They fixed the BB. They replaced the seat collar. And they replaced the shifter. Does your bike work now?

briscoelab

Jed19

+1. Granted that you can't make all your customers happy, a cyclist who purchases a $7000 bike should under no circumstances be made to come gripe about his unhappiness on a public forum. Specialized and the LBS in Boulder are being incredibly shortsighted about this one.

If I were Specialized, I'll bend over backwards to try and make things right for this guy, to the extent that I'll even refund his money, were I to determine that it's in my best interest to make him go away.

You, as a business do not want the people (or potential customers) at the high end of your demographics complaining about their negative experience on public fora. Especially a forum for serious enthusiasts.

Just my two cents!

jwible

Don't forget folks. You can say "ass".

briscoelab

Shops don't get reimbursed for warranty labor. Most will eat the cost if the customer isn't a total jerk. I'm willing to bet it was your attitude that resulted in them charging you. But, maybe they are just a lousy shop....

Or you could have put the rings on yourself if you didn't want to pay. It would have taken 1 tool and 5 minutes to do so.


I have little sympathy for someone who whines and complains, yet does nothing to empower or educate themselves. Sure, perhaps the LBS should have fixed everything right away... or given you a new bike.... or wiped your rear after you used the bathroom. But, they didn't. So, you could either go back and forth on it for many months... resulting in not having a bike that you are happy with and able to ride... or you could have learned how to fix it yourself and saved a lot of time and money, or taken it to a different shop as soon as you weren't satisfied with their level of service. unless you live in BFE, there is likely even another specialized shop within a reasonable distance of where you live.

WCroadie

Specialized, just like Trek, Cannondale and most big name bike manufactures are selling bikes like crazy. Have you seen the wait for a new Madone or Super 6? One guy blasting them on the interwebs is not gonna make a dent in their sales, unless he is some big name reviewer like the bike snob or someone who writes for a mag.

I agree with you, though I wouldn't be happy about it, I would have paid $95 for a new Red chainring or what ever brand I wanted long before a year. No way I would put up with my chain dropping on every ride. Even if it was a defective product, I'd replace it myself.

umd

You mean like WR and his Trek BB issue?

campyman099

Pictures of the alleged damage to the frame, or it didn't happen. I don't understand how all the mis-shifting, not mis-shipping, caused damage to your frame. Since what you are really after is a new frame, correct?

garysol1 

So apparently Specialized has not treated you all that badly if your planning on buying another one.

cfblakeman

Tagaproject - you have summed up the whole string in two sentences - nicely done. My whole point here has been just that.

Why would Specialized be willing to let this go viral - if they would have even just called Shimano and had a shifter sent to me for free I would have dropped this (when in fact I should get a new frame out of this, too.) And if the local LBS would have put aside their "not purchased here" disease, they likely could have talked Specialized into doing the right thing. (There are nine other Specialzed shops in Denver and plenty of other bike shops - the one I've dealt with is closest, but will not be my LBS going forward).

Jed19

WR's issue was about a second-hand bike. He was not the original owner, so I can relate to, and understand Trek's position on that. Most manufacturers don't extend the warranty to second owners. My point is that you can/should definitely make business decisions sometimes that are contrary to your "being in the right" for the sake of public relations. This is why savvy businesses sometimes settle lawsuits just to make an issue go away, even though they could probably prove the customer is an unreasonable a** at trial.

cfblakeman

'

I haven't bought it yet. I'm trying to show Specialized that I'm not a crazed Spec-hater who will bash them forever even if they resolve this correctly. But no, I won't buy a Tri if this isn't resolved well. And yes, I will if it is.

cfblakeman

Not working yet. Shifter is still outstanding. Bike is in the shop awaiting snail mail part from Shimano - will lose 10 days and a $100 race registration. And when it finally is all fixed, I will still have a chewed up carbon frame and outstanding bills for all the times I tried to fix it when the problem was a defective part and not maintenance.

And Specialized isn't paying for the shifter or the installation of it.

umd

But the issue of making a lot of noise on an internet forum is the same. Bottom line is that they pretty much don't care (about the forums).

cfblakeman

+1

I am hoping Specialized will see this as well.

cfblakeman

Nice. Constructive. Got any more pictures for us - they break up the monotony of trying to figure out this problem. Thanks for your lucid contribution.

cfblakeman

lol! +1

cfblakeman

The first time I took the bike to the shop I was wearing a business suit and smiling a lot, and they told me that since I didn't buy it there, they couldn't help me - it went down hill from there. I'll reiterate again for the 20th time that if I was a jerk I would have started this thread nine months ago, and if I was a jerk I would have plastered the name of the LBS all over this post (found out they have stores in four states - pretty big shop).

And while you might find it interesting to become a mechanic just because you bought I car, I find it interesting to pay someone else to fix my car. Same thing with my bike. I didn't buy a bike to become a gear head, I bought it to ride up hills hard and flats even harder, and for you to impugn my character because I don't want to learn how to fix the bike is simply arrogant on your part - you know how to fix a bike and I don't - very cool.

Why do you think I bought a $6,500 bike? Partly because I loved it, partly because I'm expecting to buy something that would have minimal trouble and partly because I have the money to pay someone else to be the expert. Your logic follows that apparently there are no mechanics or shops you can trust and anybody who does is an idiot. I happen to think more highly of bike mechanics than you do.

MCODave

The only resolution I can see for cfblakeman is to go to another bike shop and just get another bike that's not a Specialized. There are too many negative feelings tied up in the Specialized, and for your own mental health you just need to divorce yourself from the situation.

Then once you have a bike you can ride in this weekend's event, you can disassemble the Specialized, and sell it in pieces on Ebay, disclosing any damage. Probably won't get back $6,500, but will get something. I know you will have to realize a loss by doing this - but what's done is done and you will feel much better getting this all behind you.

cfblakeman

Do you have a reason to make such leaps of judgment without any context? Your mis-shifting comment is about as uninformed as you can get - read the thread - Specialized admitted the rings are bad and sent new ones, and admitted that all the rings like it that they made are bad. What is your ulterior motive for trying to paint me as mis-representing the facts here?

FYI - The letter to Specialized that I finished today asks them to tell me what they think would resolve this. In it I asked them to pay for an independent assessment of whether the frame damage is purely cosmetic or structural. If they think giving me a new frame resolves it, that is up to them, but I haven't mentioned that to them or in this string. Looks like you're selling some Specialized frames...

cfblakeman

For now I'm going to trust that Specialized will step up and do something. I'm guessing once I can communicate with someone beyond their customer service department that this will change directions. I could be wrong, but the CSRs have their marching orders and aren't trained to deal with lemons or unique situations, which I'm hoping is why I've been treated this way. Stay tuned.

And I don't have as many negative feelings as you suggest. If I did, I would be over on Twitter (20k followers) and my blog (15k followers) pounding this home. I've yet to say a thing about it there - looking to see how Specialized will respond.

umd

bikes != cars

cfblakeman

That's your assessment and I think you're dead wrong. Companies know they don't own their brands anymore, that their customers do and it's because of forums like this.

15 years ago Specialized and I would be the only ones who knew about this beyond a few neighbors. In 24 hours 2,000 people have read this thread alone. And I haven't begun to tap my own social network.